I imported this post from the archives of my personal blog. This was my first adult experience with snow, and I was reminded of it on my first ever ski trip to Tahoe in 2016, a good ten years later!

Berlin, February 2006

I am in Berlin on some Strasse whose name that I cannot pronounce. ( Everything in Berlin is on some Strasse somewhere!) and I can see my breath forming thick white little misty circles around my face. I expect a genie to pop out any minute! The day I arrived, I was told how lucky I am its only -5 deg C that day. Yippee…!

My luck obviously didn’t last too long since the next morning the German weatherman on my hotel TV says it is -20 C outside. I pulled back the blinds and look out my window and what do I see…SNOW!!! Sparkling little silvery snowflakes falling down from the sky, just like in those happy-huggy-feely-Christmassy movies!!! And everything covered in white. I felt this warm fuzzy feeling go through me when everything looks so pure and peaceful.

I haven’t seen snow since 1987 on a trip to Manali in India with my mom, and an actual snowfall…NEVER. I wanted to go out and catch the snowflakes on my nose (ahh well…one too many romance novels!). I quickly go wake up N, my jetlagged, sleeping colleague (who has just gotten off a 20-hour flight from Manila) and ask her to get ready so that we can go make a snowman before we head out to our meetings. It has been our long unfulfilled desire to make a big fat snowman with a juicy red carrot nose, and we had been discussing this obsessively for the three months since we found out about this trip.

So, we prepare to bundle up and get started on our snowy adventure. First the thermals, then the sweater, then the muffler tied in that special way so as to insulate your chest and your neck, then the jacket and a large trench coat on top to finish it. Wait…I am not done yet. My newly acquired H&M gloves and a wooly hat to cover my ears.

Note: This may be normal for people who grow up with four seasons in the year, but both N and I were coming from South East Asia, where we had one long season year around – Summer.

Phew…all covered up and about twice our original size, we head out to find that appearances from the other side of the window can be deceptive. While everything is covered in white, it is a thin layer of snow and the snowfall that looked so wonderful from the warmth of our hotel room is a killer outside. No amount of thermal/woolen protection had prepared us for the icy chill that hit our bare nose and eyes as we stepped outside. The hat is practically useless since my ears are numb and my hands through the gloves feel like I am holding an ice cube through a fast soaking washcloth. And I haven’t even touched the snow yet!

Nevertheless, we decided to brave it and work towards fulfilling our dream. Err…but as N pointed out, we needed large quantities of snow to make a big, fat snowman. What we had available to us was not even enough for a midget snowman! Most of the snow was fast turning into dirty slush and the rest was just hard foggy ice.

snow and slush in berlin
Dirty, slushy snow outside our hotel

Darn…with the snowman dream shattered, we started to waddle (that’s the only way to describe walking underneath all the clothing) across to the nearest Starbucks two blocks away. We could see the large green and white sign from where we were, but with each step, our resolve was fading. The chill was getting to our tropical bones. N practically wept “Rams…let’s take a taxi!” Me, the ever practical person, ” what…take a taxi down two blocks when you can actually see the sign from where we are?” Two more steps and I knew I couldn’t do it. I sheepishly hailed the cream-colored cab with the flashing yellow light passing by and as we slid into the warm car, we pointed to the Starbucks two blocks down. The cabbie thought we were joking!

Sorry, Herr Driver….where we come from, our winters are the peak of your summers!

Which brings me to the all-important question in the title of this post. If two Berliners went on a date on a cold winter night, they would have no choice but to dress in the four or five layers of required clothing if they wanted to make it to their date alive. So, in the warmth of the romantic restaurant, things get all cozy and nice and they feel this chemistry building up and can’t wait to be alone.

Ok, step one – pay bill.
Step 2- put on coat, hat, scarf, gloves.
Step 3- hail cab/get into car.
Step 4- Arrive at destination. Get out of car, rush to warmth of the building/house.
Step 5- try to kiss, if you can without the scarves, coats or hats getting in the way.

If they get through step 5, the fun has just begun. By the time two sets of coats, jackets, sweaters, t-shirts, thermals, gloves, mufflers and hats have been discarded, I wouldn’t be surprised if one or both of them say “Not tonite honey… let’s try this in the morning!”

Or in German….“Nicht heute Abend Honig … lassen Sie uns versuchen dies in den Morgen!” (Thank you Google Translate)