A Winter Wonderland Nightmare

A Winter Wonderland Nightmare

There are few things in the world that I dislike more than snow. (Fox News and coconut are up there as well.) When people find this out, they are genuinely surprised. The response usually involves something about how since I am from Minnesota they thought I would love snow. Actually, the opposite is true. It was there that I learned to loathe it. However, I do like snow on mountains. As long as it stays up in higher elevations and does not come anywhere near where I have to walk or be, it can be quite nice. Once it starts getting near me that is when my issues with it arise.

My intense dislike for snow is largely from having to shovel growing up. While the prospect of a Snow Day was always on my mind when meteorologist extraordinaire, Mike Fairbourne from WCCO, announced snow was on the way, a Snow Day also meant shoveling. Being in school was preferable to shoveling any day. The issue of shoveling was compounded by the fact a snow blower was oddly absent from our storage shed. (As was a riding lawn mower until after I went off to university.) Consequently, I had to shovel old school: with a shovel. When a snow blower did appear, it seemed to only come out if a myriad of parameters was met, which was usually never. Furthermore, add to the equation the driveway of the home my family had while I was in high school. The driveway was more like a parking lot. On a cold, blustery Minnesota winter morning it appeared to be about the same size as a parking lot at Wal-Mart, able to hold multiple RVs, trucks, and cars with room to spare.

Also, I dislike snow because it was just around for such a large part of my growing up years. Thinking on it, between the ages of 0 and 18, at least 5 months of every year involved snow. Conservatively, that is a total of 7.5 years! However, snow is also a good historical marker on my life timeline. Many events are still remembered because of their relationship to a major snow storm. The Halloween Storm of 1991 is still talked about. At university, my Minnesota friends and I often referred to that specific storm and its place in our lives in relation to other events. I was in 5^th grade, and the first snow fall of the year began the morning of Halloween. It was definitely a trick, not a treat. Freezing rain was part of it, wrecking havoc across Minnesota. Fifth grade is also memorable because the last snow fall of the year was on Memorial Day.

I attended university in Utah, and it amazes people that I have never been skiing or snowboarding since I lived in the place with the Greatest Snow on Earth. Once again, the prospect of being cold and in snow for a whole day holds little to no appeal. However, I probably should try it at some point.

And now to my present situation…Batumi in snow is a nightmare! After experiencing this, I would take the 100 F days with high humidity over this. (I say that now, but when they return I will likely pine for the cold days of winter). The week began with rain and by Tuesday night it had turned to snow. For two days now, it seems to alternate between rain and snow or often a combination of the two. With the temperatures just about freezing, everything is (in Minnesota snow parlance) a slushy mess. It is neither rain nor solid snow. It looks like solid snow, but the second one steps on it turns to slush.

Getting around Batumi has been interesting for lack of a better word. Unlike in Minnesota, the concept of snow removal does not seem to exist here. No one has shoveled and there are no snow plows. I mentioned this fact to some students at school this morning. Their response was that the cars removed the snow. Not like a plow, I thought wishfully. Moreover, Batumi lacks storm sewer drains. Bizarre, I know. Consequently, the slushy mess pools everywhere, inside of the large water portion flowing down drains. The entire front yard at the school has become a lake, as well as about every corner and piece of street in the entire city. The same thing happens when it rains even a little in the city. Walking down the lane in front of my house is an event. Puddles routinely are 6 inches deep, and one must cross the lane often to dry and take the path of the least amount of water.

Yesterday when I arrived back from school upon seeing the courtyard of the fortress I live in (that is a story for another post), the Minnesotan in me thought, “We should really shovel that before it freezes.” No shoveling has occurred, but the snow on the palm and mandarin trees has been removed.

With the snow, has come a brutal cold. I must admit, however, that by Minnesota standards my definition of cold is nothing. After years of mild winters in both Utah and Israel, my cold tolerance has significantly decreased. (Basically any temperature below 50 F is cold to me). Minnesotans would hear what I think is cold, and sort of chuckle and shake their heads in disbelief, and return to their discussion on road construction, hot dish, the latest hockey score, the headlines in the Star Tribune, or Garrison Keillor. Cold in Minnesota is bearable because of a little thing called central heat.

HVAC here is completely different then in the United States. Apart from the Sheraton in Batumi, HVAC is non-existent. Homes do not have a furnace. Maybe a rare one, but I have yet to encounter one. Heating here is primary done by a wood burning stove or space heater. However, most of the year in Batumi heating isn’t needed, which makes sense. Yet this story is found in the mountain villages as well. The stove is liable to be in just one room of the house. Coupled with the fact the houses lack insulation and are generally constructed of concrete, they are cold to say the least. My house is typical. I spend a lot of time in the family room just because that is where the wood burning stove is. My room has a space heater, making it fairly warm. This morning it was 56 F in my room. That was with the heater on, and it was the warmest room on the 3^rd floor. My bathroom is another story. The temperature there seems to hover just slightly above absolute zero. I will forever be grateful for central heating and air conditioning after Georgia.

School has also been cold. Most of the students have stopped coming because of the temperature and the weather. I was told not to bother showing up Friday since the students weren’t. Today while I was at school (I never did any teaching today because there were literally no students), I had the following on to stay warm. Despite the radiators at the school, I was still freezing. I was wearing:

· 1 tank top

· 1 long sleeve wicking shirt

· 1 sweater

· 1 Marmot fleece jacket

· 1 wool jacket

· 1 pair of slipper socks (courtesy of Turkish Airlines)

· 1 pair of fleece booties

· Haflinger wool clogs (I wore my Wellington rubber boots to school)

· Jeans

· Fleece-lined wool hat

· Scarf

Considering all the layering I have to do, I feel a lot like Randy from A Christmas Story. I can’t put my arms down! It was good times. But a growth experience none the less. I am looking forward to the return of warmer temperatures. Last week it was so warm I had my Chaco sandals on. But it was not meant to last.