A recent bright, sunny day on our open balcony.

~*~

Beijing is dyed a sickly yellow.

**__^^ SNOW DAY **--^^

It snowed endlessly this early this week. This is a rare occurrence in dry Beijing, so kids were out making snowmen and everyone was mostly marveling at it all.

Me throwing a snowball.

The target of said snowball.

Oops.

Me on a very cold Beijing morning.

污染天气
AIR POLLUTION

Thursday the 18th in Zhongguancun, a suburb of Beijing. There are dozens of skyscrapers in the distance, totally concealed in smog. One of the worst pollution days since winter.

Same day at dusk near the city center. It rained lightly; a strange, chemical smelling rain.

Positive things about living in Beijing

• Springtime.
• The Summer Palace.
• Mandarin.
• Visas are easy.
  
• Kindness of Chinese people.
• Emergence of a competent art scene.
  
• New, shiny, fast-paced madness.
• The best public transportation ever.
  
• Cracking sunflower seeds and drinking green tea.
  
• Greasy Cantonese food at one AM.
• Things are cheap.
• Wandering through the hutong.
  
• Produce markets filled with exotic things.
• Bootleg DVDs.
  

Negative things about living in Beijing

• Pollution.
• Endless waves of people.
• Cutting in line.
• Public spitting.
• Really terrible clothing.
  
• Destruction of beautiful, old hutong.
  
• Dirtiness.
• State of public toilets.
• Oily, cheap, MSG-laden food
  
• Missing familiar things.
• Long winters.
• Endless, drab apartment blocks.
• Ignorance of the outside world.
• Oh, and pollution. Pollution. Pollution.
  

It snowed.
下雪了。

Not just a flurry, either, but actual snow. This is extremely atypical in Beijing in general, but especially this late in winter. The cause was government intervention due to a huge drought that's hit us this year. According to UK's The Times, "500 cigarette-sized sticks of silver iodide had been seeded into clouds," which caused a record amount of precipitation. It was quite pretty to see for a Florida boy.

Beijing winter essentials
-^=^-

1 ~ long underwear
2 ~ gloves
3 ~ hat
4 ~ scarf
5 ~ sheepskin insoles
6 ~ humidifier
7 ~ slippers
8 ~ lint brush
9 ~ various lotions
10 ~ lip balm

地震

Tens of thousands are dead in Sichuan province. The situation is dire. China is hurting right now.

If you'd like to help, donate here.