Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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." :)

Monday, December 14, 2009

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!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

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.