Blogaround

Image source.

1. Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Misogyny, Entitlement, and Nerds (posted May 27) "There isn’t a team of writers or a studio audience pulling for us to triumph by 'getting the girl' in the end."

2. ‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens (posted May 27)

3. Why You’ll Never Really Get Over Monica And Chandler (posted May 30) So cute.

4. Three Questions for Memorial Day (posted May 23) "We are told soldiers 'sacrificed themselves,' though they were actually sacrificed by politicians who sent them to war."

5. How covering June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown kicked off 'CNN Effect' (posted June 2) Oh my, 25 years ago. (In China, people know about it but we can't talk about it or we might get in trouble.)

6. Two girls died looking for a toilet. This should make us angry, not embarrassed (posted May 31) "Today, 2.5 billion people live without access to a toilet, forcing women to walk to dark and dangerous places to find the privacy they need – those same dark and dangerous places where men wait to attack them."

Adventures in Water Pressure

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Once upon a time, the water in my apartment suddenly stopped.

Okay so actually, this had happened before, so I had an idea about what to do. The previous time, it stopped because the water bill was due, and instead of sending me a bill, the water company decided a more effective way to get the message across would be to shut off my water.

Because, China.

The previous time, I was horribly confused, and lived without water for maybe 2 days, while asking everyone- friends, my students, security guards- what to do, and most of them asked me if I'd paid the bill, and no one seemed particularly surprised/outraged at the idea of my water being shut off without anyone actually sending me a bill.

Oh China.

So anyway. Last week, when my water was mysteriously shut off, I figured it was the same thing, and I should go down to the water company and pay right away- get it fixed as soon as possible.

So I got to the water company, and told them my apartment had no water. They just treated it like business as usual, asked for my address and told me the amount I owed. It was less than 10 US dollars, by the way.

Problem solved. I went off to work, and my boyfriend texted me from my apartment and said the water was back. Yay!

Except not yay.

That night, my boyfriend (who was visiting me for a few days) told me he'd tried to take a shower, and the water pressure was too low to turn on the hot water heater.

Back up, let me explain about the hot water heater.

So when you turn on the faucet, and turn the joystick over to the hot side, after a few seconds you hear some noise like a big fan, coming from a large box on the wall, and then after a few more seconds you get the hot water. I don't get it- I've never seen this design in America- but the point is, you can hear the hot water heater turn on and off, and it's caused by pointing the faucet joystick to the hot side, plus a decent water pressure.

And my boyfriend found that in the shower, the water pressure wasn't high enough. So no hot water.

He had then called the water company and told them, and they closed and opened the valve while he was still on the phone, and it seemed to be fixed.

Sort of.

Later, when I was about to shower, he told me he had some advice to get the shower to work. See, the water pressure is high enough when the faucet part of the shower is on, but when you switch to the showerhead, you better not have the showerhead mounted up on the wall because by the time the water gets up there, the pressure's not high enough to keep the hot water going. (A photo of my shower is here, for reference.) So you have to hold the showerhead with your hand, don't lift it up too high, and hope that the hot water stays on.

So... Yeah. That was an adventure. But I showered successfully.

The next day I called the water company and told them what the problem was. The woman on the phone asked me my address, and then she was saying something about how they were going to check it or something, I didn't catch all of it (she's speaking Chinese, obviously) but I kept saying "okay, okay" and then she was like "okay bye" and hung up and I was like WAIT WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Image source.

Anyway, there are several more (shockingly similar) phone calls involved in this story, but in the end it got fixed. Yep. Always an adventure.

Don't drink the water! (A bit of clarification)

If you've never been to the wondrous land known as People's Republic of China, I highly recommend it. BUT the most important thing you must know is this: Don't drink the water!

Image source.

Tap water in China has bacteria, so it's not safe to drink. But don't worry, it's completely fine for the following:

• Showering (even if you get a few drops in your mouth, don't worry about it)
• Brushing your teeth- surprisingly enough, this is safe. One of my friends even told me he takes a gulp of water to rinse his mouth, and spits it out, and he's fine.
• Washing dishes
• Washing fruit/vegetables
• Giving water to my cat. He's a cat. Whatever.
• Cooking, if you're making soup or something that requires boiling it.

A couple drops is no problem. But if you actually drink a bunch of the tap water, you might get diarrhea.

(If a restaurant gives you a drink with ice, well, that ice is also a bit suspicious...)

So then, what do Chinese people do for water?

Option #1: Boil water.

If you're making soup or noodles or whatever, it's fine to use the tap water- you just have to make sure it boils first.

And for drinking water, you can use one of these electric pitcher things to boil the water first, and then it's safe to drink:

Image source.

Almost every hotel room I've stayed in in China had one.

Also, China doesn't have water fountains. Occasionally you'll see a hot water dispenser, which gives you boiled water for your instant noodles or whatever. I've seen these on trains and in waiting areas at the airport.

Everything about this picture is so Chinese. Image source.

Be careful because the water is super-hot.

Option #2: Buy bottled water.

So you can buy bottles of water, just like in America. That water is safe.

Also, these water-cooler things are really common in China:

Image source.

My apartment is furnished, so it already had one of these. Whenever I'm at my home and I want to drink water, this is where I get it. The office where I work also has one, along with some free paper cups.

And what do you do when your huge jug of water is empty?

Well you could do what I did, the first time it happened to me, and go into the office for your apartment and start asking incredibly confused questions in broken Chinese.

But here's what you're actually supposed to do: There's a phone number to call, and you just tell them your address and what type of water jug you want (??? I had no idea what to say when they asked me this question- water is all the same, right?) and then some guy will show up at your door with a full one, which is incredibly heavy, and take away your empty one. And you pay him 15 kuai.

From time to time I see people (must be the water-delivery people) riding around on mopeds with like 6 of these giant water jugs.

Maybe the average American would be shocked at the idea of living somewhere where you can't drink the tap water, but really, it's not that bad. It's normal to me now. It's not a problem at all.

Blogaround

Baby prairie dogs. Image source.

1. Gay pride festivals: a real-life follow-up. (posted May 5) "There were a lot of families there, and bounce houses for the kids."

2. Jonathan Frakes proves that someone can get away with anything for years if they’re smooth enough. (posted May 9) Wowwwww. I'm a trekkie and NEVER noticed this. This is hilarious.

3. Baby Duck Can't Stay Awake. ADORABLE.

4. Trauma Recovery Not About the ‘Story' (posted May 10) "We’re here to support you, we’re so sorry this happened to you and how can we support you? Those are the most important things to say (to the survivors)."

5. We built a well! (posted May 9) "Thanks to your help, people here are walking significantly less every day to collect water. This means each family now can use up to 15 liters per person per day! Most importantly, the water they bring home each day is safe enough to drink."

6. Baby Tortoises.

7. The Troubling Viral Trend of the “Hilarious” Black Neighbor (posted May 7) "Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame."

8. In this corner: Justice! And in this corner: Love! (posted 2011) "The argument continues to assert that we should not rely too heavily on God’s Love, because that would make God out to be a wussy hippie. And if you emphasize too much of God’s Justice, you make him out to be a pathological warmonger."

Blogaround

1. Identity Mapping? (posted September 11) About the "wives, submit to your husbands" passages: "In that particular context, marriages were not typically entered into by men and women of similar ages and with similar life experience, but by adolescent girls (aged 14-15 or so) and fully adult men (aged 28-30 or so). ... For me to treat my wife as though she were less wise, discerning, mature, knowledgeable or apt to lead than I am would be insulting and a failure to recognize and love her for who she really is."

2. The 47 Percent, In One Graphic (posted September 18) 47% of Americans pay no income taxes, and this article explains that with some nice charts.

3. Because everyone deserves clean water (posted September 18) 7-year-old Tariku Savage, who was born in Ethiopia, then moved to the US when he was adopted, is asking people to donate money to build a well in Rwanda. This is especially interesting because he actually experienced life with contaminated water for 4 years- his perspective is incredibly unique. So go over there and donate to him.

4. ShePonders: Jezebel (posted September 18) "And now I wonder- do I have Jezebel's appetite in me? As a woman raised amid affluence, do I want more than my fair share? Do I consume copious amounts of stuff while others languish in hunger?"

5. True Love Does More Than Just Wait (posted September 18) This. Go read this! This is THE BEST article I have ever seen about purity. It's about all the problems with the philosophy "don't have sex, just hold out until you get married and then the sex will be TOTALLY AWESOME and solve ALL YOUR PROBLEMS!!!1!!!1" Instead of being "pure" so we can get "reward sex" someday, how about we don't have sex because we're obedient to God, and self-denial builds character?

6. Dear Mitt Romney, Here's My 47% Story (posted September 18) "As for my 'entitlement' to the health care that I received during that pregnancy, I felt no such entitlement. I simply needed it. I felt shame then, and it angers me that you are still shaming me now, nine years later. Without that medical coverage, Mr. Romney, I would have died."

7. Why No One Cares About the White Jesus of Mitt Romney's Mormonism (posted September 9) "Historically, America's Jesus has been white without words, because whiteness needs no description. It is blackness, of the kind so prominently displayed by Jeremiah Wright's sermons replayed in 2008, that anger and trouble people, and thus need explanation."

8. Being Poor (posted in 2005) "Being poor is making sure you don't spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up." And a lot of other images. Go read this- it's profound.

9. A Convenient and Relaxing Kind of Christianity (posted September 20) "Cruise control" obedience means we "don't have to experience the fatigue that comes with seeking to obey Him with all our heart, soul, and mind." And that's not good enough.

10. Faith and Hope, 20% off! (posted July 2011) "And I'd have to smile, and take them over to the Harry Potter Is Evil!!!! section (right next to the Harry Potter Is A Christ Analogy And Totally Biblical!!!! section), and chat happily about how evil Harry Potter was..."

11. Disruptive faith (or, why we choose karma over grace) (posted September 11) "If the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob turns out to be real, my hope of maintaining order and control is forever lost."

12. "Creepshots" and revenge pornography latest frontiers in war against women (posted September 22) "Emma Watson has said that on her 18th birthday she realised that 'overnight I'd become fair game... One photographer lay down on the floor to get a shot up my skirt. The night it was legal for them to do it, they did it. I woke up the next day and felt completely violated.'"

13. Pregnant Rape Victims: Quit Assuming We Want an Abortion (posted September 21) "On the other side are those who perpetuate the myth that women and girls who become pregnant from sexual assault overwhelmingly want, need and benefit from having abortions. This also hurts women and fans the flames of prejudice toward those who do not want to have an abortion, even leading some to question whether a woman or girl who wishes not to abort has 'really' been raped."

So I have water. You want me to feel bad?

I saw this graphic on Facebook, and I wonder what the intended message is:

Image source.

Text: "Each day, the average American uses a minimum of 130 gallons of clean water. Each day, 783 million people use as little as 5 gallons of unclean water."

So, no source is cited, but I'll just assume those 2 statements are true. Even though I don't get what it means by "the average American uses a minimum of 130 gallons"- how can it be both average and minimum? Maybe they took an average for every day of the year, and the lowest average was 130? Who knows. Whatever. I don't like how it's worded.

So we have 2 true statements here, but since they're presented together like that, the reader is obviously supposed to see it as some kind of a comparison.

Maybe it's innocent. Maybe the comparison is just to give me an idea of what amount of water I think is "normal", so that I'm able to understand how low 5 gallons is. Perhaps if I had no idea how much water I use every day, I wouldn't understand that "5 gallons" is absurdly low.

Maybe it's just to show that other people live very differently than I do, and that's just reality.

But that's not what I felt when I read this. I felt like it was almost an accusation. It was trying to make me feel guilt. The juxtaposition of those 2 statistics sends the message "Americans are hogging all the water, and they should feel BAD because other people don't have clean water."

As if there's something WRONG with Americans using 130 gallons, when other people don't even have clean water.

No. The amount of water I use on a given day has NO EFFECT on the water available to people ON A DIFFERENT CONTINENT.

Seriously.

This cat keeps flushing the toilet, and that's the reason that children in India die of diarrhea. Image source.

If other people don't have clean water, it's because they don't have the infrastructure to bring them water where they live. It's because the technology hasn't been put in place where they live. And that's a problem. Everyone should have clean water. But I don't see how any good can come out of a comparison like the one in the above image. It seems like it's just trying to make Americans feel bad.

If you want to judge whether it's good or bad for the average American to use 130 gallons of water, let's look at what it's doing to the environment. Let's look at what it's doing to the supply of fresh water in the US. But the fact that someone 5000 miles away doesn't have a pipe going to their house has no bearing on whether it's somehow immoral for me to take a long shower.

Yes, let's donate to World Vision (I just did) and other organizations that work to bring water to every part of the world. Because it totally is a problem, and it totally is something that a lot of organizations are working on, making progress, improving people's lives. But I see no reason that I should think it's immoral to use 130 gallons of water for myself every day.

And issues like this- about poverty, injustice, lack of resources- they're so hard to understand because I've never experienced anything like that before. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel. I tried my best to present the facts accurately when I wrote about the world's water and sanitation crisis. It's a problem, and those of us who are able to donate money should definitely do so, but at the same time I don't think it's right to guilt people into it, and I don't want us to view other parts of the world as some homogeneous lump of impoverished one-dimensional people, who spend all their time being sad about how they don't have food or education. They're real people. They have families, they have inside jokes, they have interests and dreams.

And maybe it's impossible for me to understand without actually visiting another country and meeting the people who live that way.

What do you think? Is there some kind of accusation/guilt implied in the above graphic? How should we respond to those statistics?

Our brothers and sisters dealing with a water/sanitation crisis

Two related issues I want to talk about today: access to safe drinking water and access to adequate sanitation. (By "sanitation" I mean "a toilet system where the poop is taken away, far away, and never comes back to contaminate your life.")

In the world today, 884 million people (13% of the world) do not have access to safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion (37%) do not have adequate sanitation.  This is not okay.

The two issues are related, because without sanitary toilets, the poop gets into the water supply.  If that's your main water supply, then you're not getting clean water.

In the parts of the world without safe/convenient drinking water, it takes an average of 3 hours per day to collect and carry the water that a family would need (usually this task is done by women and girls- so the girls don't have time to attend school.)  Sometimes the water source may be a significant distance from the home.  And you know water is really heavy.

After the water is brought back to the home, what do they do with it?  I couldn't find a source for this one; I don't know the answer.  (Help me out here if you can.)  Do they just drink it?  Boil it?  (If so, you have to get fuel, which means more hard work...)  Some kind of filter?

At any rate, when people do not have access to clean water, they are drinking water that may be dangerous.  Diarrhea is responsible for 1.8 million deaths per year, with 1.5 million of them being children.  (In other words, 4000 children die every day from diarrhea.)  This is not okay.  No one's kid should die from diarrhea.

The water-related illnesses also have an effect on the economy: When people are sick, they are unable to work.  Also, they have to spend money on medical treatment.  This is a huge burden for a family already living on a low income.  Lack of clean water can cause very far-reaching problems.

As previously stated, nearly half the world's population (2.6 billion people) does not have access to sanitary toilets.  I'm glad I watched this video ("World's Toilet Crisis") about it, because it's really hard for me to even imagine how anyone could live without a toilet.  Basically how it works is people poop outside, poop in the river, etc, and it's kind of gross.  (And you get lots of flies, which can spread disease.)  Also there's a big problem with lack of privacy, especially for women, who may need to sneak out to "use the bathroom" very early in the morning or at night, which I suspect is really inconvenient- and it's not safe.

The issue of schools lacking bathrooms discourages girls from attending, especially while menstruating.  This is totally not okay.

In India specifically, 600 million people (55% of India's population) do not have toilets.  (More people in India own cell phones than toilets.)  And 1000 children die every day from water-borne illness.

Here's a fun fact; if you're American, you might not know this, because I totally didn't, until I went to China.  So you know what toilets look like, right?

Western toilet.  Image source.

This is totally not universal.  The above image shows a "western toilet."  In Asia, a lot of toilets look like this:

Squat toilet.  Image source.

So, that's fine, the squat toilet works too.  In the areas of China where I've been, both the western toilets and the squatties were common.

(Why am I including the "fun fact" about the squatty potty?  Because I'm trying to help my readers really understand, and if you're reading this and imagining installing porcelain thrones around south Asia, you don't have a clue.)

So, in summary.  13% of the world doesn't have clean water to drink, and 37% doesn't have a decent toilet.  It's not okay that kids are dying from diarrhea, and don't have time for education because it's so much work to get water, and people are getting sick over and over, etc etc.

And I hope I've presented this in a way that doesn't have you thinking "oh those poor people, how could anyone live without running water, they must be so sad and one-dimensional, just sitting there all the time so sad about not having decent water."  No.  They're real people, like you.  They have hopes and dreams and fears and inside jokes.  They love their families.  Etc etc.  The difference is they go poop outside in the woods where it's gross, and sometimes they get sick or die from stupid things.  And it's not okay that that happens.

Sources:
WaterAid
World Health Organization
End Water Poverty
"World's Toilet Crisis" video
Blue Planet Network
The Rights to Water and Sanitation
Population Clock