MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—”THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
“Mom, I thought you said it would be hot in Spain!” Pierre said as I insisted he zip up his warm, puffy coat for his evening soccer practice.
“Well, it was, if you remember. Do you remember how we had to close up the shutters and live in a dark cave? Or, how many hours we spent in the swimming pool to survive the crazy heat?”
Super Hot, Super Cold
Yes, it gets super hot in Spain. We had temperatures well over 100 in August and September. And, may I remind you, no air conditioning?
On the other hand, it also gets super cold in Spain.
Last month, we returned from vacation on the sunny southern coast. The temperatures were perfect—low 60s during the day and high 40s at night. It was way too cold for us to swim in the pool and the sea, although we did witness some brave souls getting in and out of the water quickly for a burst of adrenaline and blood circulation.
In any case, our family got our winter dose of Vitamin D and some good exercise on the boardwalk.
Then, we returned north to
Warning—Thermal Shock!
After driving two hours on our way home, we stopped for a potty break at the local gas station. Thankfully, in Spain, we don’t have to “pay to potty.” We opened the car doors and hit thermal shock!
“Oh my goodness! It’s freezing! What happened to the sun and warm temps?” I said.
None of us had our warm winter coats handy, so we had to dig them out of the bottom of the trunk.
We weren’t prepared for this.
Extra Layers
Before leaving home, it had been cold.
For those of you in warm countries, you may have no idea what this is. Long underwear or thermal underwear is a base layer that you wear under your regular clothes. They are tight and are worn close to your skin. They keep you extra warm.
If you go skiing or do other outdoor sports in the winter, you better wear some long underwear!
Thrift Stores and Stocking Up
I stocked up on long underwear while living in bitter cold Pennsylvania for the past
My favorite thrift store down the street from our house, Salvation Army, had a huge stock of these. I would always buy warm tops and bottoms—especially on “99 Cent Days” and “Half-Price Wednesdays”!
If you live in a cold climate where you wear these everyday, you better have a week supply of these!
Well, here I am now in Spain—freezing!! When we walked into our house after vacation, it was an icebox! Gas fuel to heat the house is pretty expensive here, so we had turned off the heat completely while we were gone for a week. Big mistake!
Bundled Up
Even after several hours, our hands were still like ice cubes, and we could see our breath. It was that cold!
We ate dinner in our coats, snuggled under layers of fleece blankets on the couch. Finally, we all retired to our cold bedrooms, hoping that it would be warm enough under the covers to sleep.
I even put Bernie’s Christmas sweater on him!
It was in the low 40s that day, but it got down to 28 degrees F at night. It was cold!
I think I’m going to be running out of long underwear soon. They had Cuddle Duds on clearance at Walmart just before leaving Pennsylvania. I should have picked up a few pair.
“Mom, can you please send me underwear—some long underwear? Can you hear me, Mom, from across the ocean?”
As we walked into the soccer club for Pierre’s practice, I reassured him.
“Honey, zip up your coat. But don’t worry, it will be hot in Spain again very soon!”
One week later . . . we ran out of fuel. In the freezing cold, we were without heat in our house for three whole days. It was miserably cold in Spain!
But, it will be hot in Spain again . . . hopefully, very soon! Dark house cave and cool swimming pool—here we come!
—THE CULTURAL STORY-WEAVER
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—”THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
LET’S WEAVE CULTURES!
When were you last in thermal shock—either too hot or too cold?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures”! Write about them in the comment box below.
