Winter has finally arrived in Tel Aviv. And man, is it nasty out there.

Yesterday the rains came, and with them came the cold, wet air. I was totally unprepared for it. I scoffed at all the women walking around in wool coats and down jackets all month (Why would anyone buy a coat that heavy around here?!? It's still warm! Must be their thin Mediterranean blood...), but now I'm wishing I had one. I was actually shivering on the street yesterday, although I was bundled up in four layers. Weather reports say it snowed in Jerusalem -- only 25 miles from here -- this morning. Everyone has been assuring me it would get cold eventually, but I didn't believe it would happen so quickly or with such intensity.

Fortunately, I only have to shiver on the way to school and back. We have A/C units which also pump out heat in our apartment (we were also skeptical about the need for heat back when it was 90F every day two short months ago), and I brought a few sweaters knowing it would get cool ("cool-ish," I thought) during winter. Cool-ish indeed. In many ways I'm glad it's nasty out, since bad weather always facilitates good studying, which I definitely need to do at the moment. But I'm not so excited about the fact that I have to deal with a poncho-covered yenta cart (I used my backpacking skills to wet-proof it with a garbage bag), while sloshing through rain with a cheap umbrella that likes to turn inside-out, on my way to the grocery store. At least there's always hot tea (and tasty whiskey) to welcome me home.