A Winter Wonderland in Shanghai

This is a view this morning of our street! The kids are home for their first snow day from school and probably their last! It was the first snow day to be called in the school's 10 year history. It actually started snowing heavily on Saturday but did not stick on the ground. It snowed again on Sunday and again on Monday with more predicted today. We have been in a cold snap hovering around freezing for several days and so it began to stick Monday. We have had snow, rain, sleet and freezing rain for three days. It has been reported in the paper that this is the worst storm to hit Shanghai in 24 years. Later today the sun came out for a while and melted quite a bit of the snow. Something like this here really stirs things up for travel because they don't have plows or salt trucks. People were on the streets sweeping the snow with handmade brooms and shoveling with construction shovels. There have been countless accidents as the people here do not know how to drive in the snow. Also, the airports have had numerous delays and cancellations. The train service has halted for several days because many provinces have been hit by blizzard like conditions. The train stations have 10s of thousands of people stranded who were traveling home for the Chinese New Year holiday. It is very sad. Our maid is supposed to travel to her home province, Anhui tomorrow by train and I don't know if it will happen. She hasn't been home to see her husband, a farmer for almost a year. What is such a disappointment for many was such a great thing for the kids who all were at sleepovers last night and spent the day with friends today. Once again the picture of contrasts in China...