The Iceman Cameth

17:30 27 October 2008

Yesterday I was reminded that despite my deepest wishes and the fact that Winter doesn’t officially start until December 22nd, Winter is here in Kyrgyzstan. It had been getting cold the last few weeks (dipping into the freezing digits in the nights) but yesterday took the cake. Upon a blistering wind Winter arrived with a small snowfall and the mercury plummeting into the mid-20s. I guess trick-or-treating may be out of the question and I think it safe to say Winter hath reared its ugly and cold head.

The coming of cold weather prompted us to winterize our house somewhat. The main work to be done in this department was to take raw sheep’s wool and, using a knife, stuff it into the cracks around the windows to prevent drafts. The fact of the matter is that the house is going to be cold though. The kitchen/eating area isn’t too bad when we have the coal/wood burning stove running but the rest of the rooms in the house are pretty chilly- mine has already dipped into the 40’s at night and a friend of mine here said they once woke up the next morning and found their purified water frozen solid. Yikes. Regardless, I’m not so worried about sleeping since I have an excellent sleeping bag but I am going to have to get used to cold feet. Oh well, I wasn’t planning on marrying anytime soon anyhow.