We broke records here in Beijing last week..........and not the good kind! The air pollution was so horrible here that it literally looked like we were in a brown haze and it smelled awful. It burned your throat if you were outside for too long. The US Embassy puts out an air quality index and it reached way into the 700's. They say that over 200 is extremely unhealthy so that must make the 700's what.....death????
We have air purifiers in our house and the school has an amazing air filtration system. We have also acquired some great masks that block out 95% of pollutants. (Thanks mom!) We actually wear them when the pollution goes too high over 200 (which is several times a week). Today we were over 400 again so the kids went to school looking like they should be on an episode of Doomsday Preppers. It was very surreal to watch all of the kids ride bikes down our street wearing masks to go to school, but glad that they all have enough sense to wear them. The girls don't even fight us about wearing them! They can't stand the smell, taste and feel in the back of their throats from the pollution. I'm not gonna lie....I sure do miss home on days like this and all of the fresh air at our house in the country. I will NEVER take that for granted again! So if you would all do me a favor, when you are done reading this please stick your head out the window and take a deep breath of fresh air and enjoy it......and if you want to know what it is like for us, go stand behind a couple of big diesel trucks, with lousy exhaust systems, and have them rev their engines about 20 times and then take a deep breath....good stuff huh????!!
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| This was one of the AQI readings from last weekend. This is why we made world wide news! |
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| This is a picture of the sun out of my bedroom window. Can you see it?? It is covered by a thick brown haze of pollution. |
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