a little coffee

I wandered into the kitchen this afternoon to boil water for tea.  Not only is our selection of teas from Yunnan fresh and delicious, gulping a couple liters of it throughout the day wards of the chill that is a permanent feature of The China Experience. The Doodle government has sole control over when the radiator heat turns on and off.  They decided only between mid-November and mid-March would the citizens of Doodle Land have heat.  Regardless, of course that we (as most people do, or worse) live in uninsulated concrete and that in both November, March and even April, temperatures will still creep down into the 30s which means it’s pretty damn cold in those heatless weeks. 

Yes, yes, we do have space heaters that work pretty good in the two-foot square bubble of warmth.  Leaving the bubble to go to the coldest room in the place, the bathroom, brings an onslaught of goosebumps. As does crawling between frigid sheets for bed.  Ah. Another intimate glimpse of how people lived in the 19th century. I also finally understand why the Doodles where about eight layers underneath their heavy coats. Even now, sitting in class. And that’s why there are frequent, collective gasps when I peel of my coat. But now, it’s barely warmer inside than outside. I’m wearing the wool sweater and long undies I wore in 30-degree January- and it crawled to a balmy 51 today!

Back to the kitchen. As I hovered around the heating kettle, I watched the Doodle children in the elementary school playground from the window. They were doing some sort of stretch exercise that weren’t quite yoga. Maybe Tai Chi of a sort? It’s actually quite a common site to see people, often women and old men, in small groups in parks, a semi-full parking lot, or on the school’s brown field, doing Tai Chi. Our Chinese tutor even talks about getting up at 5 (5!?!) to do morning exercises as, I wager many Doodles do. She gasped when Chris admitted he didn’t wake up until 8 that day.  (“So Late!”) Even students tell me that their parent’s call them lazy when they don’t get out of bed until 8. Even on vacation.

So I watched the students and it just amazed me how into these silly excercies most of them were. And that they were even doing them in the cold, windy day.

I snapped a picture.