Baby, it's cold outside.
An icy rainstorm trickles its way through Kansas City tonight. Those of us who were here the last time-- when was it, three years ago?-- are dreading a night without power and a sideways drive into the office tomorrow on streets as smooth as glass.
A test, perhaps? A little something to get us ready for Kokshetau? We've been doing our homework, reading the websites of those who've gone before us. One of my favorites is from a Peace Corps volunteer who's there right now. (With his permission, perhaps we'll link to his 'blog a little later on.) He writes that they have "frost days" for their schools in Kokshetau... WHEN IT GETS BELOW -27 DEGREES F! At night, if he leaves his apartment, the locks will freeze closed behind him and he won't be able to get back in until morning. His solution? Prop the door open with a piece of bread. The bread freezes solid as a brick!
Here's a link to the weather in Kokshetau. A balmy 19 as I write this with a low of just minus seven. Yikes. Call me Eddie Bauer. I think between Robin and me, we now own the entire artic wear collection.
Still, cold and all, we're excited to go. And as much as I shiver to read about the weather, I love seeing things like "Neither fluff, nor feathers!" It's apparently a Russian idiom used in Kazakhstan to mean "Good luck!" It's going to be awesome to have six weeks to immerse ourselves in another culture. Because sometime, years from now, Owen's going to ask us what it was like in Kokshetau.
We can't wait to tell him.
