Warm, muggy, humid days have arrived in Beilun!

Today's weather forecast (for the Ningbo area;
Beilun's weather is always slightly different because
we're closer to the coast/port; so we get more fog/humidity)

In the last week, temps have been rising (constantly above 70ºF now, even at night; average of high 70s-mid 80s in the last few days), which isn't especially hot, but the muggy weather is setting in. So the air feels thick and the winds are warmer (thankfully there usually is a breeze, though right now it is rather still outside, as a storm is approaching). It's pretty muggy when it's raining, or right after it's rained, obviously.

Anyway,  I have had my classroom windows open in the last couple weeks as weather's been warming up (which doesn't keep the gnats or flies or construction noises or rain or smells of pesticides out). Being on the top floor of the building (heat rises!), my room is usually one of the warmer ones on campus (and the colder, less insulated one in the winter, but I've already been over that). For a room that is made of windows--nearly 1/3 of my classroom "walls" are actually glass windows--it is a shame that only two of the smaller ones open, and the "window screens" don't fit, or have holes in them, completely defeating the purpose of keeping out insects. TIC. The little ventilation provided from the open windows does almost zilch, even when my classroom door is open to create a cross breeze.

AirCon unit that my Elves labeled when we
had a sight-word vocab contest a while back.
(EVERYTHING in my classroom is now labeled)

Therefore, as my first period class of third-grade Elves came in today, literally dripping with sweat, mopping their brows with tissues, I decided it was finally time to turn on the AirCon unit (the one that doubles as a "heater" during the winter, when the temps were below freezing for weeks on end, and I needed to give out handwarmers to my students then...). I set it to 24ºC (which would theoretically cool the room to 75ºF). The kids loved the almost-instantaneous ice box, as we pulled the window shades down and worked on our "words with silent letters" projected-activities on the whiteboard. (Honestly, I've been loving the warmer, more humid environment in my classroom, and have protested using the-box-of-filtered-air for over the last month, with the exception of maybe a cold, rainy morning or two at the start of April.

At the end of class when it was time to line up, I had them order themselves by most number of tissues used to least; Elf #1: six tissues (very active, normally sweaty little munchkin), Elf #2: four tissues (very tall, active, and frequently sweaty munchkin), Elf #3: two tissues (munchkin with sneezy allergies and sweaty), Elf #4: zero tissues (a petite little Korean munchkin who I don't think I've ever seen so much of a glisten or a bead of sweat from).

I'm sure you wanted to know those details. But such is life in the encroaching season of Humidity...