Here's my AirBus from Denver to Frankfort. Except for the plane leaving almost 2 hours late from Denver (weather and de-icing), the trip has been easier than I could have hoped for.

My two big bags went directly to Helsinki, so I didn't have to worry about that in Frankfort. Frankfort was big, but straightforward. I'm settled into the Hotel Helka in Helsinki city centre right now. The usual European small room with a single bed, small TV, and triangle shaped ceramic tile bathroom, but unlike the hotel where Sarah and I stayed in Sweden, each appliance in the bathroom has its own control knob. The room has internet connection, but you pay 5 euros for each hour, so I won't use it too much. I'm watching BBC news (the only English channel I can find), and it is pretty good.

The temperature is ok so far, about freezing. The sidewalk and the roads are a bit slippery but no one seems to notice. The dress in Helsinki seems very casual, and people are not overly bundled up. Many people are wearing tennis shoes (wet). I did see someone with lace up boots, and those looked pretty reasonable. I went into a grocery store near the hotel. There was fresh fruit, cheese, sausage, granola etc. The prices were very close to what things are marked in the US, but in Euros rather than dollars (i.e. half gallon of milk is 2 euros), so that means that food is about 30% more expensive. As in England, we will probably get used to it.

Jan 9 - Three days and I'm still waking up at 4am on the dot, even taking a sleeping pill. I'm settled in to the flat, which is really nice. Coffee is kahvi, and I found filters and a coffee pot but so far have not produced a good cup of coffee. I may have to switch to tea. You all know what a sacrifice it is to have to drink tea!

Yesterday (Jan 8) was great. Juha (pronounced eeU-Ha) took me for a drive around the city centre especially to see the bus routes and also around his municipality (village) north of where we live. Our area is called Rajakyla (sounds like combining rye with Dracula but roll the r, e.g. Rye-ah-cula). We went to the indoor market that is like the one in Oxford but about a fourth the size. I tried reindeer both cold smoked and warm smoked. Both were quite tasty. Even the fish looked good.

Then we went to a fish market in his village by the sea (frozen over with ice fisherman and snow mobiles) and then to the alpine centre run by the municipality (free). Kids were sledding and adults were cross-country skiing on the courses that are laid out there. There is also a ski jump, but no one was jumping that day. There are sort of covered picnic areas that are enclosed by a low stone+concrete wall with a central fire pit with a chimney and sort of metal funnel to catch the smoke (like Dean Martin's 1970s fireplace). Families gather around the fire area grilling sausages etc.

Then we arrived at Juha's home. Juha's wife is Arja (the j sounds like an i) so I think of it as Aria. We sat in the front room and talked and had a little whiskey. The kids sat there but said little and looked bored; HOWEVER occasionally they would smile or laugh leading me to think that they were actually listening quite closely.

Around 4:30, we all sat down at the table along with one of their nephews. Arja is Karelian (Finns who lived in Russia till WW2, and were forced back into Finland by the war, mainly a farming people). We had Karelian stew, which is essentially pot roast made with onions but with both beef and pork. There were mashed potatoes, a lettuce salad with a sort of creamy Italian dressing on the side, two kinds of bread and a sort of pancake about the size of a computer mouse but thin which I think is called a Karelian pie and is stuffed with something, maybe cheese. There is a butter and boiled egg mixture that you spread on the pancake. Everyone drank different things. Juha and I had red wine, and they put out beer for the older kids, but they drank milk instead. Dessert was a low fat white cheese baked with a thin white sauce (little or no sugar) until it had dark black spots, it was served with lingonberry *natural* and lingonberry jam. They collected the berries at their cabin up north last season, and made jam of some of the berries. But no sauna (they pronounce the sau like sow) this time.

After dinner, we sat in the living room and talked, the kids left, the younger to cross country ski in the back yard and the older to drive around town. The 16 year old stayed to clean the kitchen dishes etc. and watch her younger brother. We then left to go to Kymo's house for coffee and dessert (a dean of students). His wife Anneli made a dessert that consisted of a thin pocket bread cut into 1 inch triangles that were covered with a white paste that seemed to be cream cheese and smoked reindeer (very smoky tasting) with a small sliver of a light yellow cheese and two or three lingon berries. She also had two kinds of pound cakes. Of course we had another taste of whiskey and the women had white wine.
 

Monday, January 10, 2005

Well,
I haven't plugged anything into the bathroom socket yet because the socket has a big red warning tag that says "käytto kielletty suihkun ja kylvyn aikana" which the internet translates as "be forbidden spout and kylvyn over". This translation isn't terribly helpful, and actually raises my alarm level a bit.

Of course, you would imagine that a bathroom plug mounted six feet high next to the sink would be for a hair dryer or electric shaver. But who knows. I assumed originally that the warning was a "big brother is taking care of you" type warning like "don't stand in water when you plug something in." But the translation doesn't mention water or standing, so I'm going to wait until someone at work tells me what it means before I plug in the new hair dryer.

OK, I checked with the EDTECH team, it does in fact say "Don't use electric appliances around water".

Ok, now the washer (no dryer, hang drying in the basement) and the dish washer. Both user manuals are in several languages, some helpful, but the base advice I now can give is that unloike US machines, there is a separate off-on button that is not part of the selector dial, who knows why? Also, in both cases, there is a separate manual water shutoff valve that obviously needs to be turned on. Also, it takes about 2 hours to wash a load of clothes, who knows why? Also, washing technology is nothing without detergent and fabric softner. BUT there's the rub. All of the packaging for bleach, detergent, fabric softener, dish washing liquid, etc. in the store all look about the same. No Downy, no Cheer, try Omo. I may have washed the first load with dish washing liquid and used regular detergent in place of fabric softner. trust me that the clothes will be stiff if you do this.

And the DSL. First, the only thing the phone company does fast is send the bill. I received the bill the next day after applying, but it will take a month for the crew to connect the line, even though the flat is already wired for DSL.

A question I wondered about before I arrived was, what about the artic winter darkness and cold?

Right now, the sun rises at about 9:30 and sets at about 4:30, and honestly, it hasn't been a problem at all. I did notice that jet lag lasted longer than in my other trips, but that could be as much my "advanced age" as the actual number of time zones crossed.

Here is an interesting view of earth showing day and night at this instance, so you can get a feel of day length.

see: http://www.worldtime.com/

By March, the days should be noticeably longer.

What about the cold?
The weather has been unseasonably warm here, it should be -20C . The first two weeks of January averaged about 0 C (32 F) with no wind, so it felt almost warm. This week, it has been -10 C (14 F) and a little windy, so it felt cold, but again, not uncomfortable so. There are a number of good Oulu weather sites, such as the weather underground, see: http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/02875.html

The FMI also has a good site, see: http://www.fmi.fi/weather/local.html?kunta=Oulu
here is the current temperature graph for the past 24 hours from FMI. 00 means midnight, 12 is noon, etc.:


 

 

Saturday, February 05, 2005

Sarah's First Impressions

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Saturday in Oulu

Hi Everyone,

Time for another update, and it’s been a busy week.

We saw the Finnish flags flying last Saturday, and learned that it was a national holiday dedicated to the poet Juhan Runeberg. A pastry called Runeberg's tart, first made by the poet’s wife, is always eaten on this holiday, and special readings of his poetry are held. You can read more about Runeberg and even get a recipe for the tart at http://www.finnguide.fi/calendar/feb.asp.

We celebrated another holiday last Tuesday. Laskiainen formally celebrates Shrove Tuesday, but we prefer to call it “Eat Pea Soup and Go Sledding” Day because children are let out of school to spend the day playing in the snow. Traditionally, pea soup with a dollop of spicy brown mustard and a special pastry called laskiaispulla are served on Laskiainen. Since Finnish kids don’t have “Snow Days” because a foot or 2 of snow is no big deal, I suppose a designated national Snow Day, disguised as Shrove Tuesday, is apropos!

So we could fully experience this holiday, Roy’s group at the university (who are all in their 20s and 30s and not far removed from enjoying this holiday as school children) arranged for all of us to go to a beautiful state park near Oulu to celebrate. First we ate lunch in the lodge, which of course featured pea soup and laskiaispulla. The lodge looked like it belonged in the Rocky Mountains, with pine logs and stuffed wildlife including a troll. Then we all hiked up the hill to sled. Roy and I had borrowed what Roy dubbed “Butt Sleds” – a 12 inch piece of heavy plastic with a handle grip. You sit on the plastic oval, hold onto the handle, and down you go. They proved so efficient that we’re bringing some back for glacier sledding in Colorado.

 

Thursday we headed to Helsinki for a Fulbright orientation meeting. Roy’s sessions didn’t start until Friday, so we went sightseeing in the afternoon.






On our trek, we saw advertisements for what we thought was lation of the title of the production until mid-way through the play when it dawned on me that “Un Cirque Tout Juste” translated (again in a stylized way) to “An OK Circus” which summed up the evening perfectly!

Friday while Roy attended meetings, I went on a quest to find “The Witch’s Drum” at the National Museum of Finland. These Lappish, or Sami, drums were used by shamans before Christianity arrived in Finland in about 1200 A.D. Only a few of the drums still exist, and we learned about them while visiting with Arja (note the spelling correction) and Juha the previous weekend. The face of the drum is covered with symbols, and when a ring is placed on the drum and it is played with an antler beater, the future can be told through the movement of the ring on the drum face.

I have been reading the Kalevala, the epic mythology of Finland, and so along the way to the Witch’s Drum (which is also described in the Kalevala), I loved learning about the early history and beliefs of the Finnish people – that bear claws kept under the pillow would ward off bad dreams and kept in a maiden’s pocket would encourage suitors, and that water poured through “Wind Nests” – the mistletoe we call “Witch’s Broom” – would cure eye ailments. And in a tribute to lawyers everywhere, it was thought that all the snakes in Finland gathered in a single circle in the spring, where a white snake, standing in the middle and wearing a crown, spewed out smooth stones. If early Finns were lucky enough to find one of these stones, their appearance in court (where they had to represent themselves) would go in their favor.

I didn’t get further than the 12th century – approximately one-quarter of the museum’s offerings – but I had a wonderful time! My only nod toward the modern was near the museum café where I had lunch. There they presented a thought-provoking exhibit of newly acquired objects which were quite contemporary. The commentary posted with the exhibit questioned what was appropriate for a national museum to collect, and invited visitors to write down suggestions.

In the late afternoon I went with Roy to the Fulbright Center for a concert by an a cappella group. The director was a doctoral candidate from Yale who had spent his Fulbright year at the Sibeleus Academy in Helsinki. The program was a beautiful collection of Finnish and American songs, and their rendition of “Shenandoah” was the best arrangement I’ve ever heard. Following the concert there was a reception which even the American Ambassador to Finland attended, along with many other high level dignitaries. Very impressive!

For dinner a bunch of Fulbrighters and their spouses went to Garlic, a restaurant guaranteed to make you an olfactory pariah in genteel circles, where we enjoyed smoked salmon topped with lemon mousse and roe, and reindeer shish-ka-bob (and you all know our partiality to reindeer although one of our correspondents pointed out that it would be hard to tell the grandchildren that we ate Donner and Blitzen!) The insights and experiences of the other Fulbrighters who are stationed all over the country were especially interesting. Some had brought teenaged children, and they said the kids were attending Finnish school and having a super time. One of the kids is planning to stay and attend university here in an international business program that enlists well over half its students from foreign countries, so the experience truly prepares graduates for an international career!

The following morning we had a crash course in the Finnish language designed more to assuage any guilt we felt for not attempting the spoken word than for actual instruction. A tour of the Presidential palace was also planned, but Roy and I opted to leave early and enjoy a relaxing train ride back to Oulu so we could attend the National Craft Show held in Oulu on Sunday.

The craft show had a definite Scandinavian style in everything from embroidery to woodwork and emphasized simple forms and great practicality. Because it is so early in the trip we didn’t buy too much, but got several business cards so we could follow up on things we liked. A highlight of the show was meeting Eija Sivonen, a fellow doll maker from Oulu with whom I’ve been exchanging e-mail messages. She is a lovely person, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with her over the next several months. Her soft sculpture dolls have been selected for display by the Bothnia Design Group, a juried national organization, and feature the flowing stylized lines that mark so much Finnish art.


One last entry: our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. We went to the local pizza place near our flat – think Jack-in-the-Box with a menu in Finnish. We’d been spoiled by Finnish restaurants that cater to English-speaking dummies, so after contemplating a list of 35 combinations and recognizing maybe 3 words, we picked the “Quatro” assuming that it was the Big Four of pizza ingredients – probably sausage, pepperoni, and a couple of others. Well, we were right on one word. It had “Four” ingredients – ham, mushrooms, shrimp, and tunafish. Canned tunafish. Another culinary adventure!

Guess that’s all my news for this week. I’ll write more soon.

Cheers!

Sarah

Hi Everyone,

Since we’ve been here, we’ve found practices that may cause us to nominate Finland as the most civilized country on earth. Here are some of the things the Finns are doing “right” in our estimation.

Recycling: The Finns recycle nearly everything. At our townhouse there is a shed with 6 different bins. Two are for newspapers; and the others are for corrugated cardboard, light cardboard (cereal boxes, milk cartons, etc.), organic garbage, and regular garbage. We find by separating everything that we end up with only one small bag of regular garbage per week. We take plastic bottles, glass bottles, and aluminum cans to the grocery store where we are paid rather handsomely for our efforts while the can crusher entertains us by making mincemeat of the cans we feed it. Outside the grocery store are bins for plastic (Styrofoam, butter containers, etc.), paper (bills, ads, etc.), glass (jam and pickle jars, etc.), and tin cans. Makes going to the grocery store an adventure. We take all our recycling over there in plastic bags, and bring the groceries home in the same bags. Because…

Grocery Bags: …you PAY 14 cents apiece for grocery bags in Finland! Now before you start to grumble, you have to know that these grocery bags are heavy duty affairs that can carry nearly unlimited weight and will withstand 4 or 5 trips to the store before being relegated to garbage bag use. No more piles of bags giggling in the closet while they spawn more little bags as I’ve accused them of doing on numerous occasions. No more bottoms dropping out of the flimsy excuses we call grocery bags. After awhile, you start feeling like you’re saving the world from being overrun by landfills! AND there’s even a place inside the grocery store where you can recycle… yup, you guessed it… the plastic bags that are all torn and tattered after a month of use!

And while we’re talking about bags, you know the flimsy bags we put produce in? Well, those bags (which are free, by the way) are more substantial too. But that’s not really the point. The point is that they don’t have zip lock bags (or any bags for food storage) for sale at the store. You save the produce bags and use them for wrapping up the open cheese, cold cuts, etc. I’d always done that to some extent, but not having the zip lock bags to fall back on makes me do it all the time! Also, in the produce section, each kind of fruit or veggie has a 2 digit number. You put the lemons or oranges in one of the plastic bags and then set the bag on a scale and type in the 2 digit number. Voila! Out pops a sticky label with the weight, price, and bar code that can be scanned at check out.

Pollution: There’s a paper mill in the middle of town as there are in many Finnish cities since paper production is a big deal here. But there’s no smell! Nothin’!! Now for a girl who was raised in a paper mill town, this is nothing short of miraculous! The Finns didn’t like the smell, so they figured out how to get rid of it, passed laws enforcing it, and now paper mills and people can live side by side!

Neighborhood Perks: Oulu is divided into about a dozen neighborhoods, and people know where you live by the name of the neighborhood. I know, we do that too. But here’s the difference. Each neighborhood has a center that is available to all neighborhood groups, like scout troops and the like, but also has supplies on hand so that people can come after school or work and do art projects, etc. They also have part time, or in large neighborhoods, full time crafts instructors who poll the neighborhood as to what they’d like to do, and when they get enough folks, they teach that project. Each neighborhood also has a park with playground equipment and an ice rink, complete with ice hockey goals already installed. Wonder why so many great NHL players come from Scandinavia? Now you know! These ice rinks become grassy picnic areas in the summertime.

Infrastructure: It is possible to live anywhere in Finland and never drive. For example, Oulu has 400 kilometers of beautiful 10 foot wide bike and walking paths (no motorized vehicles allowed) crisscrossing the city, so you can literally go anywhere by bike without taking your life in your hands. In the winter people cross country ski, walk, pull sleds, and yes, bike on the paths. In the summer, the paths are used for biking, walking, roller blading, pushing strollers, etc. In addition, buses come by our place (and everywhere in Oulu) about every 20 minutes and connections to all points of the city never take more than about 10 minutes between buses. The buses are linked through a wireless network, so when you pay with your personal bus card, you can make transfers to other buses at no extra cost. We can even go out to the airport by bus. About 10 flights a day link Oulu with other major cities in Europe at very reasonable prices. And of course the train station in the center of town links Oulu with everywhere else 20 or 30 times a day.

Not only are these efficient, relaxing ways to travel. It is necessary for most Finns because a car costs about $90,000 with all the taxes added on by the EU, and gas is about $6 a gallon. And as Roy is fond of pointing out, when America’s gas costs that much (as it will, given the world situation and the inevitable future scarcity of oil products) we’ll figure out how to have a good infrastructure for travel within and between cities too!

The most important thing we’ve discovered is that we don’t miss having a car one bit. Yet at home we have not one, but 2 cars! Go figure!!

When we were in Helsinki last weekend we crisscrossed the city by trolley, bus, and metro depending on where we were going. Even in that big a city, travel was easy.

Perks in riding buses, etc.: People with baby carriages (and the babies in the carriages) ride free on buses. There are special sections on public transportation reserved for pregnant women so they can sit down. Pensioners get special rates on all public transportation. And in an “extra mile” example of why Finland may be the most civilized country on earth, the morning newspaper is put over the hand rails on the metro by previous readers. You may read it, and when you reach your destination, you put it back on the hand rail for the next passenger.

Finns always cross at crosswalks, and almost always wait for the green “walk” sign before they cross. It may be a law, because in Helsinki when some wayward Fulbrighters raced across the street narrowly escaping a trolley car, the police car behind the trolley slowed nearly to a stop and looked at them long and hard before deciding that they were stupid foreigners and driving on. But the reward for this behavior (besides not getting arrested) is that if there is a pedestrian crosswalk but no light, cars stop for you to go across.

Family Perks: Living together before marriage is very much the norm in Finland, and many couples have children before marriage too. When babies are born, the dad can stay home for 3 weeks, and the mom for 3 months with their wages paid by the state, not the employer. Then one parent can stay home for the next 6 months at a reduced salary. After that they are given a stipend by the government of about $100 per month per child because of the extra expenses of raising a family. There are no health insurance costs because everything is paid for by the government, including monthly well-kid check-ups for the first 3 years of life, and child care is state-controlled and paid on a sliding scale, so students and the poor would pay nothing for child care.

Going to college: The cost of going to college is free in Finland, but the system works differently. The number of jobs needed in any particular area – engineering, teaching, healthcare, etc. is determined by the government, and then the number of “slots” for students in that area are allotted to the various universities. When students apply, they apply for an engineering or healthcare slot and are selected according to their credentials. When the slots are filled, that’s it!

What that means is

1. There is no “major changing” as we have in America. You have to decide what you want to do before applying.

2. Only the very best get selected.

3. Many times if a field is crowded, people may apply several times before being accepted. Or they may have to “shop” for another field that needs workers. For example, the chance of getting into an engineering college is about 65% while in education, you only have a 20% chance.

4. You are practically guaranteed a job when you get out! No philosophy majors having to say, “Do you want fries with that?”

Also, academic traditions like “tenure” in a particular university are disappearing. Lifetime employment seems to be viewed as a national rather than an employer-based benefit.

I know I’ll produce at least one more missive about Finland’s civilized ways, but I’ve bent your ear enough for now. This weekend we’re going to the Arctic Circle, and next week is the University “Winter School” on an ice-locked island near Oulu, so we’ll have lots of pictures in our next journal entry.

Hope you all are well!

Sarah

Hi Everyone,

Time for another update. Last Friday Juha, Roy and I drove 150 kilometers north from Oulu to Rovaniemi for a meeting at the University of Lapland, the northernmost university in the world.

Along the way we stopped in Kemi, a city known for its Ice Castle where people can spend the night in an ice hotel room, have a drink in the ice bar, and even attend church services in the ice chapel. It is open from shortly after Christmas until April, and is made more elaborate and spacious every year.

 

After a meeting with the Vice President of the university, Juha took us on a tour of the city. The rivers in northern Finland become secondary highways in the winter, and in Rovaniemi, there are specially marked “roads” for snowmobiles, and trails for cross country skiing, hiking and sledding. They even have a municipal golf course set up on the river where golf bags are caddied on sleds and the players use red golf balls! Of course there are ice fishermen on the rivers as well who set up shelters very much like a Native American tepee, and build fires on the shore to keep warm.
 

 

 

We also visited Finland’s national elite sports complex where coaches receive specialized training and literally every sport from ski jumping to volley ball is represented. As we watched from the car, a biathlete skied past, stopped to fire at a target, and took off down the trail. After our tour, Juha headed back to Oulu, and Roy and I set off to visit Santa Claus.

You see, although Santa has his workshop and home at Korvatunturi Fell, a mountain on the Russian/Finnish border that is shaped like an ear so he can hear the wishes of boys and girls all over the world, he has an office conveniently located about 8 kilometers north of Rovaniemi at the Arctic Circle. This office receives over 40,000 visitors and about 350,000 letters every year, and as we can attest, Santa makes his visitors feel right at home.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Roy and I were ushered into Santa’s office where the shelves have huge books with titles like "The Winter Traveller’s Guide," "Sleds And Their Runners," “Chimneys,” “A Short History of Elves,” and “Reindeer Husbandry.” A fire crackled in the stone fireplace, and Santa was seated in a comfortable chair at his desk. He was wearing his everyday clothes – a linen shirt with a hand knitted vest, corduroy knickers tucked into hand knitted striped stockings, and sheepskin slippers with turned up toes. He seems to know the language of all the children he meets. We heard him speak Swedish to 2 little boys who we could tell were promising to be very, very good, French to a little girl, and of course English to us. He shook our hands, then looked puzzled, remarked that we looked familiar, and asked where we were from. When we told him, he said “Of course! I met you last Christmas Eve!”

During our visit he took out a large atlas, explaining that he gets a new one every January, and by the next Christmas he has it filled to overflowing with the names of boys and girls he needs to visit. We looked up the Colorado map, and from the circle we put around Denver we drew a line out to the margin and wrote “Layne and Tess” so he would know where the grandchildren lived. We feel sure that he’ll pay them a special visit on Christmas Eve.

From Santa’s office it was just a short walk to Santa’s Post Office, where the postcards (and even your passport!) can be stamped with his special seal. It was near the end of the day, so as we sat and wrote our postcards, we heard the elves using the big stamp which thump, thump, thumped every letter with his postmark.
 

And of course no visit to the Arctic Circle would be complete without a picture by the sign proving to one and all that we were there. We had taken the Travel section of the Denver Post with us, since they publish pictures of Denverites who travel hither and yon around the world and have their pictures taken with the Travel section. So we posed at the Arctic Circle sign with the paper. Then we posed by the big globe. Then Roy took a picture of me by one of the giant snowmen near the Arctic Circle sign. Then, since the finest selection of Finnish handicrafts is available at Santa’s place, we spent lots of money. In fact, if you hadn’t known better, you’d have thought we were tourists having a fabulous time at the top of the world! We topped off the evening with reindeer steak topped with lingonberries. Alas, we have no shame.
 

The weather in Rovaniemi was beautiful – about 18 degrees and bright sunshine. So the next day, after taking pictures othe gigantic municipal ice rink which replaces the city soccer field in the winter, we walked around town, taking pictures of snowpiles, sledding, and the ladders which grace nearly every home in Finland.
 

 

You see, even the peaked roofs in Finland occasionally need snow removal. The very tall buildings have a pulley-like contraption that travels along the peak of the roof. The shoveling daredevils, who undoubtedly have the most dangerous job in Finland, hook their belts on a rope attached to the pulley, and then shinny down the roof to clear away the snow. Roy saw one house that had a shovel still on the peak, and bare shingles the general width of a derriere leading down the roof and over the eaves to a giant pile of snow about 12 feet below. I suppose they’ll find the shovel’s owner by May…
 

We came back to Oulu by train Saturday evening, but not before we found a grocery store whose name might not make it in the U.S.
 

Hi Everyone,

The day after we arrived home from Rovaniemi, we packed up again to attend Winter School. Roy is involved as a mentor in a virtual doctoral program run by Kalidescope, a European Union funding source like the National Science Foundation in the US. The University of Oulu received a grant from this organization to provide an international course exploring the core theoretical issues and empirical questions in different subfields of technology enhanced learning. Although the semester-long course is online, where students from 11 countries have a series of assignments, internet chats, and one-to-one online mentoring with professors from 6 countries, they came together for an in-depth 4 day session here in Oulu called Winter School. The goal of Kalidescope, through their virtual doctoral program and meetings like this, is to form alliances and collaboration among the member countries’ scholars. Roy was the only American taking part.

Winter School was held at Oulu University’s Bothnian Bay Research Station on Hailuoto Island, about 7 kilometres from Oulu. The Bothnian Bay, at the northern end of the Baltic Sea, does not have the saline content of deeper parts of the sea, so the bay freezes solid in the winter. There are 2 ways to get to Hailuoto. A ferry keeps a slushy path open across the bay with the occasional help of a mammoth-sized Icebreaker, and there is also an ice road marked with little pine branches stuck in the ice to show the way.

When our van, piled high with luggage, beer, food for evening parties, more beer, and two other participants drove up to the ferry dock, I breathed a sigh of relief that we were taking the “safe” ferry route, and were not motoring across on the ice. Then I saw our travel companions waiting with us to board. Two enormous trucks filled with rock, a city bus, another university van, and about 20 cars intended to sardine together on what seemed a ridiculously small ferry. But I didn’t feel any sway at all as the boat crossed the bay. Since the ice on either side is solid, there are no waves in the ferry lane, and thus, no sway. It was like being in a hovercraft, except for the sound of ice grinding under the bow.

 

The 20 minute drive to the research station on the island’s only paved road took us through pine and birch forest and past scattered red and yellow houses belonging to the 800 island residents. Occasionally we saw “Moose Crossing” signs reminding us that most of the large island is a wilderness park. The island’s economy depends on summer tourism, some fishing, and reindeer moss farming. This moss is actually a form of lichen and is used – yup, you guessed it – to feed the reindeer herds in Lapland.

At the Biology Research Station at the far end of the island there is a cluster of old, beautifully maintained cottages and dorm accommodations, a lighthouse, equipment for ongoing study of the bay’s ecology, 3 enormous windmills that furnish all of the island’s electricity, a wood-fired sauna which (showing Finnish priorities) was the first structure built at the research station, and a great expanse of frozen sea. I had expected the sea’s surface ice to be smooth, but it looked like it had been caught and frozen mid-wave producing a craggy, silent moonscape as far as the eye could see.

 

 

 

The doc students at the gathering were truly impressive. The meetings were conducted in English, and only 2 of the 24 had any difficulty with the language, though both were fluent in three or more other languages. Since I had no formal duties (and Roy was preoccupied with sessions, presentations, and talking up the doc students), I volunteered to take pictures for the group, and they literally forgot I was there as they broke into different interest groups where the concentration was palpable, and the discussions were spirited and insightful.

 

 

 

During the evenings, we had social gatherings including a Finnish hot dog roast in a log building with a large indoor fire pit, an evening of guitar playing after a wood-fired sauna (pronounced sow-nah in Finnish), and a finale which included skits, songs, and poems performed by all of the participants.
 

 

A highlight on March 1st happened at breakfast, when Desislava, a Bulgarian doc student, gave us all simple candy-striped yarn bracelets and explained the custom of “Martenitsi,” when people give their friends variations of the bracelet to wish them good luck and health for the coming year. The custom is to kee.

Although none of us thought we could survive 4 days without e-mail and the internet, at the end of the conference we all agreed that we had gained more without electronic connection to the outside world. Friendships were forged, mentors were cubby-holed for their insights into the students’ various research projects, and all of us went home with a greater appreciation of our connection in a global community. As Roy told the group during one present meeting.

At the same time, I am afraid that over the next generations the age-old customs of individual nations may fade. We talked with students about the ease of travel within the union, and of the many marriages that have occurred already between people of different nationalities. Although only 6 of the 30+ participants at the conference were native speakers, all were expected to speak English to participate. Most of the academic journals worldwide are in English. This “hegemony of sameness” is at once comforting and disturbing. It made me wonder how many years it will be until practices like “Martenitsi” will be forgotten.

Enough philosophical ramblings. Hope you're all doing well.

Sarah
 

Hi Everyone,

The Pope’s death has dominated the news here for the past week. Five of the 10 stations we get on TV are news channels (2 Finnish; 1 German which broadcasts several hours a day in English; EuroNews which broadcasts simultaneously in 7 languages; and the BBC, see TV guide below called ohjelmat  http://ohjelmat.info/tv/index.html). EuroNews especially has had almost non-stop coverage of the Pope’s illness and death since there are so many Catholics in the countries it serves. The languages it broadcasts in are English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese, although Finland only subscribes to the English broadcast. Some of the retrospectives EuroNews has done since John Paul’s death have been superb – showing the humble, charismatic man, always surrounded by people yet always alone.

One of the things we like best about traveling abroad is watching and reading the news since it reminds us every day that we are part of a world community – a concept easily forgotten in the States where even the national news is dominated by “local” events. Here, interconnections between nations are never taken for granted. Television stock market reports cover every country since so much trading is done between markets here. Financial markets are also reported since the Euro’s value against the U.S. Dollar, British Sterling, and the Yen are equally important. The sports broadcast always covers soccer - the international mania we’re just beginning to appreciate in the U.S. But sports news also includes auto racing in Bahrain, golf in South Africa, and sailboat racing in New Zealand. The sports bars we visited this winter had huge screens showing international ski jumping, hockey, and biathlons.

Weather forecasts sprawl across continents because of international travel. The BBC is especially fun to watch because of phrases like “The wind is freshening from the west in Borneo…” and “It’s a thundery forecast for Sumatra…”

But the very best news venue is the International Herald Tribune, the favorite of both Roy and me long before we met. In Oulu we can only get the Tribune once a week, so Thursdays we make a pilgrimage to the bookstore in city center, eager for the excellent writing, the indepth coverage of world events, and the cosmopolitan views on the editorial pages. Where else could you read about one woman’s experience waiting for rescue under the Indonesian earthquake’s rubble as she held her baby and heard her little girl dying just out oconversations with Finns always reflect their recognition of Finland’s place within the world community. In large part, the Finns’ world view is affected by its history and its ideological contrast with its nearest neighbor. Here are some examples:

• When we visited Juha and Arya’s home, we complimented them on their antiques. Arja explained that all of the antiques were from Juha’s family. Her family is Karelian, a people displaced by the Soviet Union in a land grab. The many Karelian Finns in this area have al adamantly, “And we won!

 

• Juha told us that every Finnish man must serve in the armed forces. Their initial training only lasts 6 months, usually undertaken before entering college or starting a job after high school. For officer’s training, a year of service is required. But after that initial training, Finnish men are in the reserves, with periodic summer training sessions, until they are 60!

I suspect that if Canada were an aggressive, politically unstable presence, our world view would be different as well.

In thinking back, I saw why the Finns feel this way as early as 1985 when I went to the Soviet Union. After 3 weeks there, when we landed in Helsinki on my flight home from Moscow, all of the passengers started applauding. I asked a flight attendant if this was unusual. She replied, “It happens every time.” In a country that has been occupied for much of its history and that endured its own civil war in the 1920's, freedom and stability aren't taken for granted.

In establishing the Fulbright foundation, J. William Fulbright said, "International education exchange is … designed to continue the process of humanizing mankind to the point, we would hope, that nations can learn to live in peace."

Understanding another nation’s world view and our role as citizens of the world is probably the most valuable part of this experience.

We hope this finds you shedding your winter garb and enjoying the daffodils. Here we know that winter is on the run because we haven’t worn long underwear in nearly 3 weeks! The birds are announcing their nesting territorial claims, and the walking paths are nearly dry. No spring blooms yet, but with 18 hours of daylight, we hope to see crocuses soon. Last night, the “Blue Moment” didn’t occur until after 9 p.m. (When I arrived it was at 4:15 in the afternoon!) And the first fingers of light were in the east at 4:30 this morning. The temperature has been in the high 40’s for almost 2 weeks. The natives say this is unusual, but we’re enjoying it! To follow our weather here (or yours at home for that matter) a great Web site is Weather Underground at http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/02875.html.

More soon,

Sarah

Hi Everyone,

This weekend Roy and I traveled 6 hours by train to Jyväskylä (pronounced Yee-văs-kee-lă) to see Finland’s Lake District. The mostly flat landscape of southern Finland boasts over 188,000 lakes – more than any other country in the world. In the Lake District there is more lake than land, caused by the continental glacier during the last Ice Age. (And in a related “gee whiz” statistic, once the immense weight of the glacier melted, Finland’s landmass started to rise. The land around the Bay of Bothnia where we live has risen over 36 inches in the past 100 years, and overall Finland adds about 2.7 square miles of landmass every year!)

On the train, we never traveled more than 2 or 3 miles in the Lake District before coming upon another beautiful lake surrounded by pine and birch forest and sparsely dotted with summer cottages along the shoreline. Unlike Colorado where lake front property is at a premium, Finland has more than enough shoreline to cater to second home seekers. Indeed, nearly every Finnish family has a summer cabin handed down from generation to generation, but the Finns’ idea of a getaway is quite different than ours. Most Finns prefer to rough it on their summer vacations and cabins usually have no electricity or running water. (But nearly all have a wood fired sauna!) People pack in their provisions, pack out their garbage, and leave the surrounding wilderness pristine.






Jyväskylä is located on both sides of beautiful Lake Jyväskylä, with most of the city of 75,000 on one side, and the university and suburbs on the other. One bridge for cars and a sculptural pedestrian bridge connect the 2 sides, and of course in the winter folks can take a short cut across the lake by skis, snowmobile, or on foot. We didn’t see anyone on the ice while we were visiting, so it probably isn’t safe for travel anymore. A lovely walking path curves along the lakefront, and on our strolls from the hotel to city center we saw the beginnings of spring in pussy willows and buds on the bushes and trees. During the summer months the lake must be alive with water sports from the size of the marina and the swimming areas we passed.




We were especially impressed with the vibrancy of the city. The walking street in city center was teeming with shoppers on Friday and Saturday, and even though we didn’t eat lunch until 1:30 we had to wait for a table at a restaurant.



High on our list of Jyväskylä “to do’s” was a visit to the National Craft Museum of Finland where there was a special exhibit of the last 100 years of Finnish crafts. Explanations were given in both Finnish and English, and the variety of crafts included in the exhibition was astounding! Traditional crafts of weaving, pottery, basket making, and stitchery were extended to include wood carving and gilting, barrel making, fly rod construction, shoe and clock making, ship building, metal work, and even creating prostheses for artificial limbs.

The museum also displays regional costumes from the Iron Age to modern times and documents the changes in costume design and materials over the centuries. Finland has even named a panel of historians, seamstresses, and designers who oversee and approve changes suggested for costumes so the authenticity of each regional costume is preserved. As an aside, we have only seen one “costume” that was displayed in the museum worn day to day here in Oulu. It surprised us to learn that there is a Roma or gypsy population of about 6000 here whose ancestors came to Finland during the 16th century. We’ve seen several gypsy women in traditional dress both on the bus and in stores here. For some pictures of Roma dress, click here.

The museum’s permanent collection features modern crafts including the beautiful curved wooden furniture inspired by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto; felting done for clothing and decorative arts; rya rug making, photography exhibits; and of course dolls! We came away visually overwhelmed by the scope of beautiful craft work we saw. As an added bonus, the museum shop was featuring my friend Eija’s dolls in the window. Very impressive! I’ve included a picture but must apologize for the reflections.



After a great conversation with 2 Americans we met at the restaurant where we had lunch on Saturday, we started home. The Victorian train station at Jyväskylä is so typical of the stations across Finland that we took a couple of pictures to show you. Alas, the city has outgrown its old station and has built a modern cement and steel structure adjacent to it, but thankfully they have preserved the gracious reminder of bygone days.




A regional train chugs through the Lake District, stopping at many of the villages along the way. As we passed small farms we wondered how long ago the custom of stopping to pick up people along the route had to make way for greater speed and a computerized time schedule. Instead of resenting the frequent stops, we loved seeing the tiny, well-kept stations and old steam engines that had been lovingly preserved on local sidings.






On the way home we were especially impressed by the number of log carriers and piles of logs we passed. Logging is Finland’s most important industry, and forests cover 65% of the country. Both birch and pine are harvested, and the logs are shipped to lumber mills and paper plants scattered throughout the country. But the Finns are very careful with this renewable resource, preserving most forests in their natural state, and replanting for maximum growth potential on the plots designated for harvesting. As the trees grow on these plots, the bottom branches are pruned, making for ease of cutting and beautiful straight trunks.





While we were gone, Oulu celebrated its official 400th birthday on April 8th, although the celebrations are wisely being postponed until the summer tourist season. To read more about the history of Oulu, click here.

And while we were dodging April showers both in Jyväskylä and walking from the train in Oulu, Denver was receiving a 10 inch snowfall! It was so impressive that the BBC reported on it complete with footage of spinning wheels and stalled traffic! That kind of storm with blizzard conditions and huge snowfalls is unusual here, we’ve learned. Instead, it snowed a little almost every day during the winter. But because it doesn’t get above freezing, the snow builds into the impressive heaps we’ve sent you in pictures. But now all of the walkways are clear (as Denver’s will be soon with the 60 degree weather predicted for the coming week!) and we have officially abandoned our down jackets. Ah, spring…..

Next up, a journal entry of “Finn Facts” that we’ve collected. Stay tuned…

Sarah
 

Hi Everyone,

First, the most important news of the week in Oulu that may not have reached you in the States yet…

Sunday night for the second year in a row, Oulu clinched the Finnish hockey championship, beating Helsinki 3 games to 1 in a best of 5 series. Tuesday evening 30,000 people gathered in city center when the trophy, dubbed “The Boy”, was presented to the team. And in a ritual that could only happen in Finland, the team’s first act after receiving the trophy was to take “The Boy” to the sauna with them. Anyone who would like a t-shirt commemorating the championship (not the team in the sauna) should mail requests along with the size needed and the U.S. equivalent of 25 Euros to us. Last year’s championship t-shirt can be had for 5 Euros…
 

Pictures courtesy of Helsingin Sanomat, Oulu Kärpät, and IIHF.

Now, on to Finn Facts. These are in no particular order and reflect no judgments; only cultural differences that can be charming, irritating, or simply fun to document.

Eating

Perhaps because Finns get up early and eat humongous breakfasts, lunch is either served at 11 a.m. or not at all. Then at about 2 p.m., every adult Finn on the planet drinks coffee and eats a sweet roll. Dinner is served at about 5 – 5:30.

Finns love sweets! The candy counter at the large Stockmann Department Store always has a line of people waiting to buy treats, and the movie theaters have bins of candy where you can mix and match to your heart’s content before weighing your empty calories and paying a lump sum. And for some reason, Finns are crazy about licorice. There must be 25 different brands in the candy section of the local supermarket.

Finns don’t eat the skin of potatoes. In fact, the very thought of such an act invokes a shiver of revulsion.

There is great formality concerning guests at meals. Guests are always served first, and no one takes a second helping before everyone is done with the first one. Then the guests have a chance to take a second helping before anyone else. This is disconcerting only if you’re the guest and not quite sure what you’re being served, how much you’re supposed to take, and what condiments go with it. As a corollary, it’s better to think small when taking a helping, because if you take it, you’re expected to eat every morsel. If they dish it up for you, you’re allowed to leave part of it.

Generally, you seat yourself in restaurants, sometimes asking a waiter with a gesture and a raised eyebrow if it’s OK to take a certain booth or table. I’ve never seen anyone denied when they’ve done this. And you need to order everything you want on the first go around, because after the food is served the waiter won’t come by to see if you need anything else. That would be an invasion of privacy by Finnish standards. Nor will the waiter bring a bill. You can sometimes signal and they’ll bring you one, but more often you simply go up to the cash register where by some stroke of genius, someone who has never waited on you will know exactly what you had, and even do separate checks for everyone who parades up from your table. At a hotel where we stayed, they even knew our room number when we went up to pay!

There’s no tipping in restaurants. Often you wouldn’t know whom to tip even if you wanted to because the wait staff works as a team, one taking your order, another bringing the food, and perhaps a third bringing the bill.

Traffic, driving, riding, etc.

The speed limit on the bypass around Oulu is 100 kilometers or 60 miles per hour. It was explained that’s because some wanted to go faster since they were using the bypass as part of the expressway and were not going into the city. But others were using the bypass only to go a few kilometers before turning back into town, and wanted an “in town” driving speed. So they compromised at the 100 kilometer level.

I have not seen a stop sign in Oulu. I’ve been told there are very few in Finland. There are stop lights at major intersections, and some roundabouts, but there are only Yield signs – or no signs – at cross streets. Seems reasonable to us. You yield if someone’s coming and go if the coast is clear.

Traffic tickets are pro-rated to your salary. One rich guy in Oulu was fined over 100,000 Euros for speeding.

Instead of speed limit signs, there’s a sign with a graphic of a town’s skyline – a house, a steeple, etc. – that means you’re entering a populated area and need to follow the city speed limit. If the graphic has a diagonal red slash it means you’re leaving town and can drive faster.

Merging cars have the right of way, and buses may pull out any time they want. They’re on a schedule, after all!

And speaking of buses, when Finnish bus drivers change shifts, the first driver says goodbye to the passengers as he gets off, and the new driver says hello. (I told you it was a very civilized country!)

House amenities

Finnish homes have scalding hot water. I mean “coffee brewing” hot! But you can only access scalding water by pushing a red button down on the faucet – a feat that toddlers can’t manage. Up to the button pushing stage, all you get is nice lukewarm water, perfect for washing little hands.

There are few clothes dryers in Finland. Why use electricity for something that can happen for free? However, no matter how much softener we put in the washing machine, the clothes always look like they’re standing at attention after hanging to dry overnight. Unfortunately, they feel that way too. And since the clothes are dried in the basement, they don’t even have that outdoorsy smell that line dried clothes had when I was a kid. A clothes dryer is what I miss most (besides family) here. I think Roy would say he misses peanut butter and Quaker oatmeal most.

You always take off your shoes when you enter a Finnish household. It particularly makes sense in the winter when you don't want to track snow all over. But the Finns take off their shoes year around. It really cuts down on carpet wear and tear, and the house does stay cleaner! Even at parties when everyone is dressed up, the shoes are left by the door. Children take their shoes off at school too.

Finns don’t throw stuff away until it is beyond hope of repair. In our flat there is a reel to reel tape player, a record player, and a great collection of albums from the 70’s including one Joan Baez album which is Roy’s favorite. Eight track tapes are still sold (and bought!) in flea markets. It’s the same “make-do” mentality I saw in my parents’ generation. Here we believe it is because of occupation, civil war, World War II, and having to pay an unjustified war debt in the 1950’s to the Soviet Union.

Personal quirks

There is a penchant for hair dying in Finland. Henna seems to be the color of choice among the over-25 crowd, while the youngsters have gone goth with jet black hair, sometimes with fushcia and green highlights. Perhaps the most perverse teenage craze is the gorgeous, flaxen-haired, blue-eyed Scandinavian damsels who dye their hair jet black and then let it grow out an inch or 2, giving them a decidedly skunk-like appearance. Or am I just getting old and crochety?

Finns are always prompt, sometimes to a fault. A 6 p.m. dinner means your company may show up at 5:45, but never at 6:15. The buses and trains are prompt too.

However, television shows are maddeningly off schedule. One reason is that the Finns don’t have enough commercials to fill the gaps in the American shows they televise. There’s always an 8-10 minute gap to fill at the end of “Friends” or “ER”. But even then, the next show may start 2, 3, or 4 minutes after the hour – just when you’re about to give up on seeing it. Roy has 3 Finnish TV schedules as “Favorites” on his computer, and he spends the evening surfing with the remote trying to outguess the system. As an added challenge, American and British programs are scattered over 5 or 6 channels, so TV watching is always an adventure, with the occasional gem that makes the effort worthwhile.

Another television (and film) Finn Fact: Finns believe that it is important to see a television show or film in its original language. So programs are aired exactly as they were filmed with the addition of Finnish subtitles. We thought this was a particularly high-minded practice (once again illustrating the cultural ethics of the country) until last week when one of our very favorite movies was on television. We couldn't wait to watch it. But when we tuned in for "Cinema Paradiso" we found that it was in (of all things!) Italian with Finnish subtitles! Cultural ethics met our hegemonical American world view head-on, with Italy and Finland coming out the winners and us switching to "Night Rider" for our prime time viewing.

Finns walk everywhere, and they walk really fast! Roy says that he now can overtake septuagenarians on his walk to school, but only if they’re using a cane. There are few gyms or workout facilities. Why spend money for machines when a bike, cross-country skis, or tennis shoes can give you the same results?

Finns can talk both inhaling and exhaling. I’ve tried several times to talk on the inhale, and choke every time. It is definitely a skill developed at an early age. The most common inhaled utterances are “joo” (yes), “ei” (no), or “no niin” (oh well, or OK then), but one friend can spout whole sentences on the inhale! One Fulbrighter said she thinks they’ve learned to talk like a harmonica because their words are so long you can’t get them out in a single breath…

Raising babies

What we call an “oops” baby in the States – one conceived when his or her siblings are teenagers – is called an “Evening Star” here. A little more graceful distinction, don’t you think?

Babies aren’t named for some time after they’re born. In fact, Finns think we’re weird to know a baby’s name before it’s born. “How can you name a baby before you get to know them?” they ask. A formal name is given when a child is christened, and must come from a state-approved list. So there are no Finnish kids saddled with names like “Ima Hogg” or “Aloda Manoor”.

Most Finnish given names have no meaning like ours have in the States. They are simply picked for the sound of them. And as you’ve been able to tell from the blog, most names don’t bear any resemblance to ours! For a list of the most popular given names, click here. Note: Since both Finnish and Swedish are official languages here, they also include Swedish names in this list.

Names are so important here that the Finnish (and Swedish) calendars have a boy’s and girl’s given name on each day of the year. You might be born on February 5th, but your Name Day might be September 7th. Older Finns place a higher importance on a child’s Name Day than on his or her birthday and celebrate the Name Day with a party and gifts. Nowadays, the original names on the calendar are deemed old-fashioned and new names are being added so the tradition will continue, although most younger Finns celebrate birthdays, not Name Days.

Babies and children really seem to be treasured here. I’ve been asked twice about babies being stolen in the U.S. Those who asked were horrified even at the thought of such a thing. I'm pretty sure if a baby were stolen here, the perpetrator would be lynched.

And because babies would never be stolen here, parents are encouraged to let their babies sleep outside, even in the winter. Roy thinks the habit started when the Finns lived in chimneyless houses where the smoke rose to the ceiling, but it was always a little smoggy inside. It was much healthier for a tiny pair of lungs to breathe in the cold outside air than the smoky air. These days, babies are bundled in buntings and sheepskins, the opening of the carriage is covered with a thin receiving blanket, a baby monitor is placed nearby, and little tykes seem to thrive even when the temperature dips to 15 or 20. (Below zero outside sleeping is discouraged.) At first I was really taken aback by this practice, but then I thought of our early ancestors whose babies survived (and thrived!) for centuries sleeping in cold conditions, and decided that this might be preferable to dust mites and gas forced-air heating, but only if we didn’t have to worry about stolen babies and what the neighbors might say.

More Finn Facts next week. Hope this finds you enjoying spring! We now have well over 18 hours of daylight (4 more than Denver), and the “blue moment” doesn’t occur until 10:30 p.m.

Cheers!

Sarah

Here's an e-mail we received after posting this entry...

From: Sami Makelainen
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005
Subject: Finn Facts & the blog

Hi Sarah & Roy,

I've enjoyed reading your blog at http://rclariana.blogspot.com/ for some time now (count me in as one of those strange Finns who love to know what other people are thinking about us ;-) and really like it. It's been fun reading about your big and small "adventures" in Finland. The latest Finn Facts-post was great and I just thought I'd comment on a few things - for additional insight or just for fun,whatever.

I think Finns are crazy about sweets for the simple reason that they're really good here. When we (me & my wife) lived in the US we learned to avoid most candies there - they didn't taste nearly as good! And we found out why, too: turned out sugar is (relatively speaking) extremely expensive in US compared to Finland. The manufacturers thus often used mostly or partly artificial sweeteners. And you could taste the difference.

The bus drivers are polite everywhere else except in theHelsinki-area. Very rarely do they say hi or goodbye when changing shifts here.

The reason for movies and TV series being in the original language is not just the desire of the viewers. It's because dubbing is expensive and Finland is such a small country it's not worth it. But it's also a preference - for example, watching a movie in Germany is royal pain for me since you can hardly find anything with the original soundtrack.

What comes to Roy missing peanut butter, you should be able to find the real thing from Behnford's when you're in Helsinki (it's at the Kämp Galleria shopping center, see http://www.behnfords.com/) They specialize in importing all kinds of american foodstuff.

On hot water, there was once an interesting inci. They cannot, however, be "against good manners" - so unique and foreign names are possible, but you cannot name your kid something completely stupid like "XQ".

Anyway, thanks again for a great blog. I'm looking forward to the next "Finn Facts" part!

Best regards,

Sami http://www.groundswell.fi/sim/

Ps. I hate coffee, so not every adult does the coffee-thing :-)