How to Make It Feel Like It's Canada Outside When It's Not

For me, winter usually means 6 months of cold and snow and wearing long pants. I am used to white Christmases, toboganning on Christmas break, layering, frozen eyelashes, bundling up, being able to see your breath, and walking through snowdrifts.

Winter in Canada

 

Well. I am currently living in the Philippines (if you didn't know that already go here to get the scoop). It is 30 degrees Celsius pretty much every day, and stinking humid all the time. I've worn jeans once since I got here (and came to the conclusion that that was a mistake), and I almost never wear sweaters or socks.

Yet I've figured out a few ways that I can still have little tastes of Canadian winter, even though I'm in a tropical country. And if you follow the suggestions below, you can experience some Canadian winter too. Just... be prepared to use your imagination. ;)

Winter in the Philippines

 

1. Go running in the 30 degree heat and humidity. Once you've started to sweat a bit, just imagine that you've been tobogganing for a few hours and have worked up a sweat climbing up the toboggan hill so many times, and now you're at the point when your three layers and snowsuit feels kind of stifling. You're just going to have to use your imagination on the frozen nose and fingertips, though.

2. Go inside your apartment. Shut and cover every door and window so you can't see outside. Turn on all the Christmas lights, and crank up the air conditioning (or "aircon" as it's called here). Make some hot chocolate, and then cuddle up with a good book. Try to ignore the fact that you are wearing shorts and a tank top.

3. Stick your head in the freezer. Ignore the smell of frozen meats, and just bask in the numbness in your nose and the frost on your eyelashes.

4. Get some white paper. Cut out some circles from the paper. Then fold the circles in half, and then half again. Cut shapes all the way around the outside. Unfold, and you have snowflakes! It's even more like snow if you count all the tiny little white scraps all over the floor from the shapes you cut out.

5. Get some marshmallows somehow. Stick three together with a toothpick. Decorate with raisins. You made a snowman!

Yeah... not really comparable to a real Canadian winter, but you've just got to make do with what you have I guess. :) What's winter like for you where you are?