水

water = shui (pronouced schwei)

You cannot drink the shui in China.  Ever.  It’s fine for bathing, floor mopping and teeth brushing, but not for swallowing.  This means that we schlep a lot of water to the apartment.  Like every day.  Each time we stop at the market we add water to the list of whatever else we’re getting.  This would seem to be a pain, but we’ve adjusted to it just fine.

We have no running water in our kitchen.  There is a sink with a tiny trickle of cold water from the tap but using this is like washing dishes in an elementary school drinking fountain.  So for kitchen water, we schlep water in a plastic basin from the bathroom across the hall.  The bathroom has both full speed running water and a hot water heater, so getting water to wash dishes is really no problem…

The bathroom, in fact, is all about water.  It is, essentially, one big shower stall as there is nothing to differentiate the shower area from the sink or toilet areas.  Thus, when you shower, the floor floods.  Afterward, you mop or squeegie up after yourself.  Surprisingly, this works just fine.  Added bonus: the bathroom floor is always clean.

Also located in the bathroom is the “washing machine.”  It has no hot water supply and is more of a twister than a washer (every load emerges as a tangled web).  With no dryer to fluff and de-wrinkle, you simply SHAKE VIGOROUSLY everything that comes out of the twist-a-thon, and hang on the line to dry.  A very green way to approach laundry because a) you use no energy to heat water or run a dryer, and b) it’s enough of a pain in the ass that it’s easier to simply wear your dirty clothes over and over.  Seriously.  I cannot believe the waste happening in my laundry room in California.  Washing whites in hot water.  Changing the bed sheets every week.  Shame.

Our hot water heater, directly overhead the bathroom sink...