Chiberia: Take It or Leave It?

Chiberia is a term that became popular in Chicago in 2014 when we suffered through one of the coldest, windiest and snowiest winters ever. The word combines the words "Chicago" and "Siberia", a region of Russia known for its extremely cold temperatures. I remember that winter very well - schools and offices were closed, snow paralyzed traffic, I wore twenty layers of clothes to stay warm and my only wish in life was for Spring to finally come. I seriously considered moving to the Sahara Desert. (My dog was the only one in town having a good time outside!)

Dante enjoying Chiberia - unfortunately, he was the only one.

Many of my students come from warm countries, such as Vietnam, Thailand, India, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Columbia. Many of them experienced winter - and snow! - for the first time after arriving to Chicago.

I wanted to share a few of their stories as they struggle to decide: Do I love winter, or do I hate it?

StartFragmentIrwin Alexander Marcano Granados

Advanced Writing Class

Country of origin: VenezuelaEndFragment

I love winter. I don’t why but I love it. Most people hate it because it is too cold and they just don’t like to use those big jackets and pants all the time for 9 month. I think I love the winter because I lived for 21 years in a warm country where most of the year the temperature is around 80 – 90 degrees. I’ve always wanted to see the snow and I prefer the cold weather. If it is cold you can use a jacket and you will be fine. But if it is hot, even with light clothes you will always feel hot and sticky.

I also love winter because I like winter clothes. All those sweaters, jackets, scarves, gloves - it looks really awesome when are you wearing them. Something bad about the winter is when you have to go out, for example, to a bar. If you are taking the train and walking to a bar, you have to put all these clothes on (thermal, pants, shirt, sweater, jackets, scarf, glove) but then when you are finally in the bar, you have to take off all those clothes and pay to check them in or you have to walk everywhere with them in your hand. And for me, during the cold weather, my skin is super dry and I get cuts.

For me winter is awesome, especially the snow. And all the season are great. You can enjoy different kinds of weather during the year.

Ngan Nguyen

Advanced Writing Class

Country of origin: Vietnam

Have you ever seen snow and been through winter? For me, I have experienced it and this is my second winter season. I think I love it except it gets pretty cold sometimes.

In my country, Vietnam, we just have a dry season and a rainy season. So it was so interesting when I saw the change of seasons for the first time in America. I was waiting for fall and I especially counted the days until I could see snow falling. Finally, the snow came and I was very happy, at that time I knew I had fallen in love with winter. It is such a beautiful season and kind of strange for me. I took a lot of pictures in the snow and I covered myself up in pretty warm and nice clothes that I could never wear in my country.

Mohammad Fakeh

Advanced Writing Class

Country of origin: Palestine

The winter season was the best season for me before I came to the US because the weather in my country is amazing. It's not cold all the time and we have a lot of places to visit during the winter, like Jericho City.

But I started to hate the winter when I came here to Chicago because it is very cold and different for me. I hope I can one day love the winter here in the USA like I did in my own country.

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