Snow Storm...

So, this is the part where I get bitter. Remember how awesome I thought snow was? Well, this is the point where I'm sick of it. It's March 27th and 25 degrees outside. But it "feels like" 14. Maybe it'll all be gone in the morning. I did get some promising photos, but I don't have the energy to put them up tonight.

I had Thai food for the first time in Finland on Tuesday, at a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. It was pretty good too. For 6.50 I had a bowl of soup, red curry with chicken, rice, coffee, and fruit salad. It didn't look like they had Thai iced tea though. I'm dying for some! Maybe I'll try making my own sometime. In case you're curious, the food wasn't spicy enough, but it did have a good flavor. I don't know why I don't carry Tapatio in my purse anymore.

In other news, I'm turning 22 on Sunday, which is a little weird. I'm throwing myself a party (classy, I know) in my kitchen (even classier) on Saturday night. I don't have any other plans though. Perhaps I'll whip up the chocolate chip cookie mix that my parents sent. On Monday night, I'm having Korean food at "my student's" house, which is super exciting, but not birthday related. I'll have to bring some American cookies with me. And I'll get some new photos up relatively soon. Sooner than the arrival of spring in Finland at least.

Beautiful Ruissalo

I could lie and say that I'm too busy to post, but really, I'm just lazy. Maybe my fingers are too frozen to type? That's a good excuse, right? Moving on, here are some pictures from my trip to Ruissalo last Sunday. Ruissalo is an island within the city limits of Turku, and accessible by bus. There is a hotel/spa on the island, lots of forest, the University of Turku's greenhouses, and a public sauna, which I went to with some friends. What Ruissalo is best known for, however, is its annual rock festival, Ruisrock. It's not until June (July?), so I'll miss it, but the sauna was really nice. Lots of older, super-Finns swimming in the Baltic. I tried swimming, but it was such a shock to my legs that I had to jump out. Still, it's pretty funny standing around in your bathing suit in 30 degree weather, not feeling cold, while nearby hikers are all bundled up. Afterward we had kahvi ja pulla (coffee and a roll) at the sauna for only 1 euro. Best deal in Finland!

I want to go back to Ruissalo in the spring, but it's certainly not spring yet. With the wind chill, it's about 18 or 20 degrees today. Yikes! It's not supposed to get colder in March!

Also, I want to thank everyone that has sent me a package recently. Thank you so much! You all are the best!

Recent Awesomeness

What is Borat doing in Turku at the candy shop?


Reindeer pate. You can also get canned reindeer steak and meatballs.


There is a statue of a cow in the dairy aisle of the K Citymarket. They obviously don't want any one to be confused.

"American" Food

It's not too hard to find American food in the Finnish stores. The only problem is that this food isn't really American, as in something that people in America eat and consider American. Instead, this food just has an American flag motif on it and large portions.


There are lots of different kinds of chip dip mixes in Finland, so I have no idea what makes this distinctly American. But look, there's a picture of an American flag on it and a bulb of garlic!


Some European people think that the majority of American restaurants are like this. I'd say only 49% are.


The typical American restaurant, however, doesn't usually have a statue of John Belushi outside.


And who doesn't remember eating Amerikan pastillejas as a child?


Mmm...Milk chocolate lentils!


Come on! Everyone knows that bacon comes from Canada!


And then there is American-style pizza. I've learned that this just means that it has a thick crust. You know, like Chicago-style.


American hamburger dressing. Obviously.


Popcorn is American too.

Oh wait, I found real American stuff too.


A small bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch for $7.22, because "luxury is the ultimate comfort."

Daily Show: Davis Toad Tunnel

Yes, this has nothing to do with Finland, but I thought some of you would appreciate this. This video reminds me of when Julie Partansky would jam in the Co-op. Not only was she a visionary leader, but she also had mad folk skillz.

Ride da Turku Bus

Things have been pretty laid back lately, so it has been difficult to think of anything worth writing about. The weather hasn't been very nice though. Snow, then rain, then a warm(er) day, which melts the snow, and then a cold day that turns all the puddles into ice all over again. During the middle of February I went on a few bike rides, but the rodes have been too slippery again. Last week I broke down and finally bought a bus card. I've started saving money already, and it has been liberating to ride the bus around the city and see new things without worrying about transferring home within 2 hrs. The bus card has also made visits to my friend Jenni's flat easier. Yesterday, we watched "Lady in the Water" by M. Night Shyamalan. It wasn't the best movie in the world, but still entertaining. What was better than the movie were all the fabulous waffles we made on Jenni's new waffle iron. I was supposed to go with Jenni and her boyfriend Chris to Lapland for Easter, but her family isn't going to their cabin anymore, so I'm trying to find something else to do. I'll probably plan something with my flatmate Charlotte, who is going back to England the week after Easter. I'm hoping to go to Estonia or somewhere in central Finland. I'm going to Stockholm in mid-April.

Last week, I discovered one of the best things in the universe: the Music Library! The Turku City Library has this branch entirely dedicated to music related CDs, DVDs, magazines, and books. The best part is that you can check out up to 50 CDs at a time, and they actually have CDs worth listening to. I also checked out a couple books from the City Library too, but they're not nearly as exciting as the CDs. I got Noam Chomsky's "Aspects of the Theory of Syntax" as a personal challenge, but I think it's too much of a challenge. I might have to stick to the celebrity gossip blogs for now.

In other exciting news, I have a part-time job teaching conversational English. One of my flatmates is from Korea, and he asked me if I'd like a job teaching English to a Korean woman he knows. I said "why not," and here we are. It's been a lot of fun, and a lot of work at the same time. I really wish I had my copy of "Analyzing English Grammar" with me! Right now, I'm trying to put together some exercises on (in)transitive verbs for my lesson tomorrow. Exciting, I know. I might even throw some gerunds in too. Watch out!

Pizza times in Finland

Lisa, who is one of my flatmates, is leaving us on Wednesday, so we decided to go out for pizza last night in her honor (she cooks frozen pizza for dinner nearly every evening). We went to this place called Pizzeria Dennis, which has a couple locations around Finland. According to my Lonely Planet guide to Finland, this place has quite the reputation for crazy pizza creations, giving the Japanese pizza industry a run for their money (for example, several of their pizzas had peaches on them).



I got the Pizza Dennis, which had every sea creature imaginable on it.




One of Lisa's friends got the famous Pizza Lapponia, which includes toppings such as pearl onions, lingonberries, and of course, reindeer. And yes, I did try a piece. It was nice, but I liked my pizza better. The Pizza Dennis more seafood on it in comparison to the amount of reindeer on his pizza, and the Pizza Dennis cost less too!




Good times!

Tampere

On Saturday, I took the train to Tampere, which is 2 hours north of Turku, with three friends. Tampere has more of a "big city" feel to it than Turku. The buildings are taller and the streets are busier.

Throughout the city center there are lovely bridges crossing the river, and the best part is that there are ducks everywhere. How cute!

Unfortunately, we went out for lunch at this vegan restaurant that one of my friends wanted to go to, and it took two hours to get out of there! This means that we missed seeing two of the museums that I had planned on seeing. It was really annoying. I felt like I had spent my money just to take a train to a restaurant, but Tampere seems like an interesting city, so I won't mind going again. Hopefully in the spring, though, because there were beautiful fountains throughout the city that should be working by then.

We did manage to go to the Spy Museum though. Apparently, the Spy Museum in Tampere is the first of its kind in the world. They had some fun "spy" equipment, like voice changers and invisible ink, to try out, and some history on spying during the Cold War too. I tried some of their invisible ink while I was there, but I had to wait until I got home to decipher it with heat. I don't think that I have spy potential though, because as I held the paper over a candle it caught on fire.