If you believe what you’ve read about the smog in Beijing (which, unfortunately, you probably should), you know why every picture I’ve posted so far has looked like I took it about 5 minutes before a torrential downpour. Nope. That’s the smog folks. It constantly looks as if the entire country of 8 bajillion people (or is it 9 bajillion now? I’ve lost count…) has simultaneously exhaled the smoke from their non-filtered cigarettes. But yesterday was an exception. It was sunny, clear, and absolutely gorg. The proof is in the pictures:

Chinese people seem to kind of dig the smog though, to be perfectly honest. Most people I saw were scrambling for shade all day yesterday like the beams of sun were acid falling from the sky. But here’s one thing that has me stumped: it seems to be very commonplace for Chinese people to carry umbrellas every single day of their lives regardless of the actual weather, which is usually decidedly smogtastic. Rainy day? An umbrella absolutely makes 100% sense for obvious reasons. Sunny day? Sure, I’ll buy that. I myself used to rock an umbrella when I was living in Honduras. That sun is stri-zong, and this Scandinavian girl’s skin was not havin’ it. But smoggy day? I mean, what is the point? Does the water-repellant fabric also carry with it some sort of anti-pollutant that guards your lungs from the poisonous air? Are they all just beating the possibility of rain to the punch? “No 3 seconds of raindrops for me while I reach into my purse! I’ll have my umbrella out the whole time just in case.” Or maybe they all just really buy into the “you get more sun on a cloudy day” myth our moms tried to scare us with growing up.
However you slice it, it looked like Tucson here yesterday and the tourists were lovin’ it. Now we’re back to the usj (short for “usual”, but tough to spell.  Just go with me on this one.), but I don’t actually mind the cooler, grayer, non-squinty days-o-smog.  I’m so in touch with the Chinese people.