To: Everyone who's ever said, "It must be cold in Russia"

You were right.

I woke up this morning to a balmy -4 degrees F, but the sun was shining. We've had about 3 days in a row of sunshine in Moscow, which is pretty much unheard of, but for a while I thought, it's too cold, I'll just stay inside where it's warm. Just as I was dreaming about lying on a beach somewhere, I decided that sun > cold. I went to college in Maine, after all, I could handle the cold. So I bundled up with the mantra "no bad weather only bad clothing choices" in my head (thanks Colby Crew) and headed outside for a walk. It was cold, but not unbearable. Even though it was 0 degrees at this point (remember we're still talking Fahrenheit), the sun was great! I thought to myself, "I could get a tan, if only any part of my body were exposed".

Anyways, I ended up going back to a park I had visited in October. Cold or not, people weren't fleeing from the weather. There were people ice skating, cross-country skiing, walking their dogs, and even sledding on a man-made hill where you could rent snow tubes for 100 roubles ($3) for 1/2 an hour.

Even though sometimes I think Russians are afraid of the cold, I think like most denizens of places where the weather is less than paradisaical, they deal with the weather when it's not great, and they take advantage of it whenever it's good. I love that so many of the parents around the area bring their kids outside to play, frostbite be damned! (Actually this is an exaggeration, most kids get so puffed up with coats that they can barely move their arms or legs. It's cute.) Seeing these kids enjoying the winter makes me love having seasons all the more. Dream as I may of sandy beaches, suntanning in January would feel wrong, and what's more, I think it would make July less special.

There's a lesson in there somewhere about appreciating the now, which I will probably be cursing the next time I have to go outside, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Here's some pictures from the walk:

Graffiti: "Rus", as in Russia

The well-worn tracks, both by foot and xc skis

A light snow blanket on the statue

I don't know what "kis" is, but someone was clearly dedicated

 

 

Sledding!

By the way, in my whole 1 1/2 hour expedition at temperatures around 0 degrees, my feet and hands were if anything, warm. Now, my face was cold, and I definitely should've worn a layer under my jeans (a rookie mistake really, I'm kind of embarrassed), but still! Thanks Colby College for teaching me how to dress appropriately in the cold/forcing me to expand my winter wardrobe so that I was able to!