Smog and Other Miscellaneous Things (Courtney)

A couple of random things I thought to mention...

1. Smog. It's everywhere. And slowly making me forget what a normal sky looks like. Today was around 23 degrees. Quite warm and alarmingly humid, but with a cold breeze. Yet when you open the window, you are confronted by this...






Yes, it looks like it is about 5 degrees and foggy. But that ain't fog folks, it's smog! I asked the kids today, what is the weather like today? To which I had a chorus of "sunnies"! Sunny?!?! Sunny?!?! Where the freaking heck is the sun?!!? The air is so thick out there today, with such limited visability. You can almost feel it in front of you, and if you think about it too much it will turn you into a paranoid mess, because you know all of that is going straight into your lungs. I am convinced this is why I've had such a sore throat, and now that Marcus is sick all you can do is try to breath outdoors as little as possible. People had their windows open tonight to get the warm air...thanks but no thanks, I'll put the heater on and contribute to global warming rather than breath that crap in.


In the photo you can see I have circled the vague outline of a building in the distance. This building is normally mostly visible, depending on the weather. Today, you would barely know it is there. It is now dark outside and the building is normally lit up like a Christmas tree. I can confirm that I just stuck my head out the window and I can make out none of its lights.

This one looks in the other direction. The circled bit is where you can normally see buildings. Today..nadda! Just grey and more grey.

2. Losing Weight - China is really great if you feel like losing a few pounds or getting fit...well, that is if you discount the dodgy air quality. Since ditching the car and switching to foot power, Marcus and I have lost a combined total of 9kg. This probably has something to do with the food as well. Whilst neither of us eat badly, China has certainly seen us up our daily intake of vegetables by at least double. That is probably due to the quality of the meat we are served at the canteen, nothing like pig fat and hair to make you stick to the vegies! I have never eaten so much bok choy in my life. We seriously eat bok choy every day, sometimes in numerous dishes. I think I would eat the equivalent daily of one of those little bok choy packages you can buy at the supermarket - you know how it comes in lots of 3? I would eat that at a minimum each day. It is slowly getting to me, and I relish days when I realise I have not eaten any. I dare say by the time we return home I will never want to eat bok choy again.

I'm sure we could get even fitter if we used our bikes...





Yup, they have been sitting in the under cover bit of our stairwell for the last few weeks. Check out how filthy they are, that's what is floating around here.





And our next door neighbour's scooter...absolutely rotten!



3. There appears to be a girlie bar next door. I know this sounds odd, considering we live in a school and all. Next door is this large building. Originally I thought it might be a very small movie cinema, as they seemed to have movie posters out the front every so often. Then Marcus points out that one section up top you can see into, and it is a gym. People in there running on treadmills and the like. Then we walk by the other day, and there are more posters...but girlie ones! Then I walk past the other day and there is pumping music coming out of the place...I don't know what is going on in there, but it's certainly an interesting combination.



4. A new Kedi has opened up down the road from us. A Kedi is basically a 7 Eleven, and can come in handy for all sorts of things. Yet at a Kedi, rather than salmonela chicken rolls, you can buy take away bento boxes and sushi. I'm yet to be game enough to try either of these, as all I can think about is the quality of food at 7 Eleven, and think the probability of SUSHI being better is just not possible. Anyhoo, we stopped at this new Kedi the other night on our way home for a couple of things. Turns out the music to signal that someone has entered the store is a full rendition of "London Bridge is Falling Down." Seriously. Every time someone walks past the sensor, out blares the music. Working in a Kedi has to be a pretty boring job as it is, throw in that many renditions of London Bridge is Falling Down and it's not long before someone goes postal in there.

5. Today I had a mortifyingly embarrassing moment in class, which as an English teacher should not have happened. For one of the activities I had to write the alphabet on the board. I forgot "W". Yes, I've probably been able to say the alphabet since I was 4 years old...and today I forgot a letter. One of the students kindly pointed this out to me. He he..that reminds me, the reason I wrote the alphabet up was for an activity we did on cats (!) and adjectives. The kids had to work together to come up with an adjective for every letter of the alphabet. Eg, the cat is hungry, ill, jolly, messy etc. When I yelled out "What did everyone have for D?" What was the response?

Delicious...

6. It has now been 5 full days since I have seen Mr Pan. To say I am worried is an understatement...where are you Mr Pan!?! I have seen his wife, so clearly all is well...but I'm starting to get a complex that he no longer loves us...