throwing snow with the students.

so i am a little late with this announcement, it's been a busy week. today is friday, and sunny, and in the mid-50s, but on monday and tuesday...it snowed! i have no classes on monday, and duff and i went into town for lunch after duff's morning classes. it was raining, but by the time we left mcdonald's (yes, i just had to go), it was snowing! i have seen snow a few times in wuahn, and i am always amazed at how large the snowflakes are. we decided not to linger in town and went home and curled up in my apartment and made hot chocolate. when i fell asleep, it was still snowing, and it had accumulated. i fully expected it to be gone by morning. however, when i woke up for my 8:00 class on tuesday, it was still snowing, and we had about four inches.

wuhan rarely gets snow, and it is neat to see everyone so excited. the streets were clear, it really wasn't that cold, but i missed many of the usual morning faces as i went off to the breakfast alley. there are usually a group of women set up to sign shoes, a tea vendor, and a key cutter. gone. a lot of the fruit tents hadn't opened yet, but the breakfast alley crew was there in full force. all of the vendors had rigged big umbrellas to protect from the snow, and steam from their cooking poured into the air. i wish i'd had the camera out, but i was almost late for class. class took longer than normal to get to, shuffling carefully through the snow. the students were gleeful, and there were plenty of snow balls being tossed around. my attendance in class was far better than i had anticipated, and i managed to hold the student’s attention. at least, until i got distracted staring out the window at the falling snow. from the classroom window we could see two girls building a snow man and a big group of boys rolling a huge snowball. it must have been 4 feet tall. when it got to the curb, they all climbed on top, two-by-two, and took pictures with their cell phones. comical, every boy had an umbrella.

i taught 8 hours on tuesday, and by the end of the day most of the snow was trampled. when i got to my last class the kids were really excited. one of the girls, lesley, and some of the boys were pegging each other with snow balls. i taught class, 8 kids (out of 40) were present. we have a break half way through class and one of the students, heaven, asked me to come outside and 'throw snow and take picture.' okay. i was game for a little 'throw snow.' we had a blast. the snow was soft, wet, and great for packing. all the students in class played. my aim isn't really good, but i got a couple good shots in. the kids were not shy at all about pelting me. people were really considerate about hitting in the face. it was sweet. they would wait until the person had turned around and smack them in the back of the head :) heaven proved to be least angelic of all the students, an aggressive snow fighter. we hadn't any gloves, and our hands were bright red and stiff when the bell rang calling us back to class. we continued the fight, however. all of us brought at least two snow balls back to class. i placed mine on the podium and started class again. in china, there is no heat in the classrooms, and the windows don't really shut anyway, so no one removed their coats and hats. the students paid rapt attention, were diligent in their pronunciation exercises, and occasionally tossed a snowball at one of their classmates, or me. i got the three boys in the front row (i have no idea how) with one of my snowballs. i dodged another and it smacked into the board, eventually melting and washing away a few lines of the dialogue we had been practicing. we had a wonderful class, and i think it sets a good mood for how active i wish the class to be. when we were outside throwing snow, the kids were using an odd mixture of chinese and english. they definitely had "look out!" mastered by the end of our 10 minutes. now, if i can only get attendance to improve.

perhaps the only creatures upset by the snow were the chickens who roam and forage all over campus. i passed a large group of them on the way home, pecking in the snow. i saw one extremely disgruntled chicken who hoped onto the sidewalk, wings flapping, and squawking, stamping its feet to get the snow off of them.

the snow had all melted by wednesday morning, and i think spring is here. it is great to have the sun, and i have done a lot of laundry. we even have blue sky, if you look straight up and not straight ahead.

the picture below is of the snow in the teacher's residential area. we live in a building similar to these, but a lot older. all of the teachers, and their families, have apartments here. i think some teachers are allowed to live off campus, but if you are unmarried you must live in the south campus. everyone one we know lives on campus.