The snow family lives at the gas station near my house.  When I walked by yesterday, one of the attendants was diligently tending to Snowmom, who had an umbrella (I think he was putting the design in her skirt).  I guess the umbrella didn't make it through the night.  Meanwhile, MaxiMe continues to evolve.  I gotta tell you, I have no idea what they're using for the hair, but it looks real enough to be a little creepy.

FYI, the blog has been experiencing some technical difficulties.  You may or may not notice a couple small changes, but hopefully nothing major.  Please holler if you think you notice a problem.

I got my new textbook today.  One of its selling points is that it's "concise, practical, authentic, and topical."  I wonder which one of these lessons I'll find more useful.

I guess because snow doesn't often accumulate here, people are pretty giddy about it, and anticipation of the upcoming holiday probably contributes to the fun.  I saw about 6 snowmen on my one-mile walk to school, and they all made me laugh.  The two guys below were sitting in front of buildings in my complex.  I'm pretty sure they're the work of the security guards/workmen, who, as far as I can tell, stand around all day with nothing to do but check the occasional car pass and talk to each other on their walkie-talkies.

He also moved a couple feet over towards the corner.  This guy was so great I thought he should get his own page.

I know I've been talking (ok, whining) about the weather a lot, but I just want to point out that I'm not the only one. It turns out that I wasn't actually lied to; it really isn't supposed to be this cold and snowy here at this time of year.  In fact, China's experiencing its worst winter in (depending on what part of the country we're talking about) ten to fifty years.  It's actually causing quite a number of worries in terms of food getting to the cities and people getting home for the big Chinese New Year holiday (a US airport around Thanksgiving has nothing on 1.6 billion Chinese trying to get home for a two-week holiday.  Here, I'm told, it's not like the US, where some people go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, some don't; here everyone goes home, and this is the only time of year most of them do it).  Anyway, you can check the news stories if you want to know more; I know that what you really want is pictures.  You got 'em. 

It looks to me like this started out as a giant rabbit, but the top seems to bear a slight resemblance to the guy with the shovel... I don't know what it's supposed to be, but people seemed to be enjoying it.

Shovels are for snowmen.  Snowrabbits.  Whatever.

Ah, more questions pour in from the viewing public.  I love it!  But first, some questions for you:

1. I've been getting reports of an RSS error message when some people try to set it up.  If any of you are successfully employing the feed and can recommend a good reader/site/utility for RSS novices, please let me know.

2. Feedback: now's your chance!  Too many words, not enough pictures, or not enough words, and too-small pictures?  More about food, or too much about food already?  What do you want to see/read about?  I can't promise to deliver, but I like happy readers, so I will try.

3. Less a question than a note:  I sent out my address here before I left, but I've just discovered that the postal code was wrong.  Oops. If you care (either because of your own OCD tendencies or because you have high hopes of writing real mail at some point), let me know and I'll send you the correct one.  I won't be offended if you don't care, I promise.  After all, I haven't written to you, either.  :)    And now for Q&A the other way...

What are your favorite and least favorite things so far?
This might sound odd, but my current favorite is the little loaves of bread. They're the perfect size for one person (or 2 who don't eat it too often), and it seems like no matter what time of day I go to the bakery, they've been taken out of the oven recently enough that you can see the condensation from the steam in the little bag (the bags aren't tied tightly until they cool down).  At home I could never get through an entire loaf, of either the sandwich slices or the artisan breads, while it was still good, much less fresh. They don't have pumpernickel or sourdough here, though, which makes me a little sad.  The funny thing is that the bread isn't even all that tasty (it's not bad, just not remarkable -- good for toast and sandwiches), but I love that none of it goes to waste.  Only one end piece, too.

It took me a while to come up with my least favorite thing, but now that I've thought about it a bit, I can definitively say that it would have to be the squat toilet.  More modern places have migrated to the Western toilet, but in many public places the squat toilet is still prevalent.  I can do the Asian squat and all; that's not the issue --  it's just that given my druthers, I prefer the direction the Japanese have gone with this.

Speaking of Japan, are you wearing a face mask?  Is everyone else?
No.  Not that many people here do, although there are some. If I rode a bike or motorcycle on the streets here, I would want one (heck, I always wanted one if I landed behind a bus or a taxi in DC on my bike), but most people aren't all that paranoid.

So can you, say, have a conversation with people on the street now?  Do people try to talk to you in English or Chinese?
A limited one, sure.  I mean, I'm not ready to talk politics, car engines, or heart surgery.  But I can do everyday shopping and small talk; I can bargain, order food, ask directions, and complain about the weather.  Which, frankly, is all I've had to do so far, so it works for me.  As for the choice of language, I default to Chinese unless I think there's a good chance someone speaks English and I think I might need to describe something for which I don't have the Chinese vocabulary; then I'll ask (in Chinese) if they speak English.  Not surprisingly, places like banks and post offices, especially in locations where they get more Westerners, are more likely to have someone who can answer in the affirmative.  On the shopkeepers' end, they mostly seem to assume I speak Chinese unless and until I prove otherwise.  I think in my area, at least (not so touristy and not overly expat), though, this might be true even if I were tall and blonde. In the more touristy parts of town, if you look remotely non-Chinese (and I include Japanese, Singaporean, etc.), you're more likely to be approached with a smattering of English or some other language.

What's wrong with you?  I love eating ice cream when it's cold out.
Boy, it appears that nothing gets people going like insulting their ice cream eating habits.  First of all, I know you people, and for at least one of you, I don't even know when you were last *in* weather below 40 degrees, so I'm skeptical.  Second, sure, you eat ice cream in the winter, but really, are you standing around OUTSIDE eating it?  Because going inside and savoring it while the frozen rain and wind is not whipping across your face and your fingers aren't in danger of falling off doesn't count.  Anyway, if the answer is still yes, fine, I think you're crazy too.  Harumph.

There are at least four things to note in this picture:

1. If you look closely, you can tell that someone is actually pedaling this bike, it's not just standing at the corner.
2. The pedestrians displaying a complete insouciance for the oncoming bike/cart that is about to run them over. 
3. The cyclist who, despite the fact that his vehicle is clearly neither lean and svelte nor a speed demon, is not at all concerned about making a left-hand turn from the left (i.e., oncoming traffic -- traffic travels on the right here, as in the US) side of one street into the oncoming-traffic lanes of the other. 
4. He's turning against the light.

This is pretty much how traffic works in China.

I didn't even know NordicTrack made a model in primary colors.