One of the biggest adjustments of coming to China is just that—ADJUSTING. Things like air conditioning are a way of life for us in the USA but in China, it’s more of a luxury. While there are many who do have air conditioning, it’s not central air conditioning–and even then not everyone or every place has that. Today the Voices of Unity were at one of the venues for our second and final competition where the stage and auditorium itself had A/C, but the rest of the facility did not–and it was HOT! What was worse were the bathrooms, it was like a sauna in there. This has been a typical scenario that we have faced here, but an even bigger one is ICE!
One issue with having ice is that it would come from the drinking water in China, which isn’t bad—however it’s not what our bodies are used to back home. The way the water is purified, the process, and what minerals are used (or aren’t used) conditions us to what we use and have. To change that could make one sick or cause other not so comfortable complications. Drinking water has not been the issue, bottled water is in more than abundant supply—however cold water is not. Even if the ice were okay the simple fact is, ice isn’t popular over here in China. We searched and searched for bags of ice to place bottles down into to cool them—but have yet to find a single bag of ice ANYWHERE! Finding chilled bottles of water in local stores too is not exactly readily available. We’ve been told that it is believed by the Chinese that having cold water makes the body cool-down, therefore the warm air then feels even hotter…….. Well, that does make sense but it doesn’t change the fact that a nice glass of ICE COLD WATER IS SOOOOOOOOOO REFRESHING in this incredibly hot and humid environment.
