Thursday, February 25, 2010

SNOW and more...

Sorry about the delay in putting up new stories! Here is another compilation picture post. :)

But first of all... yay Finland for beating the Czech Republic in ice hockey this morning! Only four teams left now: Finland, Slovakia (who beat Sweden!), USA, and Canada. Finland plays USA tomorrow night. Now that's something to anticipate!

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I said a couple of months ago that the snow doesn't pile up much here. Well, boy, was I wrong. I haven't seen sidewalk concrete for over a month now, and at some places, the snow has been shoveled into a pile as tall - or taller - than me! Here are some pictures.

This is the road outside my apartment. There is so much snow that it is difficult to tell where the sidewalk ends and where the road begins. Remember my post about the bus drivers having incredible skills? They truly truly do. However, even they cannot compete with Mr. Weather sometimes. Kumpula is the physical sciences campus of the U. of Helsinki near my apartment. The narrow, winding roads had so much snow earlier this month that only one bus could pass at a time, while the other unfortunate one would have to carefully back up into some side road. They ended up canceling that segment of the route altogether for a few weeks.


This is what happens when cars are left parking for an entire winter...


Senate Square. There is so much snow that the steps are no longer steps. Some brave teens have actually turned these steps into a sledding hill. Only a thin path, barely visible on the right side of the picture, has been cleared for visitors to the church.


Of course, the snowy landscape can be quite beautiful, too, especially when the sun comes out, and that is happenings more and more these days. In fact, by 6pm, there is still light outside. This is a huge deal considering that two months ago, the sun was still setting before 4pm!


So much untouched snow that it's kind of amazing! :)

Now, with all of that snow to take care of and an entire city to keep functional, the snow plows are often seen hard at work. I watched these two shovel snow the other day. Their motions were so deft (and their color so yellow) that they reminded me very much of Wall-E.

Here is Wall-E number one....


... and there comes Wall-E number two!


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Talking about the snow brings us to the topic of winter sports. Winter sports, such as cross-country skiing and ice-skating, are an integral part of Finnish culture and education. From a young age, it is mandatory for Finnish children to at least learn the basics of these sports through their physical education classes. This winter has been the coldest and snowiest Helsinki has seen in YEARS, and this week, school children get a holiday just to play in it.

Also, instead of Lent, there are two days of celebration called Laiskiassunnuntai and Laiskiastiistai (Shrove Sunday and Shrove Tuesday), except they are basically days designated for sledding. I don't think I've talked much about pulla yet, but it is pretty important in Finland. Pulla is a traditional Finnish sweet bun. However, it tends to be more dense than the buns that we are used to, and it contains a special spice, the name of which I always forget. So the Finns create various versions of pulla to celebrate their various holidays. For lent, they have laiskiaispulla. (I didn't take a picture myself, so this one is actually from online.) It's a basic pulla filled in the center with a delicious whipped cream (and sometimes jelly, too!) and topped with sugar or sliced almonds or both!


For Runeberg's Day, which celebrates the poet Runeberg, they have a runebergin pulla. This variation is a little more extreme, but the sweet nature of the bread, as well as that special spice, are still there.


I keep saying that I'm going to get fat if I stay in Finland much longer...

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"Friendship Day"

Instead of Valentine's Day, Finns celebrate ystäväpäivä: ystävä = friend, and päivä = day. Only recently has the holiday taken on a more romantic tone, with the increasing influence of mainstream Western culture. But this day in Finland can still be celebrated with friends and other meaningful relations. I liked this postcard so much that I bought it and stuck it up on my wall.


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Finally - and briefly - a small reflection of Finnish humor, which a couple of friends and I found at a computer cluster in the main university library.


Translated, it reads "SLOWEST MACHINE IN THE WORLD."

2 comments:

  1. the snow looks gorgeous. have you taken any long hikes into the woods?

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  2. I must to say i love the snow, the cold climate, although i´m not a child anymore i remember my happy childhood and all the beutiful time that i spent with all my friends. Now when is snowing i prefer to spend my time with my boyfriend, most of all that he decided to buy viagra, we enjoy all the time.

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