We live in a desert. Located on the edge of the Gobi Dessert, Beijing is known for being extremely dry. During the spring, Beijing is infamous for dust storms, storms that cover the city in a thick layer of brown dust. Thanks to the government’s “tree planting campaign” (they’re big on campaigns here), the number of dust storms has decreased significantly. We have yet to experience one of these infamous storms. But it is definitely the dustiest place I’ve ever lived. If I give my apartment a thorough cleaning, dusting the furniture, sweeping and mopping the floor, I kid you not, within two days the furniture has a visible layer of dust so thick that it would take weeks to accumulate in Michigan! Some days I fight the dust, other days I consider it a hopeless cause. I do try to take our clean clothes off the drying rack as soon as they are dry, otherwise they have to be washed again, because they’ve become so dusty!

Being a desert and all, Beijing rarely receives a good soaking rain. In fact, it is much more common for there to be a man-made drizzle on a day when the government decides the pollution has gotten too bad and they want to “clean” the sky. I’m not joking. I didn’t believe it when I first moved here. I didn’t now man-made rain was possible. But now it is just a common fact of life here. Whenever they decide the city needs a blue sky day (often before holidays) they will send up planes to seed the clouds. A few hours later, a light drizzle will fall from the sky. And the next day, you will wake up to a beautiful blue sky. Slightly disturbing at first, but quite amazing.

Today, however is not such a day. Today the city is receiving a rare soaking rain, coming from the Rain Maker Himself. Not expecting it, I went to class without an umbrella. Thankfully after class, a sweet student pulled out her umbrella and walked me back to our building. It is refreshing day, a reminder to slow down, take in the Living Water and ask for that Water to be poured out on a dry and thirsty land.

The street in front of our building:

The view from our apartment window: