By far the most frequent question I have been asked by Ekaterinburzhtsy is "How do you like our weather?"

Well, strange as it may seem to my hosts here, in fact I like it quite a lot. The last few winters in London have been pretty boring: warm and rainy, with only the odd day of frost or snow, and a white Christmas just a faint prospect on the screen of a bookmaker's shop.

So it was that I looked forward, albeit with some trepidation, to the possibility of experiencing a "proper" winter here. I have not been disappointed: I spent the early weeks of my stay eagerly watching the thermometer, and still get a frisson of excitement when I see that today's temperature is in double figures below zero.

I clearly remember the first time I ventured outside when it was -18, feeling the hairs in my nose freeze and watching the frost form on the hood of my coat.

I like trudging through the snow to work and find that, as long as you keep moving, Ekaterinburg's dry cold is far more bearable than the damp, miserable kind that you experience in the UK.

How have I coped with the cold weather, I have been asked? Well, as someone with a tendency to feel the cold anyway, I am in the habit of wrapping up warm.

I arrived laden with thermal underwear and one of my kind students marched me off to Mega (shopping mall) during the early part of my stay to purchase the essential pukhovik (down jacket).

Once the temperatures dropped still further, I decided that the purchase of some uteplyonniye bryuki (padded trousers) was in order. Now, I'd be the first to admit that these are hardly the sexiest item of clothing a girl can wear and are unlikely to appear in the pages of Cosmopolitan any time soon.

But who cares? Once the temperatures hit the -20 mark they quickly became my new best friends.

It's only a short hop from here to some valenki (those felt boots that youve seen the older generation wearing), but I could still make that leap.

The downside of the weather is undoubtedly the scarily slippery pavements, liberally scattered with - how shall I put this delicately? - dog decorations.

While local women still seem to stride out, looking fabulous in their fur coats and stiletto heels, the best I can manage is to teeter along with my eyes fixed to the pavement looking for a "safe" bit, occasionally clutching at a passing babushka to stop myself falling over. I have yet to discover where the "dog decorations" disappear to come the thaw, but I'm trying not to think too much about that just now.

Louisa King, London, UK. Teacher of English as a second language. Ekaterinburg

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