The Weather Finally Turned Cold
Almost half a year in Shenzhen has gone by. As someone from the north, this is the first time I have felt that November here can still be a month for short sleeves.
Saturday was the Start of Winter. It still felt like summer to me. I went cycling over the weekend, and the sun was still a little hot. In the life I have lived so far, this was the first time.
After the weekend it turned cold all at once, mostly because of the wind. The temperature did finally drop, but the average is still 22°. If it stayed like this, Shenzhen’s population would double again.
The Start of Winter makes me think of the days back home. By now we would already be in thick cotton coats. The wind is dry. It hurts the face. Not long after you step outside, your lips dry until they feel ready to split. On the way to school or to work, look out and there is nothing left but bare hills and bare trees, a bleak stretch. The good part is getting home. Whether the house was heated by coal or by gas, it was warm inside.
When I was small, every household in the village had a big iron stove. It heated the room, and it boiled water and cooked. Some burned wood, some burned cow dung, some burned lumps of coal. Families that were better off had honeycomb briquettes.
When it got dark, the family sat around the stove, talking and eating a little. The best of it was an aluminum pot with a little rapeseed oil, potatoes cut into thick slices, set on the iron stove to roast. When they came out, the side against the pot was a golden crust. A pinch of salt, or eaten with pickled vegetables, and it was really good. The wind was blowing outside. People sat by the stove. Remembering it still feels warm.
A little older, and the iron stove became radiators on central heating, and then a gas wall-hung boiler that each family could run on its own. Heating got easier and easier. The days of the whole family sitting by the iron stove, roasting potatoes, were gone.
Shenzhen’s Start of Winter has come, and I still do not know what winter here is like. At least I do not have to dig the thick cotton coat out. I spent a winter in Chengdu before. It was not that biting. The cold was soft. Whether Shenzhen will be that kind of cold, I will have to wait and see.
I have to marvel at how vast the country is. The same season, and you can feel different temperatures. Life is short, though. How many different winters can one person still meet?