Why I (Will) Love Winter

It’s not even September yet but already I find myself dreading the winter. The air outside is cool and I swear it almost smells like fall. Earlier today I was sitting in my room, fan running in the hallway in an effort to air out some of my musty smelling blankets and suddenly I smelled smoke. At first I thought I’d started an electrical fire (wouldn’t be the first time, frighteningly enough) and then I realized the smell was coming from outside. Now, it was probably just somebody burning trash, but at the time, crisp, smoky air floating in from outside, it felt very suddenly like fall.

I don’t hate winter…exactly. But I don’t think I’ve ever not looked forward to winter as much as I’m not looking forward to this one. Normally I don’t give winter a lot of thought. I just tend to drift through the seasons, generally enjoying spring and summer a little more than autumn and a fair bit more than winter. But before I came to Ukraine, I never really thought about winter more than a few days or weeks before it really began when all of a sudden I could see my breath in the mornings and I only started to hate it in the thick of February, the shortest and yet somehow longest,  most impossible month of the year.

This last winter, though, seemed inordinately long and uncomfortable. It wasn’t so much the cold or the snow that I minded. In fact, it’s not actually the cold that bothers me about the winter. I stayed warm enough inside and even outside, wrapped up in my coat and lots of layers (except for those days when it was -10 and, if my memory serves me, even a little bit colder. On those days feeling warm outside just wasn’t an option). What bothers me about winter in Ukraine is how dark it gets so early–I remember a few days during training last year when it was getting dark as early as 4:00 p.m. And that’s just unreasonable.  

But my biggest problem of all was the ice. Now, people have told me that last winter in Ukraine was unusual. Other volunteers comforted me by telling me that the previous winter there was hardly any snow at all…it just rained a lot, they said. So I can only hope that this coming winter will be more gracious than last, because the slicks of ice that covered absolutely every walkable surface for weeks at a time last winter were pretty much unbearable. When I wasn’t slipping and falling, I was trying not to slip and fall.

Some Peace Corps volunteers find it unfathomable that Ukrainian women wear high-heeled boots (think stilettos) even in the winter. They wonder how they can walk around without breaking their necks. But I’ll tell you this: if this winter is anything like last year, I have every intention of being first in line at the bazaar to buy a pair of stiletto boots. Ukrainian women are no fools. They use their boots like ice picks. When there are no rails to grab onto, no bare patches of ground poking through the shiny ice, Ukrainian women just dig their heels into the ice on the ground and stride along as though their boots were made for this kind of walking.

So although its certainly far too early to tell whether this winter may or may not call for a pair of stiletto boots and a sun lamp, I’m making a list of reasons to look forward to winter. That way, especially if there isn’t a lot of ice on the ground, I might actually enjoy those delectably chilly six months of the year (word choice is half the battle, I suspect).

The Many Reasons I Will Love Winter 2010-2011

• Sitting inside while its snowing outside can be cozy, especially when the space heater is cranked up all the way
• The mold, mice, and ants will probably (oh dear God, please…) go away
• New boots! (I have to buy a new pair even if I don’t want stilettos…last year’s boots are busted)
• I love scarves
• I like knitting in the winter
• There’ll be plenty of time to write
• It’s nice to eat warm, cozy foods like chili and borscht
• I don’t have to feel guilty about sitting inside all day
• Lots and lots and lots and lots of holidays. And while I don’t like jellied meat, I do love all the other food!
• Ice skating and skiing are a lot of fun!
• My mom and dad are going to come visit in January!!

I welcome any and (nearly) all suggestions for additional reasons I should love winter. I’d like nothing more than to make this list long and irrationally optimistic.