Weather or Not

Giving myself a breather after two days of exploring the intricacies of Federal Procedure (wheee...huwaaahh!). So let me talk about the simpler things in life: in particular, the weather.

Today was a snow day - my first official experience of actual snowfall, as flurries apparently don't count. As always, my timing was impeccable - I'd planned to bravely venture out to do some shopping for supplies, only to find out from the early morning news that I'd be encountering some wet winter weather.

Even after bundling up, I had second thoughts of leaving the apartment - but then again, this would be an adventure in and of itself. The funny thing is that, while it was snowing all right, it wasn't as cold as I'd expected (there is probably some scientific explanation for this, which of course they didn't teach us in tropical elementary school). Therefore, I've arrived at the conclusion that it's not the snow that's going to be the death of me, but the wind.

Wind chill kills - or at least it'll kill me. Now don't get me wrong; I love cold weather. In fact, one of the reasons I chose to live in Baguio City is the cool mountain climate, which ranges from 15-21C at any given time of the year. Then again, I have an extremely narrow personal thermostat of 18-21C, above or below which I start to get uncomfortable.

I also require a sufficient amount of humidity, for which I'd usually escape to Session Road or the lower areas of BC when the house got too cold and dry (Manila's humidity, on the other hand, is a little more difficult to escape). Otherwise, my skin starts to shed and flake like crazy and my hair starts to go all coarse. I remember my first unfortunate school week in Paris when, instead of arriving in the summer weather I'd been expecting, I caught the tail end of a late, freezing spring - and my face dried up like a rice field in the midst of El Nino. Manila weather may be warm and humid, but it's the best moisturizer on the planet (ski-slope strength Nivea is my next best bet). My hair stylist is going to kill me when he finds out that, against his advice, I've been taking hot showers (which, unsurprisingly, has my hair frizz up and dry out). Sorry, Bambi!

Skin bakbak and falling snow that looks like balakubak in the wind (how romantic, haha) aside, I'm liking this strange new experience. The possibility of a white Christmas was my own creation, after all. And I promise never to complain about how warm and humid Manila is, ever again. :-)