The Siberian Peninsula

Right now, the nickname for Spain is the Siberian Peninsula, a pun on the name "Iberian Peninsula" that Spain and Portugal share, and the cold front that has arrived in Europe from Siberia recently. Pretty much all of northern Spain* is frigid; roads are covered in ice, it's really windy, and I guess there's lots of snow. (I thought this was pretty typical of wintertime in northern Spain, but whatever.) The "ola de frío," or cold wave (is that even a phrase in English? like heat wave, but freezing cold instead for a long period of time?) was actually officially last week, but Madrid has been so cold even into this week that people are choosing to stay inside when they don't need to go anywhere. The past couple of days my preschoolers didn't even go outside for recess, which is wonderful for me when they're all crazy with pent-up energy by the time the afternoon comes.

Anyway, the best part about this, at least on a personal level for me, is that I have been particularly bitter about this cold (my apartment isn't particularly well insulated) and it's nowhere even near what we consider "freezing" in New England. The highs temperatures have been barely hitting the lower 40s. The low temperatures - very early in the morning, including when I leave for work - have been in the low 20s. Add in the windchill and you've got probably somewhere in the mid-teens. I'm starting to panic about ever going back home to Boston for good. I mean, if I can't deal with some 20-ish degree weather with a little wind on occasion, how will I ever survive another entire New England winter??



*Just an fyi, Madrid, at least in this case, is not considered "northern" Spain. The temperatures here aren't nearly as cold as the regions north of Madrid, nor have we gotten any snow.