January 2010 Archives
In honor of it being -25 DEGREES CELCIUS today (that's -13 F!?!), I think it's high time that I talk about the cold and the snow. I was reading about average temperatures in Helsinki yesterday to try to understand when it will warm up, and I was surprised to see that it's been about 10 degrees colder than the average since I've been here. I confronted my boss/client about that today, and he said, "Oh yeah...this is like the coldest winter in Helsinki, well, in my lifetime."
Great.
Actually, I've adjusted better than I thought I would. (Which isn't saying much because I expected instant hypothermic death when I stepped outside.) Obviously I'm used to Texas weather where there are only a few super-cold and/or snowy days per year. The snow is an exciting and rare event in Texas. Here in Helsinki, it's a daily reality.
Sidewalks
All the sidewalks are completely snowed over,
and have been for months. I can't tell you how much snow is there, but
it's enough that it's difficult to visually distinguish
where the sidewalk ends and the street begins. Someone goes around
town and scrapes all the sidewalks, and then sprinkles them with gravel and/or sand and/or salt
to make them safer for walking. The snow gets pretty hard-packed, and when you walk on it in rubber soled boots, it makes the weirdest sound. I've struggled to define the sound which is something between a "crunch" and a "squeak", and the best I can come up with is "squoonch." (And yes, I did double-check that "squoonch" wasn't in urbandictionary.com before I published this.)
As long as it stays below freezing, all is well. It's been very weird to learn and accept the fact that it getting above freezing is a BAD thing. Below is good because all the streets and sidewalks just stay snowy. If it thaws, it will freeze again then you have to walk on black ice instead of white powdery snow.
Bus/Tram Stops
Every time I walk up to my tram stop, I immediately get annoyed because I see that everyone around the stop is smoking, and that I'm going to have to stand in the middle of all that stinky cigarette smoke while I wait for my ride. Then I realize no one is smoking, it's just their breath!
Streets
Pretty pristine white snow + dirty cars = volcanic ash snow nastiness.
Cars
When I first arrived, my dad was very worried about me not having a car here. Dad, I don't want a car here. See Exhibit A at left.
Piles of Scraped Snow
All that scraped snow from the streets and sidewalks has to go somewhere. And it usually ends up on random street corners in a huge pile. This one you see behind the white car is a small one. Many of them are the height of two cars stacked on top of each other.
Drifts and Sparkles
One of the wonderful things about Helsinki is that even though it's very urban, there are still lots of areas within the city that have little pockets of nature. When I walk to my bus stop from the office, I walk through a semi-wooded area where there are pure untouched, unstomped snowdrifts. And when it's dusk (which is usually), the streetlights catch all the little sparkles in the snow and it seriously is so pretty it just takes your breath away. Unfortunately there is no way to capture that in a photograph. I think it's probably more magical and accurate if you just imagine it, anyway.
And speaking of beautiful snowy, icy nature...
Trees
In conclusion, Helsinki is coooooooold. But you know what? Even though there are definitely moments when I'm completely freezingly miserable (i.e. can't feel my appendages, having chapped lips/nose/eyes, lungs burning from the arctic air, slipping on ice and falling), when I look around at the landscape, it's pretty amazingly beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that it makes me forget how cold I am...
Great.
Actually, I've adjusted better than I thought I would. (Which isn't saying much because I expected instant hypothermic death when I stepped outside.) Obviously I'm used to Texas weather where there are only a few super-cold and/or snowy days per year. The snow is an exciting and rare event in Texas. Here in Helsinki, it's a daily reality.
Sidewalks
As long as it stays below freezing, all is well. It's been very weird to learn and accept the fact that it getting above freezing is a BAD thing. Below is good because all the streets and sidewalks just stay snowy. If it thaws, it will freeze again then you have to walk on black ice instead of white powdery snow.
Bus/Tram Stops
Every time I walk up to my tram stop, I immediately get annoyed because I see that everyone around the stop is smoking, and that I'm going to have to stand in the middle of all that stinky cigarette smoke while I wait for my ride. Then I realize no one is smoking, it's just their breath!
Streets
Pretty pristine white snow + dirty cars = volcanic ash snow nastiness.
Cars
Piles of Scraped Snow
Drifts and Sparkles
One of the wonderful things about Helsinki is that even though it's very urban, there are still lots of areas within the city that have little pockets of nature. When I walk to my bus stop from the office, I walk through a semi-wooded area where there are pure untouched, unstomped snowdrifts. And when it's dusk (which is usually), the streetlights catch all the little sparkles in the snow and it seriously is so pretty it just takes your breath away. Unfortunately there is no way to capture that in a photograph. I think it's probably more magical and accurate if you just imagine it, anyway.
And speaking of beautiful snowy, icy nature...
Trees
In conclusion, Helsinki is coooooooold. But you know what? Even though there are definitely moments when I'm completely freezingly miserable (i.e. can't feel my appendages, having chapped lips/nose/eyes, lungs burning from the arctic air, slipping on ice and falling), when I look around at the landscape, it's pretty amazingly beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that it makes me forget how cold I am...
I went to my colleague's house for dinner tonight. This colleague is a Spanish guy married to a Finnish girl, and they have an adorable 4-year-old son who speaks both Spanish and Finnish. The little boy is too young to have learned much English yet, although he apparently fakes like he speaks English sometimes by walking around jabbering and littering his jabber with the only English words he knows: "chicken" and "fish."
My Finnish is only at the level of a 1 month old baby, but my Spanish is decent enough to carry on a conversation with a 4-year-old. So this little boy and I became fast friends.
When we were in the house, he wouldn't talk much. He mostly just pointed and giggled at me, giggled at the toys he brought in to show me, at his coloring book, whatever. But when we got in the car so they could give me and Leslie a lift to the metro station...the little boy suddenly became very chatty.
After arguing with him in Spanish for 10 minutes on why he shouldn't open the door while the car was moving, he took off his glove and held it in my face. This conversation ensued:
Boy: "íCómelo!" ("Eat it!")
Me: "Ew, ¡no!" ("Ew, no!")
Boy: "íCÓMELO!" ("EAT IT!")
Me: "No. Tiene el olor de....stinky." ("No, it smells like...stinky.")
Boy: "Chicken?" ("Chicken?")
I had begged him all evening to say his English words to me, and as it turns out, all I had to say was "stinky" and he would be ready to talk about chicken.
My Finnish is only at the level of a 1 month old baby, but my Spanish is decent enough to carry on a conversation with a 4-year-old. So this little boy and I became fast friends.
When we were in the house, he wouldn't talk much. He mostly just pointed and giggled at me, giggled at the toys he brought in to show me, at his coloring book, whatever. But when we got in the car so they could give me and Leslie a lift to the metro station...the little boy suddenly became very chatty.
After arguing with him in Spanish for 10 minutes on why he shouldn't open the door while the car was moving, he took off his glove and held it in my face. This conversation ensued:
Boy: "íCómelo!" ("Eat it!")
Me: "Ew, ¡no!" ("Ew, no!")
Boy: "íCÓMELO!" ("EAT IT!")
Me: "No. Tiene el olor de....stinky." ("No, it smells like...stinky.")
Boy: "Chicken?" ("Chicken?")
I had begged him all evening to say his English words to me, and as it turns out, all I had to say was "stinky" and he would be ready to talk about chicken.
My friend Tanja went to Turku for the weekend with her husband, and invited me to join up with them on Saturday. It's only two hours west of Helsinki by train and one of my resolutions was to do a better job at exploring my new country, so duh, I said yes. Here is how to have fun in Turku:
All in all, lovely day in Turku...goodbye castle! Goodbye 260 proof hot chocolate! Goodbye inexplicable Finnish cowboy!
- Ride the Train There
Just show up at the train station and buy a ticket, and then get ushered to a big roomy seat with giant windows. After so much time on planes lately, I was in heaven. And after being too excited to sleep the night before, I was also very very tired, so I slept for most of the trip. At one point I woke up at a station where we were stopped, and saw all these stacks of logs covered in snow, so I vowed to wake up, pay attention, and enjoy the scenery, which was snowy and beautiful.
- Find Your Friend Quickly, It's Cold!
Tanja's hotel was a short walk from the Turku train station, but no walk is "short" when it's -38432984 C outside. And the sun was out, which turns out is a bad thing, if you can believe that. Sunny = no clouds. No clouds = nothing to hold the heat in. Confusing. - Go to the Turku Library
As I mentioned it was super super cold yesterday, so we popped into the Library for sightseeing and warmth. It's a really interesting building because they kept a very old historical building, and added on a super new modern section...but it's all seamless and somehow works despite the very different styles. I was most excited about the microfiche machine. - Visit the Turku Cathedral
The Cathedral is one of the two biggest attractions in town, and as we were walking there I confessed my greatest fear about winters in Finland: slipping on the ice and falling and hurting myself. About 30 seconds later when the cathedral came into view, I said "wow", grabbed my camera, and started trying to find the ideal vantage point for my photo...and stepped into a little snow hole and fell. Oh, well. At least it wasn't ice.
- Go to the Turku Museum of Modern Art and Archeology (?) and Get Tipsy on Hot Chocolate
At that point we had been walking around for a while and were pretty cold, so we decided to duck into a little cafe at an art museum for some hot chocolate. This was a contemporary art museum, built on top of some old ruins. Part of the ruins stick up/out into the museum, and the rest is underground and they have panes of glass in the floor so you can see the hallways of the medieval building underneath you.
We asked the barista to give our hot chocolates a little extra oomph and to add some Minttu (peppermint liqueur). He obliged, but I think instead of just adding a shot, he did equal parts liquor and hot chocolate. I bought a postcard of some little Finnish boys playing cowboy (foreshadowing...) in the gift shop and we left very warm and very tipsy.
- Tour the Turku Castle
I mentioned there were two main attractions in Turku, the cathedral was one and this castle is the other. It's a medieval castle, with several rooms of exhibitions of Finnish cultural stuff. They didn't have an English tour, so they just gave us a little booklet in English that explained everything. I read it out loud to Tanja, and became our very ineffectual defacto tour guide. My favorite part was the scale model of the castle...which included a toy car parked out in front of it!? (See middle photo below.)
- Visit "The Restroom"
Since we had seen all the main sites, we decided it was time for a beer. As it turns out, Turku also has a bar called "The Restroom," just like Helsinki! This one held a little truer to the theme on the inside, as the walls were adorned with lots of books about bathrooms and with plants growing out of chamber pots.
- Take a Sauna
Tanja's hotel had a sauna, so we decided after such a long, cold day of walking around outside, we'd take a quick sauna before we met up with her husband and friends for dinner. Just like last time, there was a little boy in there and it's hard not to feel weird about gettin' all nekkid in front of a child...but again, I just had to shut off all my normal prudishness. It seriously does feel awesome to be so sweatily hot when you've been so numbingly cold.
There was a small balcony off the sauna room overlooking the city center square, and we finally got warm enough that we were ready to stand outside for a moment. I've been warned/threatened about how people often follow a sauna with a dip in an icy lake or by rolling around in snow...so when I wasn't looking Tanja dumped handfuls of snow on my shoulders!!!!! ACK!
P.S. These photos have nothing to do with our actual post-Restroom sauna, these photos were from the exhibition at the castle, but whatever...
- Have Drinks at the Pharmacy
I'm sensing a theme here. Turku has a bar called "The Restroom." They also have a bar (shown below) called "The Pharmacy." And another called "The School," and another called "The Bank." I will forever be suspicious of anyone claiming to go on errands, because I now assume everything is the name of a bar! "Oh, I have to stop by 'The Post Office' on my way home." Whatever, drunkie.
- Have Dinner on the Cindy Boat
There is a river called the Aura that runs through the middle of Turku, and in warm, summery times it is lined with boats that are docked along the sides that are bars and restaurants. Obviously in the winter, most of these are closed. Also in winter, the river is frozen over (see below, all that to the right of the boats where those tracks are is where the river is supposed to be.) This photo was taken earlier in the day, but we went to one of the few boat restaurants that was open for dinner. Fortunately it was very toasty inside. Unfortunately, the heating system did not extend to the bathroom area. I ate a snail. - Go to the Castle to Hang Out With Cowboys
All day, Tanja kept mentioning a friend of hers who was excited to meet me because I am a Texan. Apparently he had visited Texas a while back, and underwent a total transformation while there and returned with a belt buckle, Stetson hat, and thick Texas accent. I was equally excited to meet him.
His accent was hilarious and great. Sadly, I was not able to capture him talking on video. It would be worth going back just to do a quick documentary on him.
- Ride the Train Back to Helsinki
Unfortunately I wasn't able to hang out very late, because the last train left at 9. So I said goodbye to my friends, and hopped on the train. (I love how you can show up 10 minutes before the train leaves, buy your ticket and still make it with plenty of time to spare.) I fell asleep against the window, thinking it would be like the trip over and I'd sleep lightly and wake up at every station. No. I fell asleep HARD. I woke up inside the empty train car sitting at the station in Helsinki. I have no idea how long I was there, or why no one woke me up!!
All in all, lovely day in Turku...goodbye castle! Goodbye 260 proof hot chocolate! Goodbye inexplicable Finnish cowboy!
Wednesday was a Finnish public holiday. Obviously everyone goes drinking on Tuesday night. The Wundergirls and Wunderboys invited me to join them for pre-Epiphany drinks. (Sidenote: it appears the Wundergirls and Wunderboys have started referring to themselves at the Wundergirls and Wunderboys. I am very pleased and tickled by this.)
After a nice traditional Finnish dinner, someone suggested we go to the restroom for drinks and karaoke. I think I looked at them blankly for 5 solid minutes as I tried to figure that out.
Ahh, "The Restroom":
The first thing I did when we got to The Restroom was to go to the restroom, which is conveniently and thematically and accurately the first thing you see when you walk in. Then there were many beers. And many songs, including but not limited to:
Later we moved on a non-karaoke bar, but when the super catchy "Wonderwall" by Oasis came on the loudspeaker, we were all still in a sing-songy mood and drunk enough that we sang along, anyway. Oh! And I just remembered the Finnish American Idol was there, I forgot about that! That is the second Finnish American Idol I've seen since I moved here, Helsinki is crawling with them!
After a nice traditional Finnish dinner, someone suggested we go to the restroom for drinks and karaoke. I think I looked at them blankly for 5 solid minutes as I tried to figure that out.
Ahh, "The Restroom":
The first thing I did when we got to The Restroom was to go to the restroom, which is conveniently and thematically and accurately the first thing you see when you walk in. Then there were many beers. And many songs, including but not limited to:
- "Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams
Performed by Ville and Jaakko - The boys did a lot of hand-holding and lovingly looking into each other's eyes during the more tender parts of the song. And during all the musical breaks, Ville was kind enough to announce to the audience that there would be a "25 second musical interlude" at certain points during the song. - "Pamela" by Jaakko Teppo
Performed by Tanja, Tanja's friend whose name I can't remember but when Tanja reads this and tells me what her name was I will fix this, and me - Um, this song is in Finnish. And even though I've listened to it a few dozen times and am getting better at pronouncing Finnish words, I was totally lost. I resorted to mouthing "strawberry, watermelon, strawberry, watermelon." But I did sing the chorus, and make the moped sound effects. - "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton
Performed by me - Duh. When have I ever not sung this? Seriously, when I die just put "Tumbled out of bed and stumbled in the kitchen" on my gravestone. - "La Isla Bonita" by Madonna
Performed by Ville, Jaakko, and me - This one was hard, because as a child I rewrote the lyrics to this one to be about allergies at harvest time, and I kept almost slipping and singing those lyrics. "Allergic to the harvest breeze, full of pollen makes me wheeze, blows through the wind and in my eye..." - "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
Technically performed by Steve - I say "technically" because we all couldn't help but join him. We all got carried away with the spirit of Freddie Mercury, and sang the shit out of this song together. It was equally epic to the Muppets version. How I remember it, anyway.
Later we moved on a non-karaoke bar, but when the super catchy "Wonderwall" by Oasis came on the loudspeaker, we were all still in a sing-songy mood and drunk enough that we sang along, anyway. Oh! And I just remembered the Finnish American Idol was there, I forgot about that! That is the second Finnish American Idol I've seen since I moved here, Helsinki is crawling with them!
I went back to Texas for the Christmas break, and it was wonderful. Except for the part where it was 70 degrees on the day before I arrived, and as my plane was circling Arkansas deciding when to land...it was 30 and snowing in Dallas/Fort Worth! What? Why!? Well, I never!
It all melted on Christmas day, and then I spent the next week going around on all my little social calls to various friends. Shashana had me over for hot cocoa. Cousin Allison snuck me into Aunt Sandie and Uncle Bob's for dinner. Morley sacrificed his house so Jackie, Jeremy, and I could have people over like Rhonda and Micah and Rachel, and we stayed up late sitting around the kitchen table eating Little Debbie Snack Cakes and giggling. The next day we had breakfast at the ol' T&A truck stop. Staci and I watched the Hangover on PPV and ate popcorn balls. Holly, Cari, and I downed several bottles of wine. Val met me for breakfast at a divey diner in FW that I am SO MAD I didn't know about when I lived there. Then...onto Granbury for some quality time with Jackie and Jeremy who were in town from Seattle. I specifically wanted to be with them on New Year's Eve, because I've spent the last few New Year's Eveses with them.
So there we were, watching Travis Pastrana jump the rally car over the Bellagio or whatever. Then the ball dropped. Everybody on TV was kissing. Jackie and Jeremy started kissing. Jeremy's sister and her husband were kissing. Jeremy's parents were totally making out. And there I was, the seventh wheel and there was no one for me to kiss but the dog. So I did.
The end.
It all melted on Christmas day, and then I spent the next week going around on all my little social calls to various friends. Shashana had me over for hot cocoa. Cousin Allison snuck me into Aunt Sandie and Uncle Bob's for dinner. Morley sacrificed his house so Jackie, Jeremy, and I could have people over like Rhonda and Micah and Rachel, and we stayed up late sitting around the kitchen table eating Little Debbie Snack Cakes and giggling. The next day we had breakfast at the ol' T&A truck stop. Staci and I watched the Hangover on PPV and ate popcorn balls. Holly, Cari, and I downed several bottles of wine. Val met me for breakfast at a divey diner in FW that I am SO MAD I didn't know about when I lived there. Then...onto Granbury for some quality time with Jackie and Jeremy who were in town from Seattle. I specifically wanted to be with them on New Year's Eve, because I've spent the last few New Year's Eveses with them.
So there we were, watching Travis Pastrana jump the rally car over the Bellagio or whatever. Then the ball dropped. Everybody on TV was kissing. Jackie and Jeremy started kissing. Jeremy's sister and her husband were kissing. Jeremy's parents were totally making out. And there I was, the seventh wheel and there was no one for me to kiss but the dog. So I did.
The end.
