Would you rather... live in a humid 90 degrees with no air conditioning or a windy 50 degrees with no heat? Those seem to be the two extremes here in Shenzhen. In our apartment, we have AC but no heat, but at school we have no AC (just fans and windows) AND no heat. Even though 50 degrees doesn't sound very cold (especially after living in Michigan and Wisconsin), it actually feels really cold. Why? Because there are no heated buildings! So it is ALWAYS 50 degrees (or in the 40s at night or outside in the wind). It's a bit weird to always have to wear a coat (even while teaching or just hanging in the apartment) and never enter a heated room. Still, I'll take bundling up in a sweater, coat and scarf over sweating through a t-shirt and shorts any day. Luckily, Daniel and I went on a small shopping trip on Friday at Wal-mart that turned out to be quite useful given this week's cold weather. In preparation for our upcoming Xian trip (where it is even colder, but I think that they will have heat-- hopefully!), we each bought a winter coat, gloves and something to cover our ears. My coat is like my black long northface puffy coat, except it is red, and only cost $20 (USD). Even though my northface is a children's XL, I think my new coat is smaller than it, and I had to buy a women's L. So yes, clothes really are smaller here! Daniel also got a red coat (they aren't the same kind of red so we will really clash walking around Xian), but his isn't puffy.
We also made another very exciting purchase last week... we got a TOASTER OVEN! It ended up costing about $33 (USD) and it's already come in handy. We went to a nice grocery store on Friday and got some food for the weekend so that we could make bruschetta, garlic bread, sandwiches, salads, GUACAMOLE, and fajitas. All of that food was so delicious. Plus, Daniel's parents sent us puppy chow (chex covered in chocolate and powdered sugar), so we really had a great weekend food-wise.
Now we are just getting exciting for our upcoming Xian trip on Friday! We can't wait to see the soldiers and eat some special dumplings. We also read that our hotel has a really great breakfast buffet :).
We'll update again after our trip with some pictures!
Miss you all!
Zoie
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hmmm China sounds a little bit like 819 with its heaters that blow air from the outdoors into our rooms. Thank goodness Carlton Properties prepared you for China life. So kind of them.
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