Change is in the air

Before I left home for Christmas, I was very uncertain about my future plans in China. Beijing, as many of you know is arguably the most polluted city in the world. It is also massive, has horrible traffic, is filled with people, and designed to a scale that isn't really pedestrian friendly. So, to be honest, after I had bought my ticket, and especially while I was waiting for my connecting flight in Seattle, taking in the view of the harbor and lushly forested hills while eating fresh salmon I kept asking myself, "What the hell are you going back for?" I wasn't really sure myself. I knew the temperature difference between mild Texas and 4 season Beijing would be about 60 degrees Farenheit.

Before returning home about 7 weeks ago, the signs of winter were everywhere. The days had gotten shorter and the nights were becoming quite cold. I didn't really know what a Beijing winter would portend. More hotpots for sure. More investments in winter clothes. My strategy was to wait and see what the Beijingers would do, and they were already preparing for the four months of cold.

Shop owners and public servants hung blankets in front of doorways. Enormous piles of Napa cabbage, sometimes the size of small cars, sprang up in markets and on street corners. Farmers sold the cabbage at reduced prices to avoid frost damage and people bought them by the dozen, to stock up for winter. Small and young trees that line most city streets and parks had been wrapped in rope. The rope is supposed to help insulate the trees to survive the long winter. Oh, and the city turned on the public heating for the year. That was basically the state in which I left Beijing.

After I returned Beijing was a different city. First off, within just six weeks, roads that were under construction near my subway stop had been finished. New roads that I had no idea were planned had been laid and finished as well. Old buildings had come down and new ones were coming up. This is the norm in China; it's surprising, exciting and unsettling, but you get used to it.

The air quality improved dramatically. Strong winds blowing off the Mongolia's plains bring frequent cold fronts into Beijing. Luckily, they also seem to carry off much of the air-borne pollution. Blue skies, something I was so reluctant to leave in the U.S. finally became the norm in Beijing. Even the U.S. embassy in Beijing says so.

The produce improved in quality. This was a shock because I was expecting the winter to cut off access to many of the fall, spring and summer crops. Actually, I think the colder temperatures provided some free refrigeration for the distributors and vendors. There were very few sad, limp vegetables, or blighted piles of fruit, as was so often the case in summer.

The biggest surprise for me was the freezing of Hòu Hǎi (后海) lake. Hòu Hǎi is a city park in the center of Beijing containing 4 lakes or Hǎi within its tree-lined paths. In summer locals and tourists paddle slowly through the lake and old men (as well as drunk friends at 5 AM) brave the murky, polluted water to practice their swimming. Upon returning, I found the entire lake was frozen over and had become 1 big ice skating rink with little kids, skate

rentals, push ice scooters - everything except the hot chocolate (I may have to open a stall). This is all very obvious to those of you living in the Northern U.S., but I was raised in Texas, and the idea that a lake could freeze over and become an ice playground was a complete surprise. Within a few days of arriving I found some friends and donned a pair of ice skates.

I hope you all are savoring the nuances of the seasons as much as I am. To those of you who live somewhere without much seasonal change, I may be a bit envious of the mild weather. Then again, change is fun, change is exciting, and season changes are no different.

Stay warm.