Personal

This morning it was minus 17 outside when I woke up.

The sky is still blue and the sun is still there and we saw them both yesterday – it was really beautiful.

I found a jumbo box of fair dinkum cornflakes – oh I am so happy.

When it’s really cold the inside of your nostrils freeze.

Pris Gollan is a good cook – and all of her kids are growing up really fast.

I’m not sure if I’m more annoyed at having shoes stolen out of my van, or having the window with my silver fern and southern cross smashed.

The silence of snow is truly amazing. I stopped working on the computer and looked out the window to see big, slow, heavy, swirling, individual flakes of snow, silently falling down down down. My office is on the third floor in the school here in Rzhyshchiv. I tried to take some photos – but you can’t see the action. Snow is so different from rain. It is so silent it is deafening. I don’t want to prepare lessons today. I want to stand at the window and wonder. It is a sight to behold. The wind catches the flakes, some appear to be going up, then they will spiral into a mini slow motion tornado, then again as always they fall down down down. And silently they make their bed upon the ground. Oh it’s a beauty that has to be seen. All of you antipodeans, come over here and visit. I know I encourage you to come in the summer, but some of you, come in the winter. You can help me teach English – but you can see the snow fall. You can wonder at the wonder of wonders.

I keep turning round to see out the window. It just got thicker and faster. Some of those flakes must be the size of a 20 cent piece. Words are not enough. I wish you could all see what I can see.

Stuck in traffic! A rainy late Friday afternoon and I'm stuck in a propka. The name for a cork is the same word for a traffic jam. I see a sign for the metro system so I pull up on the footpath, park the van and head to the underground. 15 minutes later I'm waiting in the rain with some friends. I have a silly hat, a sign that says Lida for president, and I'm wondering why for the second time in a few weeks I forgot to bring a jumper when the weather is below 10 degrees. Eventually we hop on a bus and are transported to some weapons factory that has been converted into a TV studio.