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Hod · Joined: 28 Apr 2003 Posts: 1613 Location: Home

How do you explain this?

I started this thread last January after a frostbitten visit to Poland. It was the most depressing and miserable experience, the less said about the better. Now, don�t get me wrong, Warsaw looked great covered in icicles. It�s just that I didn�t.

But I�ll never forget the teachers I met. Well, I will actually. What with all the hats, scarves, gloves, baraclavas, etc, they had on, I had problems working out who was female, let alone think about exchanging names. Saying that, they were polite enough to ask what I thought of Warsaw. Likewise, I was polite enough not to tell them. The comments included:

"It�s wonderful in the summer. There are bars ...."
"Phwoar, check out the women in July...". (That was a man I believe.)
"You came the wrong time. Come back in summer."

So, last week I did. I returned to Warsaw in the summer time. It was a whopping 36 degrees. Every beer garden was wall-to-wall stunners. I didn�t know where to put my eyes, believe me you.

And where had all the teachers gone? Gone to summer schools every one! When will they ever learn, I wondered to myself.

In January, I asked on here why people go off to teach in cold places. I went away thinking the hot summers compensated for those grim winter months when twenty hours of darkness a day along with arctic conditions sent teachers�fuel bills rocketing. Now, I see that as soon as the snow melts, as soon as the chance of any good times starts, you all up and leave.

Umm, why?

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Am trying to slog out a paper by an end-of-the-month deadline and am finding that my IQ seems to become lower and lower in relation to rising temperatures + humidity.....can't wait for winter, and those lovely snowy minus 30 days...
And I promise not to moan about them, either Very Happy

pollitatica · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 82

I grew up in the North East. We have 4 extreme seasons here. The winter is really cool. The summer is really hot and humid. I appreciate those seasons, but I will NEVER like winter and cold weather. I much prefer hot weather with two seasons ... wet and dry.

I don�t like extremes. I want to move somewhere, some day that its sunny and 70 - 75F all year round.

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

In January, when you started this thread, I was suffering through a brutal summer in northern Peru, as close to the equator as I ever want to live! I seriously thought I would die--just melt into a miserable puddle on the walk to school. I started saving my money for a winter getaway, and I just recently returned from two wonderful weeks in Argentina. Aaaaaaaaah, the snow! The feeling of being snug in bed wrapped up in blankets!!! Huddling in front of a heater to dry off and warm up after hours of snowboarding!!!! Hooray!!!

And then I returned here (it's winter, but feels like a California summer--25 degrees during the day and cooler at night & in the morning). People asked me about the weather. "Oh, it was fine. Maybe 0 degrees or minus 2 up on the mountain, but as hot as 8 or 10 in the town." The looks on their faces when I described 10 degrees as hot! It's all relative, folks.

d

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

That's the great thing about being a skier - you have something to look forward to in winter - great powder runs, cosy mountain restaurants, snuggling up warm as Denise described so well.

From my balcony I can see the Mt Blanc massif, the gondola across the valley up to 2000m, 15thC church towers. Down the valley and up a side valley I can get to the Matterhorn and ski over to Zermatt - how can I not look forward to winter!

Bring your gear next time you're in Italy, Denise!

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Chancellor · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:14 pm Post subject:

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Negombo, Sri Lanka -- 26-29 C all year round. If you prefer it cooler try Kandy -- 16-20 C all year round.

Chancellor · Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:12 pm Post subject:

Hod · Joined: 28 Apr 2003 Posts: 1613 Location: Home

This is fascinating but unfair on Poland. There are places just as cold, some on this planet.

There�s a special breed called "Coldies" which do this - I mean, go teach in places where a nuclear winter would be a blessing. Then they head elsewhere, e.g. summer school, during the summer, when daylight appears for more than an hour a day and the prospect of any fun in their adopted land rears its happy head. Here�s what Coldies will soon be doing courtesy of the USA�s policy on green things:

40 degrees F - Californians shiver uncontrollably.
Coldies sunbathe.

35 degrees - Italian cars won't start.
Coldies drive (coldies have cars?) with the windows down.

20 degrees - Floridians wear coats, gloves, and wool hats.
Coldies throw on a T-shirt.

15 degrees - Californians begin to evacuate the state.
Coldies go swimming in the sea.

0 degrees - New York landlords turn the heat on.
Coldies have a last barby before it gets cold.

-10 degrees - People in Miami are extinct.
Coldies lick flagpoles.

-20 degrees - Californians all now live in Mexico.
Coldies throw on a light jacket.

-100 degrees - Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Coldies wear a vest and pull down their ear flaps.

-297 degrees - Microbial life starts to grind to a halt.
Cows in Coldy land complain of farmers with cold hands.

-460 degrees - ALL atomic motion stops.
Coldies turn the heating on.

-500 degrees - Hell freezes over.
Coldies spend the summer in Poland.

M. · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 65 Location: Moskva

No offence HOD,

Poland is a mild climate. I have lived more than 6 years in Russia. -25 is quite normal. I also lived in Japan..wherre the Humidity makes Florida seem mild and The temperature is plus 30-35 and at nite it is not much lower.

I like both. I know teachers living in Siberia that think Moscow has a mild climate. I live in Moscow. As the Russians say:

There is no bad weather, just bad clothing.

Obviously, you do not like the cold. So, dont live there. I love it. I also love the heat. I think everyone complaining about how cold it is are the same whingers who complain about the heat in the summer. Adapt. very simple.

Plus, All the "I grew up with snow, i only want hot places"...blah blah...fine. Go to the heat. Just stop complaining about it.

Ps. My neigbor is 92 years old. I think she broke your minus twelve year life span limitation.

You want cold Try a japanese fliat with no heat in the winter..Or better yet a Kaltraum in Berlin..Where i had a coal heated room...usually was minus 5 or more in my house.

M.

Khrystene · Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 271 Location: WAW, PL/SYD, AU

Sherri · Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:57 am Post subject:

I love where I live now. The temp ranges from about 15C to 30C, but most of the time, it is a nice 25C. It can get hot, especially in the summer months like now, but it always cools off at night. We don't need airconditioning or heating.

It does get a little cool in the winter months, but heating in Hawaii means closing the windows and lighting a candle! It is not that bad. We also get snow on top of Mauna Kea in the winter but near the coast, it's beach weather. At Christmastime, I have seen pickup trucks loaded with snow that they got from Mauna Kea driving to their home, I suppose to surprise their kids.

I agree with M, the climate in Japan is terrible. I don't miss those hot, humid summers or those bitingly cold winters in drafty apartos. I come from Missouri, so I know cold, but I have never felt as cold as I did in Tokyo.

Best
Sherri