Day 12: The Day My Toes Were Frozen

And this marks the first day I walked in the snow at a freezing temperature of -12 (or lower, I think) Celsius, and with wind blowing at goodness knows what speed. I survived.

Think I should print a T-shirt with the words “I survived walking in a snowfall at freezing temperatures!”. Or something to that extent.

Anyway, it was really bad. Not as bad as I expected it to be, but bad enough. I guess it’s just something everyone has to experience some time in his life. The next few days will be cold, cold, and cold. Even though I see the sun, I don’t feel its warmth, and it keeps snowing.

The worst part was that this was the day I went to Angstromlaboratoriet early in the morning on a Saturday, only to find out that my pass was unable to allow me access through the front door. That means the only door that my card is good is for the office, which, of course, I can get to only after I pass through the main doors. Dang... I was locked out. I thought I could use their internet facilities. So that meant I had to head back to my apartment. But, as you know, the frequency of the bus is quite low. And that early in the morning (before 0800), the bus interval is 1 solid hour. I had to wait, freezing of course, at the bus stop for 40 minutes. And it started snowing heavily... My toes felt frozen. My nose started dripping like a leaky faucet. Horrible.

On the bright side, the river looks really beautiful, when it’s partially frozen. I wished I could have taken a picture of it but my fingers froze the moment I stepped out of the building. If I wait for my fingers to thaw, the moment would have been lost. Oh well, the scene is etched in my memory, just too bad I can’t share it with anyone else.

Plus I noticed something beautiful while freezing at the bus stop this morning. While I was wrong about snow flakes here at this altitude being ice particles, it was only yesterday. The weather conditions I guess play an important part in it. The itty bitty snow flakes that landed on my jacket were so beautiful. Remember how we learnt that no two snowflakes are alike? It's true! And you don't even need a magnifying glass to see those beautiful patterns. Just your naked eyes are sufficient. How cool is that?

There just should be one more person here with me. Such experiences are meant to be shared.

Wished I could have gone to Stockholm.

Did my grocery shopping this morning and the total bill was over S$50. Again. Looks like I have to spend that amount of money every week to get the necessary food items for cooking, and to last the entire week. Now, if I don’t get anything else, of which I doubt, I’ll be able to survive on about S$400 a month, excluding the S$100 I have to pay for the monthly bus card. It seems quite reasonable I think. This way I can spend some hard earned money on entertainment and on some happy food like chocolates and Nutella, or Skippy peanut butter. I’ll buy that on tomorrow or Monday. Nope I don’t have to live like a pauper here, but neither can I live it up. I still have to count my cents and dollars.

Did my laundry as well this afternoon, and I've concluded that the name dryer is a misnomer. It doesn't dry your clothes. Not even after one hour at some high, high temperature. I think the spinner at home works much better than the dryer here.

It would still be great if I could meet more people here though. Life has been nothing but work and home. Hey, I don’t even talk to most of the people I meet at work, so I’ve been living almost like a mute these past two weeks. But I guess I have to give it time. I wish I were a kid again. Little children seem to be able to make friends so easily.

I walked around the city today. Think I’ve almost completed the entire thing already. There’s nothing much to see in the city. It’s just like Orchard, only smaller and quainter. There are sales (Swedish: rea) everywhere, but the shops I am familiar with like Levis and Ecco, do not have any discounts. Shucks.

Other than the usual shopping, what else should I do? Are there any must see, cannot miss attractions in Uppsala? The Botaniska is frozen, so there are no flowers to see. In fact, it’s just a patch of white now. Or must I wait till spring or summer before the nice things come on?

To my survival of 10 below 0 temperatures! Cheers!