Lately Shenzhen has been inundated with torrential rains. It seems like almost everyday it rains very hard for at least fifteen or twenty minutes. In addition to that, there’s at least a few hours of moderate rainfall sprinkled here and there. I’m not sure if it’s typical or not (I can never get consistent answers on anything out here. Some people definitively say “Yes, every May and June we have this weather. Then it gets hot in July.” Others say, “This weather is not common; it never rains this much.” Both diametrically opposed statements are delivered with the same amount of certainty. So, who really knows?) Anyway, I don’t mind the rain ’cause it’s keeping the temperature reasonably cool, albeit a cool sauna.

However, I doubt that this is common weather because Hai Shang Shi Jie (Sea World) is underwater now. What a shame; my favorite Indian restaurant is now under ten feet of water. Here, check out the pictures:

See the picture with the ship above? This ship sits on land. This whole area used to be part of the bay, but the Chinese have moved in loads and loads of dirt and eventually the ship ended up being on land. And recently, this area, Seaworld, has been transformed into a high end gathering area that is popular with expatriates. This is by far the most cosmopolitan part of the city, featuring several international restaurants. By the way, the good news is that a new Indian restaurant has opened up somewhere in Dong Men.

I’ve been very busy at work and with Chinese lessons this week. At work, we’re putting together a farewell video for my Polish friend Greg. I was somehow nominated to write the script. Then, I ended up being responsible for the filming, the directing, getting the props, the editing. So, almost every day after work this week, we had a shoot of some kind. So, I moved my lessons to early afternoon. This was a nice break ’cause I got to go back home and have a lunch there after my Chinese lesson. While I was eating outside, another cloudburst came. I snapped this photo with my cell phone of a rowing team practicing in the rain. There’s some sort of boating competition coming to this area soon.

Oh yeah, and I’ll throw in this silly picture of a cappuccino at my favorite foreign restaurant – the pattern on top is supposed to be a storm in honor of the bad weather we’ve been having: