A little bit of home...

One of the things that I've always prided myself on is my ability to withstand the cold. Having grown up in the mountains of Colorado, I was accustomed to cold weather and have been know to play in the snow in shorts (there are pictures to prove it). I'm a mountain boy - cold weather is in my blood. But it appears that my blood is thinning and this warm and tropical climate that I find myself in is converting me. Here is Thailand we are officially in the cold season and the weather has markedly become colder in the past two weeks. I heralded the official arrival of the cold season in the middle of October as a break from the hot temperatures of the rainy season and in November basked in the brilliant temperatures - the mornings and evenings were very pleasant and the days were warm but bearable. The air-conditioner was turned off and I was cooled by a nice breeze blowing through the office and the classrooms. It was wonderful. But the start of December brought with it a cold snap that has left me chilled to the bone. The first sign that it was becoming too chilly was the wind chill I felt as I rode my motorcycle around at night. What was once heralded as a blessing has now become a miserable reason to limit my travel as much as possible. It's been cold for about 2 weeks now and I've just started to remember to wear a jacket when I go out. Because the weather is still pleasant during the day, the thought of having to carry a jacket around all day only to wear it for 10 minutes on my way home was unappealing. So, I grinned and bared it and suffered through those miserable rides home in the evenings and mornings. After all, I'm from Colorado - if I can't handle a little cold weather, I'd never live it down. So bucking the jacket for the sake of convenience and my pride, I continued to ride in shorts and short sleeve shirts and shouted,"take that cold season" as I rode about town. I lasted about 3 weeks until one particularly cold trip early one Saturday morning sent me straight into bed (clothes and all) after arriving at home. As I lay there shivering for a good 10 minutes before I warmed up I resigned myself to wearing a jacket.

So for the past couple weeks I have donned the jacket as a part of my daily attire and nicely store it beside my desk during the day. For a few days it was still regarded as essential attire only for the motorcycle ride, but the past few days however have given me reason to wear the jacket most of the day. We have been hit by what appears to be the annual cold snap and (brace yourself...) it is cold. For a country that spends most of the year above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures in the 40's are cold. Houses here are not built to keep heat in, quite the contrary they are designed to keep them cool. The government has declared a national emergency in several of the northern provinces because of the extremely cold temperatures (which in some places at or below freezing). Here in Lampang we are seeing night and morning temperature in the 40's and 50's and that's cold enough to send me to the store to buy another blanket for my bed (my house doesn't have a heater or any source of heat other than the gas stove I use to cook with and I've decided that it's a bit risky to use that as a source of heat). So, for the past few days I've bundled up and have worn my fleece jacket around pretty much all day. At night, I crawl into bed with my clothes on and wrap myself in my blankets and attempt to stay warm as the temperature plummets and upon waking have to force myself to get out of bed and into the shower. That takes about 20 minutes. While I do have a hot water heater on the shower, the water only reaches about 90 degrees and needless to say my showers have gotten shorter and shorter and I'm thankful for my longer hair now which means I can get away with only washing it every other day. As soon as I've showered I dry off and it's back into bed for a few minutes to warm up and then into my work clothes and jacket before I cook breakfast and devour my steaming hot bowl of rice porridge. This morning I even went as far as to dig deep down into my trunk and pull out the gloves that I brought that I never thought I'd use and wear then. I've even bundled myself in both my jackets (my fleece and soft shell) for the motorcycle the past few days.

As I mentioned, I was hesitant to admit that temperatures in the 50's were cold, but recently I've been thankful for the cold weather as it's assisted me in transitioning into Christmas. What would have been unheard of without these cold temperatures (hot cups of tea in my cold hands, bundling up in my jacket and gloves, wearing a hat to bed and other such cold weather activities) have transported me back to the cold winters in Colorado. As much as I resisted this transformation into warm weather person, I have enjoyed being able to live in the cold again. Especially after hearing about the incredible winter that they are having in Colorado and the feet of snow being dumped on this as I write. While I still hold to the statement I've made many times that I'd much rather have cold weather and snow to cold weather without snow, I'll gladly take this short cold snap were having here and use it as a vehicle to take me back to the winters of Colorado.

Shivering and shaking,

Ryan