Baby it's cold outside

So today we ventured out into Surgut to explore. It's amazing just how fast you can go from being warm to painfully cold. I know that there are many variables that contribute to what is "cold" to a person as well as everyone having a different opinion of what is cold. But I can tell you that when the temperature outside is -30 degrees C (roughly -22 F) there are no longer any questions as to how much moisture is in there air, whether the sun is shining or not or anything else for that matter, it's just freezing cold.

In the event that you have never experienced the bitter cold of -30 degrees, I will attempt to describe it. We have found that the first response after the first few breaths of this sweet, crisp, freezing air hits your lungs is to cough. I'm not sure on the purpose of the coughing but it has become somewhat amusing for us. Upon your first breath your nose hairs freeze. This could be one of the weirdest feelings to experience. During the day you begin to get cold after about 30 min. whereas tonight it only took about 10 min before we were hurting. You can be dressed warm and layered and such but it seems that to some degree you will be cold, it just depends on how long you will tolerate being cold.


The bottom line is that it's freezing cold here. I laugh as the guys were telling me to write something up on the fact that it's so cold here. I mean we are northern Siberia, what were they expecting. But what is really funny is that the whole purpose of the trip is to spend time out in the Khanti villages. Today we learned that this will involve us walking and hiking, ie. being out in the cold for long periods of time (in the cold).

Hopefully we will survive and not freeze to death over the course of the next few days, and in the meantime get some great interviews and contacts.