One of the most often-asked questions I have gotten this trip is, “How is there?”. It takes me a second every time to respond, as it is phrased so strangely. But, what is being asked is, “How is the place from where you came?”, or “How is New York?”. The best conversation starter is to say, “Very cold.”, and then to attempt to describe how cold to someone who considers a 70 degree day cold. Seriously. When we are here in July and August, the temperature averages between 70-80 degrees max. On the days when it is close to 70 rather than 80, you will see the boda men in parkas and down-coats. Peter and Andrew wear sweaters. Women have cardigans and jackets on. And we Americans are loving what we consider “perfect spring weather”.
Because I still have not learned how to convert Fahrenheit into Celsius, I cannot truly say how cold New York is except to say that it is below 0 degrees Celsius…which blows their minds. I was talking to a young guy yesterday at the taxi park and he asked what makes it snow….is it the weather? And I said yes, it is like rain, but frozen. Again, how do you truly explain?
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Something like..."Imagine cotton spread everywhere such that whenever you get out of a building, more cotton is falling on you in small clumps...except the cotton is as cold as ice. Colder than zero degrees celcius"
ReplyDeleteIt might be a challenge to explain it to one who has never seen ice though...