Week of January 5, 2003

	Mums and Kale in the Snow. The flowers that were put out for the December celebration of the university's 60th anniversary are gone, all except for the flowering kale. It seems to be even hardier than the pansies. Paul had to take pictures of them with their coats of snow and of course the lawn as well. It was the first snow that stayed on the ground this year..
	Nancy on the White Campus. Some days we don't have heat; yesterday we were without hot water. One day we had no electricity. You can never be sure what to expect. We have two electric space heaters we plug in when we need more heat. And we have an electric "blanket" that is about 1 1/2 meters square. We put it under the sheet and use it to take the chill off the bed and then we turn it off. But we are lucky. The dorms have absolutely no heat and they often keep their windows open.
	Nancy Teaching in Unheated Auditorium. Today was considerably warmer and no ice to be seen anywhere. They tell us that December is the coldest month here, and I hope they are right. It's the teaching in unheated classrooms that gets to us. Going out in the weather to walk is no problem. But one's hands nearly freeze in the two hours we spend in the classroom. We need to buy some gloves that have openings for finger tips.
	City of Nanjing with Haze. We have classes this week, and then we are through until February 17. Paul has made arrangements for us to do some sight seeing in Nanjing this week. We have to have plan A and plan B: one for rainy weather, the other for good weather. We can't see everything in four days, but maybe we can see some of the important things.