Hot Water

Just thought i'd give a little update about everyday life here in China. As Jin told me(and I didn't believe back when I was in the U.S.), Hot Water is everywhere here! They have giant coffee maker looking things at bus stations, on the train, in museums, airports, hostels, and glasses of hot water are served at restaurants, peoples houses, and basically anywhere else you can imagine. I have tried to tell people about the Ice Water in the US, but people simply look at me with astonishment. After a month of drinking warm water, it is almost getting normal, but still not quite as refreshing. Everyone here caries around a jar or hard plastic waterbottle and fills up there water wherever it is convenient. Every family boils water before they drink it, but brushes their teeth with tap water. People have special Nalgene like bottles with tea filters at the top so they can make tea throughout the day and carry it with them. Nobody here drinks tap water. I asked if it was because of bacteria in the water or chemicals in the water used to purify it, but no one has a concrete answer. Drinking hot water, and boiling your water at home has been described to me as a sort of Chinese tradition. When I told Jin's Uncle that people in the US always drink cold ice water, even on the coldest of days, he simply asked, "do you take cold showers as well?"