I imagine, to a certain extent, those of you who read these updates with regularity must find them a bit redundant at times. This will make the third letter with a cold weather related title, and we’ve only hit mid December. I can’t even imagine how many times I’ve described slaughtering for meat or dairy products. However, some parts of life here are just so pervasive, when I reflect, I can’t keep them out of my mind. Today, the subject is the cold.
Its cold here, and the cold is different from any cold I’ve known. Thus far, the lowest we’ve hit is around -13 Fahrenheit. While I think it’s already gotten down lower than that in Chicago, taking wind-chill into account, here its not all that windy, and that makes the cold, well, different.
The best way I can describe it is that when I go outside, my nose begins to feel as though it is freezing. Not “really-cold” freezing, but like, water turning into ice, freezing. When the cold first started to fall, I noticed people clearing their noses in powerful farmer blows. The habit is beginning to take on new relevance for me.
When the real cold hits, the locals know it. They even have a word for it, cheelde. This notes the forty coldest days of the year. While the dates vary, the first day is always cold enough that most everyone agrees. The middle of the cheelde is not as cold, but the last day is like that slap in the face interrogators always give their victims in the movies to wake them up after passing out: its just as cold as the starting day, but signals the end of the worst.
The cold has even permeated everyday language. Along with “how is your health, and, how is work?” a common greeting is now, “you’re not cold, are you?” One day my boss asked if my house was warm (a common question) and when I chuckled agreement I also sprung the question back on him. “Well, of course. But I’m from here, I’ve prepared. What about you? Are you ready?” Now, aside from being unable to procure a traditional coat and making do with hand-me-downs, how could I answer, Yes? How could anyone prepare for -40 (the convenient point where Fahrenheit and Celsius meet), without wind-chill, having not experienced it before?
Every day, in fact, my family asks me if I’m cold at night. On a record day, three of my family members, all independent of each other, asked me this question. What I really want to tell them is that none of it would be so bad if I didn’t have to brave this awful cold every time I needed to use the bathroom.
But where the cold is cold, the hot tea and loving family truly make up for it. I would never want to live alone in this place, and now, I can see why hardly anyone does.
Good luck with your own famlies, folks, and Happy Holidays.
Originally written Dec. 19th, 2009
