So the weather has gotten cooler... And I'm sure you're thinking, well it's December it should be cool right? Well yes and no. Chengdu is a weird place. It just dipped below 60 yesterday. While the weather is mild, it's also damp, which makes it chillier than what the actual temperature says. It's a chill that also seeps. If you are standing around outside, you don't feel cold at first, but as you stand there it seeps up under your clothes and gets you. BUT all that being said, it is in the low 60's upper 50's (between 12 and 17 Celsius). You would not be able to tell it from what the Chinese people are wearing. NOW granted most of the homes here are built without heaters (something about geography, central planning, and temperatures, Chengdu didn't rate built in heating for their buildings). So I can some of the extra layers, I imagine that if you get cold, it might be really hard to warm back up.... maybe. BUT, I have not turned on the heat once in my apartment and it's still a comfortable room temperature. I'm not in short sleeves, but I also am not in a sweater, and we're not cold. Here's where it gets tricky. Chinese people leave their friggin' windows and doors open ALL THE TIME! Even at the school where we take Babes. I brought her into school one day, and she was dressed for the weather. Her teachers FREAKED! They said the classroom was too cold for her to wear what she was wearing and they pulled a sweater out of her bag and made her wear it. I looked out the back of the room and the outside door was WIDE OPEN! I was a little worried when we signed her up that her classroom wasn't heated, but it's not that cold in Chengdu, I figured it would be a learning experience and toughen her up. But the fact that it's not heated, AND they leave the doors wide open drives me crazy!
The other thing that I don't understand is the towel down the back. Go to any public playground during the winter in Chengdu and you will see a bunch of sweating, red faced Chinese kids running around the playground. They all look about half a step away from heat stroke because despite the fact that they are running around at top speed and often on an indoor playground they are still wearing there long underwear, sweaters, winter jackets, arm warmers, leg warmers, and a towel down the back. Why the towel, you may ask, Well, someone I know asked about it. The towel is there because the kids get sweaty, so they run around, the towel gets all sweaty, and when they're done, they remove the towel and viola! The kids dry again! Forget the fact that their hair is now soaked in sweat, and I'm sure they're legs and arms too, but they are mostly dry. Don't believe me? Here is a picture I took of Babes' dance class (note some days the window is open in the studio too, which is why Babes is also dancing in a sweater, which I feel is somehow wrong).
Sorry it's so blurry, I was using the bad camera through the studio glass.
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