It has arrived, the incredibly HOT Shanghai weather. People talked about it, but I never really understood until recently. I'm not usually one to complain, but woah. This past week was probably the hottest week I have ever experienced. It's been right around 40 degrees Celsius for the last 6 days, and all of the forecasts said every day would be thunderstorms, so each day pretty much went like this: sunny and a tolerable high heat in the morning, then lots of rain for about an hour, and then super humid and very sunny for the rest of the day. It's been feeling like 110 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Riding my bike around the city has been eventful. I carry a new shirt and a towel in my bag, along with 3 bottles of water. It's all absolutely necessary if I want to refrain from looking like a fool upon arrival. Every once in a while I'll ride past a store that has its air conditioning cranked up with the door wide open (not sure why), and it is a very magical 2 seconds when that happens. I'm now beginning to understand why sooooo many locals carry umbrellas when it doesn't rain, they're just trying to decrease the temperature any way they can. And the night time isn't any better. It's still high 80's at night, ridiculous. The thing to do around here is to tuck and roll your shirt up above your belly. I always see lots of chubby Chinese guys walking around like this, it's hilarious:
I haven't yet decided if I'll soon be joining them in this new fashion trend, I'm not sure if my belly is big enough to hold up the shirt :-) It's the most creative way to battle the heat though.
Playing soccer is not easy in this weather. We try to sub often, and we bring tons of water. But we're still doing well. We won our game this morning, 3-1, against the Greek team. Their names on the back of all their jerseys were all Greek Gods, and they called each other by those names too, it was pretty funny. I was recently recruited to play in another league as well - the ASAS league. They play on Sunday evenings. So it should be a nice addition to the end of my weekend. It doesn't seem to be quite as competitive as the SIFL league, but it should be a lot of fun. My first game for the new team is next Sunday at 4pm.
Tomorrow is one of my favorite holidays - the 4th of July. It's fun because there's always a good bbq and good people to hang out with all day, plus fireworks. What could be better? And I'll be spending it here in China...BUT, we'll be celebrating here as well! We're doing a big Dukes of Hazzard-themed party at the brewery, and then I'm heading over to an Irish pub (O'Malley's) to play in a cornhole tournament with some friends. Yep, Cornhole...in China! :-) Who would've thought!? I'm very interested to see what kind of set up they're going to have. AJ is my teammate. He's from the Midwest, so I'm expecting a lot out of him. I'm hoping we'll take 1st place, we should have a good shot at it. Hopefully they've got some nice boards and bags. If not, I'll be recommending my services =)
After soccer today, I went to the grocery store for the basic necessities...pineapples, peanut butter, strawberry jelly, and bread. These have become my go to meals. I'm trying to conserve a bit of money, spending less on a daily basis, so I can do more things around here. For example; golf, indoor skiing, water parks, trips to nearby cities (and far cities), souvenirs for people back home, this extra soccer league, another day at the Expo...the list goes on!
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PMM
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