Snow

Snowball fight outside the Foreign Languages Building after class.

Snowballs crossed cultures; snow angels didn’t.

After celebrating the year’s first snow with a spirited snowball fight, I dropped back-first into the snow and swung my arms and legs around. My students guffawed.

“No, look,” I said, leaping out of my artistry.

That’s when I realized the thing about snow angels: they don’t resemble anything unless you know what to look for.

My students didn’t. “Don’t you see the wings, the dress?” I insisted. “Look, right there, it’s an angel!” The word meant little to them; their teacher had simply wiggled in the snow like a weirdo.

The Chinese rode their bicycles in the snow. It took a bit of extra caution, but it beat walking, so I picked up the skill myself.

And yes, they made snowmen too, but they didn’t call them that. They were snow pandas.

Snowball in mid-flight.

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