Winter in Helsinki

It has started to snow in Helsinki. With the drop in temperature, what used to be drizzles of rain have now become flakes of snow, falling down at intervals throughout the day. It never snows for long (perhaps 15 minutes at a time), but it does so often, leaving the ground covered with a thin, consistent layer of fresh snow. It's pact over sidewalks and streets, powdered elsewhere.

It was kind of interesting to watch the slow flakes outside the window of my bus tonight. Some flakes would hit the side and simply fall to the ground. Others, however, would somehow skid, slide, then skid again to be carried up by the wind, regrouped with its original flurry. It made me think of that part in "Finding Nemo," where the baby turtle tumbles out of the current. Nemo freaks out, and the papa surfer dude turtle says something like, "He'll be alright."

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A couple of things made me happy today.

Earlier in the fall, I met a 12-year-old girl on the tram on her way to cheerleading practice. I ran into her again this afternoon. :) She smiled at me with recognition, and I waved at her. She told me that they had just gone to competition and won 2nd place, almost 1st. She's a flyer, too!

Then while waiting for the bus this evening, a young woman started to say something to me in Finnish (fifty something...). Seeing my confusion, she asked...

'Do you speak English?'

'Yes.'

'Did bus 55 come yet?'

'No, I'm waiting for that bus, too.'

'Oh, then I haven't missed it! I've had such good luck with buses today! Today really has been a very good day!'

I smiled. And she continued.

'I also found a wedding present for my friend, and it was only a couple of euros! I thought that it would be like 15 euros!'

She had a very high forehead so that beneath her black knit cap, I could've sworn that she was bald, if not for the wisps of blonde hair poking out from underneath. Later on the bus, I sat about a row behind her, and watched her pour herself a small cup of hot tea from a thermostat. She made me really glad, in a small way.

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This post has been written over the course of two days. It is now day 2, and I now take back what I said before about the on-and-off snow. It has been snowing for about 24 hours now, and on my way home, I saw a city bus being towed away.

Otherwise, I've actually been pretty impressed by the bus drivers. At -15C, spreading salt on the road no longer helps, because it doesn't lower the freezing point enough. The pastor who conducts our choir told me that while most cars get snow tires in the winter, buses don't. I've found that buses will often attempt to stop a few feet in front of where they would normally stop, then half crunch, half slide into place. On my way into the city today, my bus slipped at a turn, then basically swiveled around to make the turn, reoriented itself and kept going. These people are good.

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The days are mostly grayish now, and with so much night, it's good to have little things that make you happy. Here are a few of them.

Candles are very nice for the evenings.


Knitting, being productive, and slowly creating something good.


Buying flowers for oneself. ;)


A random boar meat dinner from the neighbors downstairs. (The Scottish/Irish guy is studying at the school of forestry, of which a group of students had hunted a boar.)


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When I came back to Helsinki from the States in November, the biggest shock was how much winter had settled in... how much shorter the days were. Now, I'm really beginning to love it. You would think that with being the capital of Lapland and the home of Santa Claus, Finland would put together a grand getup for Christmas, but it hasn't been that way at all. I want to say something about the calm of the snow and whatnot, but I'll just put up some pictures. :)

Traditional 7-candle setup. You see these EVERYWHERE... in the window sills of business buildings, government halls, shops, and homes. This particular one was in one window at the lab.


A snowy morning at the bus stop, at around 10am.


A Christmas tree sale. :) Joulukuusia.


Erika's friend Janna discovered some Christmas lights in a drawer. Our apartment has a small plastic tree left by a previous tenant, so we made it up into a little Christmas display.

Beautiful Paivi and energetic-child-at-heart Maria before a choir concert at a nursing home.


A 5cm-ish angel ornament from a really nice holiday gathering at Paivi's home. Everyone received one of these - "small (pieni) or even smaller." Maria followed it up with, "God can see greatness even in small things." And, with a look of surprise as we each drew a present out of a bag, "Nan, you got the biggest one! The biggest one for the smallest person. See, you're important to God, too." :)

Aurinko paistaa!

The sun came out today, along with a pale blue sky! Though we are now at about -15 degrees Celsius.

I also got my H1N1 vaccination this afternoon. All students under the age of 25 can get it in Finland for free. :)

Sorry about the slack in updates! More will come in the next couple of days... once I finish my Finnish exam!

The fire marshall has maintained...

"The fire marshall has maintained that it is not allowed to light candles at any time in the Biomedicum Helsinki building... not even during the holiday season."

- on a TV monitor in my research building.

The Heart of Country Music

I put this entry off, until I was able to get pictures from the Fulbright Center. The setting of this entry is the American Voices Conference in Turku a couple of weeks ago. For the conference, each of us presented on an aspect of American culture near and dear to us. My topic was country music (in the last 15 years, as I've known it), and if nothing else, it was great to share some of my favorite songs with a room full of Finns. I started with a slide on "how to speak Southern." This was followed by the trends that I have seen in the last decade... from the old gentle, story-telling style, to a bigger and more pop-like sound, with colorful explorations of the use of music videos, and to now. I ended with a large section on the themes that have stayed the same. I really enjoyed this section, and it gave me an opportunity to look up the lyrics to some old favorites. This one by Tim McGraw is so beautiful.

She's my kind of rain
Like love in a drunken sky
She's confetti falling
Down all night

After my presentation, one man made several comments about how country music is a bit like traditional African folk music, with focuses on story-telling and the rain.

I also got a couple of comments about how Protestant country music is, and whether it is possible for nonreligious people to enjoy country music. My answer was "yes". I think that the core of country music lies in telling stories from real life, and if God is a part of life for some people, then it will show up in the music. The nice thing about country music, though, is that it's not trying to be religious. God shows up, in the same way that love and loss do. Afterward, Mrs. Stein - Julia's mom who was visiting - came up to me to tell me more. She's from the South, so she was really happy about my presentation, and she also had a lot of insight to share. I wish she had been up there with me to answer some of those questions.

So, the better answer would have been:

The origins of country music really date back to the Great Depression, when the small farmers and cowboys of the South were really having a hard time. People didn't have a lot money, so life was simple. Church was important, because it was probably the primary social outlet for many people, so religion naturally made its way into the music. Similarly, because life was simple, events such as love, loss, and even the rain were a big deal. When you didn't have a lot to talk about, you talked about the loves and losses in your life. So that's how country music became a form of story telling.

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Now for a few pictures from the conference.

The American ambassador kicked off the conference with a shout-out to the Fulbright program. By the way, I know it's hard to see him, but doesn't he remind you of Mr. Schwarzenegger, just a little bit?

Dinner on a boat, called the "Rudolph", I believe. I order a plate with three types of fish. I'm wearing a pink sweater, and the lady sitting next to me is named Terhi. Terhi is probably the most elegant person I know. I can't decide whether when I grow older, I want to be like Terhi or like one of those ladies who ravingly speak their mind and enjoy it.

The river running through Turku: the city's pride and joy.

8am, post daylight savings, late October, Finland

These pictures were so beautiful that I had to put them up. I caught this softly glowing view from my balcony one morning, before I had to run downstairs to catch the bus to lab. This is what I mean by "gentle grayness."

Airplane Conversations

On my way from JFK to DFW last Thursday, the plane I was on flew over several storms so that the seat belt sign never went off once. At one point, we dropped for a good 2 seconds, and I heard a soft collective gasp sort of ripple down the aisle.

I have gone through stages with flying, from youthful fears, to a rather matter-of-fact enjoyment and peace during college, to a couple of rough flights that set the fear going again. I've found that I'm not too afraid of little bumps along the way, but unexpected falls and rises tend to get my heart going. And that doesn't help at all, considering how much and how often I have to fly nowadays.

However, I'm amazed by how just the right people have turned up next to me at the right times to alleviate my fears about flying.

"You know, when we hit turbulence, I just compare it to being in an off-road four-wheeler. Then it's not so bad."

"My husband is getting his license in instrument flying, and he told me that once you're in the air, there's virtually zero chance of anything going wrong." Well, that's fortunate, since I actually enjoy take-offs and landings, so I don't worry about those. At the same time, she took away some of my fears about cruising, the part I don't like.

On my way home from Yale after graduation, we flew over a storm, which produced a good amount of turbulence. The lady next to me was married to an army pilot. Her hand tightened around his arm. He shrugged, "Just some bumps." Then perhaps feeling that he needed to say something more, he put away his book and turned to me, "During a storm, there are these air columns that accelerate up and down. When a plane flies over them, it gets accelerated along with the air. That's why it feels like the plane is rising and falling. But don't worry, these planes are built to withstand much more than this."

And we can't forget the international flight pilot, who accommodatingly answered any and all questions I had about the mechanics of flying, while adding interesting facts of his own. Good man.

Free Coffee at McDonalds

Christoph: One latte, please.

Man at the counter: I'm sorry. May I offer you a regular cup of coffee for free instead? [Looks at me] Would you like one, too? [I nod dumbly.]

My thought process: Wait... free? Really? I must have heard wrong... That's too easy...NOTHING is free here.

My words to Christoph: Did he really just say "for free??"

Christoph: Yeah! That's what he said.

My words to the man: Wow, kiiitos!

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And that's how we got two cups of coffee with milk for free from McDonalds. :) It turns out that they were supposed to sell latte until 10pm. However, they had cleaned the machine 10 minutes early tonight, so the man felt obligated to give us free coffee instead. I like Finns.

Karaoke Bar

Two of the Fulbright girls have this idea of holding regular dinner parties, where we all invite our friends, so that we can meet each others friends and make more friends. So anyway, we began with Indian food night on Saturday. I ended up missing most of it because of a feud with Expedia, but the food was delicious, and I was able to make it out to a karaoke bar with them afterward.

The bar, Paja, was filled with old regulars, who were really excited to see us. The bar wasn't packed, so we didn't have to wait for hours to get a song in, and they were so welcoming... "New blood, that's why," Erika told me. :) In fact, one elderly lady bought Alex and me each a blueberry shot with whipped cream for singing "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain, because she wanted us to have more fun. They spoke broken English, and we spoken negligible Finnish, but it was great. During a few of the songs, one couple waltzed around the bar counter, as the rest of us standing - the Americans - swayed in various directions. Another blond lady, probably over 60, pulled off her hairtie to shake her hair around her shoulders and dance with us. We want to go back and perhaps become regulars, too.

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Other happenings...

My uncle, or second uncle I suppose, visited Helsinki on a business trip from China. It still sort of blows my mind that after only seeing family about once a decade, I've gotten to see an uncle for the second time this year by being in Helsinki.


The Herring Festival. :) Fish pastries, super dark and rich Finnish bread, cloudberry jam, and all sorts of pickled herrings.



One of the best cheeses I have had thus far, maybe even the best.

Project Update 1!

Some of you, especially those who supported me through the application process, might be wondering how my project is actually going. I haven't talked much about it for a couple of reasons. 1. Information security in my lab - like all other forms of security in Finland - is rather tight, so I can't speak in depth about the subject matter. 2. The progress has been slow.

The autism group here is currently in sort of a state of flux. Half of the Peltonen lab is situated at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge. My immediate adviser is about to transfer to Sanger, and another PhD student is already there. That leaves a graduate student, an undergraduate, and myself. It's a little scary, but perhaps exciting, too, as an opportunity to do some independent thinking.

As for the project itself, the preliminary data, which was supposed to have been complete before my arrival, is still being collected. I've been trying to be productive, though, by learning UNIX for linkage analysis and working on a couple of small projects. Whether or not the linkage analysis produces anything good, I'm glad to be learning it, since genetics is becoming so bioinformatics based and really over my head. :) I hope that soon, I will get to work on my originally intended project, but overall, I'm just going to push myself to learn as much as I can this year.

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On another note, the days are getting shorter now, and the nights longer. The change really accelerages during the end of September and the beginning of October, and now it seems to have settled into a more constant pace.

I had thought before that Finns would be hardered to this drastic change of seasons, but they're actually quite sensitive to it, perhaps because the change is so drastic... from all day to almost all night, every year. I can sense it in my lab. The coffee breaks are just a little heavier. People in general are becoming a little more moody and irritable. Terhi tells me that you learn to appreciate the dark, and I think that this is true. I personally prefer loads of sunshine, but the grayer days are sort of gentle, when not windy, and really not very cold. The ruska of the autumn is also settling in and slowly fleeing, in turns depending on the type of tree, so that bright yellow leaves are swirling around all the time. And it's really neat the rare moments when the sun decides to appear and tints all the buildings with gold. This sounds cheesy, but it's a fitting time to start drawing on those inner sources of joy: listen to good music, read good books, and appreciate good company.


Last week was a rough week for many of us with the Fulbright, personally and professionally. Asked by Karoliina about the progress of our projects, many of us have found ourselves facing new challenges and finding new directions. On the personal side, we're all really glad and grateful to be here, but the realities of living in a foreign country for a year are beginning to sink in.

I think that the overall tone of our grants will be like a wave. Giddy excitement, followed by the harder face of reality, until things equilibrate into a steadier, calmer sort of content enjoyment and productivity.

First Snow

The elevator in our apartment complex smelled like wet dog this evening.

It snowed for the first time in Helsinki today. It was mixed with rain, though, so the weather was quite cold and gray.

The good news is that our apartment heater is finally on, high enough for the metal panel along the wall to feel warm to the touch.

Hospital Choir, and settling in... :)

I am joining a small group of amateur singers who call themselves the Hospital Choir. The group has been around for a couple of decades, and now, it consists of a core of eight or so middle aged and elderly woman, plus a younger pianist called Marika, and a pastor who conducts and sings bass.

It was really a blessing to find this group. I've been looking for something simple and musical to do, and they were one of only a couple of community choirs I found online, with English websites. They practice once a week and then go sing at nursing homes for people who can't make it to church anymore.

I went to my first nursing home visit after church today. I didn't sing, since I don't know most of the songs yet, but it was very sweet. The nurses walked/wheeled 15-20 ladies into a small dining room, where the choir sang for them. Somewhere in the middle, Paivi performed two solos. Listening to her, I realized that she was actually quite good. Her voice has become a little more coarse and trembled ever so slightly from the effects of age, but it still sent little shivers through me, as she made her way through the melody.

Afterward, a few of the ladies at the nursing home tried to speak to me. Unwilling to say en puhu suomea (I don't speak Finnish) to open-hearted old women who in turn didn't speak English, I just tried to smile and nodd. I was, however, able to catch a few hyva's (good) throughout their speech, so I could say kiitos (thank you) in return.

During my first practice with the choir, a few of the women told me that they had been praying for new people and were very happy that I had found them. It felt strange... to be the answer to someone else's prayers. I've prayed for similar things with other groups before, but I've never been on the other end. In a way... it's very humbling... to be the blessing, also to know that God is still watching out for me, even when I'm not paying half so much attention to Him.

This group has been been the answer to my hopes, too, hopes that I honestly didn't put much prayer or heart into. I had hoped, without seriously believing, that I would find a good church in Helsinki. But through Lea, the lady who created the English website, I have actually discovered a good Baptist church, in a country that's over 90% Lutheran, since the state religion is Lutheran. The services are in Finnish (with English translations), but they remind me a lot of some churches I have been to at home. When I mentioned this to Lea, she told me that the church was founded by an American pastor over 20 years ago. Cool, huh?

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In other news, I'm further settling in. I only have a few good friends, but they are friends that I can just hang out with, whether it's in a bar, on an island, or at someone's apartment. At an international student party this past weekend, I knew enough people to feel close to some and comfortable around others. It's really wonderful to feel less and less self-conscious and to be in a setting where there are enough people whom I care about, as well as people who care for me. Just enough.

This knowing of people is related to something that I sort of love about Helsinki. It's the capital and has a big-city feel, but at the same time, it's really not very big at all. It's nice when I can walk through a Unicafe and say "Hi, how are you?" to the few people I recognize. :)

Kilpisjärvi

One of my goals in coming to Finland was to go as far north as I could. I was finally able to do that this past weekend, at least within the bounds of Finland, by visiting Kilpisjärvi.

If you look at a Finnish map, Finland is a lady, and Kilpisjarvi is a tiny town in her left arm, at the point where Finland meets Sweden and Norway. I was lucky to have heard of a biological station there from a man at the University of Helsinki. Apparently, any person who is in any way affiliated with the U of H can visit the station for just 20 euros a night, so I jumped at the opportunity.

The trip took about 20 hours each way, with an overnight train ride on the Santa Express (the actual name ^^) to Rovaniemi, followed by 8 hours on a bus. By the way, Santa Claus lives in Rovaniemi... that's why all the children in Finland get their Christmas presents one day early.

I would also like to talk a bit about the bus ride. This one bus delivered mail, newspapers, very young school children, and travelers, all along its eight-hour route. Our two drivers (or was it a driver and a mailman?) took a break every couple of hours at gas stations to drink coffee and chat. And their personal destination was an overnight fishing trip further up north. It makes me happy in a tingly sort of way when I think about it, to know that such simple goodness still exists in the world.


We went on a 10km hike during our first full day there. We thought about climbing Saana, the tallest mountain - or fell - in Finland, and it was right across the street, but instead, we decided to climb another mountain to get a better view of the hills of Sweden and the snowy peaks of Norway. I was surprise by the richness of the arctic soil. At one point, we lost the path and had to make our way down the side of a fell by maneuvering around small trees, webs of streams, and knolls thickly covered with this soft, mossy greenery. We also found a higher and somewhat barren ranging field of reindeers, lots of reindeers, many of whom had been tagged by phantom shepherds.

View from the station (left); view at the top of the fell (right)

The arctic really holds its own beauty: barren but surprisingly lush, and colorful in a subtle sort of way.


Of course, we can't forget sauna, which felt wonderful after a hike! It's surprisingly comfortable to sit in a hot room with a bunch of naked people. I usually start out in a tank top or a towel, but a couple of minutes in, I just stop trying and end up as bare as everyone else. I think that the puritanical yet very liberal nature of American culture associates nudeness too much with sex. In a sauna with eight other naked guys and gals, we really just end up chatting and enjoying each other's company. All the while, our bodies become hotter and sweatier, until we have to run out for a shower or a dip in the lake, and then you do it again. :) In the words of my roommate Erika, "they wouldn't build a station up there, if they couldn't have a sauna!" (I wasn't quite brave enough for the lake, but I hear it wasn't so bad.)

We ended the evening with some good food and a camp fire in a specialized tepee, with benches covered with reindeer skins set up around the fire pit. This station really was quite well designed. We talked and played little games, with questions like "What's your favorite color and why? Now that describes you." Then we would go around the circle and listen to people's responses. Nothing super serious but just enough to be thought-provoking and kind of fun.



We also celebrated Melanie's 25th birthday, with a super easy and yummy brownie cake, though I have to say that the making of this cake was kind of epic. I burned my thumb in the oven (the resulting blister later tore during laundry scrubbing), and the 21 candles half-melted into the warm cake... creating little dips of neon-colored wax. Addie and I had to hastily pull them all out while in the kitchen, only to stick the candles in again to light them as quickly as possible outside the tepee, protecting the little flames with our bodies, before the wind could get to them.


Oh! And for the record, we walked briskly into Sweden... for about 5 seconds. ^^


To a Finn, this trip might have seemed a little like a waste. We missed the rustra (fall colors) and we were a tad bit early for the Northern Lights, but it was a wonderful trip in its own way, with some good people.

Homage to Fitball

Just imagine a group of women (men seem disinclined toward participating in this group training event) stretching, bouncing, balancing, and occasionally falling off of these big plastic balls... as happy music plays in the background. ^^ Don't let it fool you, though. Today's session was so intense, especially after my bike ride home, that I felt no shame in giving up halfway through a couple of the exercises.

I'm still waiting to try out "Happy Dance," supposedly a very self-explanatory name.

Where the river runs into the sea...

It's the end of my first month, and money has been flowing out of my account like water, which means that I'm having to be quite cheap until the end of the month. My excuse is that there have been a lot of start-up costs: secondhand bike, one-year gym pass (yay for free group training!), Dinsko shoes, condiments, etc etc. As suggested by Kate, I have started a budget spreadsheet for the rest of my year in Finland, and according to my projected budget, I can finally start to save money next month. :) Learning to manage my money via this spreadsheet is surprisingly satisfying. Because I have no money right now, Christoph and I spent the day around my apartment, rather than going into the city center. I threw together some leftover ingredients and made us fried chicken (recipe from Robert), fried rice, and this Finnish pastry with rice in the center. Then we took a walk through an area near my apartment.

To be honest, my expectations for the walk weren't too high at first, but I was once again blown away by this wild sort of beauty in Finland. We found the place where a river becomes the sea.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare... a novel I read in high school. That's what the whole scene reminded me of, especially the place where the river meets the sea, where fields of reeds merge with the water. It creates this intensely melancholy sort of beauty.



I found a few small fields of daisies.


Christoph grew up in Kiel, Germany, a city which curves around a bay, much like Helsinki, so he has a bit of knowledge and connection to the sea. He told me that freshwater fish can actually live in the Baltic Sea. The many rivers flowing into the Baltic greatly overpower the salt water from the Atlantic, so that the Baltic Sea is almost completely fresh water. The Atlantic perhaps has a salt concentration of 5.8%. The area bordering Germany, which is closer to the Atlantic, is the saltier part of the Baltic at 1%. In the more northern parts between Finland and Sweden, the salt concentration is maybe 0.1%.

A neato, half-pier/half-couch-like bench we found.


These snails were everywhere in these bushes in the woods.


Mushrooms?


The coming of fall...

Being Asian in Finland

When I had tea with Kirsi last week, she mentioned an article about Finns and the Japanese. Research somewhere showed that Finns and Japanese people connect more easily than do Finns and Norwegians.

I thought about it, and there is some validity. For example, both Finns and the Japanese seem to have this softer, more steadily paced, and respectful manner of speaking. Additionally, while Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world, like Helsinki, it is also one of the safest places in the world.

That got me thinking about my own Chinese heritage. Recently, I've felt little bits of my Chinese upbringing resurfacing, because of their connection to Finnish culture.

During tea, whenever Kirsi said something good about herself, she would downplay it immediately afterwards, like 'Oh, but no, maybe not really...' In China, I had always been taught to hesitate in the face of compliments as a way to be humble. This means saying things like, 'No, I'm not that good at ...' After moving to the States, adults thought that this was sweet and a sign of a good upbringing. However, as I got older, I started to get comments of 'Don't fish for compliments.' It took me a long time to realize that downplaying personal strengths requires the other person to reaffirm you by saying more good things, and this is a negative indication of a lack of self-esteem in America. Thus, I learned to say 'Thank you' and just accept or acknowledge the compliment, whichever is appropriate. On the other hand, when Finns do say something good about you, they mean it as a fact, not a compliment.

I have also noticed a slight change in my mannerisms. As mentioned above, Finns seem have more paced conversations, where interruptions are considered rude. The American style of conversation is more 'overlapping', oftentimes with people vying for talk space, and it takes some skill. In the States, I have learned to do this with people I am close to, and only in the past couple of years have I learned to really speak up and speak my mind. However, now that I am in Finland, I still want to speak my mind and am striving to be truthful, but I find myself less willing to interrupt fast-paced conversations. When in a group, I'm more inclined to wait for a pause in the interchange - an end to a cluster of thoughts - before jumping in with my own comments. I'd like to find a good balance.

It's funny. If you've ever been to China before, Chinese people can actually be pretty loud and boisterous. But as a child in China - the daughter of two intellectuals - I was expected to be quieter and more respectful when in public, and I suppose some remnant of that has stuck with me... since it never evolved by also growing up in China.

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New shoes by Dinsko, a Swedish company. One advantage to having small feet is that most Finns have larger feet, so the sale section often has a good number of small shoes. I got these for 25 euros. ^^


While I bought these because I wanted a pair of everyday-every-activity-shoes, I am also conforming a little to the Finnish sense of style, which I am a little ashamed to admit. The most popular outfit this fall seems to be a loose top, with leggings or skinny jeans and dark shoes. The overall tone is relatively modest and subdued in color, yet stylish and comfortable, all of which I really like.

Snippets of Daily Life

I went to my Fulbright buddy's house for tea on Sunday. Her email said 'tea and toast,' so that's what I expected - bread and butter - but it was so much more. By tea, she meant tea or coffee, and by toast, little calzone-looking sandwiches with tomatoes, cheese, salami, and onions... on top of cookies, meringues, and home-grown plums (plum season). Delicious.


On my way down the stairs to the laundry room tonight, I could smell the various dinners people were cooking. Pasta with alfredo, rice, and maybe shrimp. Then on the way up: not just rice but sweet and sour sauced Chinese food, shrimp, then pasta again. It smelled so good, so I thought that I would put up an update about daily life here.

Laundry

I have learned so much about this since moving to Finland. My first attempt at laundry was an utter disaster that lasted for nearly a week. The temperatures on the washing machines were confusing, and the dryers were inefficient but endowed with intensive shrinking power. I also ended up abandoning a bottle of sensitive detergent for good ol' colors. Doing laundry really requires knowing the general characteristics of each item of clothing. For example, thin shirts and sweaters should be hand-washed once a week, machine-dried halfway, then hung dry. On the other hand, jeans should be machine-washed, machine-dried almost all the way, then hung-dry. Also, certain sweaters should NOT be washed with anything else, or you will end up with lint-covered outfits. I can't help but be a little proud of figuring these things out...though it took a couple of fiascoes to do it. I've also strung some twine across my window for drying socks. :)

Biking


I took my bike to the mechanic on Wednesday, so I'm really missing it at the moment. Even though biking to lab everyday makes me sweaty and out of breath, I much prefer it to sitting still for an hour on the bus each way. I'm also missing the daily exercise.

I still laugh at myself on the inside, whenever I see elderly ladies whizz past me, as I struggle up long slopes and small hills. My mentor joked that older folks should not exercise in public... it's too much of a blow to our egos.

Finnish

My Finnish is sadly as poor as ever. Helsinki is probably one of the most difficult places to learn Finnish. The minute you start to stumble over your words or look uncertain, the other party will automatically switch to speaking to English. Phrases like 'Do you speak English?' or 'It's okay if you all speak Finnish to one another' almost produce offended looks. I'm determined, though, so hopefully I'll get somewhere with it.

Helsinki International Film Festival

Now that the warmer season is almost over, the city seems to be trying to squeeze in as many festivals and activities as possible.

The Helsinki International Film Festive has been going on, and Sunday evening, a few friends and I saw a Finnish movie: 'Overseas and Under Your Skin' (Maata meren alla). It was actually really good. It's about a Finnish girl, who was adopted from Africa at the age of three. Her mother is into progressive movements. She has always thought that she herself was just another case for her mother, without realizing that her mother had brought her to Finland so that she could grow up in safe place, and the girl goes to Berlin to find her dreams. Just a brief plot summary doesn't do the movie justice, though. It never does, because it misses out on the nuances of the dialogue and the neat filming. There are so many good movies going on! :) If only I had the money to watch more of them!

The movie was shown on a screen in a courtyard behind Cafe Engel. I was worried about the cold, but there were these great heating devices near the chairs. I love how good Helsinki is at heating and insulation.



Feeling at Home...

I'm still trying to figure out what it means to feel at home, but I think that it has something to do with building sustainable relationships. It's about coming home every evening and having one or two close friends to share your thoughts with, some kind soul to taste your newest dishes, or just a friendly roommate who's room you can burst into at any moment.

I'm beginning to make friends outside of my flat, too, but it's definitely more difficult to make those long-lasting and deep, without the advantage of living or having classes with one another.

I locked myself out tonight and had to call Matti, who lives a couple of entryways away, to open the building door for me. It was nice to have someone to call in this situation: someone willing to leave his studies for five minutes, throw on a jacket, and come unlock the door for me.

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By the way, I am finally, in earnest, beginning a personal recipe book. Since I cook most of my meals now, I've been gathering recipes here and there from friends... a creamy recipe for chanterelle mushrooms (mushroom season!)... boiling, sauteing, and stewing beets in various ways... instructions for pasta from my Austrian flatmate ("The Italians would say to start with cold water.") Now I can put them all in one place for future reference, with little notes and histories on the side.

The Rock Church

I went to the Rock Church (Temppeliaukion kirkko) today to try to catch the English service. The church is actually Lutheran, the main religion in Finland. I don't know what Lutheran means exactly, but I figured that as long as they talked about Jesus in a non-blasphemous way, then I would be happy. It turned out the English service had actually taken place two hours earlier, so instead, I just sat in the sanctuary of the church for about half an hour.

This Church is one of my favorite places in Helsinki. It was difficult to get a good picture, so I am including a picture of a postcard. The door is on ground level, and the architectural idea is to make the church accessible, down-to-earth, and welcoming to all who might want to participate. I like that. The inside is simple but elegant and very peaceful. When no services are happening, the church becomes a tourist attraction, but the quiet, calm feel of the place remains, with light organ or piano music in the background.




Back at the flat, we had an impromptu music night. Erika, my roommate, performed a mock audition with her trombone, followed by some solos by Melanie on her clarinet. Then two guys from upstairs knocked on our door, to settle a wager. They were betting on whether one or two instruments were being played. Gustavo, the Argentinian one, decided to join us with a guitar, and we all took turns playing and/or singing with various instruments.


Gustavo lent me his guitar for the night. Even though I don't play much, it feels so good to have a guitar in my hands again.

Suomenlinna

Today was so beautiful that Christoph and I decided to go to Suomenlinna, an island fortress built by the Swedes back in 1748, when they still ruled Finland.

Suomenlinna is difficult to describe. Many parts of the fortress have been left as they are, and you can just walk through them. Christoph and I walked through a couple of the buildings/hills (it is difficult to say which, because the fortress is so integrated into the landscape), and it was so dark in some parts that we had to put our hands out in front of us and check gingerly for unseen steps.

While the fortress was neat, the best part was the natural landscape. Christoph thought that it looked like the countryside of Ireland. I'm not quite sure how to describe it in words, so I'll just let the pictures tell the story.




It was actually supposed to rain today, but I've found that weather reports in Finland are extremely unreliable. It's not uncommon to experience sunshine, clouds, wind, and rain all in one day. Weather.com said that it would rain all day, but the rain didn't actually come until around 4pm. We then stood fascinated by the clouds, as a large spread of various shades of blue and gray rushed towards us, slowly covering up a clear sky. I didn't even see how quickly the clouds were moving until Christoph pointed it out to me, and I took a break from being distracted by wildflowers to watch.




Okay, so time for a brief history lesson of Finland, gathered from our exploration of Suomenlinna, and confirmed by Wikipedia. Finland was part of the Kingdom of Sweden from the 13th century to 1809, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire to become the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. Finland then gained independence in 1917. I knew that Suomenlinna was built by the Swedes, but I had forgotten the Russian episode until Christoph showed me the detailing on this cannon. The date - a bit hard to see - is 1876, during Russia's rule, and the lettering is Russian. :) Neat, huh?


I'm really beginning to appreciate this Fulbright business. I was stressing Friday night about planning out my itinerary for today - refill bus pass, go to flat mate's comics festival, Suomenlinna, and so on - but then I realized that stressing was silly, because I was doing everything that I wanted to do. In addition to projects, another major focus of the Fulbright is cultural exchange. This program is paying for me to see this beautiful island, to meet comics experts, to read Kalevala, and basically to see and experience as much of Finland as I can. That's kind of amazing. :)