Spending time in Oulu this past week was a lot of fun. Five of the six Distinguished Awards in Teaching Fulbrighters were able to spend a lot of time together, and not just talking about teaching and researching. On Wednesday night we were all able to sit down for a while and share our stories and observations, frustrations and triumphs. Five of the Fulbrighters (including me) are based in Jyvaskyla, but we also have two great colleagues in Turku and Helsinki and it is always so much fun to see them and hear what they are learning, seeing and doing. Oulu was unique because Patrick, Meghan and I decided to travel without our spouses and children so we had more time to just hang out and "talk shop" together than we normally do.
Meghan and I explored Oulu together on Wednesday afternoon. We had no predetermined destination, but after four and a half hours on the bus we felt the need to get out and walk. Now that we know that "keskusta" is Finnish for the city center we followed some signs and headed in that direction. We stumbled upon the Oulu Cathedral as we walked around town. This Lutheran cathedral was originally built in 1777 as a tribute to Swedish king Gustav III. It burnt down in a huge fire in Oulu in 1822 but the stone walls remained. The church was rebuilt by the mid-1830's. There is a huge dome and a beautiful and majestic organ inside. It was quite magnificent.
Megan and I continued on our walk and passed right by Oulu Town Hall. We were invited to attend dinner there with the mayor and other VIPs on Thursday night so we were glad it wasn't too far from our hotel and now we knew how to get there.
On Thursday we spent the day at the Arctic Symposium and we were all feeling a little restless after sitting all day. As teachers we are usually on our feet and running from place to place and we are not used to just sitting and taking in so much information all at once. We were eager to get out and walk around some more so we all met in the lobby to head over to Polar Bear Pitching, an annual event happening in Oulu that night. At the Polar Bear Pitch the heads of start up companies are given the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. The winning idea is awarded one hundred thousand euros to invest in their start up. Of course there's a catch: the person has to pitch his or her idea while standing waist deep in a hole cut out of the frozen lake in Oulu. It was a pretty frigid night, hovering around 2 degrees Celsius (around 35 F) and it was raining/sleeting the entire time so it had to be quite frigid in that water. The US Ambassador to Finland, who earlier in the day had set the tone for a very important and serious symposium on climate change, opened the Polar Bear Pitch by strutting into the lake in a white suit and gold tie. He didn't even flinch as he descended the stairs into the pool and welcomed everyone to the event and encouraged all the participants to enjoy the event. Moments later the Canadian ambassador, hockey stick in hand, stepped in the water but she was considerably less poised as she recoiled at the freezing water and struggled to get her words out as effortlessly as Ambassador Adams. We were able to watch several pitches for everything from a butterfly feeder to a music streaming service for gamers. We didn't stay for the entire event but it was certainly a unique experience that I don't imagine I will witness again. Here are my friends Dave, Jenna and Erin cheering on the pitchers!
All the participants in the Arctic Symposium were invited to the Oulu Town Hall for dinner with the mayor and other dignitaries. Were were happy to see Ambassador Adams survived his plunge and was back on his feet and all warmed up. He did let us know that he was certainly happy he was all done having children after that dip in the lake! The Fulbright teachers had some time to talk with him privately and he was so gracious and genuine as he spoke to all of us. He congratulated us on our hard work and encouraged us in our research projects and teaching. He even took a selfie with me!
Before leaving I was also able to speak with Noble Peace Prize winner Dr. Terry Callaghan. He took a selfie with me, too!
On Friday we didn't have to talk any more about climate change and instead took a trip back in time to a stone age village. The Kierikki Stone Age Center is both a museum and active excavation site. During the winter the center is usually closed, but they hosted us for an event on Friday. After learning about the prehistoric history of the area and eating a quick lunch, we walked out to a stone age village where we were set to compete in a tribal challenge.
This tribal chief met us near the village and split us into three tribes. I was part of the fox tribe and we competed against the seals and the deer. He gave us a list of tasks to complete as a tribe including making a birch bark vessel to hold our food, chopping wood using a stone age axe, shooting a deer statue three times, creating a fire in our hut and cooking meat, skiing out to find berries in the woods, grinding through stones to create pendents and creating a snow sculpture to represent our animal tribe. Our tribe quickly broke up the tasks and below you can see my attempt to make a woven basket and my pendent that took quite a while to make as I was only allowed to use a piece of flint to bore through slate.
The competition wrapped up when we completed all the tasks and the chief then tallied up our points to see which tribe won and would be invited to join the stone age village for all eternity. Not surprisingly all three tribes tied and everyone was declared a winner. We were all happy to be able to pack up and get back on the warm bus after being outside in the snow for over two hours but enjoyed our time trying our hand at the stone age tasks.
As soon as we got back it was time to grab the suitcase and set off for the Oulu bus station. I was eager to get on the bus and get back to Jyvaskyla and my family. It's nice to be home but I'm glad I made the trip to experience Oulu. In a few weeks the whole family will head north to Rovaniemi to meet Santa Claus, stay in an ice hotel, try out dog sledding and hunt for the northern lights. I'll be in Jyvaskyla for the next few weeks doing more school visits, attending classes and trying to learn Finnish. We will keep you posted on our adventures.