It seemed as if there was a white carpet covering the city of Minsk.  Everything was white.  No matter where you looked you could see the cold, fluffy snow.  A chill spread through the city and the weather was below zero.  The sun shown slightly in the sky but that did not create warmth; yet it made the day even more beautiful than it already was, and made the snow sparkle even brighter.

 What a beautiful day it was, especially if you were outside.  That is what winter was all about.  Without snow, winter just did not feel the same.  Many children and even their parents were outside playing in the snow and engaging in many other interesting activities.  Some people were having snow fights; others were sliding down a hill on their sleds; still others were making snowmen, some of which were very tall; and a few took up skiing.  It was not a day to stay indoors.  It was just too good to miss.

 It was the month of December, and the holidays were just around the corner.  This created an even better mood for the people.  During this time everyone tended to be happy, and had a great deal of fun.  Though there was still a minority of people who did not fit this category.  They were melancholy and sad.  Anna was one of those people.

   In just a short while she was going to move to another country, America to be specific.  It was not something that she wanted to think about.  All of her friends were outside having fun, and she was being left out.  It was not her fault.  Her parents were the ones that told her about this move a couple of days earlier. They didn’t even discuss it with her.  She was just told to start packing her things.  She did not have a say in this at all.  Even though she was thirteen, nobody asked her if she wanted to move to another country.  It was like her opinion did not matter.  That was what bothered her so much.  Her parents didn’t even consider the possibility that maybe she did not want to move, that maybe she was happy here.