Making Cold Water
On Monday morning, I bought two 2-liter plastic water pitchers. In my new apartment, I boil all my drinking water, then put it in the refrigerator. Cold water is almost like a treat around here since most restaurants serve hot tea, hot water or tepid water. Icy, cold water is pretty rare in Hong Kong.
In all, I put about 6 liters of hot, boiling water in my refrigerator around mid day on Monday–along with a good selection of fruits and vegetables (I’m going to make a killer stir fry this week sometime).
On Monday night, I was shocked to find that not only was the water not nearly cool yet, it had actually elevated the temperature of all the other food in the fridge. The whole interior of my icebox was basically room temperature and the outside walls of the refrigerator were actually hot because the cooling unit was working overtime.
After about 24 hours, the water was finally cool and things got back to normal in there.
The experience made me think a little, though. Not just about refrigerator thermostats, but about human thermostats. You know them. People who change their surroundings just because they are there. People who influence more change than one person should. People who light up darkness and add a little seasoning to a very bland meal.
I want to be one.
