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.