The thing I think I love the most about China is its potential for amazing contrasts. Not only between the rich and poor, city and country, but between the environment and the people. Sometimes, things just seem out of whack.
Yesterday was the fifteenth and last day of the Chinese New Year. It's traditional on this day to set off tons of fireworks, as it's the last day the government permits the willful lighting of small, colorful explosives in residential areas. Yesterday also happened to be, at least in Harbin, a day of driving, blinding snow and sub-zero temperatures. One might think that this would deter people from going outside and aiming Roman candles at neighboring apartment buildings. However, as my walk to dinner proved, this was not the case. People were sticking the fireworks in the snow, and using the snow as a base to light them off. It was totally surreal - I cannot state enough how incredibly freezing cold it was outside, and how hard the snow was falling (and it wasn't friendly fluffy snow, it was freezing-cold ice-pellety low humidity type of snow) - the gusting winds alone should have prevented people from lighting fireworks. But it didn't. The fifteenth day of the New Year is the traditional time to light fireworks, and come hell or high water (or blizzard conditions), fireworks were going to be lit. Sometimes this place makes you kind of wonder, but it's an amazing place just the same.
So, all in all, we got about five inches of snow last night, which today gradually changed into darker shades of gray on top from the air pollution. hello, coal dust! Even skiing at Weston, with the combined effects of the Mass Pike, 128, and the diesel engines on the commuter rail line, the snow never looked that bad. You could see it when you cleaned your bases, but it wasn't like the snow was gray on top. Or maybe that's just because I was only there for night skiing... but still. The arctic winds and bitter cold temperatures today did kind of make me homesick for Prospect - for a second, I wish I had skis to strap on and cruise around the snow covered soccer fields - but then, this is absolutely the slowest kind of snow to ski on, and with the way the wind was gusting... I went to the gym this afternoon instead, which was much more comfy.
The gym is pretty comparable to Gold's at home - slightly smaller, but with fewer people. There's yoga and spinning classes which I haven't tried yet, but might in the future, and treadmills, exercise bikes, and elliptical machines. The one nice thing about it is that there aren't any of the gym-troll ex-linebacker types you find stalking the basement of Gold's - not to say there aren't the "look at me and my muscles" types, but they just don't have the same kind of massive physical presence. Also, they can't come up and hit on me because of the language barrier, which is nice. Even though I can speak some Chinese, I can quickly pretend I can't, if need be.
One very strange thing my friend saw before we started working out today was a woman standing stark naked in the locker room wrapping Saran Wrap around her arms and stomach. When my friend asked her what she was doing, she replied that if you wrap Saran Wrap around the parts of your body where you want to lose weight, and then go work out, those body parts will become smaller. This would seem like an isolated case, except my roommate also showed up on the first day we shared a room with a similar roll of Saran Wrap, and the identical reason for why she was using it. I could just stare in disbelief - it's not only wrong to believe that wrapping Saran Wrap around your arms will make them skinnier, it's potentially dangerous. I don't know which celebrity or health guru is telling the Chinese nation that Saran Wrap is a shortcut to a well-shaped body, but they seem to be all-too effective in getting the message across. Very, very strange.
Off now to shower and do homework - one more thing though - watched Pride and Prejudice last night (English with Chinese subtitles) with my roommate and a couple of her friends - they all loved 达西先生 (Mr. Darcy) - it appears that his appeal knows no national boundaries! ahhhh.... Mr. Darcy.... when are you coming to China???
