The weather is shifting radically. It was around -20°C a few days ago and is 0°C today. I have no idea what it will be tomorrow; it's quite unpredictable. Sunlight is pretty rare in winters here. The Sun is reliably up at around 8 AM and is down before 6 PM. Many days are clouded, as well, which creates a blandly and depressingly grey sky. This makes me want to live somewhere sunny, like South of France. A British exchange student here at TSU once commented that she came to be quite depressed at one point because she wasn't seeing the Sun for three days straight. Interestingly, when the sky is clear, it's all bloody gorgeous. I live an hour of walk / 20 mins of public transportation from the university, more or less due to road traffic. I got lucky because the apartment I rent is quite near a bus stop that connects trolleybuses with the main street, the Lenina street (named after Vladimir Lenin, as are most of the main streets and prospects in Russia; the way the Russian language expresses various categories or aspects of words is declining words, so if you want to say "the street of Lenin's", you say "ulitsa Lenina"). The Lenina street is where the university stands. Had I to rent an apartment even a few blocks to the south, and the bus stop would become of unreliable access (it would have been a steep uphill), and I'd have to spend 35 mins instead, going all around the city. I have no idea whether it will close due to weather. I can't remember whether the KemSU - the university of Kemerovo which I first attended - ever did. Schools do, especially for those of lower forms: I believe it's closed for those of the seventh form and lower if it's -30°C, ninth and lower if it's -35 and for all school levels if its -40 or lower. At least that's what we in Siberia had. I hear that Moscow - which doesn't have any sort of such cold winters - has its school closed at -10°C, which I find utterly ridiculous. I don't know how the wooden houses are heated - and yes, Tomsk still has wooden houses all over itself - but most of the houses use central heating, like, you know, most of the developed world. Some houses - particularly the dachas - use oven heating by the way of burning firewood; those of quality provide quite some heating, enough to feel completely at ease - I have a dacha with such an oven and I've been there during the colder days - and, it can be used for cooking!
I do not consider it cold until it is 0 degrees C. And you are right that layers of clothes are the key. How much is your rent and what do you get for that?
I'm paying 11k RUB a month for a rather old apartment with old furniture. It has an old Soviet washing machine, an old Soviet fridge, an old Soviet vacuum cleaner (no idea if it even works), central heating, modern windows with a few layers (no idea what they're called in the US / in the UK) and around 30 m2 of living space left after everything's allocated (not to mention the equipped toilet/bathroom, a sofa/bed and other such commodities). It's livable, but the ants make me want to leave the soonest; I'm going to look for another apartment after the New Year, as it's the time quite a few students leave due to failing the exams. I consider it quite pricey for such conditions of living, and I'd rather pay a few extra thousands to pick a better apartment. For a comparison, for 11k you can get a modern, capable smartphone; or a few months' worth of food; or three to four China-made tuxedos for the same price.
So that equals about 155 Euros a month for 325 square feet. I believe they would be called window coverings, or drapes if they are cloth. And I have no idea why you would need four tuxedos. Maybe to keep the ants away. :)
For a bit more space, actually. The 30 meters squared mark was to note the living space, not the overall apartment space. I meant the windows themselves. Four tuxedos were price comparison. :)So that equals about 155 Euros a month for 325 square feet.
I believe they would be called window coverings, or drapes if they are cloth.