Temperature is relative. As our plane descended into through the morning sky into Minneapolis, the pilot announced that the local temperature was a “brisk” 28° Fahrenheit. Actually, he didn’t even say the word Fahrenheit. In the United States, it’s assumed that of course you don’t mean Celsius. Why? Because ‘Merica, that’s why.
I was not focused on the Americentric selection of a particular temperature scale (invented by a European, incidentally). I was more focused on the absolute difference from the temperatures to which I have grown accustomed over the last two years. “Brisk” in Singapore might mean as low as 68° F. Stepping outside the Minneapolis airport felt like being trapped in a meat freezer.
Why was I enduring such a thermal shock? To spend the holidays with family. My sons missed the snow so we decided to come home for the holidays. We
Temperature wasn’t the only adjustment. Catching up with my wife’s old friends, I heard references like “a little town outside of Albert Lea.” Bear in mind that Albert Lea’s population is a whopping 18,000. Everything outside of the Twin Cities is a small town in Minnesota (residents of Duluth, spare me the corrections). Another difference coming from Singapore, where there are over 20,000 Americans alone. Put another way, more Americans live in Singapore than in Albert Lea.
Despite the temperatures, it was great to spend time with family and one son had a great time playing in the snow and helping to shovel out the driveway. The other son decided that winter is not for him and vowed never to live in snowy climates. Attaboy, son.