the finnish experience

the past week has been TOUGH. great too, but tough. and tiring. we have been running (sometimes literally) from one place to another. meeting people and shopping and such. mostly the first. my goal is of course to show doctor all the things i find important here. so far accomplished:

-visiting my grandmom and aunt and cousin in Porvoo
-visiting my stepfather in Sysmä
-checking out Sysmä athmosphere
-photos and video of Pulkkilanharju scenery between Vääksy and Sysmä
-bus traveling in Finland
-Sauna (in Sysmä) and beer after sauna while wearing long johns
-cheap finnish hotel (Hotell Finn)
-Stockmann department store
-different grocery stores
-ALKO alcohol store
-different types of yogurts (food)
-reindeer (food)
-salmon, both cold-smoked and from the oven (food)
-herring in 2 different sauces (food)
-different types of breads, incl. Real, jälkiuunipala and ruispalat (food)
-different types of roe (food)
-different types of alcoholic drinks, incl. salmari, laku, terva, jekku, fisu, minttu, lonkero and several types of ciders and beers and sparkling wines as well as champagnes (food)
-different microwaveable meals like cream potatoes, macaroni casserole...(food)
-pork in different forms (food)
-brown rice and Uncle Ben's sauce with pork (food)
-cheap pizza from a pizzeria (food)
-"iskender kebab" from a local kebab place (food)
-cheap chinese food at a chinese restaurant (food)
-differrent types of home made foods incl. cucumber soup, steak, christmas pastries and home made meatballs (food)
-different types of cheeses incl. mustaleima and edam (food)
-a 2 euro hamburger (food)
-Big Carolina-hamburger (food)
-finnish energy drinks (food)
-grill food at night after drinking (mapet and opiskelijan erikoinen)
-finnish gay bar (Hercules)
-different types of finnish homes, houses and flats
-bars in Kallio - my district :)
-rock bars (Prkl, OnThe Rocks)
-extensive experience of all forms of public transportation in Helsinki incl. ticket inspectors
-a finnish restaurant (Zetor)
-a finnish health center (in Sysmä)
-2 finnish new years parties incl. fireworks
-finnish cats (so far we have a sample of 5)
-tap water (to drink)
-familiarizing with finnish design like Iittala and how pricey said design is
-glancing at main sights like Kiasma, Parliament house, Tuomiokirkko...
-meeting my friends such as Otto&Elina, K, ulkokalliolainen, Karri, miss R, Ella&bf, Sebastian and familyman from espoo....


hmm, i wonder if thats all? probably not. there are still many things to do... tonight we are checking out ice cream (Aino; blueberry pie flavor) and real finnish sausages! we were supposed to go to the country side today to experience a finnish summerhouse with Arttu and his gf but we have been getting increasingly tired with the traveling and in the end we cancelled since it didnt affect their plans much. and oh god how lovely it is to have a day off....!! the downside is today is a holiday (epiphany) and all the shops were closed. and Torni bar wasnt opening until at 2pm so we missed that too- the view from there is great. and were too tired to go skating. maybe tomorrow. im still trying to organize something small for tonight to make saturday a little easier, but we will see...

tomorrow we are seeing VV&spouse in the evening but we have the day free due to the summerhouse trip cancellation. thats good since i still have a couple things to buy. i got the cheese slicer and caffein pills yesterday however.

oh ...sitting here and doing nothing....it is wonderful. we needed this.