hot cocoa & movies

despite my lack in posting new stories i have not abandoned my blog and only an extraordinary situation has given me time to write this little blip. s*n*o*w d*a*y!!!

what to the best of my knowledge never happened during my german high school and german university career is nevertheless a concept i am familiar with thanks to my time in nebraska. so i thought i need to share this special event with the germans in case climate change brings icy times to you.

a snow day goes like this: in the evening it is snowing or raining ice pellets or some other unclear hard and unpleasant substance that later rolls on the ground acting like marbles and then forms a continuous icy-snowy-sleety layer. that's when students start kindling the snow-day-hope in their busy hearts.

frantic checking of websites of city and county administrations, local radio stations, and the school/universities starts. on the bottom of the television screen a happy scrolling bar announces school closing. but alas, ohio university was not among the lucky ones last night. as i worked my way home yesterday at 5:30pm i already tried to avoid the slippery ground as much as possible. walking on the snow felt like traipsing on crème brûlée: my unmerciful boots crushed the thin ice layer on top of the snow with every step, making a neat crisp sound.

05:30AM: still no closing announced on the website of the university. back to bed while ice pellets made soft clicking noises on the metal roof in front of the apartment. 08:04AM: it happened -- ohio university is closed and athens county is under "level 3 snow emergency."

this means that "the roadways are impassable. no one should attempt to drive during these conditions. those you do are subject to arrest and citation by emergency officials."

so it's hot cocoa -- most preferably with marshmallows -- and movies for today as i learnt during the half a dozen snow days in nebraska and the faint hope that maybe, maybe tomorrow the miracle happens again. because unlike in nebraska, snow days in athens are shy to visit. a student in athens since 2001 tells me he only experienced it once -- until now.

in search for my newspaper, which usually gets thrown on the ground close to the mailboxes, e went out this morning. here are a few impressions from our icy world:

to the rescue: jerone is trying to shake off the ice layer of about one centimeter on the branches of a tree. i took cover as ice pieces flew through the air.

hibernating beauties: leaves of a small bush encased in ice

no matter if a single blade of grass...

...or a whole bunch of needles, everything got its own personal icing over night.