Our Landlady ROCKS!

Meet Anne, a witty Finnish young lady, who just so happens to be our landlady! Our fabulous landlady sets out on an international adventure to Argentina in October until the summer. She has been so nice to us (picked us up from train station, helped us with a sticky front door, and bought us more sheets) that we wanted to repay her kindness, so we invited her for dinner before her sojourn. She arrived with a bottle of what some Finns declare as the BEST vodka: Koskenkorva. Oh yeah, we poured some shots and enjoyed the very SMOOTH vodka with our Mexican dinner fiesta. For dessert we served up the Dutch Stroopwafels ( gift from our Dutch visitors) which Anne was most pleased by, because she studied in Holland and LOVED the stroopwafels. She loved them so much, we sent her home with one.

Pesäpallo: U.S. Baseball on Crack with Circus Music!

Yesterday, our Finnish friend, Ilkka, hooked us up with tickets to the women's Pesäpallo championship game. This game is the national game of Finland and quite a hoot, if you ask me. It was difficult to follow, but extremely stimulating to the senses: loud circus music and frequent advertisements in Finnish play over the PA system, your eyes attempt to track all of the wacky action on the field, you smell the aroma of sausage cooking, and you feel the cool fall breeze in the air.

My sports-nut of a superboyfriend, Charlie agreed to be a guest blogger and tell you all about the game of  Pesäpallo, from his U.S. perspective: 

Intermission with sausages & munki (Finnish pastry).

"Pesäpallo is a fast moving game with lots action. The game has some similar elements to American baseball/softball in terms of batter, pitcher, bases, and gloves, but also has some very complicated (to a newcomer) rules.  Some basics: the game starts with the pitcher who stands next home plate and tosses the ball (vertically) in the air to the batter. The batter swings and puts the ball into play and tries to reach first base (which is located roughly where 3^rd base would be in American baseball/softball). Once on base, the runner tries to advance to 2^nd and then 3^rd base before trying to come home. The game is fast moving because on average 8-12 batters come to bat each inning, the batters keep coming up one after another in quick succession (there was no more than 15-20 seconds between batters), and the ball is constantly in play. The game is built on speed -- more than power like in American baseball and softball -- and scoring a run is extremely difficult. Teams play 2 sets of 4 innings. If each team has one a set, than additional innings are played until one team scores. On top of all this action – there is loud music playing from circus music to 70s/80s rock music (Van Halen’s "Jump" and Queens’ "Another one Bites the Dust"). All in all, it was an thoroughly entertaining game and worth seeing played."

Farmer's Market with Kale

We have found a sweet little farmer's market, "the marketplace" (Yliopistonkatu 15), with local produce about four blocks from our house that opens on the weekends. The first few times we went we were so happy to find KALE, because we have been looking for it in all of the grocery stores with no luck. But, damn the kale is expensive (or maybe we just received royal "foreigner" treatment) as the vendor sold us one leaf for 1 euro ($1.40 U.S.). The first week we bought kale we did not think much about how expensive it was because we were simply too excited to find KALE to care. (By the way, kale is Charlie's favorite leafy green and he even owns a "Kale" t-shirt to prove it!) So, we handed over our 5 euro note and pranced away with big KALE smiles. Today we bought about 6 leaves of kale, broccoli, and green beans ALL for 4.60 euro. Yep, I think we might have been "taken" that first time around. Oh well...that is the reality of living in a foreign country.

The farmer's market is growing smaller every week we visit...the season is about over. But, the last few weeks at the market has been candy for the eyeballs: colorful berries, fancy mushrooms, bright orange carrots, sunflowers, broccoli, cabbage, and fellow market goers going crazy for their weekly stash of Finnish potatoes (a staple for most Finns). A little stop at the Saturday farmer's market would not be complete without a visit to the little tent selling hot tea, coffee, and munkis (the Finnish pastry).

Our Humble Home in Central Finland

Our furnished living room...actually the entire apartment came FULLY furnished.

Welcome to our humble abode in Finland. We found the apartment through another Fulbright grantee who was living here last year. Lucky us, because we have heard that finding apartments on the private market is not so easy, especially if you do not speak Finnish. The apartment on Löylykatu (name of the street) is fully furnished (including towels, linens, and candles) and rent covers electricity, trash, water, and wireless. We have settled in nicely to the cozy apartment that is 48 meters squared (516 squared feet). In the basement we have access to a sauna and laundry facilities (photos posted soon). Our landlady is great! She is a young Finnish woman and she was nice enough to pick us up at the train station when we arrived. But, she will soon be moving to Argentina to experience an Eat, Pray, Love adventure. Good luck, Anne!

 The living room from another view (with lots of Ikea furniture...functional, but not the most comfortable!)

Sweet little bedroom and the bed is a GOOD size (two single mattresses pushed together).

The view from our deck. To the left of our apartment building is the Harju Ridge, a forested area with an observation tower, walking trails, wild mushrooms, and a big football  (soccer) stadium.

Ah, we actually got to enjoy the last few summery days in Finland on our deck.

Small, but practical kitchen.

We were a little surprised by the color and stucco of the apartment building.

Our Second Visitors: the Dutch!

 Our friends from Sneek, Holland came to visit us (and Finland) with their five month year old, Anna. This was Anna's first international trip. I have to boast about Corien and Nanko because they are so well traveled and the most laid back parents that baby Anna behaved like a master traveler. We had a conversation about how important "chill" parenting is when traveling. If the parents are freaking out when traveling then most likely the baby\child will also be freaking out, simply because an osmosis of energy transfers from the parents to the offspring. Makes sense.

Despite the rainy weather it was nice to have more visitors.Corein, Nanko, and Anna came over for a salmon dinner and then we met up for the coffee and a walk around the lake the next morning. They came to Jyväskylä bearing gifts...DeRuijter Hagelslag (you must say this with a Dutch spitting sound that comes deep from the depth of your chest). DeRuijter is a sweet treat for your morning toast, you simply sprinkle some on your toast and enjoy.  In the U.S. we call them "sprinkles" and normally you would find them sprinkled on cakes and ice cream, but when in Holland (or Finland) you sprinkle them on your toast. They also gave us Dutch stroopwafel, two thin waffel cookies filled with caramel. Delicious! We loved the gifts and the visit.

Fields of Shrooms...

This is just such a beautiful photo, I have to share it. These shrooms were found down by the lake and right outside the building where Charlie works.

Mushrooming!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am fascinated by nature. We are very fortunate to live steps away from the forest and we often walk through the forest to go to the city center (five minutes away). At this time of year that means...wild mushrooms. The mushrooms catch my eye from across the forest floor and I have to take the time to further inspect the mushrooms (sometimes even with the lens of my camera).

There are many varieties of wild mushrooms that grow in Finland and after taking a few photos of them I even attempted to match my photos with those on the internet. Ha ha...after looking through 100 internet photos I soon realized that many mushrooms look a lot alike. All I know is that there are edible mushrooms and inedible (poisonous) mushrooms (mushrooms that will likely kill you!) and since I have no idea the difference between edible and "I will kill you" mushrooms I enjoy them with the lens of my camera and not with the digestive juices in my belly. That red one up top is poisonous...I know that for sure.

And, we Canoed...

Our First Visitor in Finland

Finnish nightlife ROCKERS!

Looking out over the city...in the observatory tower.

  In 2009, James and I lived in Oxford, Engla

Viking's dinner (again) at Haralds.

nd where we served as Graduate Residents for about 40 undergraduate UGA students. When he found out we were moving to the Nordic region, he decided to include Finland in his (pre-OMG-I am-about-to-have-no-life-because-of-my-dissertation) whirlwind European holiday. So, we played! We made good dinners, jumped!, canoed the lake, walked up the observatory for a 360 degree view of the city, visited second-hand stores, ate like Vikings (again...), and Charlie and James experienced a true night out on the town--Finnish style.

Robot is the new plank!

Fulbright Orientation in Helsinki

The Finland Fulbright 2011-2011 Crew.

A nice welcome message on my hotel TV screen.

 Woohoo...I have been looking forward to the Fulbright orientation for quite some time now. This has been a long time coming...

The view from my hotel room.

Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church).

Bright and early Tuesday a.m. I boarded the train to Helsinki, with a short stopover in Tampere (where I lived in 2007) to visit my colleagues and sponsors. I arrived in Helsinki at the Cumulus Hakaniemi hotel to discover I had my own room...nice! Our first meeting was in the hotel lobby, where we were to convene and walk together to our dinner location. The craziest thing happened! When I walked out of the elevator I immediately spotted a colleague from my past; we worked together at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His wife was awarded a Fulbright scholar award in Finland. Whoa...small world. So, we caught up quickly and then we were off to meet everyone at dinner.

All in all, the four-day orientation was incredibly planned out and orchestrated to the tee. The Finns know how to manage time and stick to a concise schedule or at least the Finnish Fulbright Center staff does. Here are some of the orientation sessions (just to give you an idea of what orientation included):

Incredible blue sky day in the capital of Finland, Senate Square.

-Working with the Media
-Greetings from the American Embassy
-Finnish Culture & History
-Local Regulations and Practical Advice
-Banking, Grant Payments, Grantee Financial Responsibilities
-Insurance
-Higher Education in Finland
-Finnish Economy
-Finnish & American Cultures in Communication

Boarding the bus for the Helsinki city tour.

The location of our last day.

And, of course there were special speakers, excursions, and Finnish lunches. We went on a bus tour of Helsinki, visited the Ateneum museum (the Finnish National Gallery), and had meetings at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. On the second night we attended "a reception in honor of the 2011-2012 American Fulbright Grantees hosted by Ambassador Bruce J. Oreck & Ms. Cody Douglas Oreck" at the swanky U.S. Embassy in Helsinki. Bruce is an interesting and striking dude (with his bald head, big muscles, and earring); he was appointed by his buddy Obama. He used to live in Boulder, CO--small world-- and his family used to own the Oreck vacuum company.