How would it be like to walk on the moon? Only 12 humans know the answer to that question. Those who have never flown there can only guess what lunar surface feels like. Similarly, many people in Minnesota recently experienced the first snow of their lives. Koome Kirimi from Nairobi, Kenya, and Pablo Sanchez from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, are spending their first winter in Minnesota this year.
Sanchez, a student at Hamline University, has known snow only from television before he came to Minnesota. “My parents and my sister, had seen snow before. They described it to me before I came here.” she says. And they must have done a good job as what he saw “was exactly what I expected. It was very cold.” And on his first snowy day in Minnesota he did what many people have done before: He had a snow fight. “The snow was just waiting there to be grabbed and to throw it at someone.” says Sanchez happily.
What does he think about snow now, that he has seen it for the first time? “It’s annoying that I have to put on all those clothes.” He complains. “And you have to make sure that you don’t forget your gloves somewhere.”
But he thinks that he can deal with the cold much better than people that have lived here for all their lives. “Minnesotans complain about the cold weather. But if they have survived it until now, I will survive it, too.”
Kirimi, who came all the way from Africa to Minnesota to study, has only seen snow before from a distance, but he says that it has never fallen on him. He was surprised at how cold and windy the weather can be. “The wind was so strong, just like a dessert wind. But unlike this it was so cold!” he says.
And he was facing some other problems that he never had before in Kenya. “The ground was so slippery. I didn’t know winter would be like this,” he says. Another thing that is unfamiliar to Kirimi are sock hats. “I have never had a hat before.” But he plans to experience the good side of snow, too. He wants to go skiing during his school’s break.
Of course Sanchez and Kirimi took lots of pictures showing the first snow of their lives. And they sent them home, too. “My mum saw the picture and said that I should remember to cover up well” says Sanchez with a smile on his face. But despite all that Kirimi and Sanches are both looking forward to celebrate Christmas. Kirimi will experience his first Christmas in the snow while Sanches will go home over Christmas break to celebrate Christmas as usual: at the beach.
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