Winter Wonderland

Last week, everyone studying here got a great surprise. I woke up on Wednesday to a sight that I've never seen in my hometown and (barring a miracle and/or the complete reversal of global warming) will never see in the Bay Area: snowflakes trickling steadily down.

At first it seemed like a morning fluke. But the trickle changed to a strong downpour and pretty soon I heard sleigh bells ringing in my head (probably the result of that Carpenters album).

I don't know if anyone else is keeping score, but so far that's 2-0 in season beauty versus Cal in my book. Am slowly starting to understand why some Japanese boast that only their country has four seasons, even if they are wrong.