This week was a first for me - snow.
Yes, you heard right. I have seen snow from a distance before, on the mountains in the Cape, but I've never actually interacted with the stuff.
I have to say, it's beautiful.
The locals were groaning, but my reaction wasn't that different to my four year old's.
Why on earth would a girl from Africa like snow?
First, there's the way it looks. It makes the whole world look like it's been iced - or dusted with icing sugar. There's something magical about the world when it's covered in a layer of crisp, clean, icy whiteness.
Then there's the way it feels when it's falling.
As a born and bred Capetonian, I'm used to rain - and not too fond of it. Wet, gloomy rain makes me (and many other Capetonians) infinitely miserable.
Snow is less miserable by far. Soft, fluffy flakes floating on the wind, rather than splatting down.
Another thing that I suppose influences the way that I feel about snow is the difference in how you interact with it over here.
In Cape Town, even the single digits of winter was pretty rough. No central heating will do that. Over here, you can literally stand at my sliding door, watching snow fall on the trees in the ravine over the road - in a vest. The central heating means that indoors - everywhere - from the malls to the office to home.
We're also set up for snow. For about what I earn in two hours, I can buy a jacket that's rated to -40 degrees. Or a snow suit and mittens, AND snow boots for the midget.
Every shop you visit has snow clothing and boots, and when you are prepped for the winter, you hardly feel the cold - even when you're outside.
I do need to invest in snow tires at some point, but that's a ways away, and again, I can afford to buy them cash within a week's earnings.
So there you have it. Snow. Not nearly the dismal, depressing factor in living abroad that some people would like to make it out to be.
Like anything about moving abroad, it's about embracing the new, and it's a learning experience.
That having been said, when more snow does fall, and I take the midget out to make her first snow angels, there will probably be a bigger one right there next to hers. Snow brings out the kid in me.
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