Cold Spell

Just a quick update on the weather. Many times people ask me if it gets cold in Taiwan. I always reply that cold is relative to a location, these last couple of days have provided a perfect example.

The temperatures the last 3 days have been in the upper 60's with lows in the upper 50's. Now some of you sitting in Iowa or Minnesota might not think this seems very cold. However, here in Taiwan we do not have heated buildings. You can buy a little space heater for your room, but the house is never fully warm when you enter it. So it is more of perpetual state of coolness, and yes, you can add more layers, however once become cold it is hard to ever fully warm up.

Transportation can add to this, as I usually ride a bike or scooter to get from place to place. I recently have been reflecting that I prefer to ride a bike in the cooler weather. First, a scooter can get quite cold when the temperature is lower and the wind is rushing against you. Second, on a bike my body is working, and this keeps my lower body much warmer than on a scooter. So while you are outside longer on a bike, you stay overall warmer. Plus when I arrive at my destiniation there is no heat to warm me up. Thus I have decided for the time being I prefer to ride my bike.

One more thought on the weather. The other thing that made the last days worse was the rain. I have found there is nothing worse than a cold rain. I think we will get some warmer weather in the coming days, but before long it will stay cooler for the winter season.

Colder weather is not all bad though. This morning I woke up and Kevin had made some hot green tea. So I enjoyed a couple mugs of that before heading into the office. I must say I have grown to enjoy tea a lot more since coming to Taiwan, and cooler weather makes the hot stuff even better.

Ok, enough talk about the weather.