Ick

Today is not a cloudy day. Yesterday was not a cloudy day, either.
(This is an old photo, btw, of Xizhimen - an area near when I live, it's were I get the train. Today you can't see the sun.)

The last few days have been pollution days, worse than others. When you wake up in the morning, and right before going to bed at night, you often can see a film around lights. It's kind of shimmery, looks a bit like dust particles...but it's pollution. Pollution that you can feel, that you can touch.

Pollution sucks.

I have 1 month left here; actually, in 1 month from now I will be on an airplane back to NJ. I am really trying to soak up everything that I possibly can. And when the weather is like how it's been for the last several days, it's hard. It's depressing. No one likes polluted days.

But I've seen Beijing with blue skies, you might say. Well yes, this is true. Hell, I've even posted pictures of blue sky days. But why is the sky blue?

I'll give you a hint: it's not because of physics.

We received this email several weeks ago from one of our teachers:

"Everyone notice the beautiful sky in Beijing today, Friday.

Political process -> economic structure -> weather effect.

Chinese are hosting big EU-Asian summit. As always when they have big int'l event, night before silver nitrate rockets are fired into clouds to make it rain black and voila, beautiful blue skies for all the international visitors who become experts on China's environment after three gorgeous days in Beijing.

Enjoy it while it lasts...."

No joke. I wonder when Chinese children will start being born with excess appendages...