For the last two days, we've been teased. It got nice again... ish. The sun was shining today and it actually meant something by it this time.
Don't get used to it.
Some friends of mine from Wuhan (lauded as the furnace of China) are in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area teaching Chinese this year. They asked me before they even got on the plane: "Should I bring warm clothing?"
"Yes, yes you should. Bring more of it than anything else."
And a few weeks ago, y'know, before it even got below sixty, they told me "Wow, it's so cold here!"
"Cold? You haven't seen cold. Wait a few months."
My roommate Pedro is fresh out of João Pessoa, Brazil. That's like, really close to the equator. Hasn't even been in the states long enough to have seen a winter here. He told us (other roommate and myself) "I sort of like the cold."
Sure you do.
You keep saying that.
The boy has never seen snow in his life.
This is the average temperature chart for João Pessoa.Wish you were there yet?
Think Pedro really will like the cold?
So I guess my point is that we're not alone in our loathing of the cold here. At least we're expecting it, though. Some people don't even know what to expect. I guess at least that means they won't dread it as much.
When did you finally dig out the jacket?
From being from Canada and it being easily 40 below on a normal day, you'd think I would be used to the cold. But the transition in this area from warm weather to cold weather is for some reason so much worse. I've had the jacket in the car for some time, so I would be ready for this time of the year.
ReplyDeleteI still didn't dig out a jacket yet. Still in denial that a hoody at night might just be good enough. So wrong but still no jacket. Stubborn or just stupid. Or maybe a little bit of both.
ReplyDeleteThe equator really sounds nice right about now.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who pondered moving to Alaska recently, I try to be grateful that Pittsburgh doesn't do the 40-below thing Liz is talking about.
ReplyDeleteWhen I visited Fairbanks, I heard stories about how big the tourist industry was in Fairbanks in the winter. Japanese tourists come out for the Northern Lights, then stick around to throw boiling water in the air and watch it freeze. Also, apparently tourists and locals both like to blow soap bubbles and watch them freeze into little ice balls.
In Fairbanks, most people lose their eyelashes in the winter because they freeze and pop off.
Also, it's illegal to get a moose drunk in Fairbanks. But that's another story.
What I'm saying is, I start shivering in Pittsburgh around mid-September. But this year, I'm trying to be a more positive, could-be-worse, at-least-I-have-my-eyelashes kind of person. Well, most days.
Ugh the cold is my mortal enemy. I had a friend from Pakistan back in high school and the first time it started snowing and getting cold he was like "Isn't this great! I've never seen snow before!" I just looked at him like he was crazy, partially for the never seeing snow part, but also for the whole "I like the snow" thing.
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