'Asthma' Attack

Goodbye to the old sunny days, and what is left in front of Jiann Chyuan’s eyes are era of negative temperature and breathing difficulties.

Last week and early this week recorded to the coldest temperature for my stay in Trondheim this far. It was -7°C. Although well equipped with thick warm jacket and skin hugging pants, the extreme coldness was still imaginably unbearable to a typical tropical country guy like me.

It was only for two days. Luckily.

However, bear in mind that it is only the autumn season now even when we have already begun to experience the real winter of Norway. At least this was what my professor told me.

We have passed the freezing point. (Yahoo!) But the temperature is showing no intention to slow down in its fast pace downward movement. Only god knows what would be the winter looks like in this worst-summer-in-fifteen-year-time year.

The weather is lethally cold, but the warmth from the equator melts my heart effortlessly these days.

My friends in Malaysia always surprise me pleasantly with their concerns on whether I will be able to survive the extreme (according to Malaysian standard) coldness. And so, it is absolutely not baffling to learn the fact that I’ve been inundated with enormous amount of questions, all pointing towards to a similar topic – Do you feel cold?

Thank you so much.

And indeed, I’m feeling deadly cold. And worse, when the freezing temperature was backing up by dry air, the difficulty to breath was seeing insane exponential growth. The lack of oxygen for temporary outdoor activity is definitely not going to claim my worthless life. But the pain in my chest is just making me feeling uncomfortable all the time.

Breathing is a huge problem. The same applies to coldness felt by the face.

But I believe firmly that I will outlive the bushes behind my window and leave Trondhiem in complete piece, alive. The only reminder is just to remember one Norwegian saying: there is no bad weather, only bad clothing.

It is hard to stay in Norway, especially in the winter (but it is only autumn now – a repeated statement). But the truth is searching for fun isn’t that challenging. Snow play and snow fight are certainly highly entertaining. And although snow isn’t thick enough for skiing, my friends and I have already started to slide down hills with, dirt cheap Bunn Pris (convenient store) plastic bags (yes, we paid for those shopping bags).

The conclusion is, it is not easy. But it never lack of fun. International students certainly do know ways to have fun!

Time to close my window now. It was opened for air circulation purpose and training for winter. Practice makes perfect, isn’t it?

*shivering…*

Caption: What is with all the night photos? Well, daytime is scarce and sunlight is luxurious.