It's raining in Timbuktu
http://isitraining.in/timbuktu
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Icy Picnics and Dancing Finns
Last Saturday was my birthday and, despite it being close to 0 degrees out, it was the first year where it didn't rain on my birthday! I had suggested previously that if it was nice weather out that we should go for a picnic by the lake. Nice weather being a relative term, we decided that not raining counted and set to planning a small picnic. Unfortunately, my birthday happened to fall on All Saint's Day. This is kind of like the Finnish version of Halloween except that it is nothing like a North American Halloween at all. It is the time of year when Finnish people remember their loved ones and relatives that have passed away. They usually go down to the cemetery and light a candle in their memory, so the cemeteries on these evenings are absolutely beautiful all lit up with candles!
But back to the picnic... All Saint's Day is a national holiday, so all the shops are closed. I biked around looking for a place that was open in order to stock up on picnic supplies and all I could find was a gas station. So I bought some suffeli puffi (a corn puff covered in chocolate whose name has been making me and the other Canadian laugh every time we see it) and decided to see what I had in my fridge. I was able to through together a couscous salad, along with a block of cheese and some crackers for my contribution to the picnic. Everyone met at my house by about 3:30 with their meager supplies and we walked down to the lake.
...by which point the sun had already set. So there we stood. In the dark. Torn between trying to eat our gas station food and leftovers with mittens on or frozen fingers. And toasting with pink champagne to just how ridiculous the idea of a November picnic in Finland was. It was the best picnic I have had in a long time!
After giving up on the picnic and warming up at my house with hot tea and cake, we split up. Some people went home and I went with some others to see the candles in the cemetery. Then we went to get all dressed up because, conveniently enough, there happened to be a salsa party on my birthday as well. What are the chances that there would be a salsa party in Joensuu that happened to fall on my birthday? I had to jump at the opportunity! So, I finished off my birthday dancing the night away with my friends and practicing my newly learned bachata. Yes, the bachata. The hip dislocating dance that I have spent the last seven years making fun of with my friend. I have learned it and, to be honest, I think it's growing on me. It's quite fun to dance to even if it looks a little silly to observers.
Speaking of dancing, I have also recently started taking a Finnish folk dancing class. Well...it's an exercise class that incorporates steps from Finnish folk dancing. But it's tons of fun! It reminds me a little of Scottish country dancing, thought it's definitely unique in it's own way. I have only been to one class so far, as I was too busy to go last Sunday, but I'll have to write more about it once I am more familiar with the style.
I have also recently learned that Finns are very fond of the tango. They even have a festival in the summer where everyone goes to tango in the streets! Every time I think I have these Finns figured out, they surprise me with a random fact like this. They're a very oxymoronic peoples!
But back to the picnic... All Saint's Day is a national holiday, so all the shops are closed. I biked around looking for a place that was open in order to stock up on picnic supplies and all I could find was a gas station. So I bought some suffeli puffi (a corn puff covered in chocolate whose name has been making me and the other Canadian laugh every time we see it) and decided to see what I had in my fridge. I was able to through together a couscous salad, along with a block of cheese and some crackers for my contribution to the picnic. Everyone met at my house by about 3:30 with their meager supplies and we walked down to the lake.
...by which point the sun had already set. So there we stood. In the dark. Torn between trying to eat our gas station food and leftovers with mittens on or frozen fingers. And toasting with pink champagne to just how ridiculous the idea of a November picnic in Finland was. It was the best picnic I have had in a long time!
After giving up on the picnic and warming up at my house with hot tea and cake, we split up. Some people went home and I went with some others to see the candles in the cemetery. Then we went to get all dressed up because, conveniently enough, there happened to be a salsa party on my birthday as well. What are the chances that there would be a salsa party in Joensuu that happened to fall on my birthday? I had to jump at the opportunity! So, I finished off my birthday dancing the night away with my friends and practicing my newly learned bachata. Yes, the bachata. The hip dislocating dance that I have spent the last seven years making fun of with my friend. I have learned it and, to be honest, I think it's growing on me. It's quite fun to dance to even if it looks a little silly to observers.
Speaking of dancing, I have also recently started taking a Finnish folk dancing class. Well...it's an exercise class that incorporates steps from Finnish folk dancing. But it's tons of fun! It reminds me a little of Scottish country dancing, thought it's definitely unique in it's own way. I have only been to one class so far, as I was too busy to go last Sunday, but I'll have to write more about it once I am more familiar with the style.
I have also recently learned that Finns are very fond of the tango. They even have a festival in the summer where everyone goes to tango in the streets! Every time I think I have these Finns figured out, they surprise me with a random fact like this. They're a very oxymoronic peoples!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Oishii Ruoka
Alright, so you want to know what kind of food people eat in Finland. Well, they're definitely a country of meat and potatoes kind of people. Some classic Finnish dishes include sausage and potatoes, meat sauce on pasta (there is no tomatoes involved in this meat sauce...just ground beef/pork and thickened gravy) and ground beef/pork and cabbage casserole with lingonberry sauce. I have written beef/pork because it is rare to find ground beef by itself. It is usually a beef and pork hybrid or just ground pork in and of itself. The main meats you find in the grocery store are pork (definitely number one), chicken and to a much lesser extent beef.
Vegetables are a rarity in the actual main dish itself, but everywhere you go they have salad buffets before your meal. I do not exaggerate on the everywhere department; restaurants, the school cafeteria, after hours kebab stands. Similarly to Canada, Finland is a nation of wild berries. By far the main fruits grown in Finland are blueberries, lingonberries, and, to a lesser extent, wild cranberries. Furthermore, most of the berries you buy in stores was picked in the wild, not grown on farms. There is a huge culture in this country around picking wild berries and mushrooms. Some of the people I have talked to go berry and mushroom picking every week. This is partially because of the Everyman's Right law that states people have the right to collect things grown in the wild (ie. not cultivated berries, but ones that are there just because) even if they are growing on private lands. [As a random side note: this is a concept I am contemplating doing my Masters thesis on...assuming I can make it work]
There is also a huge coffee culture in Finland. This was one of the aspects of Finland that I loved right away. Coming from Vancouver, I know that the South African habit of drinking instant coffee was not something that I wished to repeat in a new cultural experience ;-) But, yes, coffee breaks are a wonderful thing and, in Finland, they are usually accompanied with a "light" snack of pulla. Pulla is possible the most delicious pastry/bun/thing I have ever had (coming only slightly short of coconut buns). They are a sweet bread baked with cardamom inside and I have eaten far too many of them since I have arrived in Finland. I will definitely need to learn how to make them before I go back home. There is something about the light flavour of cardamom that makes them irresistible!
So basically my Finnish diet consists of meat and potatoes with a salad for my meals, interspersed with multiple coffee and pulla breaks throughout the day. Delicious!
Vegetables are a rarity in the actual main dish itself, but everywhere you go they have salad buffets before your meal. I do not exaggerate on the everywhere department; restaurants, the school cafeteria, after hours kebab stands. Similarly to Canada, Finland is a nation of wild berries. By far the main fruits grown in Finland are blueberries, lingonberries, and, to a lesser extent, wild cranberries. Furthermore, most of the berries you buy in stores was picked in the wild, not grown on farms. There is a huge culture in this country around picking wild berries and mushrooms. Some of the people I have talked to go berry and mushroom picking every week. This is partially because of the Everyman's Right law that states people have the right to collect things grown in the wild (ie. not cultivated berries, but ones that are there just because) even if they are growing on private lands. [As a random side note: this is a concept I am contemplating doing my Masters thesis on...assuming I can make it work]
There is also a huge coffee culture in Finland. This was one of the aspects of Finland that I loved right away. Coming from Vancouver, I know that the South African habit of drinking instant coffee was not something that I wished to repeat in a new cultural experience ;-) But, yes, coffee breaks are a wonderful thing and, in Finland, they are usually accompanied with a "light" snack of pulla. Pulla is possible the most delicious pastry/bun/thing I have ever had (coming only slightly short of coconut buns). They are a sweet bread baked with cardamom inside and I have eaten far too many of them since I have arrived in Finland. I will definitely need to learn how to make them before I go back home. There is something about the light flavour of cardamom that makes them irresistible!
So basically my Finnish diet consists of meat and potatoes with a salad for my meals, interspersed with multiple coffee and pulla breaks throughout the day. Delicious!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Shopping 101
I have received a request of information from my lovely Nana about the type of food I eat here in Finland. But before I respond to this request, I will tell you the story of my first Finnish shopping experience that I meant to tell you about weeks ago.
When I first arrived in Finland, the day I was going to move into my apartment, my fellow Canadian and I decided to stock our kitchens with all the essentials while we still had access to a car. Our student tutor pointed us in the direction of a grocery store and off we went. first was the produce section. Collecting all the necessary fruits and veggies wasn't too hard because they look the same all over the world. Proud of our collections we went to move on when I had a flashback to my time in South Africa and the then foreign concept of weighing your produce before hand and taking it to the till with a barcode sticker on it. I scanned the produce area and saw some similar looking machines. First crisis averted and embarrassment avoided.
Next we had the navigate the world of Finnish labels. Our Finnish friend from field school had been kind enough to provide us with some basic grocery-related vocabulary, so we new words like maito (milk), voi (butter), juusto (cheese), kala (fish), and some others. This was very helpful when finding things, but less helpful when distinguishing low fat from delicious milk. For this we had to rely on the efficacy of marketing, assuming lighter coloured packaging meant lighter milk (and it worked!!). After about an hour of clumsily collecting everything necessary to stock an empty kitchen, we moved towards the till.
Only one till was open, so we stood in the only available line to wait. Once we had stopped the learning experience that was our shopping trip, we had time to look around. Maybe see what other people were buying and judge a whole countries diet based on that, like I do back home. That was when we realized the error of our ways. the people in line around us had a maximum of 5 items each and there we were. Carts piled high with everything a new kitchen could ever want or desire. Surrounded by people buying chips and beer for a relaxing evening. Then it dawned on us. We were about to buy everything we would need to survive...at a convenience store. We were next in line, making sneaking out and putting some of our stuff back impossible.
It took the woman about 5 minutes to ring all of my stuff in, at which point there was a growing line of 7 people behind me carrying only candy, chips and beer and looking disgruntled at best. To top it all off the cashier didn't speak English and we had no idea how to ask for bags in Finnish. So our groceries were piling up on the conveyor belt behind the till as we tried to mime that we needed bags. Now there are 10 people behind us in line. We had officially become those incompetent foreigners. Eventually we successfully mimed our need for bags, hung our heads in shame and ran from the grocery store. I snuck a glance back as the sliding doors began to close behind us...they had just opened a new till.
When I first arrived in Finland, the day I was going to move into my apartment, my fellow Canadian and I decided to stock our kitchens with all the essentials while we still had access to a car. Our student tutor pointed us in the direction of a grocery store and off we went. first was the produce section. Collecting all the necessary fruits and veggies wasn't too hard because they look the same all over the world. Proud of our collections we went to move on when I had a flashback to my time in South Africa and the then foreign concept of weighing your produce before hand and taking it to the till with a barcode sticker on it. I scanned the produce area and saw some similar looking machines. First crisis averted and embarrassment avoided.
Next we had the navigate the world of Finnish labels. Our Finnish friend from field school had been kind enough to provide us with some basic grocery-related vocabulary, so we new words like maito (milk), voi (butter), juusto (cheese), kala (fish), and some others. This was very helpful when finding things, but less helpful when distinguishing low fat from delicious milk. For this we had to rely on the efficacy of marketing, assuming lighter coloured packaging meant lighter milk (and it worked!!). After about an hour of clumsily collecting everything necessary to stock an empty kitchen, we moved towards the till.
Only one till was open, so we stood in the only available line to wait. Once we had stopped the learning experience that was our shopping trip, we had time to look around. Maybe see what other people were buying and judge a whole countries diet based on that, like I do back home. That was when we realized the error of our ways. the people in line around us had a maximum of 5 items each and there we were. Carts piled high with everything a new kitchen could ever want or desire. Surrounded by people buying chips and beer for a relaxing evening. Then it dawned on us. We were about to buy everything we would need to survive...at a convenience store. We were next in line, making sneaking out and putting some of our stuff back impossible.
It took the woman about 5 minutes to ring all of my stuff in, at which point there was a growing line of 7 people behind me carrying only candy, chips and beer and looking disgruntled at best. To top it all off the cashier didn't speak English and we had no idea how to ask for bags in Finnish. So our groceries were piling up on the conveyor belt behind the till as we tried to mime that we needed bags. Now there are 10 people behind us in line. We had officially become those incompetent foreigners. Eventually we successfully mimed our need for bags, hung our heads in shame and ran from the grocery store. I snuck a glance back as the sliding doors began to close behind us...they had just opened a new till.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
What happened in Finland
It’s hard for me to believe I have been in Finland for almost three weeks now. So much for being more regular with my blog updates!
Finland is a very fascinating country. I must say that it feels harder to adjust to than South Africa, but the circumstances that I am here under are very different as well. In South Africa I didn’t know anyone before I arrived, so I had to throw myself into the culture and had only my own observations of cultural differences. Here, I have a friend that came with me in the same program, so I get twice as many observations and a kind of safety blanket in her to avoid loneliness. I think it makes it harder to adjust because it's so easy to go back to familiar Canadian things.
I am learning about the style of doing things and mindset that Finns have despite my attachment to all things Canadian. At times Finland reminds me a bit of Canada in its personality. The underdog lumped in with the surrounding countries from an outside point of view, but proud in the fact that it is an entity in and of itself. However, it is so very different from anywhere I have travelled to before. I really enjoy exploring countries I know nothing about. It makes it much more exciting because you are constantly learning new things and you have no preconceptions about what it is going to be like. The only thing I knew about Finland before coming here was that Santa was from here and that Finns are reputedly quiet people. And I'm not going to lie...there's a little bit more to Finland than just that.
But anyway, enough of my thoughts and feelings, what have I actually done while I’ve been in Finland! Well, I sorted out all the fun stuff, like bank accounts, registering for classes, etc. All of which is a very confusing process in Joensuu and not at all straight forward. You have to talk to an entirely different person in a different building in a different part of town and each task takes a million different steps. I was so thankful to have my student tutor to drive us around and let us know all the little details of what we had to get done. I don’t know how I would have done it without her!
After about a week of organizing my new life, two friends and I went to Koli National Park to go hiking. Koli is a national pride of Finland. It is a beautiful little mountain that you can hike (read: Stairmaster) up and get a gorgeous view of miles and miles of lakes and islands. We had a lot of fun exploring and picking blueberries (mustikka) and lingonberries (puolukka) throughout the park. Then we went mushroom picking. I am terrible at mushroom picking, but I had tons of fun...minus the hirvikärpänen (mooseflies). Hirvikärpänen are the most horrible little devil creatures known to man! They are blood sucking little demons that fly onto you then, drop their wings and burrow into your hair and flesh. They never die, no matter how many times you smack them, and do an amazingly good job of sticking to you despite excessive swatting. And to top it all off they look super creepy. In conclusion, I hate them with every fibre of my being.
I feel like this post is becoming far too long, so I will just quickly say that other than that excitement, I have been attending many less than exciting orientation/introduction classes (though they should all be ending this week and my interesting classes can begin), exploring the town and getting to know my fantastic roommate! Despite the conscious effort to adjust to Finnish life, I really enjoy it here. The people are very friendly and honest about themselves. I may not feel at home just yet, but I do feel welcomed!
Finland is a very fascinating country. I must say that it feels harder to adjust to than South Africa, but the circumstances that I am here under are very different as well. In South Africa I didn’t know anyone before I arrived, so I had to throw myself into the culture and had only my own observations of cultural differences. Here, I have a friend that came with me in the same program, so I get twice as many observations and a kind of safety blanket in her to avoid loneliness. I think it makes it harder to adjust because it's so easy to go back to familiar Canadian things.
I am learning about the style of doing things and mindset that Finns have despite my attachment to all things Canadian. At times Finland reminds me a bit of Canada in its personality. The underdog lumped in with the surrounding countries from an outside point of view, but proud in the fact that it is an entity in and of itself. However, it is so very different from anywhere I have travelled to before. I really enjoy exploring countries I know nothing about. It makes it much more exciting because you are constantly learning new things and you have no preconceptions about what it is going to be like. The only thing I knew about Finland before coming here was that Santa was from here and that Finns are reputedly quiet people. And I'm not going to lie...there's a little bit more to Finland than just that.
But anyway, enough of my thoughts and feelings, what have I actually done while I’ve been in Finland! Well, I sorted out all the fun stuff, like bank accounts, registering for classes, etc. All of which is a very confusing process in Joensuu and not at all straight forward. You have to talk to an entirely different person in a different building in a different part of town and each task takes a million different steps. I was so thankful to have my student tutor to drive us around and let us know all the little details of what we had to get done. I don’t know how I would have done it without her!
After about a week of organizing my new life, two friends and I went to Koli National Park to go hiking. Koli is a national pride of Finland. It is a beautiful little mountain that you can hike (read: Stairmaster) up and get a gorgeous view of miles and miles of lakes and islands. We had a lot of fun exploring and picking blueberries (mustikka) and lingonberries (puolukka) throughout the park. Then we went mushroom picking. I am terrible at mushroom picking, but I had tons of fun...minus the hirvikärpänen (mooseflies). Hirvikärpänen are the most horrible little devil creatures known to man! They are blood sucking little demons that fly onto you then, drop their wings and burrow into your hair and flesh. They never die, no matter how many times you smack them, and do an amazingly good job of sticking to you despite excessive swatting. And to top it all off they look super creepy. In conclusion, I hate them with every fibre of my being.
I feel like this post is becoming far too long, so I will just quickly say that other than that excitement, I have been attending many less than exciting orientation/introduction classes (though they should all be ending this week and my interesting classes can begin), exploring the town and getting to know my fantastic roommate! Despite the conscious effort to adjust to Finnish life, I really enjoy it here. The people are very friendly and honest about themselves. I may not feel at home just yet, but I do feel welcomed!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
No Matter How Late We Stay Up
It’s strange to think that the field school portion of my Masters is already over. Considering how little I’ve slept these last three weeks, they have gone by incredibly quickly. I’m currently in the Frankfurt airport, waiting for my flight to Helsinki, so I’ll do a quick recap of what happened after we left BC.
A lot.
Ok, I’ll elaborate a little. The Alberta crew was great! They welcomed us with open arms and, after laying the ground rules, it was like they’d been with us from day one. You could tell that they’d put a lot of thought into what they wanted us to get out of this portion of the field school and had picked some really knowledgeable guest speakers from which we could learn. Having the coordinator there to supplement everything we were learning, meant that we were able to get a really good idea of forestry in Alberta!
In Alberta, we learned a lot about how to use forestry to imitate natural disturbance when harvesting. Our coordinator having a fire fighting background meant that we learned a lot about this in relation to fire management and prescribed burning. I found it especially interesting because of the time I spent working in Dawson Creek. For the most part we explored the Peace Region of Alberta (a similar area to Dawson Creek) and it was really neat to relate my experience on the other side of the border to how things were done in a similar ecosystem, but a different province.
To finish the Alberta leg of our adventure with a bang, we decided to stay up all night instead of getting some sleep before our 6am flight! I think Edmonton is still recovering from our adventures and I must admit, I think I am as well. But it was all in good fun and there will always be time to sleep later....right?
In New Brunswick, the welcoming committee took a little time to warm up to us. At this point we’d been with only each other for 14 days and it was starting to show. We had about a million inside jokes and must have looked like a motley crew to any outsiders. I like to think that in the end they realized that though we may party hard and joke around a lot, we are responsible adults who are there because we are curious and actually like learning. At least, I hope the message got across!
As different as BC and Alberta were, New Brunswick was in a world of its own! As it was one of the first areas of Canada to be colonized, they are dealing with a lot of private land in their forest management. Another big difference in how the Maritimes work is that they do a lot more value added products. And by a lot more I mean BC and Alberta do none, as compared to New Brunswick doing almost only value added products! This meant that a lot of this leg of the journey was visiting mills and factories and seeing the diversity of products being made, from low grade fencing to paper to high end kitchen cabinetry. Coming from my conservation background, this was a whole new world. I’d never seen all these wood products being made and the questions from me and the whole group were endless. I think we went over time at every stop we made. Our hosts deserve a thousand thanks for their knowledge and patience with us!
The most interesting thing about this field course was learning just how differently everything is done all over Canada. You wouldn’t think one country would have such diversity in resource management strategies, but when you take into consideration the vastly different social and political climates in these areas...it really makes a lot of sense. What one region of a country adopts without a second thought, wouldn’t even be on the radar in another region. Especially in a country as large and politically young as Canada! I also learned that my UBC education was VERY BC-centric and I’m glad I chose to go to a different university (or two) for my Masters.
A lot.
Ok, I’ll elaborate a little. The Alberta crew was great! They welcomed us with open arms and, after laying the ground rules, it was like they’d been with us from day one. You could tell that they’d put a lot of thought into what they wanted us to get out of this portion of the field school and had picked some really knowledgeable guest speakers from which we could learn. Having the coordinator there to supplement everything we were learning, meant that we were able to get a really good idea of forestry in Alberta!
In Alberta, we learned a lot about how to use forestry to imitate natural disturbance when harvesting. Our coordinator having a fire fighting background meant that we learned a lot about this in relation to fire management and prescribed burning. I found it especially interesting because of the time I spent working in Dawson Creek. For the most part we explored the Peace Region of Alberta (a similar area to Dawson Creek) and it was really neat to relate my experience on the other side of the border to how things were done in a similar ecosystem, but a different province.
To finish the Alberta leg of our adventure with a bang, we decided to stay up all night instead of getting some sleep before our 6am flight! I think Edmonton is still recovering from our adventures and I must admit, I think I am as well. But it was all in good fun and there will always be time to sleep later....right?
In New Brunswick, the welcoming committee took a little time to warm up to us. At this point we’d been with only each other for 14 days and it was starting to show. We had about a million inside jokes and must have looked like a motley crew to any outsiders. I like to think that in the end they realized that though we may party hard and joke around a lot, we are responsible adults who are there because we are curious and actually like learning. At least, I hope the message got across!
As different as BC and Alberta were, New Brunswick was in a world of its own! As it was one of the first areas of Canada to be colonized, they are dealing with a lot of private land in their forest management. Another big difference in how the Maritimes work is that they do a lot more value added products. And by a lot more I mean BC and Alberta do none, as compared to New Brunswick doing almost only value added products! This meant that a lot of this leg of the journey was visiting mills and factories and seeing the diversity of products being made, from low grade fencing to paper to high end kitchen cabinetry. Coming from my conservation background, this was a whole new world. I’d never seen all these wood products being made and the questions from me and the whole group were endless. I think we went over time at every stop we made. Our hosts deserve a thousand thanks for their knowledge and patience with us!
The most interesting thing about this field course was learning just how differently everything is done all over Canada. You wouldn’t think one country would have such diversity in resource management strategies, but when you take into consideration the vastly different social and political climates in these areas...it really makes a lot of sense. What one region of a country adopts without a second thought, wouldn’t even be on the radar in another region. Especially in a country as large and politically young as Canada! I also learned that my UBC education was VERY BC-centric and I’m glad I chose to go to a different university (or two) for my Masters.
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