Category Archives: Weather

Day 192 in Beijing: Z. Y. S. Pasta Factory.

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Z. Y. S. Pasta Factory recently opened about three blocks from our house.

As mentioned before, I have never seen a city turn over stores, restaurants and businesses as quickly as they turn over in Beijing.

We hope this one stays around for a while as we have started going there a few times a week.

The food is Italian, as one might supposed by the name, and it is quite good.

The staff is incredibly nice and one of the waitresses named Tao Tao, speaks incredible English.

There is the I.E.B. University across the street so there are a lot of students here and some expatriates.  Therefore, knowing English is a useful tool for someone living in here if they want to meet and work with the students.

Tao Tao is from a different province and we have yet to find out why she is here and we are guessing it is for school.  We will try to find out next time we go.

The first time we came in she sat us down and started speaking English to us.  At the end of the meal, she asked us, “Are you professors?”  I laughed because we were probably the only people over 25 in the restaurant and we are definitely too old to be students and told her that I work as a Marriage and Family Therapist for a company in Beijing and Jill runs her own websites, San Francisco Tourism Tips and All About Red Wine.

She smiled and thanked us for talking to her and coming there for dinner.

We have seen her, and talked to her, each time we’ve gone and it has been thoroughly enjoyable each time.

Something that I enjoy is hearing different languages spoken.  Again, since there is an university nearby, there are a lot of people, from different cultures, that come here to study.

During our latest visit, we heard English, Mandarin, Chinese and Russian.  A nice collection of languages for a place that probably can’t hold more than 25 people at the most.

 

Day 184 in Beijing: She’s from Nebraska. I’m from California.

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So, Jill is from Nebraska.

She keeps telling me how cold it is and how you have to stay warm.

Well, it was 34 degrees today and this is how we dressed for our gym workout.

Yes, we were inside the gym but this is how we walked to the gym.

A tshirt and shorts.  Nothing else.

Jill has on a jacket, sweats, and a long sleeve shirt.

Tell me again how tough those Mid-Western folks are and how wimpy us Californians are.

Because, whether you believe it or not, I’ve got the pictures that prove otherwise.

Bring on the cold, Beijing.  This Cali boy can take it!

Day 167.5 in Beijing: R2D2 and What a Difference a Day Makes!

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So, R2D2 was needed last night.

We only had him running during the night time because the day was pretty decent.

If you look at the pictures, it actually shows how crazy Beijing weather can be in one single day.

If you aren’t careful, you can start out with a perfect day and end up wearing a mask to protect yourself.

I have yet to wear a mask but I’m pretty sure that day is coming soon.

As you can see from the pictures, even with R2D2 only working for 8 hours at night, he is getting very dirty.

I thank you, R2D2, and Smart Air Filters for keeping us safe at night.

, for saving our lungs from breathing this gunk.

 

Day 165.5 in Beijing: R2D2 Enjoys the Fresh Air and Sunshine.

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Honestly, this weather is confusing our little buddy.

It was horrible when we got him.

It has been fantastic since the second day.

Maybe R2’s reach and power is much more than just this room.

Maybe he’s cleaned up Beijing for a few days.

I know that isn’t possible but I’m going to enjoy this amazing weather.

It is about as perfect as it has been since I’ve been in Beijing.

And, for that, R2D2 deserves a bit of praise and rest.

Well done, R2.  Well done.

Since he hasn’t been used in the past day, I don’t have any pictures of his filter.

I’ll try and get some pictures of the gorgeous sky and post them as soon as possible.

 

Day 163.5 in Beijing: R2D2 needs a rest!

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Jill and I came home and our little R2D2 Smart Air Filter was dead.

Well, we thought he was dead.

He just needed to unplug from the outlet for a few minutes to revive himself.

And, as far as we can tell, he’s back using the force to save us from the polluted air of Beijing!

Thanks, R2D2!

We were out most of the day today and it, to be honest, it was absolutely glorious.

We probably should have let R2D2 take the day off and just rest.

However, this is the droid we are looking for and we wanted to see how he would hold up.

We have to say, other than passing out for a few minutes before we got home, R2D2 is a champ!

Here are the pics from the day 4 of R2D2 and his quest to save our lungs.

Day 162.5 in Beijing: Day 3 of the R2D2 Air Filter.

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So, our continued experiment with our Smart Air Filter is on day 3.

72 hours of cleaning the air in our apartment and allowing us to breathe a little more easily.

I’m wondering how many days R2D2 can go before needing an new filter.

I’m hoping for 30 days because I want to do a time line of that length but I’m worried it will only be 2 weeks, or less, especially as the coal power plants start to burn and release more pollution into the air.

I don’t like jumping to conclusions and fortune telling, but if the past is relevant, it will get much worse before it gets better.

Day 161.5 in Beijing: Day 2 of R2D2 Air Filter.

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Our “grand” experiment with our Smart Air Filter buddy, R2D2, continues unabated.

Honestly, it is disgusting what Jill and I have been breathing for the past months.

Terrifying, in fact.

I’m glad that we got our little buddy and are using it almost 24 hours a day.

The really scary part is that this is the “low pollution” time in Beijing.

Tomorrow, it all starts to go very bad.

Why, may you ask?

November 15th is the day the government decides to turn on the coal plants for heating during the winter.

Our heaters actually started up today and it was horribly warm inside our apartment.

We are talking sauna style heat.

And, yep, you got it right, there is no way to turn the heat off.

We ended up opening our windows for an hour and enjoying the last bit of clean air we’ll have for a few months.

We did turn R2D2 off for about 2 hours while we did that because it would have probably choked and died and we don’t want to kill the machine that is probably going to save our life while we live in Beijing.

Also, the two air quality pictures were taken a few hours apart from each other.

The first was taken with the sky perfectly blue and the second, taken only a few hours later, made it impossible to see the sky.

Day 160.5 in Beijing: Day One of The Smart Air Filter.

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We have been using our Smart Air Filter for 24 hours.

It was a fairly horrible pollution day in Beijing today.

The picture makes that clear.

However, that is outside our apartment.

We had NO idea how bad it was inside our apartment.

We actually keep a very clean apartment and make sure it is vacuumed, mopped and everything is put away each night.

We detest culture and mess.

As a therapist, the probably says something about my personality.  I’m okay with it so it doesn’t bother me.

However, after one day of using our little R2D2 air filter buddy, we were disgusted and horrified.

This is what we’ve been breathing, inside our apartment, since we’ve been in Beijing.

This does not makes us happy.  It also explains why we’ve both been having trouble sleeping, feeling utterly fatigued when we wake up, and feeling as if we are low on energy compared to how we were in America and also on vacation in Malaysia and Singapore.

It all starts to fit together when you can see the puzzle and all the pieces.

Simply said, we ordered two more of our little R2D2 units right as we were posting this.

Our health is worth way more than our little buddies cost and we are going to need all the help we can get when the Beijing winters get worse and they turn on the coal power plants to heat the city and the rest of China.

Take a look at the black pollution that has framed where the fan is pushing it through the HEPA filter.

Imagine what this will look like in a week?

I shudder to think.

And yet, you can be sure, I’ll be taking pictures and you can see what it looks like along with me.

You can breathe easy though, my friends, since you don’t have to breathe the air Jill, I and 23 million other Beijingers are breathing right now.

Day 160 in Beijing: Smart Air Filters.

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R2D2 is here to clean up the Beijing pollution problem!

R2D2 is here to clean up the Beijing pollution problem!

As most of you have heard, the air quality in China, and Beijing, specifically, leaves something to be desired.

There are days that are amazing and wonderful.  And then we realize that these are still below the average days anywhere else we’ve been and the bad days are horrific.

There is a reason people wear masks here and it isn’t just when they have a cold.

Therefore, air filters are essential.

Many companies have them built into their heating and ventilation systems so one does not have to worry about them.

However, since we don’t have central heating or cooling in our apartment, we decided to invest in one.

Sadly, they cost upwards of 300-500 USD for one that will cover about 500 square feet.  That means we’d need two and that is out of our price range.

The side view. Only about 6 inches deep and 12 inches tall.

The side view. Only about 6 inches deep and 12 inches tall.

Luckily, our buddy Shagi, knows of a company, right here in Beijing, started by some ingenious ex-pats, that makes them for about 50 bucks and will send them to you free of charge.  They also have seminars so you can make your own but we couldn’t fit them into our schedule so we decided to buy one on-line.  We’ve been emailing back and forth with Gus Tate, one of the owners, who is also a juggler and seems like a fun guy.  Interestingly enough, he put me in contact with Natooke, how I wrote about in this previous blog post.

Rear view. This is the droid we've been looking for!

Rear view. This is the droid we’ve been looking for!

We just received ours and we love it already.

We are calling it R2D2 because it is tiny, funny looking, and the cutest thing ever.

It works great, the air feels cleaner and we can’t wait to fall asleep with it and see what kind of results we get as we are often congested and feel quite tired after a night’s sleep because of the air.  It will be a very welcome change.

I already highly recommend people in China to buy these air filters and let anyone else you know about them as they work great and are so inexpensive.

Make sure to click on this link and tell them Aram sent you over:  Smart Air Filters.

Day 120 in Beijing: Shanghai vs Beijing.

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Beijing is in the north of inland China.

Shanghai is more south and on the coast.

The difference, in weather and pollution, is staggering.