At very long last, snow

According to official records, there has been no precipitation in Beijing for more than 100 days. Last winter we had many snowy days, but this year, merely bitter cold and wind. I know that being snow-starved doesn't sound so bad for my friends and family in the US who have all been in a continuous state of digging out since November. It is, however, a potential for disaster here, so whatever moisture can fall out of the sky in whatever form it can come in is welcomed.

Of course, Myles and Brigid welcomed the snow, from the first peek they had of it last night.


All through the day they could barely be contained. They really wanted to go out to play in the snow. This afternoon they got their wish. I took them to Changping Park, thinking that if the snow was not deep enough for any real fun we could always go play on the ice. Fortunately, these kids will play happily in just about any depth of snow, because there was no ice skating today at the park. Since a lot of the 冰车 (literally, "ice cars") were still sitting next to the skating area, I am hoping it is just because of the snow and we will still have the opportunity to get more ice time in Changping this season.

Myles wanted to build a snow man.  As he found the snow impossible to form into decent snowballs, he asked me if this were Government Snow because it was so hard to pack.  He persevered and formed this snow creature. Not only was the snow difficult to shape, it also didn't accept accessories well either. He had intended to make a snowman face, except the stone eyes kept rolling out. With only one small rock that had been intended to be the nose staying on the face, Myles revised his plan and declared the now one-eyed creation a Snowclops.




Brigid proved her own resourcefulness in working with Government Snow.  She started picking up handfuls of it and rubbing the snow on the bark of some trees, where it stuck.  She giggled when I asked her if she were painting the tree.



We were, as usual, subject to comments, photographing and stares as we were the only white foreigners in the park. I am surprised that after two years every person in Changping (population in the hundreds of thousands) hasn't already run into us somewhere in town, but they haven't.

One of the most fun encounters we've had in a long time has to be the time we spend playing and posing with an extended family of Uyghurs.



In Changping my having two children is unique. I am often asked if both of them are mine, and if I really take care of them by myself.  Among the local Chinese families that live around me, it is more common for a couple's lone child to be looked after by one or more grandparents as well as his or her parents, and a nanny for the more affluent. Uyghurs, though, are permitted to have more than one child, even living outside of Xinjiang. In the picture above some of the kids are siblings and some of them are cousins.  Not once did the two women (mothers to four of them, aunts to one of them) make any remarks about my having two children, at the park, by myself. It was such a great way to end our afternoon at the park not to feel on the defensive. And for myself, it was nice just to see a gaggle of siblings and cousins, enjoying the snow together. It reminded me of everyone we've left  in the US, and so much more than snow, we've felt starved for their company.