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| Chrysanthemums on my window ledge |
I bought some candy from the supermarket, a peanut milk candy
out of curiosity and a Starburst knock-off for something familiar. Everything
Chinese that tries to be American has this slight twist of oddness to it. When
I popped the peanut milk candy into my mouth, I wasn’t surprised that the
texture was weird … somewhere between hard and squishy. Do I chew? Do I suck? Do
I chomp? I tried the Starburst knock-off … same questions.
Bam! Then it hit me. The candy was supposed to be soft but it was hard because it was cold,
INSIDE MY APARTMENT!
It’s now winter in Tongren. Trees still have green leaves, chrysanthemums still boast sunshine yellow and dusty mauve flowers,
and snow or ice hasn’t appeared. Daily temperatures average 45-50 degrees
Fahrenheit, and nights dip to 40, or 36, or maybe even 32 degrees. These temps aren't
bad, if they are outside. Those outside temperatures are also the inside temperatures, inside my living room, inside my bedroom, and yes, inside the bathroom.
The southern half of China does not have central heating.
Back in the day, a revered leader (cough, cough) decided that anything north of the Yellow River could have central
heating. Anything south of the river would not. Tongren is south of the river. So, it’s cold inside my apartment, inside the classrooms, inside most restaurants, and so on.
I hate the cold.
I wear four or five layers of clothing all of the time,
including two or three layers of smart wool. I often wear a stocking cap, and
they are itchy! I have a pair of thin snowpants-looking pants that I wear
inside. (When I bought them, the female clerk giggled and pointed out the penis
hole to indicate they were men’s pants. I knew that, but I didn’t mind. I only
cared that they were warm and long enough for my legs.)
A heating unit graces the bedroom, so I can easily heat that
room, but who wants to spend the whole day in the bedroom? It’s just plain
annoying. I wrap myself in a blanket in the living room and point a small space
heater at my feet. My pink fleece blanket is now melted in a few places when I
nearly caught it on fire. That space heater has some uff-da!
One unique invention is heated gloves. The small gloves
conveniently plug into your computer via the USB hub, the same way you plug in
your iPod. A small wire pulls energy from your computer and into the gloves. In
some ways, it’s brilliant, but I haven’t tried them. I am afraid of blowing
apart my computer.
Here are some questions I now ask myself:
- How important is that shower?
- Do I really want to get naked?
- How quickly can I strip and get under the hot water?
- How efficiently can I dress to avoid getting naked so often?
- Can I wear my running clothes as my first layer until I go for a run?
- Do I really care if my “inside snowpants” are on backwards?
- If I already have on five layers, do I really need a bra?
- How bad do I really have to pee?
- Do I really want to get out of this warm bed to plug in my computer?
- Are these jeans drying on the clothesline just cold or still damp?
- Is it warmer outside?
Sometimes, it’s warmer outside than inside. Thank you,
concrete buildings!
The funny part is that I have just gotten used to the cold.
Harder candy just takes a bit longer to eat. After all, right now, I still have
my sunshine yellow and dusty mauve chrysanthemums! Right now, I happily type
with warm fingers, but that space heater has been of for a while. It might be a
whole 55 degrees!
(In the Chinese mind, it is wasteful to heat entire
apartments when you only occupy one space at a time. And, it’s not exactly
freezing here, so plumbing or fruit on the kitchen counter isn't freezing. I sort of get it. More posts
about how people in China deal with the cold are coming soon!)
