The Upside

It's officially cold.  Really cold.  Bitterly cold, getting close to obscenely cold.  It's miserable to go outside, it's horrendous to walk further than next door, and it's torture to go across the river and do any serious shopping.
So, in the spirit of the season, I decided to be optimistic.  There HAS to be an upside to this weather.  Here's my list:
1.  Problem -- you have to bundle up to go outside, even if it's only for a few seconds. 
     Good thing -- you can wear anything you want under your coat.  Seriously.  I got home from class yesterday and changed clothes to cook dinner.  Then I discovered that we were out of eggs and I had to go back out to get some from the veggie shop.  Grr.  I actually went into our bedroom to grab a different shirt to put on because my shirt had a bleach spot on it -- and then I realized.  NO ONE CAN SEE IT.  All that's visible are shoes, jeans, coat, scarf, mittens, hat, face.  That's it.  Woot!  I could wear a pajama shirt, or a ratty old sweatshirt, or the sweater with soy sauce dripped on it and no one will know!  This excites me beyond measure.  In fact, if I wear earrings and don't tie the ear flaps on my hat down, people will think I'm really dressy under all the layers.  Ha!  I'm currently concocting the most ridiculous outfit I can think of, just to wear under the coat.  It's great fun.
2.  Problem -- the wind bites.  Bites.  Really viciously bites.
     Good thing -- you don't need makeup.  Seriously.  Why would you need blush when your cheeks get all red and rosy from the wind?  And your eyes water, too, which makes them all teary-bright and luminescent, so why bother with mascara?  Instant beauty.  I choose to believe this.  Plus, the wind blows the coal dust away, so the air is cleaner.  Wind is good for your health and beauty.  Truth.
3.  Problem -- the ice.  You fall.  A lot.
     Good thing -- you get a daily opportunity to improve your balance.  Every time you step outside, you either become more graceful or fall flat on your rear.  You also develop this great shuffle-slide-step that I think would be killer in line-dancing.  So there's a future opportunity for fame as a dance-creator person.  Oh, the joys of winter.
4.  Problem -- tracking snow into your house.  Every time anyone enters, they have to change their shoes for house shoes, or you have wet footprints all over the floor.
     Good thing -- Chinese are usually pretty good about this.  But when they do forget, or the pile of snow melting off the shoes by the front door (inevitable, even when you place mats and towels up there, it's never enough) gets tracked in anyway, you have incentive to mop.  Perpetually clean floors mean that when the students spontaneously show up, you don't have to rush around cleaning stuff before letting them in.  It's all clean.  You are always boy-scout-prepared.

Okay, that's my list.  I tried to think of a fifth one, just to feel well-rounded, but -- oh, wait!  Got it.
5.  Problem -- you are always cold.  Always, always cold.
     Good thing -- you get to drink lots of yummy hot drinks without feeling overheated.  Hot tea, hot cider, hot chocolate, coffee, spice tea...ahhh.  This makes you feel very Chinese not to be drinking cold things and bridges the culture gap.  I think.  Sort of.  Anyway, it tastes good.
Okay, so now that's my list.  I'm throwing in a couple of pictures at the bottom, for grandparents and other interested parties. 
Oh, and remember how last year in our old apartment we had ice growing on the inside of our windows, a few inches thick?  We thought this apartment would have better heat, but no.  We have ice in our bedroom.  And, as an added bonus, around our front door.  We have to chip it off on a regular basis, or we can't open the door.  Here's a picture.

It's worse than that now.   Down at the bottom, Justin chipped of at least an inch and a half this morning.
We decorated for Christmas.  Connor is very excited about the Christmas tree.  We also put Christmas decals on the windows and took some glue and glitter to glass jelly jars and decorated them to put candles in.  He loved the glitter too.

Those last three shots -- we cooked up a Chinese-style meal of chicken, pumpkin, and peanuts and got out our chopsticks.  Connor stole them.  And apparently he's been paying attention, because he knew the general mechanics of using them.