Ma

Since I returned from the US in early November there has not been any rain or snow (officially it's now been 98 days and counting...). Apparently London and Germany are using up Beijing's share and then some. Due to some windy days there's not been much air pollution and the temperature has been fairly mild. not getting much below minus 5 most days, and some days hitting plus 5 in the daytime. In the sun, a late morning run on the weekends along the canal has been beautiful. Apparently the warm temperatures, dry weather and lack of snow have meant it's idea for getting the cold though - and all three of us managed to get a little sick at least once over the last few months.

In Germany where Hannah and Andrea have been for the last week, the snow has made life more interesting for Hannah--she loves playing with the snow, but hates the actual snow falling in her face. In a couple of weeks she'll forget all about that and enjoy the sand instead once we get to the Canary Islands for a short break. I've had the place to myself during this time (though I'm still working in the daytime); it does feel very empty and lonely. At first there was a nice feeling of having some time alone, but that quickly passed. It will be nice to see them next week in London, that's for sure.

Beijing's had this strange feeling over the past month - with only a couple of weeks between Christmas and New Year, it's been quite slow and uneventful. Lots of people are away and we've been wishing people happy new year non-stop for weeks on end; some christmas decorations were taken down, to be replaced by chinese lanterns, but many buildings and malls had just created something generic that could serve both purposes and keep it up (at least for lights anyway, maybe some trees have disappeared recently). The firework stalls have been set up on many street corners. Chinese New Year officially starts on friday, and though officially it is only a 1-week holiday most people take a week extra off before or after, and some take more. Officially there is a 40-day window when people will be doing most of their traveling home.

See you in the Year of the Horse

(horse is "ma" in Chinese - "ma" is also mother (it's written differently in chinese, but sounds the same in english) and hence was Hannah's first word and still one of her favourite words)