January 13, 2005

China Daily reports that temperatures in Changsha today were a high of 6 C and a low of -2C.
The Toronto Sun online reports: BRACE YOURSELF. Our roller-coaster thermometer will get stuck down low after today's warm air clears the rails, the weatherman says. Today's forecast high of 12C will dip 20 degrees to -8C over the next 24 hours and stay that way through the weekend and next week.

Ok, ok so it’s colder in Canada. But here’s the big question of the day: How cold is it INSIDE your house? 21C? 72F? Normal room temperatures? Aw c’mon some of you have the heat whacked up higher don’t you? Are you enjoying those nice warm gas fireplaces? Wood stoves? Central heating?

Meanwhile here in Changsha, it’s the same temperature inside the building as outside! There is a serious power shortage in China and blackouts are a daily occurrence when the weather is cold. (The Three Gorges Dam Project will help to alleviate the problem in 2009. See next entry for details.) People heat apartments with heating/ac units on the wall that are run by electricity. Hence, no power, no heat. Tile floors and single paned windows add to the problem of keeping the heat inside. And insulation has not been invented here yet as far as I can tell.
I taped plastic on my bedroom window to keep out the draft and that helped a bit. Then the school purchased plastic strips for our windows. They are the kind that hang down in the doorways of freezer sections in grocery stores. In Changsha they are everywhere at the entrances to stores and buildings.
Power is a very expensive utility, so most people try to live in one room to conserve heat. In order to do our part and actually have warmth in our bedrooms, we don’t heat the kitchen, bathroom or living room. For the most part we do not live in those rooms right now. When it got to the point where we were watching TV wrapped in blankets with hats and gloves on we just gave it up.
The two weeks before and during Christmas the power was out more than it was on. The worst time being the few days just after Christmas when the power was not on long enough to heat the water for showers. For three days we did not shower. (Do not visualize.)
The building management put up a huge sign (that we could not read) stating no one was to use their heating units. When someone interpreted and informed us, we went out and bought small electric heaters. They were enough to warm up a 2 foot radius. I sat at my computer with it going on my feet and legs. I would take turns warming up my hands as I typed on my computer and watched my breath on the screen. It was not fun.
Getting dressed in the morning was a carefully planned ritual of warming up one sock at a time via the heater then working up to pants and bra and two sweaters. Getting ready for bed was a reverse process. I bought two sets of men’s XL long underwear and long sleeve tops that I wear to bed and under my jeans during the day.
There is no heat in the bathroom and no hot running water in the sink, so I wash in the kitchen in the morning and at night. Going to the washroom in the middle of the night is an experience! Cold, cold seat if you get my drift. We have a propane burner in the kitchen and for a few days when the power was out, we took turns dressing in the kitchen.
Late one evening Kim, Heather and I were huddled on the sofa in blankets watching a movie when the power went out. We opened the hallway door to the vestibule where the elevators are and a sweet, little lady in another apartment came and started jabbering in Chinese and literally dragged us into her apartment. She took us to her lower living room where she motioned us to sit down at a wooden frame which had a galvanized metal bucket on the floor in the middle. Inside there was a hot, charcoal briquette. She put a quilted blanket over the table and we were in heaven! She kept putting her hands together on her shoulder with her head to the side to tell us to sleep. It was a hilarious game of charades as she jabbered away in Chinese. We kept motioning up to our apartment and saying “no” but she wouldn’t let us leave until the power came back on. What a sweetheart! We pass by her apartment coming and going to school and she always says “Ni hao” and waves. Hospitality has no language barriers!
Just after the new year, the building invested in a huge generator so the power outages have become less and less. Each night I pray the power will stay on long enough to heat up my bed warmer to take the chill off the bed sheets before jumping in.

Most of the time I feel like I am camping on a May 2-4 weekend in Northern Ontario.