Berlin, 1983: My first SNOW

It was the morning of 6 March 1983, my first morning in Berlin. Still in my pyjamas, I walked to the window to see what was going on outside. To my surprise, everything was white. I called out to my friend and roommate Iron, who had been living in Berlin for over two years: "Hey, come look — there's a white substance all over the place!"

He laughed out loud and said, "Welcome to the land of ice. What you're seeing is called snow."

Berlin was still a divided city then, and I had arrived in West Berlin chasing an opportunity — a chance at a better life than the one I had known back in Africa. When I stepped outside that first morning, I immediately scooped up a ball of snow to see how it felt. It was cold, but fun to play with.

Later that day, Iron and I strolled through the Berlin Zoologischer Garten. I slipped and nearly fell into the railings by the path, but Iron caught me just in time. We had a lot of fun that first week in Berlin.

Decades later, I've grown used to the cold. And whenever it snows, it brings me straight back to that morning at the window.