WEATHER COMPARISON

　　(Do you like the weather in Beijing?) No, not very much. I like the weather better in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. In the summer, not in the winter. I will take Beijing winter and Inner Mongolian summer.

　　(That's strange, you know, people here in China... I think when talking about Baotou and Beijing, certainly they will choose Beijing to live instead of Baotou. Strong wind and ...) Strong wind, yes, they always talk about the strong wind. But the wind for me was not strong in Baotou. The wind in Baotou is the same as the wind in middle Canada, the Great Lakes area of Canada.

　　You know the 5 big lakes you see on the map? Well, I grew up and lived forty something years, forty-five years or more on the shores of one of those lakes, and within sight of the other lake, an other lake. So, they are very, very big lakes, so big that the wind that blows often is quite strong. I am used, quite used to strong wind. In fact, I like wind.

　　(Now, I think there's a difference. If you are staying in the clean place, if the strong wind comes, you feel cool, but er... you know, sometimes it's windy and sand.) Yes, the wind would blow strong but the air was clear, clean.

　　Here, well, Inner Mongolia, you have that yellow, the yellow sky, the yellow sand that poor Beijing gets, but it starts in Inner Mongolia, we got it too. Not very nice. (Still do you like it?) No. (Look!) That's true.

　　But it only blew maybe two weeks of the year. Two weeks, not bad. I can put up with two weeks. The trouble with Beijing weather is it's not dry enough. (Still not dry enough?) Not dry enough. Don't go to Inner Mongolia. It will even be more dry. (I know that.)

　　If you live beside those five great big lakes in Canada, the air is so wet, always wet. So, so I got used to it being very damp all the time, I like it being dry. The dry weather again, didn't bother me at all, just like the culture shock, just like the food. I haven't gotten sick. I like it dry.