六月底，北太平洋西岸女兒居住的城市迎來創記錄的高溫。據新聞報道，熱浪高達一百多度，熱得地麵都裂開來好幾塊。我以為女兒搬的新公寓有空調，開始也沒怎麽在意。周二在公司上班，想起來給她發了個微信問候天氣，才知道她住的地方沒有空調。為了躲避炎熱，她白天去公司上班，晚上靠著電風扇過夜。她說，很多同事去了酒店避暑。還說，西雅圖的夏夜不像加州晚上會涼下來。最後還來一句，"(It) reminds me of Beijing".
Having lived for more than two decades in southern CA, a place renowned for its best weather, I almost forget how summers in China felt like, until my daughter mentioned it today. The city she lives in was lately rattled by unprecedented heat wave with the temperature rising into 90s and 100s. As I texted her asking if her new apartment has air-conditioning, she said that like more than half local residents whose homes are not installed with air-conditioners, hers is no exception, as historically Seattle’s summer does not need it. “I went to office at the day time to escape the heat, and when I got off work, it was 92F at home last night (Monday night, 6/28/2021). You know, mom, unlike in CA where the temperature plummets at night, here it hovers around long into the night.”
“(It) reminds me of Beijing.” She added.
For all the places she’s been to in China, she picked Beijing’s summer as an allusion.
That was the summer of 2010, when I took her to Shanghai for the World Expo, and then to Beijing for sightseeing. We never expected Beijing to be so badly polluted and its summer so blisteringly hot. The Great Wall was shrouded in thick foggy polluted air, losing all its grandeur the undulating walls would have otherwise given us. Throughout our stay there, we rarely saw blue sky or a bright sun. We felt like living in a suffocating heat dome. After joining a local tour for the Great Wall and Emperor’s tombs, we guided ourselves to the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Yuanmingyuan and such. As we trudged in the wilting city, we incessantly resorted to the Popsicle and iced water sold by the street hawkers. But the relief was temporary, and our thirst or body heat was never really quenched or cooled down. While our eyes might linger over the relics of the old city, our bodies couldn’t wait to get away.
Shanghai was not a lot better than Beijing though. It was a morning when we were leaving Shanghai to the states. But the temperature was already 38C, the sun, the humidity only adding to the intolerable heat. When we reached the airport, we were told that the flight was overbooked, and $250 (or $300, I could not remember now) was offered as a trade- off if we were willing to switch to the next day’s flight. I told my daughter that with this $500 or $600, I would buy her an IPad (that was year 2010J). She refuted resoundingly that she wouldn’t wait another minute to go back.
I should have told her the summers of my childhood, when we did not even have an electric fan or a refrigerator. The only luxury I had then was a radio, which accompanied me over many boring summer days and nights. To beat the heat, we took to water and bamboo lounge chair in the open air for the night, with a handmade palm-leaf fan in one hand for cooling and to expel mosquitos.
She probably won’t remember anything of her first three years in China, not to say the summers there. But I won’t forget the summers in Canton, bathing a couple of times daily and sleeping inside a net. Being potty trained early at the time, as most babies were traditionally, my daughter had to be woken up in the midnight for a pee. The minute I raised the net, mosquitos sneaked in. Most of the time, too tired as I was, I had to let them hum inside and sting us. When mornings came, it’s time for my revenge, slapping them one by one. The bloody stains in my palms and on the net only reminded me that they were actually my blood and the baby’s…
Gone are those sweltering summers in China, except that the memories tucked deep are now stirred and surfacing to the ground. ..
回複 '7grizzly' 的評論 : You don't need any push, my friend:))
XiaoPan_DE 發表評論於
女兒還能和你用中文交流，太棒了！火龍果的花和曇花太相似，你要是不說，我肯定以為是曇花
7grizzly 發表評論於
回複 '暖冬cool夏' 的評論 : Thank you. We push each other :-)
暖冬cool夏 發表評論於
回複 '7grizzly' 的評論 : Hi, my friend. Yes, it definitely tasted better in such a weather. The Popsicle (老冰棍）cost only 2 yuan at the time (or even 1 yuan at some stands), and I actually took a picture of her enjoying a colorful watermelon Popsicle. Overall, Beijing's living cost is (much) cheaper than Shanghai (at least Pudong), lower subway fee, cheaper food, etc., while the housing prices are comparable in a way.
Thanks for sharing your story. So the pollution and horrible summers started decades ago. Looking back, we were all surprised how we lived through the time. People are more environmentally conscious now that they are rich and have money. I heard LA used to be badly polluted too, and look how nice it is now.
Thanks my friend for your visit and comments. You are one of the reasons that I push myself to write in English:))
7grizzly 發表評論於
A Beijing summer was no joke in my memory and that might be why your daughter
remembered it so well. Did she also remember how much better the Popsicles
tasted because of the weather?
As early as May, it started to get uncomfortable. July and August were the
worst, just like what you saw on your trip. Humidity made it hard to sweat to
dump heat. There were no ACs back then and so nowhere to escape. Pollution had
become routine since the early 90s when I was studying there and that was when
cars started to spread. A couple of miles of bike-ride made you feel like taking
a shower.
六月底，北太平洋西岸女兒居住的城市迎來創記錄的高溫。據新聞報道，熱浪高達一百多度，熱得地麵都裂開來好幾塊。我以為女兒搬的新公寓有空調，開始也沒怎麽在意。周二在公司上班，想起來給她發了個微信問候天氣，才知道她住的地方沒有空調。為了躲避炎熱，她白天去公司上班，晚上靠著電風扇過夜。她說，很多同事去了酒店避暑。還說，西雅圖的夏夜不像加州晚上會涼下來。最後還來一句，"(It) reminds me of Beijing".
Having lived for more than two decades in southern CA, a place renowned for its best weather, I almost forget how summers in China felt like, until my daughter mentioned it today. The city she lives in was lately rattled by unprecedented heat wave with the temperature rising into 90s and 100s. As I texted her asking if her new apartment has air-conditioning, she said that like more than half local residents whose homes are not installed with air-conditioners, hers is no exception, as historically Seattle’s summer does not need it. “I went to office at the day time to escape the heat, and when I got off work, it was 92F at home last night (Monday night, 6/28/2021). You know, mom, unlike in CA where the temperature plummets at night, here it hovers around long into the night.”
“(It) reminds me of Beijing.” She added.
For all the places she’s been to in China, she picked Beijing’s summer as an allusion.
That was the summer of 2010, when I took her to Shanghai for the World Expo, and then to Beijing for sightseeing. We never expected Beijing to be so badly polluted and its summer so blisteringly hot. The Great Wall was shrouded in thick foggy polluted air, losing all its grandeur the undulating walls would have otherwise given us. Throughout our stay there, we rarely saw blue sky or a bright sun. We felt like living in a suffocating heat dome. After joining a local tour for the Great Wall and Emperor’s tombs, we guided ourselves to the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Yuanmingyuan and such. As we trudged in the wilting city, we incessantly resorted to the Popsicle and iced water sold by the street hawkers. But the relief was temporary, and our thirst or body heat was never really quenched or cooled down. While our eyes might linger over the relics of the old city, our bodies couldn’t wait to get away.
Shanghai was not a lot better than Beijing though. It was a morning when we were leaving Shanghai to the states. But the temperature was already 38C, the sun, the humidity only adding to the intolerable heat. When we reached the airport, we were told that the flight was overbooked, and $250 (or $300, I could not remember now) was offered as a trade- off if we were willing to switch to the next day’s flight. I told my daughter that with this $500 or $600, I would buy her an IPad (that was year 2010J). She refuted resoundingly that she wouldn’t wait another minute to go back.
I should have told her the summers of my childhood, when we did not even have an electric fan or a refrigerator. The only luxury I had then was a radio, which accompanied me over many boring summer days and nights. To beat the heat, we took to water and bamboo lounge chair in the open air for the night, with a handmade palm-leaf fan in one hand for cooling and to expel mosquitos.
She probably won’t remember anything of her first three years in China, not to say the summers there. But I won’t forget the summers in Canton, bathing a couple of times daily and sleeping inside a net. Being potty trained early at the time, as most babies were traditionally, my daughter had to be woken up in the midnight for a pee. The minute I raised the net, mosquitos sneaked in. Most of the time, too tired as I was, I had to let them hum inside and sting us. When mornings came, it’s time for my revenge, slapping them one by one. The bloody stains in my palms and on the net only reminded me that they were actually my blood and the baby’s…
Gone are those sweltering summers in China, except that the memories tucked deep are now stirred and surfacing to the ground. ..
