"How's the weather there? Do you freeze in the winter? Is it colder than you're used to?"
Actually, my experience of winter here has been surprisingly... normal.¹
Everything is supposed to be different, mysterious, and foreign when you move to a new country. And most things are.
But not everything is different. Some things feel surprisingly... normal. And other things - like the weather - feel not just normal, but like you've been preparing for them, albeit unknowingly, for most of your life.
Exactly seven years ago, I was dreaming about what to do with my upcoming summer. My job contract, apartment lease, and university studies² would all be completed by the end of that May, and I didn't have anything planned after that.
In other words, it was the perfect chance - and possibly my last good one - to indulge in some travel.
So I started looking for a short-term missions/service opportunity that could take me abroad. There were seemingly countless options dotted around the globe, but most of them had a major drawback in common:
They were too close to the equator.
I would love to someday visit Africa, Central America, Southeast Asia, and many other places with warm climates... just preferably not in the summer. Give me a choice between temperate and tropical summer weather, and I'm going to choose temperate almost every time.
After all, I grew up in the northeast, not the southwest. I have more experience with -40 than +40 degrees.³ I've shoveled my way through snowdrifts well over my head. I've bought snowshoes because they were a requirement for a job, not just for fun. Swimming in the ocean, no matter the time of year, was always more of a dare than a delight, summers were fleeting, and flannel was my friend.⁴
After all, I grew up in the northeast, not the southwest. I have more experience with -40 than +40 degrees.³ I've shoveled my way through snowdrifts well over my head. I've bought snowshoes because they were a requirement for a job, not just for fun. Swimming in the ocean, no matter the time of year, was always more of a dare than a delight, summers were fleeting, and flannel was my friend.⁴
So, if I'm perfectly honest, the weather was a major factor in my selection criteria for where to spend my summer.
Sure, had God spoke clearly and firmly shown me that it was time to turn up the heat, I'd like to think that I would have decided differently. But He didn't. So I did what seemed to be - relatively speaking - natural and logical: I looked for somewhere with weather that wouldn't cause me to melt into a giant puddle of sweat.
And from among all the trips listed on various organizations' websites, there was one that happened to fit perfectly with the dates I had available, was located somewhere with a more temperate summer climate, and - almost as an aside - would let me visit a country I'd long wanted to visit (Norway) and another one I'd never really heard of before (Latvia). So, after about fifteen minutes of thought,⁵ I decided:
"Sure, why not, let's do this."
"Sure, why not, let's do this."
Once you find yourself somewhere, you can often look back and identify a long and connected series of events which led you there, but which you were completely oblivious to at the time. Why is this? How do we not recognize our destiny before it arrives?
When I was younger, and my mom would tell me to "put on a sweater, I'm getting cold just looking at you!", I didn't think to myself "Ah-ha! This must mean that I'm destined to dwell in a climate zone similar to the one I find myself in now, so I should limit my search for future living areas to those which have a 'Dfb' Köppen–Geiger climate classification."⁶
No. At the age of ten I thought, "Huh, my mom is really weird."
When I was younger, and my mom would tell me to "put on a sweater, I'm getting cold just looking at you!", I didn't think to myself "Ah-ha! This must mean that I'm destined to dwell in a climate zone similar to the one I find myself in now, so I should limit my search for future living areas to those which have a 'Dfb' Köppen–Geiger climate classification."⁶
No. At the age of ten I thought, "Huh, my mom is really weird."
I'm a big picture person; I like to understand how the pieces fit, where they're leading me to, what they mean. I want this now, here, today. And that desire can be helpful. But when I try to pre-write a story before I'm at the ending, I quickly get into trouble. Because life is unpredictable, and it's almost impossible to plan out where we'll be based solely on where we've been.
"Where, what and with who?" are incredibly important questions that everyone asks at some point in their life. But it's been my experience that, more often then not, the clues to the where, the what, and the who become illuminated in retrospect, but are often difficult to see, if not downright invisible, along the way. And to try and shoehorn my life into a mold I've cast based on my non-omniscient forecast of my future means I'm in danger of missing the beautiful spontaneity of those moments when everything slides into place and makes some level of sense in a glorious burst of insight.
In fact, the moment when you reach your destination is often the same moment you realize you were even on a journey to begin with.
So instead of being a detracting factor, the cold winters and short-but-sweet summers here have actually been a pretty big selling point for me. You could even make the case that they were the main reason I ever came here in the first place.
The small things in life, the thousand different facets of my character and preferences and experiences and likes and dislikes that make up "me," are arranged in such a way that I'm all but certain to find the answer to the big questions not in flashes of future revelation, but in a retrospective glance over my shoulder as I realize, of course... I've been headed here all along.⁷
And that even something as seemingly insignificant as the weather isn't too hot, or too cold, but just right.⁸
"Where, what and with who?" are incredibly important questions that everyone asks at some point in their life. But it's been my experience that, more often then not, the clues to the where, the what, and the who become illuminated in retrospect, but are often difficult to see, if not downright invisible, along the way. And to try and shoehorn my life into a mold I've cast based on my non-omniscient forecast of my future means I'm in danger of missing the beautiful spontaneity of those moments when everything slides into place and makes some level of sense in a glorious burst of insight.
In fact, the moment when you reach your destination is often the same moment you realize you were even on a journey to begin with.
So instead of being a detracting factor, the cold winters and short-but-sweet summers here have actually been a pretty big selling point for me. You could even make the case that they were the main reason I ever came here in the first place.
The small things in life, the thousand different facets of my character and preferences and experiences and likes and dislikes that make up "me," are arranged in such a way that I'm all but certain to find the answer to the big questions not in flashes of future revelation, but in a retrospective glance over my shoulder as I realize, of course... I've been headed here all along.⁷
And that even something as seemingly insignificant as the weather isn't too hot, or too cold, but just right.⁸
¹To be fair, I've only experienced one full winter so far, so that can hardly be considered as a comprehensive survey. But it was cold and snowy and long, so I think it qualifies as a legitimate sample.
²It took me seven years to finish. Seven. Years. There were some gaps in between, but still... who takes seven years to get their bachelor's degree?
³Celsius, of course. -40 is the same in both scales... but +40 is really not too impressive an extreme if you're using Fahrenheit, and +100F loses any sense of symmetry.
⁴I'm told that I wore almost nothing except flannel shirts and jeans my first semester at college. I think this is an apocryphal story, but nonetheless it highlights both the stereotypical Maine dress code and the need for warmth almost year-round.
⁵Total time involved in mentally processing this decision: approximately fifteen minutes. Total time spent in Latvia since that decision: approximately two years. Good thing I didn't know what I was getting into
⁶True story: both Maine and Latvia are located in "Dfb climate zones" (aka "humid continental warm/cool summer") according to the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system. Who knew? And who or what is a Köppen–Geiger? It kind of sounds like a delicious ice cream bar
⁷Peter Rollins shares some very interesting thoughts on this concept, albeit at a much more meta-level than I, here; highly recommend taking a couple moments to view
⁸Ironically, we're currently experiencing a "meteorological autumn" in Latvia, with unseasonably warm temperatures - above freezing! - and no snow at all, at the same time when the entire northeastern United States is being slammed by record-breaking levels of cold and snow. What does that mean? I have no idea. But I find it all mildly amusing
²It took me seven years to finish. Seven. Years. There were some gaps in between, but still... who takes seven years to get their bachelor's degree?
³Celsius, of course. -40 is the same in both scales... but +40 is really not too impressive an extreme if you're using Fahrenheit, and +100F loses any sense of symmetry.
⁴I'm told that I wore almost nothing except flannel shirts and jeans my first semester at college. I think this is an apocryphal story, but nonetheless it highlights both the stereotypical Maine dress code and the need for warmth almost year-round.
⁵Total time involved in mentally processing this decision: approximately fifteen minutes. Total time spent in Latvia since that decision: approximately two years. Good thing I didn't know what I was getting into
⁶True story: both Maine and Latvia are located in "Dfb climate zones" (aka "humid continental warm/cool summer") according to the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system. Who knew? And who or what is a Köppen–Geiger? It kind of sounds like a delicious ice cream bar
⁷Peter Rollins shares some very interesting thoughts on this concept, albeit at a much more meta-level than I, here; highly recommend taking a couple moments to view
⁸Ironically, we're currently experiencing a "meteorological autumn" in Latvia, with unseasonably warm temperatures - above freezing! - and no snow at all, at the same time when the entire northeastern United States is being slammed by record-breaking levels of cold and snow. What does that mean? I have no idea. But I find it all mildly amusing