Hospital Trip #2

Hour 1   5:47pm

We’ve checked in with the triage nurse and were told the wait would be 1 or 2 hours. She instructed us to wait in perusterveydenhuollon päivystys - and after seeing our blank looks of incomprehension, she clarified, “The T section”. So we’re settling in and about to watch one of the two movies that we’ve downloaded specifically for this wait. Let the torture begin.

Also, we’re really jealous of the scooters the nurses zoom around on. They’re a hybrid of a Segway and a Razor scooter and we’re totally ganking one if we’re here for more than 2 hours.

Hour 2

The first movie, The Secret, was a total dud. We thought it would be a cross between Da Vinci Code and National Treasure and were looking forward to some action mixed in with maybe some Mason lore. After about 10 minutes of people discussing “the Secret” and instructing us in how to use the Law of Attraction to make our lives go in a positive direction, we nixed it for the latest Indiana Jones movie. Our setup, though, is pretty ballin. We take up quite a bit of room, with a chair for each of us to sit in, two for our backpacks and coats, and one last one to prop our feet on. We are getting some pretty strange looks … they’re just jealous.

Hour 2 cont. (15 minutes in)

Just as Jaime was unwrapping our mystery sandwich from the vending machine and handing half of it to Elizabeth, Elizabeth's name was called. The visit with the doctor only lasted about 10 minutes, long enough for her to glance at the x-rays and inform Elizabeth that the leg was healing well, make sure the cast still fit, and prescribe some hyped-up Ibuprofen. After Elizabeth checked out of the hospital, we caught a bus back to the City Center.

Hour 3

The next hour found us cozily seated in a restaurant downtown and enjoying a delicious dinner (Jaime had the vegetable quiche while Elizabeth chose the grilled salmon and both dishes came with mixed vegetables on the side). Incredibly pleased with ourselves, we left the restaurant just in time to catch the bus back to our apartment complex.

There was just one catch... To ease the process of getting on and off of the bus, Jaime typically holds the crutches so Elizabeth can climb the steps and swipe her card. Somehow, though, this process failed us during the final leg of our trip. Standing at the door of the bus, waiting for it to pull up to our stop, Jaime looked at Elizabeth, grinned sheepishly, and said, “oops.” Comprehension flashed across Elizabeth’s face as she realized that each of us thought the other had been holding on to the crutches. But, in fact, both of us had failed to retrieve the crutches from their resting place next to the seat in the bus shelter. Still laughing, we crossed the street (Elizabeth hobbled) to catch the 12 back to the City Center. We are happy to report that the crutches were still there and Elizabeth did not have to hobble down the hill to our apartment.

Photos: Campus and City

Pretty building where we had class today

Proof that we actually did go to class today... Aunt Tricia The path on the way to Survival Finnish class The gorgeous church in the City Center

Snow-covered trees on our way back from class Looking up... overcast but mild today - this is a little before sunset (4:12 pm) Kauppakatu, the main walking street in the City Center

Cultural misunderstanding, we guess...

How Cold Is It – Really

When we first told most people that we were going to Finland, the most common response was something along the lines of, “isn’t it cold there?”

Yes, in fact, it is.

However. It’s not actually so cold that we don’t ever want to go outside, nor is it so cold that it’s nothing an extra pair of pants can’t handle. We’ve also learned that while Celsius temperatures make for great shock value (NEGATIVE TWENTY-TWO DEGREES?!), they’re kind of misleading. -22° C is still pretty icy, at -7.6° F, but without wind or humidity, the cold is less biting and cutting. It doesn’t sting, nor does it make you want to hide your face. It’s just… there. It’s peaceful, not threatening. It’s a quiet kind of cold.

That isn’t to say, though, that temperature is not a tricky business here. As it turns out, it’s not the cold temperature that’s the hard part, but, instead, temperature regulation. You start out the day in your apartment, where it’s nice and toasty, but to prepare to go outside, you must put on about 5 layers of clothing. Both the process of yanking everything on and the clothes themselves warm you up quite a bit, so you’re pretty hot when you finally step outside. It’s a relief. Except then the cold starts to seep in, slowly, up the legs of your pants, up your sleeves, down your neck… and then you’re cold. Partially. Your belly is probably still warm. So, to get warmer in the places that aren’t, you have to start walking. (And if you really need to warm up, you try to keep up with Laura.) Except then, with all that blood circulating, you get kinda hot. So maybe you zip down your jacket, take off your hat… and then inevitably you stop for a few minutes, get chilly again, and repeat the above process a few times – until you reach your (indoor) destination, where you go inside and are suddenly burning, so you take off your outerwear. And by the time you get it all off, take care of your business, and get it all on again… well, you see where this is going.

We’ve developed a few tricks to combat the never-ending temperature fluctuation process, but we still haven’t figured out how the Finns can stand grocery shopping for an hour, or sitting in the bank for an hour, or really doing almost anything not outdoors for an hour - in a parka, scarf, and fleece hat… and, though we’ve been practicing enduring as much heat as possible, we’ve pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we betray our foreign identities when we strip down to our t-shirts every time we step into a building.

Fast, Cheap and Delicious

Funny posters from our apartment complex. Click to enlarge.



Evidently, our apartment complex is being terrorized by a clique of fourth graders with stylish hair.



These actually look like a pretty good idea - or at least Jaime thinks so. Even if we're not having an alcoholic party.

Survival Finnish

Even though we have only had 4 class periods so far – by this we mean four meetings of Survival Finnish and no meetings of any other classes yet – we actually have been learning a good bit of Finnish (Suomi, pronounced “swoh-mee”). We’ve learned the basics, like “hey” - moi, “bye” - moi moi, and “thanks” - kiitos (“key – tohs”). Today we worked on numbers, and we are proud to say that we can successfully count to ten. We can also tell you our birthdays:

Jaimen syntymapäivä oon kaksikymmentayksi helmikuu tuhotyhdeksansatakahdeksankymmentakahdesksan. (Jaime’s birthday is 21 February 1988.)

Elizabethin syntymapäivä oon yhdeksan elokuu tuhotyhdeksansatakahdeksankymmentakahdesksan. (Elizabeth’s birthday is 9 August 1988.)

But our favorite part of learning Finnish is definitely pronouncing a few certain words that are just really fun to say. Some examples of these words inlclude Nuppu ("noo-poo"), the name of our Survival Finnish teacher, and Korppi (“core-pee”), the name of our online course management system - the words always have two syllables, and the really fun part is that you pause between the first and second syllable, and then your voice jumps up about half an octave to say the second part. Or at least that’s the way we like to say them – and we’ve been having way too much fun around the flat using those words as much as we possibly can – but we were also reassured today when the Irish guy sitting a row or two in front of us totally pronounced one of our new vocabulary words the same way.

PS – We love your comments!! :) If there’s anything you’re curious about or would like us to talk about, let us know!

We’ve Been Adopted

By the cutest Finnish society ladies. Our adoption is part of the Finnish Family Program, which pairs up international students with local Finns. We’re not entirely sure what plans they have in mind for us, because they tend to start sentences in English and end them in Finnish, but given that tonight’s Program get-together was enlivened by them breaking out into several verses of ancient Finnish song, they should be pretty entertaining. Both of our Finnish mothers are retired teachers, and they’ve banded together with a couple other cute old ladies who are part of the Jyväskylän American Society to take care of us.

Also of note: at the gathering tonight, Elizabeth tried a piece of quiche, only to later find out that it contained reindeer.(She liked it!)

Photos: Around the Flat!

Layout of our flat


Mail slot!




Elizabeth's room




Jaime's room



Our kitchen




Yum!


The lovely "Water Closet." Aptly named, since the water from the shower goes everywhere!


The End :)

The Typical Finnish Drunk Guy

As part of the foreign student Orientation Sessions, Elizabeth and I were introduced to the concept of the Typical Finnish Drunk Guy. Older-middle-aged and a bit podgy, the TFDG has had a few too many cloudberry vodkas for his own good. He is overenthusiastic, but entirely harmless, and really just looking for a chat.

Needless to say, I wasn't really convinced. I mean, funny, okay. But did I really think I would run into one? (I mean, anyone who knows me knows what a heavy drinker I am. I pretty much live at the bars. (This is extreme sarcasm.))

It was still early morning and the snow was lightly falling when I left the flat to head down to the grocery store. Very much lost amongst thoughts of veggies and how best to tote home a good 50 lbs of bags, I stopped for a second in front of the carts to fish a coin out of my wallet, when suddenly I looked up to see a very pink, very excited guy gesturing wildly in my direction. I didn't think too much of it, and went back to digging in my coin pocket.

But he evidently had other ideas about how the encounter should go: striding forward, and pushing his own cart off to the side, he began speaking to me in very animated, very rapid Finnish. He seemed to think that I could use some help getting my coin into the cart (there's a very neat system here in which you chain your cart to another once you're done with it, and to release the chain, you have to insert a coin into a little box on the handle - and once you return the cart, you get your coin back), and so pulled out a coin of his own, made some enthusiastic gestures towards the cart with it, and then launched into an entirely new, faster conversation mode, shaking my hand no less than seventeen times.

And I had to laugh, because he fit the profile perfectly. Somewhere around 65, gray-haired, and a bit chubby, he smelled vaguely of alcohol and firesmoke. His cheeks were tinged bright pink, and he was very welcoming; despite my protests of "puhutekko englanti?" (do you speak English?), "kiitos! Moi moi!" (Thanks, bye!) and eventually "I don't understand!!," he seemed to actually be so much looking for a chat that he didn't really need comprehension, just an audience.

All in all, my first encounter with the TFDG was as promised: a bit startling, but harmless. He was quite a friendly guy, and obviously was very pleased to tell me whatever he was telling me, though I have no idea what, exactly, I was supposed to do with that information. He also gave me his cart, and therefore 50 euro cents.

(Though Elizabeth has already had an interaction or two with TFDGs of her own, she was absent from this encounter, since she's been hanging out in the flat keeping her leg propped up.)

Be Jealous

Dinner tonight:

Sirloin steak
Risotto
Sauteed mushrooms, onions, and sugar snap peas
9-grain bread
Clementines and raspberry-chocolate ice cream for dessert


And yes, we cooked it ourselves.

On Culture Shock

To cite Veekeepaydayuhs, culture shock is defined as ”the anxiety and feelings (of surprise, disorientation, uncertainty, confusion, etc.) felt when people have to operate within a different and unknown cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country.” Culture shock is depicted as having 4 distinct, but not fixed, stages:

1. Honeymoon Phase – Cultural differences are seen in a romantic light, wonderful and new.
2. Negotiation Phase – Cultural differences are apparent and may create anxiety. This phase is often marked by mood swings caused by minor issues or without apparent reason. Depression is not uncommon.
3. Adjustment Phase - One grows accustomed to the new culture and develops routines. One knows what to expect in most situations and the host country no longer feels all that new.
4. Reverse Culture Shock – Upon re-entry, cultural differences once again become apparent and create anxiety.

Our first encounter with culture shock was, interestingly enough, not on foreign soil. It was the first day of Thanksgiving Break last semester, and Elizabeth, being an RA, was charged with making sure all of her residents had left their rooms to go home for the 5-day break. Unfortunately, not all of her residents had gotten the memo about getting out by 9:00 am. While most left with only a little prodding, Elizabeth realized that one of the international students living on her hall had yet to be seen that morning; assuming he had simply overslept, Elizabeth walked over and knocked on his door. Then knocked again. Having other duties to complete, Elizabeth went back to her business, but by 9:00 she suspected she’d have to key into the room, so she gathered reinforcements – Jaime – and returned to the international student’s suite.
Outside: *Knock-knock-knock*
Inside: *Rustle-rustle-rustle*
Outside:*Knock-knock-knock*
Inside: *Rustle-rustle-rustle*
Hmm. We could hear that obviously something was abrew inside, so Elizabeth resorted to calling out, “HOUSING!” Rustle-rustle-rustle one last time, and a muted “coming!” before the door slowly opened, revealing a highly disheveled, sleepy student clad only in thin, high-cut tighty-whities. Shocked and slightly embarrassed at the sight of her resident in his underwear, Elizabeth regained her composure and informed him of the approaching deadline. Jaime, meanwhile, had regained her composure and was trying really, really hard not to laugh. We’re not really sure if this is what they were talking about, but we did come from different cultures, and there was definitely shock.

Recently, we’ve been trying to place ourselves on the graphs. Elizabeth, being 6 days into a broken leg, probably should be somewhere near rock-bottom (what the experts term the Crisis), but is in surprisingly good spirits. We’re not quite sure if she had a very quick Crisis at hour 9 in the hospital, stuck in a wheelchair and 4 hours past needing more Ibuprofen, or if she’s still got one looming. Jaime, on the other hand, has fortunately definitely gotten past her Crisis moment: that was one night after being extremely overtired, having heard some bad news, and through a bit of miscommunication thinking that Elizabeth was completely ignoring her and subsequently slamming her door – though we’re happy to report that the friendship is entirely intact. (We now know to add “Elizabeth keeps her iPod volume high enough to drown out all outside noises” to the list of things we’ve learned about ourselves…)

Interestingly, Jaime’s Crisis really had nothing to do with culture – it’s just that through a combination of mishaps, coincidences, and bad news, we’ve both sort of been going through a rough week. On the bright side… well, just wait for the next post.

We have discovered the key to our behavior

We've realized a lot living with each other nearly 24/7, even though, being close friends, we've been familiar with each others' habits for a while. But this opportunity has finally allowed us to piece things together, to make the connections that have been just barely discernible for so long.

And our stunning realization?

Elizabeth is actually 70.

Jaime is actually 7.

Elizabeth knits	Jaime draws and colors
Elizabeth's hip occasionally makes popping noises	Jaime's hip is occasionally bruised from climbing things
Elizabeth yells: "I'm too old for this!" (this is a lie)	Jaime yells: "I'm never talking to you again!" (this is also a lie)
Elizabeth goes through 3 ice packs a day (the broken leg... currently at a painful and purplish stage)	Jaime likes cute Hello Kitty bandaids (the stitches... expertly removed thanks to the old lady ;) )
Elizabeth gives the haughty disapproval glare when she is annoyed (and she can make Holly Dellinger turn 180°)	Jaime throws pens when she is annoyed (and she has pretty deadly accuracy)
Elizabeth ballroom dances (and admittedly loves it)	Jaime ballroom dances when Elizabeth drags her along (and admittedly likes it too)
Elizabeth wants more time to sleep	Jaime wants more time to explore
Elizabeth likes expensive things (usually)	Jaime likes shimmery things (usually)
Elizabeth has platonic admiration crushes on a few old men	Jaime fortunately has no equivalent here, besides thinking little kids are cute
Elizabeth rocks out to Rachmaninoff	Jaime rocks out to 90s pop

Though, this is not to say that we don't trade ages every once in a while. Jaime will totally rock out to Chopin too, and Elizabeth can do a mean rendition of the Veggie Tales "Hairbrush Song." (See below.) Ohhhh whereee is my hairbrush...



Interestingly, 70 and 7 both seem to have a high level of mischievousness.
Or maybe that's just us.

We got our first letter!

Thank you to Nicole Caldwell for our first piece of mail from the States!!

We love you!
In ΠKE,
Jaime and Elizabeth

Elizabeth's leg saga ((updated))

It was a dark and stormy night - or a bright sunny morning, but that doesn't sound nearly as foreboding - when we were taking a routine trip to the grocery store, meaning slowly working our way down a series of three steep, icy slopes. As we were nearing the halfway point on the final drop, Elizabeth stepped onto a particularly deceiving patch of snow; her foot slid the snow aside, betraying the thick sheet of ice beneath it, as she skidded downwards, landing with her left leg at an angle beneath her. We both knew it wasn't going to be good, but we had no idea - yet.

Two days and one scheduled Student Health appointment later, we found ourselves walking a mile and a half in the ice and snow, Elizabeth's ankle swollen to the size of a grapefruit and hardly mobile, searching for the Student Health building - which, as it turns out, is not anywhere near its street address. From there, a snooty receptionist and unimpressed doctor sent us - walking - another half a mile downtown to the radiology center, where we saw the bad news: fractured fibula. On the bright side, the fibula is not a weight-bearing bone.













Sorry about the confusion, we know it's a little hard to find! We've now drawn pink circles around the fracture in both photos - just click on them to zoom in.

From there, Elizabeth was referred to the Central Hospital (in Finnish, conveniently "Keskisuomenkeskussairaala"). We had no idea where that was (still don't, actually), but the radiology receptionist reassured us, in broken English, that we could just ask the bus drivers if they were going there. Comforting. To their credit, however, we did catch the bus there, and were checked in almost immediately, at 7:00 pm. Then began the long process of waiting. And we mean LOOOOOONG.

Thank God we'd had the foresight to buy a couple of novels and Subway before catching the bus there, because we were in the waiting room for a grand total of 10 hours. Ten hours. That meant ten hours without pain medication for Elizabeth - though we did think she was doing a bit better than the young Finnish guy sitting across from us, whose hand had been bitten by a dog and was actively bleeding for no less than 8 hours. We passed time reading, being annoyed at the hospital staff, and dozing in uncomfortable positions, before Elizabeth was called into a room around 5 in the morning.

When we finally emerged from the hospital, Elizabeth's leg had been set in a cast, and we were both exhausted beyond belief. Needless to say, we spent a good part of the day catching up on our sleep, and now, in notably better spirits, Elizabeth is chipping away at the upper portion of her cast (we can't figure out why a cast to stabilize her ankle needs to reach up to her knee), and working on a way to stick her enormous foot into a sneaker. Hehe.

Things We’ve Learned About Ourselves

• Elizabeth can drink an entire carton of milk in 1.5 days.
• Jaime can drink an entire carton of juice in 1.5 days.
• Elizabeth cooks and Jaime cleans. Most of the time.
• Our facebook capacity is through the roof.
• We've developed the skill of being able to nearly perfectly reproduce the popping noise that facebook makes when someone messages you. We use this newly acquired skill to trick each other into thinking we've missed messages.
• Elizabeth sings in the shower and Jaime puts on her headphones.
• Jaime routinely sleeps 2 hours less than Elizabeth.
• When standing out in the cold waiting for the bus, or missing the bus, we tend to resort to calling the bus like a dog. The Finns probably think we're crazy.
• We have a high drive for quality blog posts; however, whenever we work on them, they end up being exactly like homework, in that we get sleepy and procrastinate.
• As much as we thought we’re mature, young adults, we’re really just 4 year olds on the inside, as evidenced by comments frequently heard in the flat such as: “I’m never going to talk to you again!” and “Your mother!"

You’d think we’d have learned by now 2

• When stores say they're open on Sunday, that only means during the summertime.

You’d think we’d have learned by now

The bus doesn’t run by the supermarket:

• After 17.00 on Maanantai - Perjantai (5 PM M-F)
  
• After 14.00 on Lauantai (2 PM Saturday)
  
• And not at all on Sunnuntai

But no. More uphill walks in the snow with heavy grocery bags for us.

word game answers

1. Paperi - paper (surprise)
2. Juissi Mehu - juice
3. Taksi - taxi
4. Snowi - haha
5. Lasi - glass
6. Sokeri - sugar
7. Suomi - Finland
8. Kiitos - thank you
9. Hyvässä Seurassa - in good company
10. Nykysuomensanakirja - Finnish dictionary

Props to Elizabeth's Momma for getting #10

Morning

It’s 10:00 AM, and Jyväskylä is finally bathed in sunlight. It must have snowed last night, because there’s a feather-light dusting of white over everything. The sky at the horizon is a warm peachy yellow, melting upwards into pure Carolina blue, and the sun has risen far enough for its beams to reach the very tips of the tallest pines in the distance. Their branches glow a warm olive-green as they gleam in the early-morning light, glinting and sparkling as the snow on each needle melts - for just a moment it quivers down in the form of droplets, flashing in the light, before slipping to the ground where it freezes once more. Closer, in the shade, the pines remain still and frosted, their icy branches the same color as the cool morning sky. The ground, too, is finally returning to its snow-covered state after days of dirty slush and ice: once again it is white and pristine, and when we finally bundle up and slip out the door, it will once again crunch beneath our feet. :)

Things We Miss

Microwaves: We really do think our flat was made in the 70s.

American Cheese: Trust us. We looked. We found a cheese with similar texture, the flavor, however…

Our Cars: Not that we could actually drive them here. (Dear parents, we know you’ll take good care of them!)

Lots of clothes to choose from: 6 long-sleeved shirts is a little limiting.

Being able to eavesdrop: Paranoia has been realized. They all know our thoughts, but we don’t know theirs.

Thermostats in our rooms: Our flat has one temperature- hot.

TV: Not that we would be able to understand it anyway. Sadly, online episodes don’t work outside the US.

Cookout and Chick-fil-A: Especially on Sundays.

Family and Friends: All of you out there… we miss you! ♥

Eating Lunch.

A pretty typical occurrence, but also one of those everyday routines that you take for granted. That is, until it becomes difficult.

Most days we eat lunch at one of the many cafeterias in the university. The whole process starts out simply enough: grab a tray, silverware and glass. Actually, two glasses – one extra for water. Okay, can do. But then it starts to get tricky. You’re given the options of milk, juice or homemade beer. Elizabeth usually goes with milk (gotta keep those bones healthy!) and does eeny meeny miney moe to pick which carton, while Jaime tends to lean toward juice. One thing they don’t tell you, however, is that the juice is concentrated; fortunately, a Finnish guy tipped Jaime off before she could drink the oddly think- and dark-looking orange juice...

After drinks, it’s on to the entrées. Depending on the dining location, you either serve yourself, or someone dishes it up for you (preferably the former, given the apparent Finnish proclivity to give you at least 3 people’s worth of portion, though we should mention here that lunch is the biggest meal of the Finnish day). In any case, choosing an entrée has become an art form, and we have become amateur artists. Our techniques include: 1) avoid anything with “fish in cream sauce” or “____balls” 2) avoid anything whose first 3 ingredients can’t be guessed upon sight, and 3) avoid anything whose name is completely unpronounceable. This generally serves us pretty well, though admittedly the pea soup was a little… well, interesting.

Following the entrée comes salad. In the US, this generally means lettuce, and an assortment of other vegetables and toppings. In Finland, this generally means cabbage. Stringy cabbage. Though not always; sometimes it’s stringy cabbage with stringy carrots. Today there was even stringy cucumber. And to add on top (if you’re lucky), onions, tomatoes, dill potato salad (?), and sweet pickles. The choice of dressing, much like the choice of milk and the choice of entrée, is a complete mystery. Red ketchupy bottle or yellow mustardy bottle? You decide. We just hope it’s never actually ketchup or mustard.

Moving down the line is the bread station. Now, bread seems pretty safe, and it’s usually pretty good, except, again, the topping is a complete mystery. Butter? Light butter? Garlic butter? This time, being that they all look like, well, butter, only Fate herself can decide. Once Jaime was even surprised to bite into a piece of bread buttered with... yellow cream cheese?

All in all, though we’ve made it sound kind of rough, the food is actually great. Not only do we get all of this for a mere 2,60€, but it’s almost always really tasty. Today we had these neat pancakey things topped with berry (as usual, we’re not really sure of the specifics here) jam. Suffice it to say, every lunch is a new adventure.

Nothin but a Good Time (Poison)

One cultural oddity that we haven’t yet touched upon is the apparent phenomenon of (American) 80s music sweeping across the Finnish countryside. Clubs, stores, and even restaurants are being invaded by the likes of U2, Billy Joel, and the Beastie Boys.

We first heard of this peculiarity from Laura, Finnish-tutor-by-day,-Finnish-goddess-by-night, but we were a little skeptical. For a country that celebrates heavy metal (according to Wikipedia, in all forms including “black metal, folk metal, power metal, cello metal (?) and symphonic metal”), American 80s just didn’t quite seem to fit in.

Laura, as usual, was dead on. Towards the end of our first week here, we entered a pizza buffet to the strains of Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer,” followed by a little Rihanna (“Disturbia,” to be specific), then “Forever Young.” Another morning, in the supermarket, Jaime shopped to the tune of U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

Now, we can understand playing it in restaurants and shops; admittedly we love the 80s too and may or may not know all the words to those songs. But when Elizabeth walked into the club on Saturday night, she never expected to be greeted by Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” blaring from the speakers.

Fitting, nevertheless.

Next Week

Yay!

Our mommas should be proud

Because we (well, mostly Elizabeth) just cooked a really awesome restaurant-quality dinner, consisting of rosemary chicken, sauteed vegetables, and pesto pasta, finished off with some 7-grain bread and a clementine for dessert.

Yum!

If you're wondering what we do all day...

(seeing as we pretty much never have class)


credit to xkcd

By Request: Top Ten Finnish Survival Tips

10. When eating out, avoid Rainbow Trout Balls.
9. Saying “base layer” instead of “long underwear” makes you sound much more B.A.
8. And don’t be surprised when you glance to your left and see some college guy hiking on an extra pair of pants or two before going out into the cold…
7. A little “kiitos” will get you far. Or at least leave people wondering if you’re just really quiet, or if you actually didn’t understand anything they said, like us.
6. Faking an American boyfriend can be useful (see Elizabeth’s upcoming post…)
5. Buses don’t always run as late as you expect them to.
4. Water always looks wet regardless of whether it actually is liquid, or frozen.
3. Almost everyone is friendly and speaks pretty good Eeenglish, if a bit reluctantly.
2. Boots. Never leave the flat without them.
1. Hire Laura. IF YOU’RE READING THIS ARE YOU SERIOUSLY LEAVING US FOR PARIS? ;)

We never thought we'd say this, but

we miss the cold.

Since we got here, we've grown used to the crisp, cold air, and stomping through the snow, which is quite enjoyable because it goes *crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch*.

However, recently it's been unseasonably warm (meaning a degree or two above freezing), and unfortunately, when things get above freezing, things melt. This means huge puddles of water everywhere. Yet when things don't quite always get above freezing, when they hover right around freezing and sometimes dip below, things turn into a giant deceivingly wet-looking sheet of ice. Especially when it's gray and sleeting outside, like this afternoon.

To counteract this, the city of Jyväskylä plows, and deposits a thin, sparse layer of small rocks on the streets and bike paths. And thank God for those rocks, because we would have been down and out otherwise. As it was, we spent the majority of the day slipping, sliding, and clutching onto each other for dear life in an attempt not to fall into the icy mush below us.

The worst part, of course, was that we seemed to be the only ones having so much trouble with this, as first became clear when a little old lady sped past Jaime as she was slowly picking her way up a particularly icy hill (that same windy, steep hill on the way back from the grocery store...)

We wonder if the Finns have secretly conspired against us and all put tacks in their shoes and kept us unaware for their amusement, though our tutor-goddess assures us that there is no conspiracy. On the bright side, by the end of the evening, we had figured out some basic tactics for confronting ice, including lift, don't push, and placing one's whole foot down as opposed to rolling from heel to toe. We are now sore in muscles we forgot we had, and are celebrating not falling the entire day with going to sleep early - especially because we have our first Survival Finnish class tomorrow (one of two classes this week.) Yay!

Our Plan to Blend in with the Local Finns:

- Do not smile. Ever.
- Listen to American 80’s music. And sing it drunkenly when we walk down the street on Saturday night. Incidentally, we already know all the words.
- Roll our Rs.
- Wear all of our winter gear inside stores.
- Take a “short walk” (anywhere from 10 minutes to 40).
- Dye our hair platinum blonde.

We’ll let you know how it goes.

Pictures!

We can't pronounce it either...



In Finland everyone can walk on water!



Moonrise comes before sunset, and sometimes before noon!



Unfortunately transportation isn't always easy, or warm.

Finnish word game! ((updated))

Since we can’t bring y’all with us, maybe we can recreate a little bit of our adventure by giving you the one of the same experiences we face every day… so…

Try to guess the meanings of these words!
Comment with your guesses!! :)

We’ll start off easy –
(it will help to know that “i” is pronounced “ee;” full pronunciation guide further down)

1. Paperi
2. Juissi Mehu* (see below)
3. Taksi
4. Snowi (Kidding!)

Getting a little harder –

5. Lasi
6. Sokeri (clue: its counterpart is glukoosi-fructoosi siirapi. Not even kidding!!)
7. Suomi
8. Kiitos
   

And finally –

9. Hyvässä seurassa
   (You may need to use the Nykysuomensanakirja to help you out…)
   

Pronunciation guide: (a=cat; ah=father) Taksi (Tahck-see); Paperi (Pah-per-ee); Mehu (May-heu); Lasi (Lah-see); Sokeri (Soh-keh-ree); Glukoosi-fructoosi Siirapi (Gloo-koooh-see-frook-toooh-see seee-rah-pee) Suomi (Swoh-mee); Kiitos (Keee-tohs); Hyvässä Seurassa (Hoo-vas-sa say-eu-rahs-sah); Nykysuomensanakirja (Noo-koo-swoh-men-sah-nah-keer-yah)

No cheating! This means no Wikipedia (Vee-kee-pay-dee-ahs) either!!

* Soooo... even us brilliant students of Finnish get a little confused sometimes... The goddess-of-all-Finnish knowledge comments: "And by the way 'Juissi' is just the brand, juice = mehu in Finnish ;) Oh yeah, maybe you should also know that if the juice is concentrated, it's called "mehutiiviste", you should tell that to Jaime!! [Jaime may have accidentally poured herself a full glass of concentrate one day at lunch...] That is how we make long words... Take concentrated orange juice for instance, it's "appelsiinimehutiiviste" in Finnish ;). It's even funnier for concentrated blackcurrant juice "mustaviinimarjamehutiiviste". You can even add the word "factory" to that if you want to say the factory that makes concentrated blackcurrant juice (factory=tehdas): "mustaviinimarjamehutiivistetehdas" :D." Y'all should be glad we didn't give you that word... ;)

Why Our Finnish Courses Are So Awesome

To reflect on school in the States for a moment, our class schedules typically run from Monday through Friday, with classes M-W-F, which last an hour, and T-Th, for an hour and half. They last all semester, minus a class or two at the end if you’re lucky. The average UNCA student will take approximately 16 hours a semester, which translates into about 2 or 3 of these classes per day. If the class meets three times a week, you are allowed no more than 3 absences, regardless of excuse (excluding serious medical or family issues); if twice a week, no more than 2.

Needless to say, I thought something was seriously wrong the first time I logged into Korppi (our OnePort-equivalent online course management system), and registered for a class – its beginning and ending dates were 20.1.09 - 23.1.09 – January 20th through 23rd. Except… that’s it!!! The class meets four times, and is over. FOUR TIMES. Over four days. For four hours each day, but still!

This is, of course, not the way all courses in Finland work. After speaking with our tutor and goddess-of-all-Finnish-knowledge, Laura, Elizabeth and I discovered that we have just been lucky enough to land in the right program (CIHD, Current Issues in Human Development) in the right department (Psychology) during the right time (now), so that many of our courses are specially-arranged with guest lecturers from around the world, meaning that the schedules are… well, compact. Even better, any other Psych courses that we’re taking are from English textbooks read on our own time (we only have to sign up for exams, WHICH WE CAN TAKE MORE THAN ONCE), and Survival Finnish classes only last until the end of February.

Helloooo travel time!!!

paper or plastic?

This first week in Finland has been extremely busy between running errands and trying to get acclimated to the cold, dry weather. Every morning we attend orientation sessions where various campus representatives, such as Student Health and IT, come and give a presentation; sometimes they’re helpful and sometimes they’re not. We normally eat lunch in one of the Cafeterias where the student discount gets you lunch (salad, bread, entrée and drink) for 2,60€, quite a deal. Afterwards we either have more lectures or our tutor, Laura, takes us around town to run errands.

I have to say, we couldn’t have made it this far without Laura. She has been our guide and go-to person for every question we have. We’ve gone to KOAS to sign our lease, the bank to open an account (a very complicated process), dna to buy prepaid cell phones, the travel center to purchase bus passes, and various offices around the University (a solid 20 minute walk between the 3 different campuses) to pay student fees and complete paperwork. We also went grocery shopping Wednesday afternoon and that was an ordeal. Most days by around 4:00 (when the sun goes down) we’re ready to eat dinner and go to bed (this typically results in us waking up around 4 am, ready to go), but on Wednesday we went to the market to stock up on groceries. Jaime and I made our list ahead of time, but as soon as we stepped in the store we had to hand it over to Laura. Jaime and I would wander up and down the aisles until we reached a section we recognized, take milk, for example. We would consult our list and see that we wanted either half percent or skim milk. Laura would then explain about the various types of milk and Jaime and I would make our selection. Repeat process for everything on our page-long list, meaning around 50 items. By the end of the trip Jaime and I were totally exhausted and just ready to crash, having both woken up at 5 that morning, walked through the snow for half an hour to campus at 8:30, sat through the orientation sessions, walked from the Mattilanniemi campus to the City Center, and finally gone to the store, but we still had a 15 minute hike in the -15°C weather back to our flat. This is all uphill. A steep hill. But the trip was a success as I was able to find pepper and this morning when I made scrambled eggs they were quite tasty.

Please Write (or call if you're in Finland)

Elizabeth Cottrell
Roninmäentie 6k7/B
40500 Jyväskylä
Finland

+358 44 965 9630


Jaime Gresalfi
Roninmäentie 6k7/A
40500 Jyväskylä
Finland

+358 44 965 9149

Finland by numbers

-22: Degrees in Jyväskylä when we walked outside this morning
0: Number of currently working internet connections in our apartment
1: Near heart attack due to a plastic roach in Jaime’s duffel bag
2: Very jetlagged Americans
3: Kilometers walking in the snow to the City Center
4: PM, time of day the Jyväskylän sun goes down
5: Hours of Scott Joplin music blaring from the room next door
6: Total pounds of boots
7: Hours of time difference between home (GMT -5) and here (GMT +2)
8: Hours on the plane from JFK to Helsinki
9: People who have attempted to speak to us in Finnish beyond “hei” (hi)
10: Glasses of water between us at breakfast this morning, to counter the intense dry Finnish air
15: Bottles of pills smuggled into the country between us
70: American decade that appears to have been inspiration for the furnishings in our apartment
92: Pounds of luggage, not including backpacks
550: Pages I read between RDU and Jyväskylä
Approximately 2.1 billion: Bad puns about “finnishing.” Incidentally, this post is finnished.

Our first few days

We’re here, we made it, it’s absolutely beautiful, and we’re so jetlagged it’s hard to imagine. Yesterday was a holiday (the Epiphany) and nearly everything was closed, so we couldn’t get much done, but we moved into our apartment, got everything unpacked, went for a quick walk downtown to pick up some essentials, and continued to catch up on our sleep. We won’t have an internet connection for at least another day until all our forms are processed, but we thought we’d log an account of our travels thus far and catch y’all up on how we’re doing. The trip overall went really smoothly, but for your amusement, we’ll be focusing in on the little bumps along the way.

We were barely two minutes onto Finnish soil when we committed our first Finnish faux pas, though admittedly we may have been – well, specifically, Jaime was - breaking rules. After the plane had touched down, people began standing up, stretching, and gathering their belongings, though the “fasten seat belt” light hadn’t exactly been turned off yet. At Elizabeth’s provocation, Jaime prematurely slipped out of her seat to reach the overhead compartment containing our shoes. As she swiftly rummaged through the compartment, a flight attendant stalked up, pursed lips and drawn brow saying it all. Unfortunately, Jaime was not facing the flight attendant, and was definitely a bit startled when she heard a sharp voice behind her bark, “You sit in seat NOW.” Incidentally, not being the most experienced international traveler, Jaime may have forgotten the cardinal rule that “items in overhead compartment may have shifted during flight.” With Elizabeth snarkily giggling nearby, seat belt still fastened, Jaime obediently listened and slipped back into her own seat, but not before the overheard compartment managed to deposit a bag smack into the arms of the flight attendant. Oops…

After leaving the Helsinki Airport and successfully catching the bus to Tikkurila Train Station, we purchased tickets to Jyväskylä via Tampere. Unfortunately, Finnish train tickets are less than comprehensible to your average non-Finnish speaking American, and we stood for five minutes trying to figure out which platform our train was leaving from. Finally, we decided on the train marked “Oulu Tampere,” and boarded. It turned out to be the right train, but our difficulties were not yet over. Finnish trains, much like planes, offer overhead areas to store one’s luggage. That is, luggage that is significantly smaller than 90 pounds. Not confident in our abilities to hoist 45 pounds above our heads four times, nor the ability of the luggage to actually fit in the compartments, we elected to store our bags in the two seats across from us. Little did we know that Finnish train seats are assigned, and our errant luggage was commandeering the seats of two elderly Finnish ladies. When they boarded at the next stop, they expressed their displeasure in rapid Finnish conversation featuring words such as “Americans” and “(something)sakki” (sacks – bags – luggage), and nasty looks in our direction. While Jaime smiled innocently at them, Elizabeth intensely contemplated the scenery out the window. In retrospect, we could not have looked more guilty. Regardless, the scenery out the window was beautiful, with expansive boreal forests and quaint little houses dusted with ice and snow.

When we finally arrived at Jyväskylä Train Station, we hauled our luggage inside and chose a table at which to scan the station for our Finnish tutor, whom we believed would be meeting us there to give us the keys to our apartment. Though Jaime had bought and activated a “global phone” from Verizon so we could contact our tutor, the phone declared itself functional for “Emergency Use Only,” and would not allow us to place any calls out. There was also no available wireless. We waited for about 40 minutes, eyeing down every Finnish college-age girl who walked into the building, but with no luck; we therefore decided to see if any particularly generous English-speaking Finns would be willing to lend us a cell phone to make a quick local call. Jaime first asked the middle-aged couple at the table beside us, and after a little halting English and lots of rapid Finnish, they directed her to the Hesburger, a local fast food chain. There, she tried again with a group of four girls about our age. This time, one replied with a crisp but lilting, “yes, I do speak English.” After explaining the situation to her, Jaime waited while the girl stared her down for a moment. Her eventual reply: “Yes… I do have mobile phone… but I not give to you!” Ouch. She did, however, point Jaime to the counter where a friendly Finnish guy lent her his phone, though the phone number didn’t work. Cold, it being -2 degrees and snowing outside, hungry, with no food since that morning at 7, and tired from only a scattered hour or two of sleep on the plane, we retreated to a nearby hotel and, after successfully contacting our tutor and making new plans over Skype, passed out.

A solid 17 hours of sleep later, we made our way downstairs to find breakfast. We were a little nervous at first, expecting minor atrocities such as whole fish and raw potatoes. Ok, that’s not really true, but we didn’t know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised to discover eggs, barley oatmeal, bacon, pastries and fresh fruit. There were also some more odd choices including lettuce, tomatoes and lunch meats and cheeses. We thought our breakfast was going splendidly, having not eaten a real meal in the last 24 hours (breakfast on the airplane) until Elizabeth tried her scrambled eggs only to discover that they lacked a little bit of flavoring. Reaching for the single shaker on the table she then questioned where the pepper was, only to look around the room and notice the solitary salt shaker at every table. Resigned to her pepperless fate, a single tear glistened in the corner of her eye as she abandoned the eggs for granola, yogurt and fruit.

So this is the plan

PLANE

BUS

TRAIN


Yay! :)