We have now been here in Finland for two weeks and have not yet experienced any temperatures above zero degrees Fahrenheit. At first this was a novelty. It was sort of fun putting on as many layers as possible, bundling up the girls and even laughing at the impossibly cold temperatures. Now two weeks in the novelty has worn off and we are just feeling cold! We are well prepared and have all the warm weather gear that the Finns have, but there just isn't anything that can make a twenty minute wait at the bus stop much more comfortable. Yesterday when my colleague Annie and I got a little off track (to put it mildly) on our way to a school we were outside for about 30 minutes in negative twenty degrees Fahreneheit. Here's a picture of Annie.
Annie does not have grey hair - that is the frost that forms on your hair just from breathing near it while you are outside and it is so cold. The same is true for the frost you can see forming on her scarf. Poor little Talia had icicles coming out of her nose while waiting for the bus the other day! My water bottle was ice by the time I got to the school! The good news is that today it is only negative nine and looks like by the weekend we will be up in the positive numbers. Perhaps we will even hit double digits in the next few days! We are taking it all in stride and are still having a great time here. I do now solemnly vow to never complain about a Skiff Mountain winter again - unless it is windy on the mountain. The wind up there can sometimes feel worse than the intense cold here.
To combat the cold we often find ourselves snuggling in the bed and reading a lot of books. My friend Dennis jokingly commented that the reason Finnish students outperform Americans is that they have to learn negative numbers from such an early age and have nothing to do but read books because it is so cold outside! Perhaps that is true. Adam is feeling a little cooped up and is dying to get the girls out to a park to play, but with the cold temperatures that isn't going to happen any time soon. They get out to play every day at school so they are getting enough exercise; he is getting a little cabin fever by being inside with them on most afternoons after school.
Last weekend we went to our first Finnish birthday party for my mentor's six-year-old daughter. Cake is traditionally served at parties, but they opted to do an ice cream bar with homemade ice cream.
The girls loved the ice cream and decorating it with small umbrellas and pinwheels. In fact, they both had two servings - one in a cup and one in a cone. We sang Happy Birthday in Finnish, English and Chinese and everyone seemed to have a great time. Olli sent us home with some strawberries and raspberries he had picked over the summer that were frozen. The girls devoured the strawberries in one sitting and Adam had no trouble polishing off the raspberries very quickly. I had hoped to try some, but I missed the boat by being at work!
One thing I did not expect to do while in Finland was to play laser tag. However, thirteen other people from NMI were heading out to play last Friday after work and Annie and I decided to tag along. "Work" on Friday really started to wind down around 2:00 when the sparkling wine (champagne) club mets in the nearby lounge. Annie and I heard the corks popping from our desks and saw a group of people walking around with champagne flutes. We stopped in to say hi and see what was going on. Just after everyone tried their champagne it was time to depart for laser tag. We made it out to Prison Island and played two exciting games. Annie and I ended up on the red team with three other NMI colleagues (including the boss!) and we ended up victorious each time! It was a lot of fun and I'd definitely go again. This was part of one research team's belated Christmas celebration but it was so nice that we were invited along. We were told at Fulbright orientation to "say yes" when invited to try new things and Annie and I are doing our best to embrace that at Niilo Maki Institute. It's such a great work environment and everyone has been so helpful and friendly. It's easy to say yes to such fun things.
Coming up this weekend is a gathering at fellow Fulbrighter Patrick's house. The whole Jyvaskyla crew (five of us plus families/spouses) will gather for pastries and coffee on Sunday. Next week I'm off to Helsinki for three days without the family to attend Fulbright Finland orientation. I have signed up to audit a class, International Perspectives on Special Education, and have a few more school visits set up for February and March. Adam has joined a gym and enjoys getting to work out each morning after he drops off the girls at school. We are even going to meet for lunch today before he has to pick them up! The girls are great. They have asked some great questions and their observations are so different than ours. Tea has noticed that the escalators move faster than in the United States and she also noted that our shadows look blue here in Finland because of the light. Last night I caught her running around the house and counting in English...except she has started saying "tree" instead of "three" and many of her other numbers were coming out with the British/Finnish accent her classmates and teachers have. Perhaps she will come home with this accent but I'd prefer that she learn some Finnish! Both girls have asked about the young children that are walking by themselves. Children as young as about eight or nine take the city bus by themselves and walk to school alone. They are not used to seeing kids without parents walking to school or walking in town. They think it is so strange to see kids not much older than them walking freely without a grown up. They also think it is really strange to have to pay to use the potty. In the library it costs 20 cents (in Euros) to use the toilet on the first floor (I believe on other floors it is free if you ask for the key). However, at the Forum, the small mall in the center of Jyvaskyla, Talia desperately needed to go and it cost €1! That's more than a dollar to just use the toilet!
I may have misunderstood something, but the door wouldn't open at first and then I put 1Euro in the little machine and the door opened, so I paid a Euro for her to pee! That was quite pricey...but much better than an accident! On Sunday night we explained the allowance system to the girls since they will start getting their own spending money and Talia said she could use her euros to go to the potty. We assured her that mommy and daddy would keep paying for the potty and she could use her euros for something a little more exciting than a trip to the bathroom!
Stay tuned for more pictures and updates!
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