Today is -23 in Kamikawa! This is not something that happens often; probably less often than -40 in Alberta! And yes, there is still massive amounts of snow!
We live in one of the last neighbourhoods in Kamikawa to receive ploughing services! As such, our roads are single lane; legit! This means that we have to look carefully when turning onto said roads to make sure there is not another car and if there is, we need to wait. And - if you meet another car when driving on one of these roads, one of you needs to pull off (somewhere) to let the other through. Can you imagine 58th Street???? Luckily here there is NOT much traffic on these roads.
When you are walking on a ploughed sidewalk it is like walking through a tunnel with no roof. On either side of you, there are banks of snow at least 3 feet tall and often taller! Outside our living room window the snow is about 4 feet off the ground (well above our bottom windowsill).
Having said all of this, we almost NEVER (maybe twice)have to scrape our windshield. The snow is very different from what I remember in RMH. It is softer, and lighter. There are no muddy, gross, rock hard mounds of snow, it is like we are all covered in a beautiful, white blanket!
When you drive by the high school parking lot you will see rows of cars with the wipers standing at attention, anticipating the next dump! Actually, you will see this in any parking lot. When I arrive at the high school in the morning, there are almost always a group of teachers moving the snow, shovelling the snow. Yes, that is correct, the teachers.
Like RMH, students at the high school have “ski days”. The teacher I work with at the high school loves to snowboard - but - it is too cold right now!! Yes - that is correct… -20 is too cold to snowboard here… Hmmm…
One week from today I will already have shouted from my hotel balcony, “GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!!” When we return in a month, we are not sure we will be able to see our apartment!
Stay tuned…
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