Me & My Umbrella

Rain. It rains a lot here.

Thus, the first and best non-food related purchase I've made was my roughly $2USD umbrella. It's totally my colors too, except for the whole plaid thing it's got going on.

Life under the umbrella isn't too bad. 

  

It takes away from the pungent smells on my walk.

The other day there was a man hosing the trash away towards the street. I could either walk into the street and up my chances of dying on my way to work or keep walking and get sprayed with trash and water. 

I opted for living. It was gross.

The men on bikes and scooters who have umbrellas over them are smart I tell ya. I wish I could have gotten a better snapshot of this guy. Most people ride around with large ponchos covering them and their two-wheeled vehicle of choice. But it's humid here and that just seems like a sticky, sweaty, mess. The umbrella covering their cargo and themselves is brilliant! 

The other day, I left the laundromat I was scouting out to see umbrellas, umbrellas, and more umbrellas.

I haven't seen this many umbrellas since the end of a How I Met Your Mother Your Mother episode! 

See? Smart man!

Us newbies are quickly learning multiple umbrellas are good to own. One for the classroom; one for our apartment; and one for our backpack/purse. We learned that AFTER getting stranded in our classrooms the other day before a teacher dinner on parent orientation night. 

Thankfully other teachers came to our rescue! Another preschool teacher, Danielle, ran back to rescue her co-teacher and they huddled off together in the downpour. 

My co-teacher, Sara (you'll hear more about her later), and I preferred to wait it out a bit longer. Thankfully another teacher brought more umbrellas!

You can't tell, but that is literally a pool of water under those bricks. Sara was yelping, we were tip toeing dumbly thinking that would help? People were laughing. We all got absolutely drenched. So much for making a good impression on the parents to welcome them! 

Across the street is the most delicious restaurant. I've eaten there three times already. A gal I had brunch with this morning said she and her husband have eaten there 2-3 times a week for the past couple years! Seriously, it's THAT good.

But I couldn't bring myself to eat the fish.....

                                                

.....because each morning and evening I see people fishing out of the heavily polluted river. (Look closely and you'll see people on the sides of the banks). No one is quite sure if it's rumored the restaurants get their fish from here or if it's true. What I've been told is that it's a good possibility they get their fish from stands who could very likely get their fish from here. For now, I'm okay sticking with eating meat that I am absolutely clueless as to where it comes from!

The other day at school our ayis (Nannies, maids, etc. pronounced: "I.E." with a plural at the end) had left the windows opened and everything got drenched overnight. I am learning this is a typical thing, keeping windows open. The English teachers were told to have our Chinese teachers tell the ayis to close all windows. They did. Until later that day. 

It has something to do with what the doctors tell the people here about fresh air. Unfortunately it's not entirely helpful for many reasons. One is, we have quality air purifiers inside so when the windows are open and letting the pollution in, that's not actually helping the air inside at all. 

                                               

The other reason is, everything gets soaked! My apartment door is around the corner in the picture above. As are any shoes I have worn since I've arrived. My mat and shoes were all sitting in a puddle soaked inside and out. Plaster is now falling from the window as well and there is a permanent water stain down the wall. I don't know if they just repainted before I arrived or is someone recently started opening the window because everything looked super clean last week! 

So now every morning and evening I look to see if the window is open. I'm pretty sure I know which neighbor opens it. Maybe I'll woo them with some bakery goods and show them this picture to get them to stop! Something tells me it's pointless. Perhaps I'll just get the baked goods and start there!

Leaving my place earlier this week I was surprised to sort of see the sun. It was a nice reprieve. At least until I turned the corner and got a whiff of that trash! 

More plaid. 

These are definitely easier to wear in groups. I thought people were being a little dramatic when they talked about needing to wear masks here. They weren't. 

On the up side, once I begin remembering to put it on, I won't smell as many unpleasant smells! I can even put some drops of essential oils in the mask and get all kinds of healthy and energized while walking out and about!