From a land Down Under: Aussies and New Zealander pay Winterpeg a friendly visit

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2017 (3338 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It might be the vestiges of my civically mandated inferiority complex showing, but I used to joke that 99 per cent of people on a flight bound for Winnipeg are from Winnipeg. That’s not a dig. It’s just that very few people planning their hard-earned vacations say, “You know where I’d really like to go someday? Winnipeg. In February.”

So when I learned that more than two dozen Australians would be landing in Winnipeg on Wednesday evening — for fun, no less — my first question was: why?

Well, as it turns out, they are part of something called Friendship Force International, a cultural exchange program that began in 1977. Members of Friendship Force Manitoba have been doing these exchanges for 20 years, hosting folks from all over the world in their homes.

“It is hoped that world peace will be built one friend at a time,” reads the website copy. Aw. That’s nice.

Gail Keeley has been involved for three years and has been everywhere from New Orleans to Morocco on Friendship Force exchanges. Hosting visitors has been just as fun. She recalls trying to circumvent a language barrier with Japanese guests via iPad and Google Translate.

“Which doesn’t always work so well,” she says with a laugh.

The point of this week-long trip is to expose the Aussies, many of whom who have never seen snow, to a real Winnipeg winter. I thought I might offer them another insider’s perspective.

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Greetings, Australians! And to you, sole New Zealander! (Don’t worry, I know that’s a whole different place.) I understand there’s also a couple of Albertans on this trip. Howdy.

Welcome to Winnipeg!

I understand you’re here because you want to experience a real Winnipeg winter. I’ve seen your itinerary, and your hosts have set up what looks like an objectively great week in our city.

You’re going to see some polar bears. You’re going to see a curling game and learn what “hurry hard” means. (Not what you think!) You’re going to drink a delicious beverage called Caribou at Festival du Voyageur, Western Canada’s largest winter festival. It’ll be both fun and educational, which of course is the best kind of field trip.

Still, I can’t help but feel like you’re getting a bit ripped off in the weather department. See, a true Winnipeg winter should be cold. Lung-hurting, face-stinging, eyes-watering cold. The kind of cold that builds character. The kind of cold that will kill your car battery. The kind of cold that requires a special kind of pants to wear under your regular pants and different kind of special pants to wear over your regular pants. The kind of cold we brag about on Facebook with the one-liner that could double as a civic slogan: You call that cold!?

What’s happening outside right now is not cold.

I don’t know if you’ve happened to peep the forecast for this weekend, but you lucked right out. You’ve come during the February Thaw, which always seems to arrive just in time to horribly disfigure the ice sculptures painstakingly carved for Festival du Voyageur.

Mother Nature giveth, and she taketh away.

It’s supposed to be 6 C on Saturday. For you, that probably sounds like a miserably cold day. For us, that’s downright balmy. It’s entirely possible you will see at least one local wearing shorts.

Snow, however — snow we’ve got. A whole winter’s worth, in fact. Snow is one of those things locals like to curse but many of us secretly love. It’s hard — and sometimes fatal — to shovel, and it can really mess up a commute. But it is pretty, when it’s not ruining your day.

It’s the foundation of many fun activities, such as toboganning, snowshoeing and skiing.

Snow is one of those things we stop seeing and start taking for granted. Like the brilliant unfettered blue of a winter Prairie sky, or rivers that transform into places you can skate, walk and even build shelters on. It can be hard, sometimes, to take a step back and acknowledge the things that make where you live unique and special — whether it’s the climate or the citizens.

So, to that end, if you can’t experience real Winnipeg cold, I hope you’ll at least feel the warmth of its people. Just, maybe don’t drive anywhere, OK?

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JenZoratti