First Snow Storm

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  Last week Xi'an officially turned into a winter wonderland. In the past twenty four hours we have gotten about three inches of snow.
Like anywhere else, traffic crawls to a snail pace, people are bundled up and kids play in the snow. But unlike anywhere I have lived, there are no snowplows. Instead people shovel the walks completely by hand as shown in this video.

They use brooms and shovels to move the snow off the street. To top it off, many of them are wearing little more than garbage bags for coats and grocery sacks for hats.

Many of these men and women are poor migrant workers. They work for next to nothing.

I am grateful for their hard work and in complete awe of their work ethic and commitment.

#Chinesegrandmaswinagain

Dictatorial, intrusive, bossy, domineering, good intentioned, loving are all words to describe Chinese grandmas.

Whenever we go out, they always ask my children: "leng bu leng" which means cold/not cold.  I think this is just a nice way of acknowledging someone but it does grate on my nerves when they ask us this and pinch our arms and shoulders to see how thick our jackets are. I have to constantly remind myself they are asking and doing this out of love, and intruding our personal space is a cultural behavior, it's not personal.

The grandmas are very particular about the clothes children wear. Last year, I was constantly told my daughter didn't have the correct coat. She had a down filled puffy coat that is popular in the states. While the Chinese kids all wore cotton coats with a cotton overcoat over them. I figured out pretty quickly that coats get dirty in China. I would have to wash coats a few times a week. So this year I invested in the cotton over coat for my youngest daughter (children only wear these until they are bout 3 or 4 years old).

I was so happy the first day she wore it. I thought, surely the grandmas can't criticize me now.  

January 3, 2017. UPDATE
I talked with a friend that grew up in Xi'an during the 1980s. She said at the time all houses were heated using coal stoves and every year at least one neighbor would die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Knowing this history, it makes sense why the grandmas are so sensitive about kids being bundled up. When they were younger it really was a life or death situation.

                                              

                                                                       

Well, as you can see, I forgot the thick cotton pants.  I was told countless times she needs thick cotton pants, her legs are going to freeze. 

Next, I got out her snow pants. 

                                                                                                    I thought surely, the grandmas can't criticize me now, but they did because the pants are not cotton. I didn't know how to tell them that they are thick and waterproof. So I opted for my easiest way out "wo bu dong" which means I don't understand. 

This is just another funny example of how no matter how I try, I can't quite fit into the Chinese cultural expectations.  #Chinesegrandmaswinagain

My experience watching the US Election Results in China

Tuesday, November 8, 2016 was a relatively peaceful day for me. Being a day ahead of the US I gave little thought to the upcoming election. Wednesday morning dawned and again, I gave it little thought. Hillary was a shoe in and really I have enough drama in my life to worry about the election. And then my friend sent me a message saying Trump had won. I thought he was yanking my chain so I turned on CNN.
When I tried to log onto CNN, it was blocked. So I tried other news websites that I can typically access without a VPN. Tried and true sites such as: CNN, NYTimes, Huffpost, FoxNews, and Breitbart. All were blocked today. So I turned on my VPN and logged onto CNN
At this point it was 11 pm EST November 8 in America, the polls were tight. It was a back and forth game of numbers between Clinton and Trump. A true nail biter. As I watched the commentary and map change from shades of pink to red, yellow to blue my youngest daughter started chanting BYU, BYU, over and over again. I could see how she thought this was like a hotly contested football game.
Like many of you, I was shocked Trump won. Time will tell if he will be a good president or not.
But here in China, the government doesn't want any news of the election to get out. The news has been blocked for the last few days since the election. The only way I can get onto the news sites listed above is if I VPN in. I think the government doesn't want people to know about electoral process, that they can make a difference, create change.
Some of the headlines in the Chinese news announcing Trumps election were:

• Trump has become America's Mao Zedong! (I think it is ironic, they are in a way bashing Mao, someone they all worship, was the best leader, etc.)
• The whole world is celebrating right now because America voted for this idiot!
• Election day in the US is the one day that Chinese people finally get to discuss politics

Mr. Kungfuyankee had CNN on all day and co workers were crowding around his computer. Asking questions, intrigued. He even had a coworker take work off that day so he could stay home and watch the results.
November 8 he got home an hour and a half late. I asked if he had a late meeting and he said no, that people were comign to talk to him one by one saying how lucky Americans are to vote, that they would love to vote.
They told him they can kind of vote for local village chiefs. They elect someone to proxy vote for them, but the person they want never wins. They said that they never heard of their current president, President Xi until he became president.
In China, Elections are a little different. Only the National People's Congress comprised of 3,000 people get to vote. Their ballot only has one name on it, a name previously approved by the Communist leadership. , Sounds rigged? It is. Chinese leadership does not trust citizens with voting. Hopefully my Chinese friends will get to vote in the future.

Guanyin Zen Temple Xi'an

                                           

The Guanyin Zen Temple is located at the foot of the Phoenix Mountains, just south of Xi'an, China. The temple was built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). The temple is famous for its 1,400 year old gingko tree which sits above a clear stream. The tree is said to have been planted by Emperor Taizong in order to prevent an attack by the Dragon King.

A famous poem about the tree states:
An ancient tree stands in an ancient temple
An ancient stream runs beneath the ancient tree,
With the protection of both the tree and the spring since remote time,
The ancient temple has made Linji Zen.

We spent time exploring a small village outside the

temple

People had harvested this and were selling it.

I have no idea what it is but they told me I 

could eat it and it was very healthy.