Kansas City is COLD!!! We’ve had days of temperatures as low as (and probably lower if you ask me) –17 degrees Celsius! It is so cold!! In the midst of the coldest days, for about a week actually, I just couldn’t seem to manage to heat up my room. The rest of the house was nice and toasty, but for some reason (which I later discovered what was) my room stayed freezing cold. At first I thought it was because I had two outer walls (but the neighbouring room also has that), or because the heating vents weren’t working properly (but one of them does work). My final theory was that the windows were very badly insulated and couldn’t keep the cold out (or warm in). Little did I know that I was on the right track, but hadn’t quite got it completely.
Anyway, one day I was sat reading with a little heater blasting heat right at me, and detected a cold breeze coming from the window. I decided I had to go investigate, as I couldn’t believe that the windows were so bad they actually let a tangible breeze through. I went over to the window and looked behind the blind. To my great surprise I found that the window was wide open halfway (I have those windows you slide up and down rather then open out). No wonder it was cold! I managed to pull it shut and lock it and my room quickly heated up after that.
Now, how did the window open itself in the first time you might wonder? There is no proof, but my theory is that my friend who’s been visiting opened the window one day and then didn’t secure the lock properly (it’s a bit tricky) when she shut it, and that’s how it slid down again- but I’m not pointing any fingers. I’m just glad to have a liveable room again! (some nights I was so cold I couldn’t sleep, even after putting thick woollen socks on and having two blankets over me).
The other thing I learnt during these extremely cold temperatures is that it isn’t a good idea to go outside with wet hair. Now, like most of you I’ve always heard that you “shouldn’t go outside with wet hair”, but haven’t ever really paid much attention to it. Until now! One morning I’d washed my hair and set off to the prayer room at a bit before 7 am as usual. As I start walking I hear this “crunch” sound and realise that my hair has totally frozen to ice!! It was weird, and I quickly put my hood on and broke into speed-walking as opposed to strolling along. My main focus was getting into the warmth again. I was also a tad worried a) that my hair would break when it was frozen and hence give me a new unwanted hairstyle, and b) that it would get really deeply frozen and take ages to thaw. You will be relieved to know that neither happened, and my hair defrosted pretty quickly once I got inside. Still, it’s a lesson I will carry with me- I have learnt to value hair dryers even if I think they take too much time.
Anyway, one day I was sat reading with a little heater blasting heat right at me, and detected a cold breeze coming from the window. I decided I had to go investigate, as I couldn’t believe that the windows were so bad they actually let a tangible breeze through. I went over to the window and looked behind the blind. To my great surprise I found that the window was wide open halfway (I have those windows you slide up and down rather then open out). No wonder it was cold! I managed to pull it shut and lock it and my room quickly heated up after that.
Now, how did the window open itself in the first time you might wonder? There is no proof, but my theory is that my friend who’s been visiting opened the window one day and then didn’t secure the lock properly (it’s a bit tricky) when she shut it, and that’s how it slid down again- but I’m not pointing any fingers. I’m just glad to have a liveable room again! (some nights I was so cold I couldn’t sleep, even after putting thick woollen socks on and having two blankets over me).
The other thing I learnt during these extremely cold temperatures is that it isn’t a good idea to go outside with wet hair. Now, like most of you I’ve always heard that you “shouldn’t go outside with wet hair”, but haven’t ever really paid much attention to it. Until now! One morning I’d washed my hair and set off to the prayer room at a bit before 7 am as usual. As I start walking I hear this “crunch” sound and realise that my hair has totally frozen to ice!! It was weird, and I quickly put my hood on and broke into speed-walking as opposed to strolling along. My main focus was getting into the warmth again. I was also a tad worried a) that my hair would break when it was frozen and hence give me a new unwanted hairstyle, and b) that it would get really deeply frozen and take ages to thaw. You will be relieved to know that neither happened, and my hair defrosted pretty quickly once I got inside. Still, it’s a lesson I will carry with me- I have learnt to value hair dryers even if I think they take too much time.