Marrying someone of a different culture is a challenge. It can be rich and rewarding but also rife with conflict and misunderstandings. Who knew that one of the biggest sources of disagreement would be weather, temperature, climate and treatment of illnesses?

This is a winter coat my husband just brought home from the United States for our two-year-old daughter. When he showed it to me, my first thought was that he was thinking that we might be going to Canada for a visit soon, where winter is descending. But we have no trip planned. I told him tentatively it was a nice jacket, then asked him what it was for.

“It can get cold here in December,” he said.

I could not help but burst out laughing. The average lows are around 23 degrees Celsius. Yes, it can get colder in the mountains, but we are in the concrete jungle of Kingston, where the sun bakes the city all day. And this is a fur-lined jacket.

This is just one of many climate/temperature-related disagreements we have on a regular basis. We can only laugh.