Oh It's Chilly This Evening!

It has been an interesting contrast for me to experience winters in Brazil as well as in New Zealand. Both countries experience about the same temperatures in those months. The lows are usually about 7-10 degrees C and sometimes a bit colder and usually get to around 15 in the day but that is about all the similarities.  In Brazil I was usually always cold in the winter. At church we found that the chapels were constructed of cinder blocks and cement. There was no heat whatsoever in the building. You would see moms bringing their kids to meeting wearing 3-4 outfits one on top of the other. The homes were cold as well having similar construction. In most places the only heat was provided by space heaters, usually the type that are filled with oil and look like radiators in old homes in the US. I was always cold!

In New Zealand the construction seems to be better and insulation is used in most buildings. Our office is well heated, and is at times too warm.  The church is heated although individual classrooms usually have their own wall unit heater.  They also use the oil-filled heaters although it is not uncommon for nice homes to have heaters like the air conditioners we had in the house in Singapore. Set the temp and turn it on and off as will.  

We have a very nice Dyson heater in our flat. We also have the oil-filled one but have not brought it up from storage since this one works so well. And I can always run a load of something through the drier since they tend to put off good heat (hence the fire alarms). You can imagine my surprise when I saw the following items for sale at the grocery store the other day!  I can well imagine people having a fireplace in their houses... 

BUT.....really a coal burning stove in the house?