Winter Already?

Being SoCal natives means that we’ve only really experienced two types of weather: sunny, and not-as-sunny.

I knew autumn and winter were approaching, but I didn’t expect the weather to change so dramatically. One day, it was summer — humid and hot. The next day, it was overcast and chilly. The heat never came back.

Imagine our surprise when we woke up one day to snow! While checking the weather a few days earlier, one of our teammates pointed out the snowflake icon on the weather app. We were all perplexed. “What does it mean?? Not snow, right? I mean, it’s November … how can it be snowing already??” We came to the conclusion that it must mean frost. In case anyone from SoCal is wondering, the snowflake icon most definitely means snow.

We were not prepared for this at all. It just so happens that we had been invited to a playdate with some friends from ch, and had to travel that day. We put on our warmest clothes, grabbed an umbrella, and headed out. I’m such a snow newb! The umbrella was utterly useless. Our shoes got soaked. Trying to rush a toddler through snow is pointless because he’ll slip and his pants will get wet. And then he’ll want you to carry him because he’s too scared of the mystical white stuff falling from the sky. It’s like our very own version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, but less cute and with snow. Somehow we made it to our playdate and had a great time!

I never thought I would miss having a car, but I really miss it! We’re so thankful for Uber and other car services. I just read an article that Uber might be banned soon. It has me singing, “please don’t take my uber away!” The cost can add up, but if we’re traveling outside of peak hours, the ride can be really inexpensive. It beats driving through traffic (and watching out for crazy drivers), and paying for gas.

After our brief encounter with snow, I decided it was time to stock up on winter essentials. I left my winter gear in the States, so hopefully we can survive until friends come next month! I went a little crazy with online shopping, mostly buying clothes for H. He only really wore shorts in SoCal, so we needed a lot. I’m hoping that outside of H outgrowing sizes, we’ll never have to buy winter clothes again.

We no longer have the option to control our heat here. Very few places have central heating, so most units have individual A/C and heater units. But the heater function doesn’t work very well. In our case, not at all. It was working fine the first week or so, but right before the coldest weather hit, the A/C + Heater unit in our living room died. It made a pitiful, exhaling noise before going completely dark. All housing has government controlled radiators which normally begin heating up on 11/15. They were supposed to be turned on about two weeks earlier because of the anticipated cold weather, but that only means that they start turning on in certain areas. Our radiators eventually came on and we’re so relieved! I’m not sure if they will help when it gets to -15+, but we’re good for now.

It’s supposed to snow again this week, so hopefully we’re better prepared now. It’s really easy to want to stay home and not do anything because of inclement weather or unfavorable circumstances. But I’m realizing that we can’t allow circumstance to run our lives. We would miss out on so much if we’re tempted by challenges to “take the easy way out.” If anything, we need to ask him to strengthen our faith so that we can be more fruitful. We’ve been reading through the good news books and I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to truly have faith and what genuine faith can do. How much of my unanswered yarpers are because of my lack of faith? How much more could he have done had I had stronger faith? Yarping for genuine, life-changing faith!

Some things we miss

We want to include these here and there just for fun, but also to encourage others to be thankful for everything they have, even the small things.

• Central heating
• Our own car
• Portola Coffee’s mochas

We’re thankful for…

• Community. As small as ours is here, we’re thankful to have a small group to call “family”.
• Uber. When we’re having negative degree weather, it is NOT fun waiting for the bus to come. Especially when you have a squirmy toddler.
• 11.11 Sales. They call it 双十一 (roughly translated “two elevens” or “twin elevens”). It’s also referred to as “singles day” and is their equivalent of Black Friday. They have major sales online which we used opportunely to stock up on clothes and toiletries.