Voice of Will: Winter has come

2006-02-24 - 12:01 a.m.
As I have been walking around I have noticed that the temeprature is rising here. Now I am just wearing a light sweater over my dress shirt, so I belive the worst of the winter is over.

Last winter it was freezing. Even during the day, with layers of clothes (4 layers of shirts/sweaters, 3 layers of pants, a jacket, a wool hat and gloves) on I was still freezing. Inside or outside it didn't matter. At times I thought I was going to get frostbite. But this winter was not like that.

It was very temperate (for the middle of winter in the middle of china) at least here. According to students this winter has been on of the coldest on record around china. You couldn't tell that here. It only snowed 3 times, and most of the snow was gone after 2 days. (read earlier journals about how china/zhengzhou deals with snow). And it has been very nice during the day.
I am wondering if it was warmer, or just felt warmer. Last winter we were not as prepared as we were for this winter. We were told we could buy any of our clothes when we got here, only to discover that I am way too big (size 48 x 32 pants. XXL to XXXL for shirts and sweaters) and christine is too tall (she is 6'0) so it was difficult to find "good" winter clothing. This ment when we could find things in our size we bought them. So the clothing wasn't as good as it could have been, and while were were in the states this summer we bought clothes for the winter.

We also managed to discover some wonderful stuff here last april. Weather stripping and window caulking. When we first arrived here I had asked about these items because it was painfully obvious that our windows didn't seal, and you could actually look out the cracks around our window moulding. We were told to buy some good 2" wide tape, and to put multiple layers of this tape around the moulding, and across the windows. What this ment was our room was DRAFTY when we first got here, and you could actually see the cold air coming in. Even taped it was a horrible experience.

So when we managed to find this stuff (with a great student/friend) I bought it up. The young man who was helping us looked it over, read the chinese on it, and did not understand what it was for. So I explained that you use these items to stop the cold air from coming into your room during the winter, and to keep the cold air in during the summer. His reply says volumes for many people in china. "why would you do this? You don't own your home." Now I love this young man. He is fantastic, but he also has the chinese mindset. Sometimes it is very difficult to understand (but I believe he must think the same thing about us foreigners) So I explained that I wanted a warm room for the winter, and that I would pay the price. he replied "I have never thought about it like that." So I have a warm room, and I believe I have helped a young man think more about his environment and his own comfort. Somethings are more important than just the cost in money.
so this winter our whole home was much warmer, and we were better prepared for the winter.
Of course the temperature for the weekend is supposed to be 30 degrees as a high for 2 days.... so maybe more snow.