With another week to go before the Chinese New Year and because it’s deathly cold in Chicago (a high of -18C on Monday), I thought I’d dig out this old photo from my first Chinese New Year in China.
Of course I arrived in Nanjing completely unprepared for the cold winter (maybe 2C, which is in the mid-30s Fahrenheit). A trench coat and sweatshirt don’t exactly keep one warm in temperatures that low.
I stayed with some friends in Nanjing, and Mrs. Chen, my host, felt concerned about my warmth. So she lent me this multicolored winter jacket and pink “Arabic” (her words) hat that she crocheted herself.
And the piece de resistance was the pair of sweater long johns they lent me. I’d never seen such a thing, even coming from a climate like Chicago.
I’m sitting here with Mr. Chen’s star English student, Wang Xi.
The next time I went to China for Chinese New Year, I would know better. But I still arrived unprepared for other things, namely the marriage I was about to get myself into!
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