Seriously, it’s cold here. I’ve been known to bitch about the weather from time to time, but that’s only because I come from Florida (which has perfect weather if you ignore the hurricanes and summer downpours and oppressive heat) and I expect better of Mother Nature than those of you that come from less wonderful areas of the globe. And while I was perfectly happy with the short “fall” season we experienced in Hangzhou, this cold weather shit has got to go.
It’s not like it’s even that cold, though… highs in the mid-40s, lows around freezing, nothing worse than the weather in Orlando during winter. The difference is a wonderful little invention I like to call “indoor heating” that doesn’t seem to exist in China. You see, when you get cold in America you can just go inside and warm up, but not here. The only warm places on campus are the foreign teacher apartments (because we keep our heaters on broil) and the cafeteria during meal times because of the open flame and hot food and sheer mass of humanity. Everywhere else is downright freezing.
I’m showing movies this week and I’ve been just absolutely miserable. We might as well be watching the movie outside… I can see my breath, and there is steam coming off the projector where the cold air is hitting the hot element. Not exactly the ideal environment in which to learn (or watch the second half of “Catch Me If You Can,” in our case). I spend most of my teaching time with my hands shoved deeply in my fleece’s pockets — not even my blood bee gloves can keep my hands warm for 90 minutes of teaching.
I’d keep typing by I’m in the office and, as you might expect, my hands are freezing and starting to go numb, which is degrading my ability to type, so I’ll just stop and wait until the spring thaw to post again.