On sweating

In the last three days, I have sweated more than I did during this entire year so far. At our apartment, we are to be pretty spoiled with three A/Cs, so it's very uncomfortable. I feel bad making the outside air hotter, but since this is an adjustment phase for everyone, there's no need to make the transition harder, right?

And I just realized when I was in the hot elevator tonight (yes, our elevator is not A/Ced and kind of suffocating) that it's actually very deceiving: everytime I was perspiring, I automatically thought it's helping me stay in shape. I guess the only time I sweated much in CA is during a rigorous yoga session. This sweat does not mean I did anything cardiovascular. So I better get back to yoga if I am to continue eating like this!

This makes me realize how insulated (literally) we have been. It's especially true when I go out to buy breakfast. You see these vendors handling 10 steamers at once, while flipping omllettes on gigantic hot griddles and frying you-tiao (a kind of savory donut). There's no A/C, not even a fan, and they are there working away as a completely normal part of life.

While having xiao-long-tang-bao (little-steamed-juicy-buns) for breakfast at a roadside stand, I chatted with the owner, an attractive woman in her 50s. She told me that her stand is open 24 hours, with her minding it during the day and her daughter and son-in-law at night. She works 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, steaming buns in the heat outside of a optometrist store, from whom she rents the little outside space. For us, it was about sitting out for 20 minutes enjoying the buns, and for her, this is almost all of life. She was very curious about life in the US, and asked me what it's like and which country do I prefer to live in. She told me that making ends meet is getting harder and harder so she cannot afford not working for a day or hiring help.

So my sweating is really pretty temporary, and maybe not so reportable after all....