Better Weather

The weather is finally getting better. I like living in Minnesota. Well, to be specific, in Minneapolis. Had it not been for its long, frigid winter, I would have considered settling down in this midwestern state. But to me, sunny days are important. I feel down when the sun hides behind white and grey clouds. I wish to live in a place, where I can go out for a walk with my daughter, where I can wear open-toed sandals for most part of the year and where I will not have to put on massive coats and jackets for 4/5 months in a row.

I have seen the longest winter of my life this year. Well, the winter started last year but continued into April of this year. It even snowed in May! In May? Is nature kidding with us? I am probably one of those very few living people to have witnessed snow showers in May. I was almost thinking that the cold weather would last forever until it suddenly began to warm up from last week. Well, the temperature will dip tomorrow though but at least we have already enjoyed a few days when the temperature went as high as 79F.

Here in Minnesota, many people like me, I mean immigrants like me, look forward to the arrival of summer. As a person, who grew up in tropical Bangladesh, braving the extremely cold winters of Minnesota was a big challenge. Even though I have adjusted well to Minnesota's weather, I, almost every day, think of moving to a warmer place.

I often think what it would be like to move to New York City. NYC gets cold in winter but in no way, it gets as cold as Minnesota. But I hear from friends and family that living in NYC with a small child is not the best idea. My friends and family think that it is too crowded to raise a kid. But when I think of the NYC skyscrapers, shops, restaurants and ethnic diversity, I ask myself what city would be a better place to live than the Big Apple?

Most people tend to associate Minnesota with "freezing cold." People back home and people here kind of exclaim when I tell them that I live in Minnesota. Most of my friends and family in Dhaka never heard of Minnesota before I moved here! Well, they heard of New York, California, Florida, Washington DC and even Texas... but not Minnesota. It is probably no wonder that Minnesota has a very small population of Bangladeshis. Perhaps, the people of my tropical country dread settling in the midwest, particularly in Minnesota. Anyway, now that I live here I know that weather is probably the only bad thing about this state - the people in general are nice and live healthy lives; the streets are clean and last but not least, the summers are great!