I've forgotten what warm weather feels like.

It doesn't get as cold here as Minnesota, but my school and my apartment don't have insulated walls, and my school isn't heated. The offices have air-conditioner like heaters, but none of the classrooms has any sort of heat. It hangs around in the 40s while we teach in the wintertime, and sometimes drops down low enough to see your breath inside the classroom. It's quite terrible. You may say, "Well, 100 years ago most school houses in Minnesota didn't have electricity. They toughed it out." No, they had stoves. Kids lit a fire in the classroom each morning so that they could concentrate on their studies. We have the irony of a "modern" building that isn't heated, and being "modern" won't allow for fires being lit in the center of the room. I really don't know how students are expected to perform to their full potential when the only word I hear from them during an entire lesson is "Samui!" - "Cold!" Kids huddle together before class starts and fight over the seat in the sun.

My apartment also has an air-conditioner heater thingy, but it's only in 1 of my 5 rooms, and about 3 minutes after I turn it off it's cold again because my walls are so thin and I have 3 huge sliding glass doors. The only 2 places I'm ever warm is in the shower and in my bed. And people wonder why they lose motivation during the wintertime.

I'm not super-upset about this, and you might think it's complaining, but for the most part I've grown used to it. (There are so many things you have to just shrug your shoulders at when living in a different country and culture, hoo, believe me...or in the case of cold "hunch" your shoulders...) The winter can't last forever, but it's lasted long enough now to the point where I can picture myself wearing a T-shirt, but I can't picture myself being comfortable while wearing one. I really miss being comfortable and relaxed and warm...

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