Brrr!

For quite a while, the fall weather was very nice here. I do mean nice by my standards; the poor students were cold and complaining, but I was comfortable and running around with several fewer layers. I think it's some kind of national law that on the first of October, everyone in northern China puts on long under - tops and bottoms. For over a month, I've seen people with sleeves and hems poking out even when the weather is sunny and (relatively) balmy. Once I actually sat with a Chinese friend talking while he kept wiping the sweat off of his face becuase he was so warm, but he stuck to his long johns! Our (laowei) theory is that his wife wouldn't let him out of the house without his long johns, no matter how warm it was.
However, Monday morning the cold snap hit. It went from 50+ degrees to 25-30 in one night and if anything it's gotten colder. I have joined the rank of long john (bottoms) wearers. When I dressed to walk to class this morning, I put on:
underwear
long johns
trousers
socks
shoes
a 3/4 sleeve seater
a cardigan
a jacket
gloves and
a scarf I just finished knitting

I know what you're thinking - why didn't she wear a hat? ;) Well, I still need to buy one. Actually, now that it's cold enough that the puddles stay frozen during the day, even I feel a little bit cold. Still not as much as the students - I take the top few layers off when I get to class, but they huddle on their stools in their coats, and the students who were complaining before are now shaking and clasping their pink noses. It's now officially 0 degrees here since China uses celsius. Apparently it will only get colder. I can deal with the cold, but I am happy to be planning a trip south for January.

I got a package today and it's the highlight of my week (though I am looking forward to rehearsal on Friday when I try to teach swing dance moves. One of them involved getting on the floor, which the Chinese think is shocking and disgusting, so we'll see how many panic). My apartment now smells like American spices, and Laura and Lisa sent me amazing stuff that I love, especially the picture of me and Hugh Jackman. I'm wearing my bridesmaid dress from Laura's wedding and making a face and the caption reads, "When Hugh wasn't looking, Amy liked to make faces at the paparazzi." It's one of the funniest things I've seen here. Acutally, maybe ever.

Tonight we had team dinner and we voted it "Most Unintentionally Gross Meal" so far. Mark still argues that the meal when he and some others may have accidentally eaten cow penis wins "Most Gross Food" award. Anyway, there were some workers eating near us who were smoking and drinking alot of beer. They cleared their throats and noses loudly onto the floor several times (seriously - this is acceptable public behavior here, though it's more common in the street). Then I choked on the smoke and coughed all the food in my mouth onto the common plate. I have amazing teammates though; they just laughed and continued dinner. Some of them even ate off (the other side of) that plate later. Then Alex decided to reminisce about his messy lunchtime sneeze, and Candice burped and we awarded this meal the prize after asking Mark to refrain from doing his part to, in his words, "make this the most gross meal off all time, no holds barred." Anyway, it was a fun and memorable team dinner, and now I need to go get the febreeze for my clothes.