Snow today in Beijing. At least an inch. The most we've gotten all winter has been a dusting, due to the utter lack of precipitation in this place. Humidity has frequently been in the teens, which is unthinkable to a person who grew up in Seattle. Anyways, I'm no expert on northeastern Chinese climate, but perhaps this mornings' snow is coming at the intersection of a cold winter and a wetter spring. It makes the view from our windows less gray.

In other news, we had a feast on Friday night. A few weeks ago, a teaching couple from our school invited us over to their apartment for dinner. They really like to cook and they made us an amazing dinner with at least six different Chinese and Thai dishes. We finally got to return the favor, with Grace leading the way in the "kitchen" and all the rest of us helping (I made the tortillas, with help from our floormate, Veronica). The Western food included a dish that you could call Mexican lasagna, salsa, a cheesy pot of pasta, and bruschetta. Petra, our Chinese floormate, also made a number of Chinese dishes, including baked chicken wings and some other good things that I don't know how to describe. Our Chinese friends enjoyed our Western cooking and, even with all the other food on the table, the Mexican lasagna (with the tortillas that I made) was demolished by the end of the evening.

All this cooking got me to thinking about foods from back home, and the list of foods I miss would be quite long. I'm not starving here by any means, though, so instead of publishing a list of foods, I think I'll share a list of some larger things I miss from Seattle and Bellingham:

• fresh air
• mountains
• salt water
• fresh air
• rain
• the color green
• fresh air
• personal space on public transportation
• and of course, people

My list of food would be at least twice as long. Maybe next time. Here are some pictures from dinner the other night.

Above: This is what cooking in our "kitchen" often looks like.

L to R: Petra, Mr. Guo, Mrs. Wong, Veronica, Grace