Imagine the following scenario:-
You are 18 years old. You spent every second of the 18 years in a country where the lowest temperatures were 18°C. From January to January the sun arose at 7 am and set down at 7 pm. There were temperature differences, alright, but 35°C to 18°C. When it was 18°C you would put on your warmest pullis and jackets and you would still feel the cold. In other words: 18° was the coldest temperature you could imagine. Yes, you knew about seasons. You had two rainy seasons a year in your county. And of cause you had learnt in school about the four year seasons: summer, autumn, winter and spring. You had heard of animals which take winter sleeps for months. You knew snow was white, which you found weird because frozen water is not white.
That was me 15 years ago!
Somehow a miracle happened and i got the opportunity to travel overseas for an Au-pair program.
Destination: Germany
Date of arrival: 27th Dec 2000
Arrival Airport: Hamburg
My Au-pair family had informed me about the winter and asked me to dress appropriately. The only problem was my appropriately was not exactly the appropriate way.
My appropriately:
A wool cardigan that my mother had knitted for me. Not the V-shaped ones (those are not warm enough), no no no this one could be buttoned to the neck and therefore must be warm enough to keep me warm in winter. To protect my feet from the snow: very high heeled open platform pumps, this way i don´t get to step the cold snow. Everyone knows that skirts and dresses will not keep you warm, so i wore a pair of trousers. Not jeans, but normal cotton trousers. And there i was in my pair of trousers, woolen cardigan and open high heels confident to be fully prepared to face winter!
Stepping out of the airport; oh goodness!!! No words can describe that feeling. My blood froze instantly in its own veins. My fingers, my toes and my face were aching like hell, and a few minutes later they were all numb. It was a five minutes walk from the airport exit to the car, but it felt like two hours in my head!
We had to walk on the snow to the car. There lay up to 15cm snow in Hamburg that time of the year. As you can imagine my open high heels were of no help. With every step my feet were buried under the snow.
The snow was whiter than i ever imagined. It was surprisingly soft and light. I don´t know what i expected, but not fluffy. In Kenya we often have some hail storms where frozen rain falls down, so i guess i thought snow must be somehow similar.
While i froze my ass off during the 5 minutes walk to the car, my Au-pair child had already molded a beautiful snow ball which of cause landed on my head (grrrrrrrr).
I did not just experience my first snow on that day, but also my first snow ball.
And those were the 5 minutes of my first encounter with snow. I think i can say it was a shock, but little did i know....that was just the beginning much more was to follow, but lets talk about that another day!
Have a blessed Monday guys! Thanx 4 stopping by.
Lots of luv
ItsRose_Beth
You are 18 years old. You spent every second of the 18 years in a country where the lowest temperatures were 18°C. From January to January the sun arose at 7 am and set down at 7 pm. There were temperature differences, alright, but 35°C to 18°C. When it was 18°C you would put on your warmest pullis and jackets and you would still feel the cold. In other words: 18° was the coldest temperature you could imagine. Yes, you knew about seasons. You had two rainy seasons a year in your county. And of cause you had learnt in school about the four year seasons: summer, autumn, winter and spring. You had heard of animals which take winter sleeps for months. You knew snow was white, which you found weird because frozen water is not white.
That was me 15 years ago!
Somehow a miracle happened and i got the opportunity to travel overseas for an Au-pair program.
Destination: Germany
Date of arrival: 27th Dec 2000
Arrival Airport: Hamburg
My Au-pair family had informed me about the winter and asked me to dress appropriately. The only problem was my appropriately was not exactly the appropriate way.
My appropriately:
A wool cardigan that my mother had knitted for me. Not the V-shaped ones (those are not warm enough), no no no this one could be buttoned to the neck and therefore must be warm enough to keep me warm in winter. To protect my feet from the snow: very high heeled open platform pumps, this way i don´t get to step the cold snow. Everyone knows that skirts and dresses will not keep you warm, so i wore a pair of trousers. Not jeans, but normal cotton trousers. And there i was in my pair of trousers, woolen cardigan and open high heels confident to be fully prepared to face winter!
Stepping out of the airport; oh goodness!!! No words can describe that feeling. My blood froze instantly in its own veins. My fingers, my toes and my face were aching like hell, and a few minutes later they were all numb. It was a five minutes walk from the airport exit to the car, but it felt like two hours in my head!
We had to walk on the snow to the car. There lay up to 15cm snow in Hamburg that time of the year. As you can imagine my open high heels were of no help. With every step my feet were buried under the snow.
The snow was whiter than i ever imagined. It was surprisingly soft and light. I don´t know what i expected, but not fluffy. In Kenya we often have some hail storms where frozen rain falls down, so i guess i thought snow must be somehow similar.
While i froze my ass off during the 5 minutes walk to the car, my Au-pair child had already molded a beautiful snow ball which of cause landed on my head (grrrrrrrr).
I did not just experience my first snow on that day, but also my first snow ball.
And those were the 5 minutes of my first encounter with snow. I think i can say it was a shock, but little did i know....that was just the beginning much more was to follow, but lets talk about that another day!
Have a blessed Monday guys! Thanx 4 stopping by.
Lots of luv
ItsRose_Beth
Beatiful post Rossie.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to get to know you since back then. Muah
https://tbymallano.wordpress.com/
Thanx T. Would have been really nice. So glad i know you now. Mwah back!!!
ReplyDelete