Monday, June 7, 2010

The Year Without a Summer

It is hard to type when your hands are half frozen. Winter has hit Kroonstad and I don't like it. I have always preferred warm weather to cold weather but the fact I am freezing in June makes me particularly cranky. 2010 will be my year without a summer. I left at the end of March when it was just starting to get nice in Bloomington. And when I landed in South Africa it was mid Fall. I still have to suffer through two more months of winter and just when the weather should be getting nice and hot, I will fly back home. I love a white Christmas just as much as the next person but come on, how much cold weather can one person take?

Foolishly, when packing I listened to the internet that said South Africa has mild winters, with lows in the 40s. Maybe certain parts of South Africa are like that, but Kroonstad has been colder than that already and July is supposed to be the coldest month. I am a little worried about how we will survive. Our house was built around the turn of the century and it is drafty as something really drafty (sorry I drew a blank on that metaphor). I opened the door this afternoon and it was ten degrees warmer outside than in. The only heat available in our house are these ceramic tile heater things on the wall. There are four of them in our bedroom alone but when I woke up this morning it was so cold I thought that we had forgotten to turn them on. (Oh and it turned out they were on, just not all that effective.) I keep thinking that if I wear enough layers it will be okay but as I said I trusted the internet when packing. I packed two fleece jackets and three long sleeve shirts. All the warm sweaters in my closet are now taunting me from 8,000 miles away.

Well I guess the saying that "what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger" is applicable here. If I really wanted to I could go buy a couple sweatshirts or an indoor heater. But sometimes its better just to go on a rant on the internet.