Ten Reasons You Know Winter is Coming to Haerbin

REASON # 1

It started about two weeks ago. They are every where! Leeks, cabbage, turnips and onions layered on the top of walls, hanging from balconies or placed out on sheets of plastic draped over the sidewalks. The vegetables are being dryed in preparation for storage and used for future cooking needs in the winter.

REASON #2

The entrance door handles have grown little woolen booties. We are guessing that as the weather gets colder (sub-zero), the booties are to protect our bare skin from becoming permanently welded to the steel of the door handle when they are grabbed. I remember those stupid kids ( I may have been one) who on a dare would touch their tongue to some cold steel out in the school yard, requiring an emergency response team of teachers rushing from the staff room and armed with hot coffee or water to coax tongues off the frozen steel with out losing too many layers of skin from the daredevils tongue.

REASON #3

When we arrived the entrance doors into the dining halls were draped with flimsy plastic strips that you would push through to enter and exit. We assumed it was to keep out flies and weather. These flimsy plastic strips have now been replaced with heavy insulated canvas blankets and have started showing up on store entrances all over the city. A sign perhaps of a windy winter.

REASON #4

The radiators in our apartment have started to gurgle. Most buildings in Haerbin are heated with hot water from central heating plants scattered around the city. No one gets any heat until someone in charge decides that it is time to turn on the boilers which we are told is traditionally the last two weeks of October. Nonie and I like it cooler so this has not been a hardship for us. Can you imagine if they tried to implement something like this in North America. Hah! There are no thermostats for the radiators in our apartment so opening and closing windows is the only way for us to control the temperature.

REASON #5

All the little dogs are starting to sport cute little coats and berets. The Chinese love their dogs. We see dozens being taken out for a walk on the mornings we go for our runs. The dogs are well behaved. Usually little dogs tend to be yappy. The only time I have seen them bark is if they have come across a cat. The cats are usually bigger than the dogs. I saw one cat a few days ago that was being inconvenienced by four little dogs all at once. The cat did not bat an eye, just calmly stood his ground and stared the dogs down as they circled around him ferociously barking while keeping a healthy distance from him. I suspect this was not the first time this cat has been accosted.

REASON #6

Nonie has purchased a down filled winter jacket and and it is now her jacket of choice for evening wear. I was shopping in the local COSTCOesque like store last week and found a lovely goose down vest on sale. To my suprise I found that it was made in Canada. The label clearly stating "Fabrique en Canada" Imagine that. Something in China that was actually made somewhere else. There is hope for us yet.

REASON #7

The leaves have definitely started to change colours. Yellows seem to be the basic colour palette. No vibrant reds or orange. Kind of boring. Not all the leaves have changed yet, so there may be hope.

REASON #8

We have experienced a number of small, light and fluffy snow flurries lasting only a few minutes. One flurry occured during Nonie's early morning class. When this fact was brought to the students attention, she said they all got very excited and ran to the windows. I guess you are never too old to get excited by the first snow fall of the season.

REASON #9

The big smoke stacks that dot the landscape we can see from our balcony and have lain dormant since we arrived, are now belching a thick dark smoke. The air quality has dropped and we are starting to lose our view of the City as the smog thickens and obscures our view.

REASON #10

The naked jogger is now wearing a shirt. During our morning runs we often run across this older Chinese runner. No matter what the weather was, his outfit always consisted of running shoes with white socks pulled up to his knees, a pair of old gym shorts and a pair of white cotton gloves. Nothing else. I saw him on Friday morning. The temperature was hovering around zero and he had added a cotton tee shirt to his ensemble. I can't wait to see what he will wear when the real cold weather hits. I feel like such a wimp wearing my insulated running tights, two shirts, jacket, hat and gloves.

National Holiday

Meet the "Gang": From Nonie's right is Pat (American), Armen (Canadian/Abbottsford), Tom (Canadian/Edmonton), Milly (American), Takiya (Japanese), Will (British), Leah (American) and Brian (American). Missing are Meaghan (American), Eduardo (Italian), Roman (Italian), Irena (Russian) and Branson who was the Foreign Export MC for the evening. We are at the gala banquet to celebrate the National Holiday.

Nonie's new friend. While riding the ferry over to Sun Park we were asked to pose for pictures with a few of our fellow riders. This happens quite often. We are an oddity for many Chinese who have never met or talked with a foreigner. They need the picture to prove to their friends that they have met a foreigner. The folks we met on the ferry are probably on holiday from one of the neighbouring cities or villages where few if any foreigners are found. Haerbin is well visited by foreigners, especially Russians who come here to holiday and shop. We are quite often mistaken as Russian and greeted with a "Pryvet" or "Dosveydonya". Sometimes by other Russians.

Branson receiving a blessing from a vacationing monk. We ran into him while visiting Sun Island. He was thrilled to practise his English with us. This activity is quite common as well. With few foreigners around, the Chinese are ecstatic when they get a chance to practise with a native English speaker. We spent some time in conversation with him and as time passed were were surrounded by dozens of Chinese who were curious as to what was going on with the foreigners. Again, not an uncommon thing to happen.

The view from Sun Island. The skyline is dotted with many tall buildings. Single family housing is very rare in cities unless you are very wealthy or hold a high position in government. The apartments are are very efficient with no wasted space. Most have some form of balcony which is used for storage and/or for drying clothes. Washing machines are quite common now in homes but clothes dryers are very rare. They are very expensive and use too much energy. Something we might want to consider getting rid of. It does however make doing the laundry a challenge. I can just see the Strata Councils reaction with all sorts of laundry hanging in and off the balconies of our complex in Penticton.

Old and New China. While exploring the back room of a souvenir shope we came across this poster guy for old China. He was surrouned by old furniture and knicknacks. He chatted away to us in Chinese and was quite thrilled to pose for pictures with all of us. He is seen here sitting with what we think was his granddaughter.



Our holiday week ended with serious inflatible accident. Despite our warnings that the inflatable tower was ready to collapse, Tom continued to walk under the tower. He is fine but understandably skittish around these towers now. He will have to get over it as these inflatible thingies are ever where. The Chinese believe if one looks good, then hundreds will look a hundred times better. Not sure I agree.