Okay, Yep, It's Hot

I'm from Arizona, where most of the summer is spent above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, & we're even blessed with a couple of weeks above 110. So when I came to China in January & everyone started warning me about the oppressively hot summers here, I waved them away - you don't know from hot.

Though it was unbelieveably cold for a while there - cold being relative, I suppose. It didn't snow or anything, but I spent my first month or so wearing my winter cap to bed because my space heater didn't give off enough heat to keep me warm overnight. It got a little better as the months went on, but long about May I started thinking that Shanghai may never warm up. By July - the middle of the summer - I had given up on this mythological "unbearably hot" Shanghai summer.

Then August came.

The news has claimed a high temperature of 100 degrees Farenheit for the last few days here, & they don't see it letting up any time soon. In fact, it feels a lot hotter than that as I take my five-minute walk to work in the mornings. The electricity has cut out several times in my apartment over the last few weeks, & I can only guess that it's due to system overload - everyone must be using their air conditioners.