Pam In China

Sunday it started snowing again and by Monday morning we had a good four or five inches. We stayed in, but made a snow baby on top of the air conditioner fan, outside the window. Xiao Qing found her shovel and wanted to knock down my Snow Baby, but I wouldn't let her. We used raisins for eyes and buttons, string for a mouth, a peanut for the nose and a cup from Xiao Qing's tea set for a hat.

We are on the fifth floor and this is our view from the living room window....now you know why I like going to New Zealand with Becky:)

One of the adopting families recently brought some hot chocolate mix as a gift. Yummy! The taste is exactly like those chocolate mint Girl Scout Cookies.....my favorite.[

Many of you know I'm a nature person. I enjoy the mountains, the trees, the beach. This is one of my difficulties living in Zhengzhou. You just don't get in your car and drive to the mountains or the beach. So, what do you do?

You put on your coat and walk...around here we call "walking" taking Bus Number 11. You know, your two legs...they look like "ones". It's a Chinese joke:)

Anyway, if you can; try and find the beauty that Xiao Qing and I found this particular morning as we searched for icicles. To the right is just outside my kitchen window. The others are on the street behind our home.

The moral of this post, is appreciate what you have, it could be worse. Now, I'm going to google icicles and get my nature fix off the net.

I remember as a child, living in the deep mountains of North Carolina, every winter dad would put chains on the sky-blue Fairlane 500. Not sure of the year. They bought it in Newport News, VA at Casey Chevrolet. It must have been a used car, since it was a Ford.

When Xiao Qing and I spied these, I told her they were chains......even though they really don't look much like chains to me. Maybe they call them something different now a days. Anyone know?



* Side Note: I have too much time on my hands, I actually looked at old car photos, in order to find that picture of the sky blue Fairlane 500. Aren't you impressed? Thank goodness for snow, I'm really having a good rest and I haven't been this relaxed in years:)

As you turn the corner walking from You Ai Lu to Tong Bai Lu, you'll pass the Jiaozi Shoppe. They make noodles and other dishes, but the best is the jiaozi (Chinese dumplings). You get 10 jiaozi for 3 yuan. It's a family run business.

Jiaozi comes boiled, fried, but the best is steamed. They do it in these bamboo straw baskets. Interesting, when I first came to China, I hated jiaozi. Not anymore!!!