Gotta Love that Winter Weather...or Do I?

This morning I took my life into my hands as I risked going outside to meet a friend of mine from German class, Pablo. (He spent the Christmas holiday at home in Madrid, so he brought me some turrones and polvorones...mmmm!) Of course, there's always a risk when you get junk food. However, I'm talking of a much different risk. Sometime in the early hours of the morning (or maybe last night), it decided to rain. Unfortunately, that rain turned to ice, so the sidewalks and streets were covered with a layer of ice. It's bad enough that they haven't been cleared of the snow, and the snow has iced over with some of the few days of sun we've had. Now it doesn't matter what kind of traction you have on your shoes. It's just too bad that the Berliners don't have the salt resources they have in Salt Lake. Instead, you find different types of sand or gravel strewn across the sidewalk. It's an interesting idea, but not quite as effective. Now I find myself trying to step on all the dirty spots on the sidewalk, instead of avoiding them, as I used to do. Welcome to an abnormal winter in Berlin.

By the way, have you seen the pictures of snow in Madrid? Yikes! The madrileños haven't seen snow like that in at least 30 years. Weird.