7 nation army

Time for another entry...me thinks. Well, last weekend I went on a 24hr trip to Tallinn, Estonia with my good Finnish friend Leena! Great craic! On leaving Helsinki on the boat (after wandering around from the train station vaguely in the direction of Länsisatama, West Harbour!) there were clear blue skies and all signs of the recent storms seemed to have gone; bonus! The evening in Tallinn was really nice, quite peaceful and we basically just checked into our hostel and then went out for some grub and a litre of red wine :D The hostel was shit, quite frankly. Clean enough but the staff were most unfriendly *biscuit-arsed* and we didn't get the room we had booked, instead a mixed 6-bed room which was ok apart from us getting the dodgiest bunk-bed in there and some Spanish dude coming in at like 5am and shining a light on everyone....a bit of a rude awakening, he was probably just looking for his bed, but c'mon!

The next morning we were up and out bright and early and went for breakfast in a nice wee cafe, very cheap too! What Estonians and probably Finns called "rice porridge" is actually what I would call "rice pudding" and therefore really sweet and not what I expected, hmm...

The old town was beautiful!! Highlights included the cathedral (pictured), the town hall square, the castle, the old fortress around the old town and just all the other quaint, colourful buildings and windy streets! We visited one museum: the Museum of Natural History, mostly because I noticed that they had a Penguin exhibition, I love penguins!! Then wandered some more, inbetween stops to re-fuel. By about 3pm we were both extremely knackered and the grey, cold, rainy weather was not helping, so we made our way to Stockmann (i know...) and flopped there for like 2 hours and just chatted! Then it was time to head back to the boat, via the duty free alcohol shop where Leena bought 5litres of Estonian vodka and I managed with a slightly more modest bottle of Chilean red wine :)

Since my last post, I've been at another concert: Eva Dahlgren and Peter Jöback here at the Tampere Talo! My CEO basically had extra tickets and so a group of us from work went; they were great seats too! I really enjoyed the show because they had a brilliant band and a girl of about my age in a great red dress rocking out on lead guitar; I wanted to be her! In the name of live music, I bought 2 more gig tix on pay-day....und zwar 3 Doors Down at Helsinki Ice-hall and Bo Kaspers Orkester also in Tampere Talo!! Both are in November but I can't wait!

I've been loving the Olympics too....HYVÄ ISO-BRITANNIA!!!! GB has just surpassed all of my expectations and for once is displaying a very respectable and decent performance....hmm, that would be what, 19 Golds so far!!! Yessssss! and that puts us 3rd in the medals table behind China and the USA, but in comparison we're just a wee country! hehe! Finland is also doing well amongst the Nordic countries, the best I think! The time difference has been a bit of a pain in the ass when watching, meaning that I'm just catching bits and pieces at work on my breaks and then the highlights in the evenings...

So, 1 very busy week and a couple days coming up, hopefully a nice and interesting weekend and them i'm off to Switzerland on a work trip! very excited about that! watch this space...

Music is my radar

Tja...eine interessante Woche ist sie wohl gewesen! Eigentlich sind die letzte zwei Wochenenden voll mit Musik gewesen und zwar einmal bei Ankkarock in Korso (in der Nähe von Helsinki/Espoo) und dann eben dieses WE bei Suomi-ilmiö hier im Stadion in Tampere! Ich war in Ankkarock mit Laura, Sanna und Matti (und zum Teil Johanna, eine Freundin von Laura) und das war ja toll. Die Hauptsache davon ist dass ich meine Lieblingsgruppe Kent (aus Schweden) zum dritten Mal in Finnland gesehen habe!!! Wunderbar!! Bin einfach die größte Fan :) Dazu habe ich auch Scandinavian Music Group, Hanoi Rocks (schrecklich...), Von Hertzen Brothers und The Hives gesehen! Es hat nicht geregnet und die Toiletten waren rein, wenn man Festivalen ins Betracht zieht ;) Wir hatten wirklich viel Spass und alle fühlten am nächsten Tag wie wir ein Marathon gerennt hatten...so viel frische Luft!

Suomi-ilmiö habe ich mit meinem Team von der Arbeit besucht und wir hatten Glück VIP Tickets zu bekommen, d.h. Zugang zu einem getrennten Teil für uns, wo es Sitzplätze, Baren und leckeres Smörgåsbord gab! Die einzige schlechte Sache darüber war dass man davon überhaupt keinen Blick auf der Bühne hatte und die Musik sogar nicht hören konnte...ein bisschen Schade aber im Endeffekt nicht so schlimm weil wir nur in diesem Teil während der Pausen zwischen Bände usw waren. Sonst sind wir ganz vorne vor der Bühne gestanden und haben viel getanzt! Da hatten wir auch Glück 4 Finnische Bände zu sehen, nämlich PMMP (toll), Popeda, Ismo Alanko und Eppu Normaali (etwas enttäuschend...)! Danach sind wir in Teerenpeli gegangen und später in Bricks (eine Kneipe/Disko), die Beide ganz gut und gemütlich waren!

Ansonsten habe ich meinen Rücken wieder verletzt :( Ich habe ehrlich gesagt die Nase total voll davon. Alles was ich möchte, ist normal trainieren zu können, ist es wirklich zu viel zu fragen? Ich meine, nur 2-3 mal pro Woche (light contact) Thai und 1mal Yoga. Was für Unglück ist das wenn er immer wieder schmerzvoll wird. Ich weiss, ich sollte duchtiger mit den Übungen für den Rücken sein aber trotzdem habe ich das Gefühl dass es wirklich nicht fair ist und es ist so frustrierend. Ich kann deswegen nie ein gutes Rythmus beim Training finden und halt, nie wieder Fit werden. Pff. Mal sehen...

Finnish summertime

Well, as short as it's been so far, summer in Finland has already well surpassed my expectations! It's just been glorious :)...splitting sunshine, pure blue skies, hot sun and lakes that shimmer all shades of pink, red and blue: härligt!

The pictures here were taken from Onkinniemi which is just a wee bit further up the road from Särkänniemi. I just popped down on Wed evening with Laura to observe the sunset over Näsijärvi. Breathtaking...what else can I say. This is the life. Long may it continue.

Scandinavian Road Trip

Nyt minä olen takaisin Tampereella :) ja aurinko paistaa...joka tarkoittaa että minä olen onnellinen!

I'm about to go out for a round of golf at Messukylä but thought I'd post a wee update before doing so. So, after a rainy, busy, brilliant 3 weeks in Scotland spent working, meeting friends and family, trying to relax, shopping, training and having coffee (fika), I set off on the epic road trip back to Finland with Emma and Liz for company!

We left early in the morning from Glasgow and drove down to Newcastle where we took the ferry (27hrs) to Bergen in Norway! Admittedly it does seem a bit Irish to go south only to go north again but so it was ;) The ferry was great, we had a Commodore class cabin with a sea view and it meant we also had access to the Commodore lounge, with big lazy sofas, free tea, coffee, fruit and biscuits! They even had internet but it was so brutally slow I couldn't stand using it!

On arrival in Bergen, we drove off to find our hostel; that was my first endeavour driving on the "right" side, but it was pretty ok. Later-christened "Wanda", my sat nav was invaluable on the trip! She became our friend...and even started having feelings (like being grumpy in the morning) which I thought was pretty cool for an inanimate object!

We spent 2 nights and 1 full day in Bergen, sampling the delights of the local fish market and going up the funicular railway to a gorgeous viewpoint; North Sea on one side and the majesty of the Fjords on the other: stunning! We also visited "Bryggen" which is an old mittelalterisch harbour area, now a UNESCO world heritage site, very nice!

From Bergen we headed north along a hairy, narrow road filled with tunnels and scary oncoming traffic, towards Sognefjord, where we stumbled across an idyllic camp site where we stayed in a wee cabin right on the Fjord side. Emma felt compelled to go for a dip in the fjord which If I'm being totally honest didnt actually think she would go through with but she did! Respect. I mean, we're talking about water surrounded by mountains on which there is permanent snow...couldnt have been too pleasant!!

We then headed south east towards Oslo. We stayed for 1 night in our tent there in Ekeberg camping which was less than delightful I have to say...we arrived pretty late to find a spot next to a road with minimal trees. Thankfully, 2 very kind Swedish gentlemen helped with some hints for our wonky Tesco 3man tent, which incidentally wasn't long enough for me to stretch out in. We had the feeling in Norway too, that everyone is rather starey...all eyes on us tout-le-temps...but perhaps it's the funny steering wheel on the car. hmm. Still. Eventually we just stared back.

In Oslo we met Vidar and Magne (2 friends from Munster!) which was awesome! They both travelled some distance to meet me and my friends, I felt very honoured indeed. It was really cool catching up with them in their home country and having them to take us around Oslo and show us the best parts; the opera house (love it!), the fortress and Vigelands park with all the cool naked statues! I really loved Oslo and found it a very liveable place, it had some really nice residential quarters in the city, just lovely! Of course, you'd need a Norwegian wage in order to afford living there...and a very good job ;)

The next day we quickly visited the Viking ship museum before crossing the border into Sweden! We did so via Kongsvinger and headed for Torsby which is a small town but where I wanted to go because I had read about the Finnish settlements in the area and in the larger "län" of Värmland. So we popped into the tourist info where we chatted with a lovely wee lady (me also in Swedish with her!) who advised us about a hostel etc. We stayed there after a nice meal on the terrace of a restaurant by a lake and the next day went to the Finnkulturmuseum before driving about 10k into the middle of the forest to find the traditional Finnish settlements. It was really interesting. We ate some pancakes and tentatively avoided the "traditional" Finnish delicacy of "Motti " and something else which escapes me right now!

We then started the longest stretch of driving (but quick given the better roads) from Torsby to Stockholm, via Karlstad in order to pop into IKEA for some Swedish meatballs, of course. Emma was driving most of the way so I go relax a bit, it is tiring driving and concentrating so much. We got to Stockholm at about 9pm and found our hostel, which was very nice too. I think the standard of hostels in the Nordic countries is much higher than in other regions, and still not too expensive! Pretty knackered, we had an early night in anticipation of our busy day visiting Stockholm the next day. For me it wasn't hugely exciting considering it was the 3rd time I'd been there in almost as many months! Nonetheless the weather was good and we had a lovely day. In the evening we met Ann-Mari, my Finnish friend who is living and working there for the summer. It was fun and then we crashed! I had to get up at 5am to go for the ferry to Turku the next morning and Liz and Emma flew back to Glasgow that afternoon.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip with great banter! I really don't think I've laughed so much in ages!! Thanks chicas!

En route to and back in Finland

Scotland in the summertime

It has rained since I arrived in Scotland on Midsummer's Eve...seriously, I don't think the weather could get much more miserable...and this is what they call summer, pff. It didn't bother me the first week since I was busy working but since this weekend and the beginning of my official holidays, it's been a bit of joke!! Only accentuated by the fact that the weather has been glorious down in SW1 in Wimbledon, which I've enjoyed watching!

Today I'm cheering for Andy Murray, a fellow Scot and British No.1 (replacing boring-as-hell-Henman) who faces Rafa Nadal in the men's quarter finals. Gutted though because I really want both of them to go forward...watch this space!

On Monday I got 2 wisdom teeth out, it was less dramatic and painful than I had anticipated but now one side of my face is quite noticeably swollen up. I fully believe though, better out than in! At least I won't need to visit Hatanpää any longer...that I can do without! Thankfully my engelchen Agata came through from Edinburgh to visit on Monday and so that took my mind of things for a while, so great to see her and catch up on all the gossip and her life in Scotland, whilst I'm not there ;) wunderbar!

Trying to tie up loose ends and get everything I need for my trip back to Suomi sorted...surely there will be something I forget...invariably!

Kesälomat

So, the time is nigh....summer holidays here I come! Heading to Scotland (sunny Glasgow) on Friday, Juhannusaatto, for a wee stint at "home"!

I am, however, working for the first week in Scotland; mostly with the Scottish Enterprise and a joint international study we've been doing with them, amongst other things.

My wisdom tooth has once again got infected so I will hopefully be getting that extracted next week by Andrew. This morning was reasonably amusing, I had to go to Hatanpää (the public emergency hospital in Tampere) to visit the dentist (Hammaslääkari). She asked in Finnish whether I understood and I told her some and she took that to mean ALL, blatantly, but it was fine, I managed to understand her in the end, I was quite impressed with myself! :D

She took one quick look in my mouth and just prescribed antibiotics. Result.

However, on leaving the hospital building I got a wee bit disoriented and couldn't find the bus stop...so I wandered around for a while, stumbling upon some buildings and a part of the hospital which I later ascertained was the mental institute! That explains the screams I could hear from the buildings, fear! I must say though, the patients have a very nice view, right on the banks of Pyhäjärvi!

Well, 1 day left in the office and then I'm offski! I anticipate missing Finland though whilst I'm away (that is, a sunny Finland, to be more accurate!) and all the wonderful Finnish customs!

Hauskaa kesää kaikille!