Wool Coats and Steamed Buns

It SNOWED on Sunday.

Today, Monday, there is still snow on the ground.

And at the bottom of the slides on the playground.

It is easily the most snow either of us has ever seen in a place we live. 

We didn't make this snow man, but stumbled upon him outside a fast food restaurant

It may have snowed Sunday, but Saturday was punctuated by nothing more than rain, rain, rain. That didn't stop us from walking to the market, however.

I am now the proud owner of an electric hot water hand warmer. It's honestly the niftiest thing I've seen in a long time. They have them in all kinds of characters and designs. Some are very chic, with silk covers. Others, like mine, are like little warm stuffed animals. Mine features Doraemon, and has served me well in the 48 hours I've had him. 

A quick Amazon search shows that much less fashionable ones generally sell for $30, but I can assure you that I paid no where near that much for mine. 

Doraemon cost me a whopping 30rmb. 

I also bought an elephant humidifier, mostly because the steam blows out of his trunk, but also because I'm not used to these dry, cold environs. The cold I can't help that much, but the dry... well, my new elephant friend is diligently solving that problem for me. 

The heat came on, for the entirety of Beijing, at midnight on Saturday. 

Not that it's very helpful.

I'm going to spend part of my evening at WuMart, picking out a small space heater. 

Yay.

It's not cold at night, under the covers, but it'd be nice to be able to stick a toe out of bed in the morning without it immediately turning blue.

Or perhaps sit on my couch, in the living room, without taking the duvet with me.

Sunday, in addition to frolicking in the snow, we ventured over to the Wudaoko clothing market and truly outfitted ourselves for a Beijing winter.

There are a few things we still need.

Gloves are still a priority.

But now Super Husband and I each have a new hat and two new scarfs. 

Super Husband also picked up a new pair of shoes.

And I am the proud new owner of a lovely black wool coat.

In addition to the aforementioned gloves I still need a new pair of boots. 

And another hat.

And more scarfs.

Maybe I'm going a little overboard, but I've never lived in a place where you need to bundle up for the majority of the months with "R" in them. 

I'm relishing the need to buy scarfs and boots.

I imagine that it's due to the inclement weather, but the chuan'r men have been absent since Friday evening.

This greatly disappoints me, as chuan'r is a large part of my weekend sustenance. 

In lue of chuan'r we hied ourselves over to a delightful little restaurant that sells the best baozi I've ever tried. 

Baozi, if I've not explained it before, are the tiny steamed buns, filled with delicious. 

I am determined to take some of the lovely bamboo steamers back to Texas with me...

Now I want some boazi... and chuan'r... 

Maybe I can have some chuan'r tonight, if the men have returned to their posts...

And on that note, I sign off.

Taata