Eric's Beijing Diary

Just got back from the hot water room. I have a shui-ka (hot water card) that I put in the slot at one of the meters in the hot water room, so I can fill my thermos. The water is free, actually, but they make you use a card for a couple reasons. First, it gives them a way to limit access to residents of this campus. And then there is a time limit of ten minutes, so that everybody is basically rationed. It's a pretty generous ration, I think, because you can fill quite a few jugs in ten minutes, but I suppose I say that because I have one large thermos and that's it.

The hot water room is not open all the time. It opens for a couple hours in the morning, and few at noon, and then in the evening. It closes between 10:30 and 11. I use the hot water for tea. At the coffee bar I drink coffee, but at home I drink tea. Mostly jasmine tea or crysanthemum tea, but in China, there are many, many varieties of tea, so I have tried a little of everything. In the morning, I use the hot water to make oatmeal. For some reason, I had a hard time finding good oatmeal when I first came here. Maybe I am just picky. But I finally found this Australian stuff called, "Yorker." It was worth the wait--that stuff is the best oatmeal I have ever had in my life.