I love the morning. I enjoy the waking ritual. Open my eyes, realize that I am starting to be aware of my surroundings, go through a lengthy decision process where I try to assess any damage to my body that may have occurred in the night and see if I want to get out of bed. Let’s see, head feeling good, not dead, still breathing, knee hurts a little, can’t feel my hand because I slept weird. Ok pins and needles arrived to tell me hand is still attached. It’s light outside but barely. Now do I want to actually leave the prone position? My bed is hard, not as hard as the ground but pretty close. My girlfriend pointed out that it is only a box spring with no mattress. I had never bothered to really check. I just figured the Chinese like their beds hard. We bought a small pad to go over the “mattress” and it has helped but I am really getting used to the hard bed. My back feels better than it has felt in a long time.
I weigh all the pros and cons of getting out of bed and decide that since I have coffee beans in the fridge, I will face another day in the upright position. Making coffee and the morning ritual is pretty much something I do partly asleep. It isn’t until I have swigged down a cup of what I call nectar of the gods, that I can really know I am awake. There is even what I call glorious coffee making music, which the school next door pumps out over a PA system to start the day. Today I feel pretty good! I may even let some light into the apartment so I throw open the drapes to check out my view of the school. Suddenly I realize that someone stole the school, the kids, the buildings, everything!!!! As my eyes clear a bit, I realize it is just another smoggy day in Beijing. I think that this may be a day the smog index hits 400. This means that I would probably do less damage to my health if I just stayed inside and chain-smoked all day.
The air pollution index can be found in China at bjair.info and it comes from a twitter feed. It measures the air pollution in Beijing and gives updates on the condition of the air. It looks like this:
The numbers give you a score card to what kind of air will be visiting your lungs today. They also give you a way to decipher the numbers.
Good 0-50,
Moderate 51-100
Unhealthy for sensitive groups 101-150
Unhealthy 151-200
Very unhealthy 201-300
Hazardous. 300+
It looks like this when you sign on. There is even an app for that so while you are walking briskly because you missed your cab you can see just how damaging each deep breath will be. One of my Chinese friends asked me why I was so interested in the exact quality of the air. She said that maybe it is better not to know so I don’t get stressed out. Hmmmmmmm. Very interesting outlook. I told her I would rather know so I don’t do something crazy like ride my bike on a day that is over 300. Since China relies heavily on manufacturing, the air takes a hit with factories belching out smoke particulates of who knows what. There have been many stories about the smog lately in the state run media. The Govornment is looking at the situation. We have had several days at 500 and even a few too high to measure. I have started to play a game where I look out my window and try to guess the number of the air index. If I can't see the smokestack in the view I figure it is over 300. If I can make it out a little it may be in the 260 range. I have gotten pretty good. I am starting to think the Chinese are a super race.They don’t sweat during the long hot muggy summer, they can withstand sandstorms from the Gobi desert, they can breath toxic air and still they go on! That being said, when I wake up to a blue sky, something I took for granted in San Diego, I know it is going to be a great day. Even the Glorious coffee making music sounds better. I will never take blue skies for granted again.
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| This is the view on a 340 day. |
