Captain's Log

Lost track of the date. Can't tell how many days it has been since the nightmare began. The snow is still blowing heavy, the dogs have all disappeared, God knows where to. For all I know they might have torn each other into pieces. Sometimes there are strange sounds at night. It seems there is no going on from here, but I have to leave a warning to those who follow...

snow

The cold has crippled my fingers, the dim light of my IKEA lamp is barely enough to illuminate the little fortress of warmth I have set up in my living room. It is dark out there, close to freezing, visibility is down to almost zero and it's SNOWING! Yes, no kidding! I'm holding the fort as long as I can, but I don't know how long supplies will last. The door is barricaded, all heaters and weapons crammed into this room. I will not let them get to me. I WILL NOT LET THEM GET TO ME!!!

The misery of cold is painfully under-estimated. It creeps through the floors, cracks in the doors, seeps through the window... there is no escape. All I can do is pile on more clothes, scarves, hats... the gloves make it hard to type though. Even if my fingers freeze off... people have to be warned!


So you thought I was joking last time. But I did actually give my last lecture in winter jacket, scarf and gloves (fingerless to not get chalk all over them). It was miserable. I have great respect for the students who showed up and suffered with me. I had to end class early because my voice was fading. I still have a cold that knocked me out flat last weekend, and speaking in my "lecture voice" (I was told I have one, ts) at zero degrees air temperature was not a good idea.

I am not sure I have made it sufficiently clear yet - this place is crazy! Not just because a pack of 20 Lipton tea bags costs the same as a brand new 1.2 liter glass teapot, no, also because people here deal with the cold by wearing heavy down coats in their apartments! I have a good view into my neighbors kitchen and witnessed her putting on an apron - on top of her heavy coat! All the while they kept their kitchen window still open - at 0 degrees and snow?! Madness! They told me I'm going to southern China, not the South Pole! How can it be that I am freezing more here than I ever was in Montreal?! Gah! Btw, at the moment it's colder here than there, which is just wrong! WRONG!

I don't think the current weather has anything to do with the weather-experiment-gone-wrong snow storm in Beijing, but people assure me it's highly unusual to have this kind of cold weather already in November. I feel really bad for the students who live in unheated dorms where the windows don't really close. For the first time I can remember the sight of those white flurries didn't fill me with delight but with trembles of horror...