Think happy thoughts!

I’ve had a few disappointments and down days recently. Instead of blogging about what has made me miserable, I’m going to grit my teeth and think of some positive things to say. Here are some nice things that happened recently:

1. Cycling home from work in the cool night air last night, I looked up at the sky. It seemed to be alive with twinkling stars. Checking no-one was about to step in front of my bike, I took a longer look. They weren’t stars, they were kites: special night time, lit-up kites flying very high in the sky, their glowing tails flickering in red, white and blue. A handsome sight which brought me a smile.

2. I met a colleague today with a delectable northern English accent. In an ocean of Chinglish, it was like listening to music!

3. Having got over the disappointment of a series of stultifyingly bad Chinese lessons, I braved a new class. It was really excellent- interesting, relevant, pitched at the right level and good fun to boot. My brain fired up at the stimulation and I relished every stimulating second of it!

4. Today, for the first time in 5 and a half months, I was cold. I got caught in a thunder shower and as people ran past me holding things over their heads, I slowed down to a stroll.  I stopped to listen to the thunder and breathe in the same earthy smell you get when it rains  heavily in England. There's something so universal and healing about heavy rain. More please! (but not too much!!!)

5. National week is coming up... To celebrate the anniversary of the formation of the People’s Republic of China, the entire billion-strong nation gets 4 days off. Given the general scarcity of annual leave, this is a real special treat. Add my weekend on top, and I now have a blissful 6 day break. Aah. Someone put the kettle on!

There- I've done it! That wasn’t too difficult! 

Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink!

I’ve travelled to many places and been told “Don’t drink the tap water!” only to see the locals bemused at my buying bottles of the stuff. But here in Beijing, even the locals won’t drink it. It only seems sensible to follow suit so apart from brushing my teeth in, it never passes my lips. Instead, we painstakingly haul all our drinking water up 6 flights of stairs.

It always strikes me as bizarre, in a city which is developed in so many ways, to see people queuing to refill their water containers from the water dispensing machines on the street. I haven’t figured out why people trust these slot machines to provide safe drinking water, but not their taps.

It is quite possibly due to the massive mistrust of the government here. No-one believes anything they say, despite the museum erected in the name of quality tap water (poetically named ‘The Beijing Museum of Tap Water’ which I have yet to visit). In the same way that everyone turns to the American embassy’s air pollution data, the government’s repeated testing of water samples does little to persuade anyone. "All tap water in Beijing meets quality standards," said Cheng Jing, head of the Beijing Water Authority. And what exactly are those quality standards Mr Cheng?

It comes out of the taps clear, doesn’t smell and I have tried drinking it and felt no ill-effects. I get the impression that the problem is not a biological one, more likely a chemical one. Perhaps its long term rather than short term damage that is the worry? Finding any data about Beijing tap water seems impossible. I wonder why that is?

All I know is that a small pool left to dry leaves brown stains on my white kitchen worktop. Hmm.