Saturday, February 18, 2012
Snow
It snowed a few days ago. It didn't last long, but those two guys still swept the whole street up and down.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Apartment infrastructure
I like to know how things work, not just work by themselves, but how things fit into the system they are in. This is why I find the stuff in my apartment interesting.
It's winter and sometimes it's cold outside. We have radiators with red handled valves, that as far as I can tell, are either on or off. They get warm, but never so hot that you couldn't touch them. I think that the radiator heat is supplied by the government. I know that many places are heated like this, and I can only assume that this is true here as well. The radiators by themselves would keep the place above freezing, but chilly. There is an additional heater, like a giant window unit, that both heats and cools. This, with the radiators, keeps the apartment comfortably warm. You can see the outer boxes of these heater/coolers on the outside walls of nearly all of the apartments in town.
The stove runs on gas, which is great for cooking stir-fry – it heats up to very hot very quickly. The gas runs on a gas tank next to the stove, like a camping cooker. The stove itself is just a small, two-burner unit that could be moved anywhere on the counter. However, it is probably best under the ventilator, that is firmly attached to the wall.
The shower looks like a cryogenic chamber, or some sort of futuristic space capsule. I don't feel like David Bowie when I take a shower, though, unfortunately. There are three ways to spray water, one normal shower head on a hose, one set of six heads that shoot sideways, and one overhead that leaks and sprays water everywhere when engaged. I am lucky I am not taller, at 5'10", I am one inch shy from hitting my head on the shower head above.
Long showers drain the hot water heater, also found in the outer room of the bathroom suite. Conveniently, it has an indicator level on the outside, so you can see how much hot water is left. There is enough hot water for two quick showers (or one teenaged shower) if nobody does laundry or dishes concurrently. The pure hot water is unbelievably hot, and I feel like I could cook ramen noodles with water straight out of the tap.
You can tell an apartment is lived in by the laundry outside the window or in the enclosed porch. I have heard that there is only about 50% occupancy here; whatever the actual number, there are many vacant apartments. Those that are lived in have people with wet laundry. We have a set of drying bars on our patio, so that our apartment can be lived in, too. The two metal bars are suspended by metal wire, and can be raised up and down with a hand crank. There are two cams, one for each bar, with one crank that can be moved between them.
It's winter and sometimes it's cold outside. We have radiators with red handled valves, that as far as I can tell, are either on or off. They get warm, but never so hot that you couldn't touch them. I think that the radiator heat is supplied by the government. I know that many places are heated like this, and I can only assume that this is true here as well. The radiators by themselves would keep the place above freezing, but chilly. There is an additional heater, like a giant window unit, that both heats and cools. This, with the radiators, keeps the apartment comfortably warm. You can see the outer boxes of these heater/coolers on the outside walls of nearly all of the apartments in town.
The stove runs on gas, which is great for cooking stir-fry – it heats up to very hot very quickly. The gas runs on a gas tank next to the stove, like a camping cooker. The stove itself is just a small, two-burner unit that could be moved anywhere on the counter. However, it is probably best under the ventilator, that is firmly attached to the wall.
The shower looks like a cryogenic chamber, or some sort of futuristic space capsule. I don't feel like David Bowie when I take a shower, though, unfortunately. There are three ways to spray water, one normal shower head on a hose, one set of six heads that shoot sideways, and one overhead that leaks and sprays water everywhere when engaged. I am lucky I am not taller, at 5'10", I am one inch shy from hitting my head on the shower head above.
Long showers drain the hot water heater, also found in the outer room of the bathroom suite. Conveniently, it has an indicator level on the outside, so you can see how much hot water is left. There is enough hot water for two quick showers (or one teenaged shower) if nobody does laundry or dishes concurrently. The pure hot water is unbelievably hot, and I feel like I could cook ramen noodles with water straight out of the tap.
You can tell an apartment is lived in by the laundry outside the window or in the enclosed porch. I have heard that there is only about 50% occupancy here; whatever the actual number, there are many vacant apartments. Those that are lived in have people with wet laundry. We have a set of drying bars on our patio, so that our apartment can be lived in, too. The two metal bars are suspended by metal wire, and can be raised up and down with a hand crank. There are two cams, one for each bar, with one crank that can be moved between them.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival marks the end of the Spring Festival. I see that the neighborhood shops are starting to open again. The neighborhood store, just in the next building, was open for the whole Spring Festival, but the small produce vendor out in front was not. I missed fresh vegetables. We needed to go into town to Carrefour (a French supermarket chain) to get produce. Now the local vegetable monger is open again, as are most of the restaurants up the road. In fact, it seems that the whole town has been slowly coming back to life since the lunar New Year, and now, hopefully, it will be fully recovered.
We have heard some sort of fireworks every night since the New Year, but it was always much, much more modest than on the night of the New Year. On the night of the Lantern Festival, there were more again. The fireworks started well before sunset, and the din was considerable into the evening. But there was no crescendo at midnight, as there was on the New Year. It was a party on a school night – ending in time to still have a reasonable morning. The weather was cold and windy, so perhaps there were not as many fireworks as there might have been, but still, there were plenty. Fireworks are still hard to photograph, and I am still an amateur. Still, I have attached some pictures.
We have heard some sort of fireworks every night since the New Year, but it was always much, much more modest than on the night of the New Year. On the night of the Lantern Festival, there were more again. The fireworks started well before sunset, and the din was considerable into the evening. But there was no crescendo at midnight, as there was on the New Year. It was a party on a school night – ending in time to still have a reasonable morning. The weather was cold and windy, so perhaps there were not as many fireworks as there might have been, but still, there were plenty. Fireworks are still hard to photograph, and I am still an amateur. Still, I have attached some pictures.
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