Beijing hit -20C this past week in what was said to be the coldest day so far this winter. It doesn’t help that Beijing is notoriously a windy city and that, unlike cities like Winnipeg or other “cold” places, there is always a slight wind that robs you of your warmth. Sure, the barometer might show “-1C” or even “5C”, but then you step outside and the wind saps you of your warmth.
It’s with that lack of warmth that I finally went a bought a new jacket. I didn’t want to, always rationalizing it that I didn’t have the money and I didn’t want to spend the time “researching” / trying on a bunch of jackets but, as my other jacket started falling apart (the zipper hasn’t been able to be done up in years), I decided to spend the money.
Eighteen jackets and two stores later (Decatholon and Zara), I found one that was perfect. Five hundred RMB, or about $100 CAD, and I can say that I’m almost too warm a lot of the time. I can, and do, wear a T-shirt underneath so that I don’t sweat that much. So yey for me in finding proper winter wear.
Now, if I had boots I’d be set.
I never realized just how much I took for granted having winter clothes (thanks Mom!), they always just seemed to be there. But, then again, in places like Winnipeg, winter made itself noticeable that, unless you were hibernating, you would see when the temperature had dropped and that new gear was needed to survive going outside.
In Beijing? The city more or less looks the same: lots of concrete but the big trees usually lose their leaves. However, there are enough “evergreen” trees and shrubs around the city that the scenery still doesn’t change. If you were to walk through any of the hutongs (alleyways that make up traditional neighbourhoods), they would still look rather grey no matter winter or summer. Except if it snows, then they look pretty, but most things do under a fresh blanket of snow.
If the snow lingers for eight months, the scene gets rather tiring.
We haven’t had snow just yet here in Beijing and my social media reminders show me that we had already had snow a couple of times as of this same time last year. It is also at this same time last year that this whole COVID thing started to rear its ugly head.
That being the case, we are getting close to one year before the 2022 Winter Olympics, that is, if they should actually go ahead. Tokyo has yet to fulfill their 2020 Summer Olympics, which hopefully go ahead this year and, I’m told, if they don’t go ahead, then they will be cancelled.
With Christmas and New Year’s Day over with, China is now preparing for their Spring Festival, slated for February 11th to 17th, with the actual 春节 (Chun jie) happening on Friday, February 12, 2021. It will be the Year of the Ox and, sadly, as it stands right now, it looks as if it will be a quiet one as the government has suggested for the 描绘 (miao hui) or “temple fairs” to be cancelled this year. So, there go my plans for the New Year.
It also seems that work will be rather restricted going forward as campuses and schools close out their first semester. Exams are being finished up and, as a result, campuses will close down to outside visitors. Since a lot of our work happens on campuses, if we can’t get on campus, then there’s not much we can do. That means restricted travel and restricted meetings. And since we’re going into the Spring Festival break, that more than likely means there won’t be anything to do until the beginning of March when universities re-open. Good thing I have some other projects I’m working on.