Just Something Random

For the first time on my blog, I am writing about the present. Sure, I may give more details on my actual day in a later post- which means you will all be about two weeks behind on my life- but I will post this on the same day I write it.
I want to talk about some of the little things I have been noticing about the transitions from Autumn to Winter. Maybe they are stupid, but I notice them and don't want to forget, so I am sending it out into the world so that the record is kept.
Autumn is kind of a flash-in-the-pan season here. It is here and then gone. One day, you notice the leaves turning color, and then within three days all of the trees in the city and the trees in the mountains surrounding Krasnoyarsk burst into color. There are some trees that do not change, like the assortment of pine trees and the trees I only know as "those ones with leaves that are silver underneath." For some reason, these trees never turned color, but just dropped their leaves when it was winter. These trees losing their leaves are the first sign of winter coming upon us. The day they fell I first thought someone had flung their garbage on our nice grass plots by our apartment building. The metallic brightness of the leaves actually tricked me into thinking that they were pieces of trash.They fell only a few days from the first snow, so that is how much of a sign they were this year that winter was upon us.
Now, I use the term winter lightly, as it is going to get much colder than it was then and how much it is now (-20C). But I can say the wind is a big constant.
The wind really can make or break your venture onto the streets. The thermometer may say the same temperature whether or not the wind is blowing,  but it does not feel this way. When there is a light dusting of snow in the morning and the wind starts, you just wish your face would chip off so you couldn't feel it anymore!
Now the winter is getting more intense- there isn't snow, but packed ice everywhere. The temperature is dropping at a brisk pace and there are even more changes occurring. People seem, for the first time since I have been here- appropriately dressed. There is a saying that Russians (particularly women) dress for the season, not the weather. But now this doesn't seem correct as it is truly COLD and everyone is in heavy jackets and hats. The trees that had the silver leaves now have seed pods that are similar to what I called in grade-school the "helicopter seeds." They are all so chilled and dried out that they make this intense noise when the wind passes through the large clumps in the trees. It is kind of eerie and  always makes me turn in the direction of the sound, which then gets me blasted in the face with cold wind and small particles of snow(if it snowed during the night)!
I am actually excited to switch over to my even warmer coat and investing in some ski clothes (or at least ski pants). For some reason it just seems thrilling and not miserable to me! I guess it is because it is only one year, a few months, and a memory of a lifetime. And I haven't had my own ski pants since I was 13. So at the very least I will use them once a year on my return to the US of A.
I have also been trying to come up with a comprehensible list of things I want to do in Russia other than visiting cities. I came up with going to a ballet, circus, orchestra, opera, and seeing the Northern Lights. Any suggestions or additions? It can be an activity or simply a food to try. Your feedback will also help me know what you want me to write about. 

All for now. In a couple of weeks I will tell you about my weekend/week- I am off to the circus, an America day at an orphanage, and the Nutcracker Suite!