"The cold never bothered me anyway..." Harbin 2016

We had heard about the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival and wanted to go but with the extreme subzero temperatures it took some preparing. It is the largest ice and snow festival in the world, and it was started in 1963 and only lasts 1 month. The city is surrounded my exhibits that are featuring huge ice castles and ornate snow sculptures. The large castles are actually blocks of ice taken from a river and are sometimes decorated with neon lights. Throughout the city there are sleigh rides, ice skating, bobsleds, and even tubes pulled behind a huge ATV. It was definitely a winter wonderland.




The cold was the most difficult thing about Harbin. Every day it was around -20 degrees below zero. (Celsius) It took us about 30 minutes each time we left the hotel to get suited up and we each wore about 10 layers each. We put hand warmers in our pockets, and wore multiple hats, scarves, socks. We even had to wear a pollution mask to keep the warm air on our faces. Our eyelashes froze and it was SO cold our phones would freeze and the battery would drain within 1 hour of it being exposed. The cold weather actually comes from the Siberian sea, and we are only 300 miles away from Russia so the city is kind of decorated in Russian architecture which was fun to see with all the Chinese writing.

I found this 10 minute YouTube video amazing on the process of what it takes to make the sculptures. Especially since the whole trip we kept asking eachother, "HOW DO THEY DO THIS?!"

We decided early on that we didn't want to bring Samantha with us. Poor thing would've turned into a popsicle. She stayed with our ever trusting Ayi while we braved the cold for the weekend. We left on a Friday and came back on a Sunday. When we first got there we toured the city and rode tubes down an ice slide. We also got to go through a park that included many ice sculptures. The next morning we woke up to our window which was frozen shut. 

The next morning we woke up early and headed to the snow sculpture park. This was actually my favorite part of the trip. The sculptures are so ornate and detailed. It amazed us how when sculpting the snow doesn't just crumble into pieces. It was fun to see the workers chiseling away to make HUGE castles and sculptures of snow. They were so massive, and these pictures truly don't do it justice.  Try and look at the people below to get a true sense of how tall these things are. It was truly one of the most mind-blowing things I have ever seen. We went down a slide made entirely of ice with sleds (I rolled at the bottom.) 

That is me at the bottom! 

That night we headed to the Ice and Snow World which is the biggest exhibit of the event. This is where the large neon castles of ice were located. They also had lots of snow activities for everyone to participate in like sledding, tubing, skating, slides and snowshoeing. You were able to walk into the ice castles and slide down the ice slides out in front of each one. We had to go inside a few times to thaw out but the castles were just incredible. I was looking for Elsa everywhere, but I only found the blue mosque from Istanbul. 

The food of choice at the festival was frozen candied fruit on skewers. We didn't try one but they sure looked interesting. 

We stumbled upon ice cream that was laid out on the street. No need for a freezer because...well you get the idea. 

That night we slept GOOD and it was nice to finally be in the warmth. The last day in Harbin we went to the St. Sophia Church which is the largest Orthodox church in China. It is protected by the PRC. It was cool to see such religion being visited by local Chinese people and seeing them learn about Jesus. 

That night we headed back to the warmth of Shanghai, (A very less frigid, 30 degrees ABOVE 0). For the record, it took about 3 days to completely thaw out.  Harbin was amazing and I know I fought going because I really hate to be cold but the views are so stunning you forget about how cold you are. It was definitely one of my favorite places I have visited in China.

Happy Birthday, Santa! (Christmas in China)

I asked my Chinese friend if she knew why Americans celebrated Christmas and she exclained, "Oh, of course. Santas Birthday!" I laughed and then I realized that she wasn't kidding. This isn't too surprising due to the fact that China is a communistic country and religion for Chinese nationals isn't exactly "allowed." 

As a Latter-day Saint we are allowed to hold church but only for foreign passport holders. Local Chinese are not able to attend our services and we are not allowed to proselyte or encourage discussion with them about our beliefs. However, I feel fortunate that the Chinese Government allows us to meet and partake of the sacrament. I also feel proud that our church leaders have held an upstanding association with the officials and that we are honoring their wishes. Anyways, back to Christmas... 

We braved Christmas in Shanghai this year due to Peyton's work schedule and the fact that we are MONTHS away from moving back to the U.S. The countdown begins! Working on our paper chain as we speak. 

I was a bit sad because I love spending time with family during the holidays. And, lets be honest, celebrating Christmas in a land of no Jesus doesn't sound that spiritual. But, we made it work. 

And one by one we said goodbye to our friends who would go back to the States for Christmas break.  We even had Shutterfly address and send out our christmas cards. (Did you know that was possible? My very own assistant!) We missed home for the holidays so much that we decided to enjoy our Christmas decorations for 2 months instead of one! 

Our friends told us one of their Christmas traditions was sleeping under their tree the first night it was put up. We loved that idea and decided to adopt it immediately. 

We tried to visit all of the typical Christmas markets with friends to get into the spirit and even enjoyed some hot chocolate that was surprisingly perfect. (China never does chocolate perfectly.)

We had Family Home Evening with some of our friends one night and got to decorate Gingerbread houses and sing Christmas hymns. This is one of their holiday traditions and the kids were done after about 10 minutes but the adults stayed up late playing architect with candy canes well after bedtime. 

The highlight of our Christmas definitely had to be our Ugly Sweater Christmas party. We decided to surprise our guests with a caroling activity that required the subway! We thought it would be fun to spread christmas cheer while frolicking through the train. We then ended up at the busiest Metro station in Shanghai and decided to get out and sing there. We drew quite the crowd. Everyone loved us, until the subway security shut us DOWN. They probably thought we were straight up drunk on eggnog. "Those crazy Americans again..." The party was complete with a white elephant gift exchange and a few games and prizes. I don't wan't to brag or anything. But, I won the Peoples Choice Ugliest Christmas Sweater award. I wear that title with pride. 

We have some pretty amazing friends who I am glad were up for the challenge complete with smiling faces and solos. Its weird how you don't get that embarrassed with doing silly things here in public. I find myself doing stupid things because, hey, no one can understand me and they stare at me regardless! Cheers, China! 

 Christmas Eve we celebrated with friends and we read the nativity while Netflix showed a roaring fire on our TV. (Seriously, It's a real thing.) We also sang christmas hymns while we lit this German Nativity Candle set. If it sounds magical, that's because it was. 

Christmas Day Samantha woke up to her Santa loot and played with her new toys for a solid 5 minutes. She enjoyed unwrapping her presents and thoroughly enjoyed helping Mom and Dad with theirs, as well. 

Christmas Day evening we decided to go all out and head to the Grand Hyatt for a Christmas buffet. It was complete with a sushi chef, seafood bar, chocolate fondue, and gourmet Chinese food. (AND western favorites). The best part was I didn't have to do the dishes or slave away all day in the kitchen. It was pretty much our best idea of the year. 

We sure missed seeing all our family and friends in the states during the holidays, but we will get to celebrate there next year and thats something to get excited about. This time of the year is always special as we get to reflect on the birth of our Savior. We enjoyed teaching Samantha about Jesus and the real reason behind Christmas. It doesn't really matter where you celebrate, as long as your family is with you!