Do I need one?

Do you have a life verse? Do you need one? What are they? (Don't fret if you don't know.) I read a humorous article about them...it's about culture and religion and fitting in among other believers. Click here to read it.

One Hot Tamale

The heat is killing me. I melt faster than a popsicle the second I step outside. The transportation options are un-air-conditioned buses, bikes, and taxis (you have to walk to the street and wait in the sun to flag one down). It makes me want to go NO WHERE.

All winter long I waited for warmer weather so I could get out more, and now it's so hot I loathe going out the door. But when I do I see how other people beat the heat. Here's how one guy does it.

It looks so quaint, yeah? But in my experience the sweat slides from my forehead into my eyes, burning them so badly I can't read what is on the pages of the book.

My favorite activity these days is checking out the 15-day online weather forecast to see if 15 days from now it is going to be any cooler. Today is the first day that I've noticed cooler temperatures. Just 15 more days until it arrives! Yea!

Too bad for me, I'm going to the tropics 13 days from now.

The Big City

I grew up in a small town. Everyone knew everyone else. That was fun.

Now I live in a big city. Nobody knows everyone else. This is also fun.

I like waking up in the morning knowing I can do whatever I want to do. (I can't milk a cow, but I did say I can do whatever I want to do. I don't want to milk a cow.)

In this city, I can go shopping, drink coffee, buy what I need, walk through a bamboo forest undisturbed by others, climb a mountain, ride a boat, eat Chinese food, eat Mexican food, and even go to Burger King or Dunkin' Donuts if I want (but I don't).

Life in the big city suits me.

Scorcher

June was moderate.

July was hot, sometimes rainy.

August is unbearably hot. One day the heat/humidity index was 129*F. I feel like I am inhaling steam when I breathe. It has been this way for a few weeks, and the 15-day forecast shows at least 15 more days like this.

The doctor told me to stay indoors with my air-conditioner to off-set my heat rashes. A friend said, "Yeah, but you've got to live." So, I'm trying to strike a balance.

The last time I recall feeling this hot was about 1980 in west Texas. The real temperature then got up to at least 114*F.

Many Chinese people I know can't afford an air-conditioner, or if they have one they can't afford to run it very often. Electricity bills can run pretty high. I run my A/C quite a lot, doctor's orders, but my sympathies go out to the people running around in their neighborhoods in their thin pajamas with wet towels over their heads. They are just trying to survive.

Water Town

Near China's east coast lie a variety water towns. Some parts of these towns are built along canals. My favorite activity is to ride a boat down these canals, looking at the slower pace of life that is slowing disappearing from modern China.

Canal Clothesline

Be glad, be very glad you have a store-bought washing machine.

This is the canal I'm on today.

Home on the canal....

"Put your shoes by the door when you come in."

Multi-level condo on the canal?

Watch your step!

Decorating the entryway...

I hope you find the canals as charming as I do. :-)