It takes time to adapt : winter

          Over the weekend the temperature has dropped drastically : 10°C in the morning. I was freezing, am still freezing in my own apartment, as it has center heater and usually it gets turned on late October. I was told that maybe some senior citizens in the apartment complex would appeal to our syndicat so that they would turn on the heater earlier than planned.

 

          When I arrived in the office, I was surprised to learn that we are still in summer mode so the air conditioner is on and we have to put it to minimum. How ironic that the temperature inside the office is lower than the temperature outdoor in winter! Some coworkers wrote to our facility manager and the response : the company who handles the heating system has to come and do something, but they will not come until middle of the week because a storm was expected beginning of the week. I don’t think it is a norm here, as hubby’s office has switched to winter mode, but he knows other offices that are experiencing the same thing as us.

          Coming from a tropical country, winter is always harsh for me, but it gets better over years. My moral is still low, I have no desire to do anything, and couldn’t understand how people can claim that winter is their favorite season that they are so eager to walk outside or practice winter sports. My legs used to freeze up even with two layers of pants, but last winter a pair of jeans were enough to put me through the whole winter.

But a walk outside at 0°C with strong wind would trigger a running nose, and I get sick a lot in this season (cough, cold, running nose…).

          I’m glad that the first few years outside of my comfort zone were spent in Texas, where winter was very mild, I didn’t even have big thick coat like I own today. I hope we have center heating system like in Texas though, we just have to put it to 19°C the whole year. We can stay in the cozy apartment and not realizing the weather outdoor. I was told that heater and air conditioner work on two different systems, and maybe center heating is less ecologic, as I have not heard of it in Nantes.

          Anyway, after hearing all my whining, my friend told me that Nantes actually has nice weather in general, I should have gone to Northern part of China to experience the real winter. And in some Southern cities in China, there are no heater during winter.

         Ok, I admit I have not seen the worst, but I don’t think I would want to.