BoJo Family: Cold

It has been extremely cold here for the past 3 weeks. At one point the weather has dropped to-36C, which is something like -33F. This was at night and it warmed up during the day, it has been averaging -16C (3F) . The fast moving Wisla river has frozen solid and we even saw some people cross it, although I would be too scared to do that. The birds that live around the river are graciously fed by locals and visitors alike. We make sure to save all of our bread scraps and feed them at least once a week. There have been over 300 deaths in Europe associated with this cold spell, mostly homeless people, but also some elderly who don't have the money or the strength to heat their homes. The pollution has been awful. People still use coal to heat their homes as it is sooooo much cheaper than gas. Also, to save money, a lot of poeple burn their trash. They feel that they kill two birds with one stone this way - heat their home and get rid of trash. As trash is not what it used to be, this is particularly bad for the air. Paper is coated with chemicals and people burn plastics as well. There have been a few days where we didn't go out at all because we didn't want to expose Aria and ourselves to the nasty air. Today has been the first day of warmer weather. The sun came out as well, and everything is melting. It feels almost balmy, although it is still well below 0C. I must have forgotten how harsh Polish winters are. Even though I have been warning Joe about this this entire time, I was shocked myself once it actually happened. Aria seemed not to mind it as much. It just made her extra sleepy and she would require that we carry her in our arms everywhere. While I'm ranting about the cold, let me just say that I have never seen this many fur coats in one place. Polish people have a love affair with fur. All the older ladies wear long fur coats made out of all sorts of animals, like mink, fox, nutria, lamb, and other stuff I do not recognize. They also wear giant fur hats and mittens. It looks so out of date to me and makes me miss Portland where I have never seen a person wear fur (unless it was vintage of course). I guess fur does keep you warmer during cold weather like this...

Because of the cold we have been just hanging out at home a bunch. Dancing, doing art and baking are a few of our favorite activities. We also go to two different art classes and a swimming class. Aria loves the swimming class, although she refuses to submerge her head under water. Well, it's a goal we can work towards. This weekend is my bday and we are planning a trip someplace. Maybe to the Tatra Mountains to go sledding. Then next week my Mom comes! We are so excited we get to see her!

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to.