Here comes the rain ...

I woke up this morning at 5 AM to the sounds of heavy rain, strong winds and thunder; almost sounded like Kansas in April. Wondered if I'd need to take my umbrella to work today, but just a light sprinkle as I set out, so decided to leave it at home. As I walked in, I was struck by two things ...

#1. How much more I pay attention when I'm not in a familiar environment. Even this will change as I get used to my daily route from She Kou to the office, but for right now I notice buildings, colors, smells, sounds as a constant frame of reference. I know, for example, that in the morning when I smell garlic, I am about two blocks from the subway station. Happens every day in the same place. I also know that the highest number of people I've seen packed into an elevator (that I was also in) is sixteen. Fortunately, none of them weighed nearly as much as me or we would have been exploring floor -3 instead of going up.

#2. How much rain improves the smell of the city. We had gone a little more than a week without a good shower and the smells of thirteen million people were starting to get a little pronounced. But today I could smell flowers, trees, cologne/perfume, and even baked goods. (Which smell a lot better when not mixed with the smell of fermenting trashpiles.) Even the streets looked better with all of the dust cleared off. I think Shenzhen employs a huge number of people to go around with brooms to sweep up debris as I see them everywhere. They pick up leaves, spare bits of trash and wear uniforms. Even with all of these people, an hour of rain does quite a bit more effective work than this (probably) several hundred thousand people workforce.
Nature is powerful.

Off to one of our factories tomorrow and then heading to Beijing for the four-day weekend!