BETTER SLED THAN RED

Monday evening brought the second big snow of the year, a snow perhaps not of nature made but crafted instead by the mad scientists in the weather ministry bent on cleaning up the air a bit. Thick “fog” hung in the streets for the week preceding, and while the official measurements listed on the Chinese EPA website showed pollution readings only in the 100s, the more sensitive monitor at the U.S. Embassy was literally off the scale, reading at least 500. The snow then, was very welcome.

On Tuesday afternoon I had the pleasure of showing the friend of a friend around Beijing, and while my tour was far from comprehensive, it had the merit, at least for me, of providing an excuse to walk around some pretty places and eat dumplings in good company.

Yonghegong lama temple looked especially seasonal bearing a thin layer of snow, although it made a strange topping for all the trees and bushes that haven't yet lost their leaves.

A sight which pleased me even more was this young boy and his father hailing a taxi. The 7-year old inside me was moved to great envy by the boy’s puffy jacket, which appeared to have built in (and perhaps even retractable!) alien ears. A close up may be necessary.

In this inset, we can better see that his jacket reads “SEEK THE BABY”, or possibly “SEEK THE BADY”, both of which make perfect sense to me.

Wednesday was pleasantly cold but I assumed, based on my first winter in Beijing, that the snow wouldn’t stick around for long. I was wrong. When I woke this morning there was a fresh layer of powder outside and it was still falling steadily. Thinking I might wait it out, I tucked back into bed with tea and Middlemarch, daydreaming of the high-tech winter gear back in storage in Seattle, whose promises of “wind-stopping”, “moisture wicking”, and “thermal insulation” might act as incantations against the snowfall, if nothing else.

After lunch I went shopping with Auntie Zhang so I could carry home the groceries for Uncle Mu to start dinner preparations with after she went back to the office. It was the realization that it was really very pleasant outside (and perhaps also a little fear at what kind of dinner Uncle Mu could cook up with duck skins and lotus roots) that decided me on venturing out for the rest of the afternoon. It was a good decision. Campus, already an inspiring place, is lovely today.

Even the concrete maw of the library and the fierce lion-dogs that stand sentry in front of it look a little softer: edges blunted, light refracted, just sparkly enough to still be taken seriously.