The first time I experienced snow was in New York. On that day as I walked to the subway stop, I remember stopping to look up at the sky as the pure white, quiet snow fell around me, on my face and onto my warm black trenchcoat. I stuck out my tongue and tasted my first snowflake. I caught one and looked at this tiny speck in wonder as it indeed was how snowflakes are drawn -- with those complex crystal designs, each one unique and unlike the other.
Later, I have lived in several countries and gone through more winters. It seems that the first winter I experience in very country I have moved to is one of the hardest and longest there. In any case, there is always something new. In Switzerland, I learned to cross-country ski and snowshoe. In Sweden, I went cross-country skiing on a frozen lake and lived through their deep dark winters when the sun rises at 10 am and sets at 3 pm, and there is darkness for 18 hours in a day.
Here in Germany this winter, I made my first snowman!
