Where In The World Is Evan?

Do you remember that wednesday two weeks ago when it was sunny? That was a nice day…

When the sun shines in Chengdu people speak about it for weeks, like back in February when they spoke for weeks about the first snow in about 5 years.

I spent most of my two hour lunch break today sitting on a bench seat in the beautifully landscaped gardens of the Chengdu Number 7 Development School, in Wenjiang, enjoying the weather. As I sat there intermittently basking in the sun and retreating to the shade, afforded by the climbing roses that covered a nearby pergola, countless students and teachers passed by and paused with a quizzical expression across their faces.

Hello Evan… what are you doing?

They would invariably ask.

Fine weather is so rare in this part of China (in most parts for that matter) that there seems to be no real cultural impetus to get out and enjoy it. They seem to genuinely not understand why I would want to be sitting outside, doing nothing, beneath a clear blue sky. The basketball courts, the soccer pitch, the running tract all lie empty as the students are corralled back into their dorms and the teachers retreat to their cold spartan offices to sip from jars of hot water or green tea.