My favorite part of moving to the South was leaving behind cold, grey, icy, slushy, freezing, depression-inducing, cloudy, sleeting, bone-chilling, nasty Boston winters. But I do have beautiful memories of magical snowfalls, where the city transforms into a silent, peaceful snow globe. Those moments are pretty much the only thing I miss about Boston from November through April. So when snow was forecast for this weekend I was happy that I was going to feel snow under my shoes again, once, briefly. Here I don't expect a real good Boston-type snowstorm - a couple feet of snow that falls on top of old snow, lingers for a week, lots of shoveling, maybe even a snow day if you're really lucky.
The frenzied hubbub about this snow forecast left me a bit confused. Because it wasn't a couple feet of snow, it was a quarter of that, maybe. And I felt bad for kids... it's going to snow once all season and on a weekend! No snow day even. Oh well. Friday night I had to run to the supermarket because I was all out of contact solution. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the egg section:
None left! Bread and milk were equally picked over. Why? Because local news had sent people out to stores with a list of necessary items for involuntary confinement. Saturday it did snow, and I stayed in my pajamas all day long and made a fire and watched movies. By the end of the day we got about 4 inches of snow, and some parts around us got about 6. We took a walk around our apartment today and kids were enjoying it. Here's a neighbor making a snowman....
When we came back the snowman seemed to have two extra heads on top... poor kids around here have such little snow they don't even know how to make a proper snowman. We saw another one that was just two giant blobs of snow with sticks coming out all over the top.
I've never seen a sled for sale, but people have them somehow. Perhaps they're generally used for the 'Winter Wonderland' festival each year, which brings in tons of fake snow. It was cancelled last week due to rain, and this week due to REAL snow. Imagine that.
Gabe and I enjoyed a nice walk in the woods....
Today I unthinkingly called a co-worker to arrange our 2 1/2 hour round trip car ride tomorrow, because where I come from four inches of snow two days later is not a blip on winter's radar. But things are different here. I've learned tomorrow IS a snow day. Roads are still unplowed, and apparently 1300 cars got in accidents on Saturday alone. I suppose everyone will sled, then come home for their bread, milk and eggs. Of all the things that are different here, reaction to snow is possibly the biggest culture shock so far.
The frenzied hubbub about this snow forecast left me a bit confused. Because it wasn't a couple feet of snow, it was a quarter of that, maybe. And I felt bad for kids... it's going to snow once all season and on a weekend! No snow day even. Oh well. Friday night I had to run to the supermarket because I was all out of contact solution. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the egg section:
None left! Bread and milk were equally picked over. Why? Because local news had sent people out to stores with a list of necessary items for involuntary confinement. Saturday it did snow, and I stayed in my pajamas all day long and made a fire and watched movies. By the end of the day we got about 4 inches of snow, and some parts around us got about 6. We took a walk around our apartment today and kids were enjoying it. Here's a neighbor making a snowman....
When we came back the snowman seemed to have two extra heads on top... poor kids around here have such little snow they don't even know how to make a proper snowman. We saw another one that was just two giant blobs of snow with sticks coming out all over the top.
I've never seen a sled for sale, but people have them somehow. Perhaps they're generally used for the 'Winter Wonderland' festival each year, which brings in tons of fake snow. It was cancelled last week due to rain, and this week due to REAL snow. Imagine that.
Gabe and I enjoyed a nice walk in the woods....
Today I unthinkingly called a co-worker to arrange our 2 1/2 hour round trip car ride tomorrow, because where I come from four inches of snow two days later is not a blip on winter's radar. But things are different here. I've learned tomorrow IS a snow day. Roads are still unplowed, and apparently 1300 cars got in accidents on Saturday alone. I suppose everyone will sled, then come home for their bread, milk and eggs. Of all the things that are different here, reaction to snow is possibly the biggest culture shock so far.
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