Freeze Frame

Winter wonders

By Terry Fredrickson, Photos courtesy of Terry Fredrickson

Thai kid gets a sense of snow

If you dress for the cold, you can stay quite comfortable. Anybody for a short nap in minus 10-degree weather?
When the weather is �warm� � about zero degrees Celsius � the snow is perfect for making a snowman.

My son Kevin is 10 years old. He was born in Bangkok and has lived here his whole life. Needless to say, he�d never experienced snow or temperatures much below 20 degrees Celsius.

That�s a pretty big hill! I�m not sure I want to slide down from the top.

That changed in December when I took my family to my home in the US state of Minnesota. It was winter there, and the temperatures were well below freezing almost every day of the three weeks we were there.

Kevin learned a lot about living in a cold climate. He learned that if you wear warm clothes, going outside is not a problem � even if the temperature drops below minus 10 degrees Celsius. He also learned that people have heaters in their houses to keep them nice and warm, so you don�t need to wear a coat or a sweater while you�re in the house.

Kevin found out that there are different types of snow. When the temperature is near freezing, the snow is wet and sticky. That is good for making a snowman. When the temperature drops, however, the snow becomes dry. If snow falls at low temperatures, it is soft, powdery and very beautiful.

Kevin also learned the playing in the snow is a lot of fun. People go skiing, sledding and ride snowmobiles. We went sledding.

Sledding is easy. All you have to do is find a hill, walk to the top, get on your sled and go for it!

Note: If you have an Internet connection, you can visit Minnesota with Kevin. Check out more photos and lots of short video clips at http://www.readbangkokpost.com/kids.

	freezing (adj): having temperatures that are below zero degrees Celsius climate (n): the regular pattern of weather conditions of a particular place heater (n): a machine used for making air or water warmer snowmobile (n): a motor vehicle that can move over snow and ice easily sled (n): a vehicle for travelling over snow and ice, with long narrow strips of wood or metal instead of wheels Idiom needless to say: used to emphasise that the information you are giving is obvious