Writing about web page http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=2436311861522438691
The final part of our trip to Lapland included a visit to Santa’s house in Rovaniemi, dinner in Sweden, and then a long drive back to Joensuu. They must have heard that we were coming as we got a police escort through Joensuu at 2am in the morning to locate Myriam’s house. A short promotional film has been compiled of our trip for your entertainment!
Writing about web page http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/18/scisudoku118.xml
I had been in England for less than 24 hours when my phone started ringing with reporters from the national newspapers. A press release was made by the university on Monday morning about a colourful approach to sudoku that I have been involved with. Today there has been a small article in the Telegraph, as well as articles in the Malaysian Sun, the Innovators Report in Germany, and the Thaindian News in India. So, wherever you are in the world, check to see if I have infiltrated your newspaper!
We managed a whole 6 hours sleep which was luxury compared to our previous night when we only had 2. Clint prepared the breakfast, and then it was off to the local school in Salla accompanied by Eeva – Erkki’s cousin who had kindly planned us a day of activities.
Shortly after 8.30am, we were in a classroom full of 16 year old students hoping to improve their English. We introduced our five countries and then we talked about the University of Joensuu, because we had been instructed by Anton that we should do some publicity for the university on our trip. (On our return we convinced a director of the university that they should fund international students on future trips like ours to do publicity for the university!)
The school we visited were actually having an international day and the next event was a music concert of music from around the world. After their performance, we infiltrated the stage and took over the instruments. Luckily we had the talented Anya with us who spontaneously broke into a song, and so the rest of us untalented individuals hummed along to Anya and we each grabbed a drum so that it actually looked like we were ‘the band’. I do not think that Salla had ever seen anything like it… Five people from completely different corners of the world, on a trip visiting a countryside school in Lapland, exuding confidence, laughter and singing songs. And so this is when we decided that we should be called the University of Joensuu International Publicity Band!
After another class of entertaining the students with our humourous introductions to our respective countries, including the suggestion that Finland might soon invade Russia, we had lunch and then made a poster about our visit. If you ever visit this school in Salla, you should find the mark of the University of Joensuu International Publicity Band. :)
The next destination was the countryside surrounding Salla, in particular a house miles from no where, close to the Russian border, near Lake Kolunki, called Majava. In the garden there were a number of huts, one of which was the toilet, and wandering about in the field were a number of reindeer completely uninterested in our presence – similar to those we almost hit on the road! This was the house of Eeva’s husband’s family, now only used as a place of retreat from their house in the town. It was a step back into the past. A giant bear skin hung on the wall, a large collections of old cross-country skiing medals, and an old radio the only entertainment – this was probably the most unique place I had visited in Finland.
One of the huts in the garden was a smoke sauna – the most traditional type of Finnish sauna. A smoke sauna takes two days to prepare, first lighting the fire and then getting the smoke right, I assume so that the occupants do not die from carbon monoxide! Luckily this preparation had been carefully undertaken for us and so all we had to do was go enjoy it. It was great to do this unique thing on my birthday, even if I did smell like a bonfire for the rest of the day!
In the evening we went to a church for yet another carol service. It was very informal as we all sat around tables and sang whilst sitting down. After singing 23 Finnish Christmas carols we were starting to feel our sleep deprivation and began to find even the most simple things quite hilarious. This might also explain the biscuit eating competition when we got home, and the late night animal dancing. We eventually forced ourselves to bed, our faces tired from a day full of laughter – the best way to enjoy my birthday!
They had equipped themselves with thermal long johns, a Finnish map, a bunch of big yellow dudes (also known as bananas), a ton of little orange dudes, a most revered Audi A3 hire car (complete with heated seats), and an infinite supply of creativity. This is the story of their adventure.
The journey north from Joensuu to Lapland was long and slow in the snowy conditions that I had not really practiced for. It was Finnish Independence Day though, so there was not much traffic. When we set off from Joensuu the roads were icy and slushy which was pretty tricky, but once we got further north the roads turned to solid snow which was much easier (and surprisingly faster) to drive on. However, the conditions further north were made more dangerous by the animals on the road. The first time we saw a reindeer crossing the road while Clint was driving was quite scary, as slowing down is a slight issue, and then later on I almost hit a big reindeer by a couple of feet. Luckily this meant that I had to concentrate so much on spotting reindeer that there was no chance I would fall asleep. I also managed to spare a fox’s life too.
After 7 hours or so, we pulled over at a place called Ruka where we spied a ski slope from the road. Once we had found a morning cup of tea, we quickly decided that we should hit the slopes and so we signed ourselves up for a group beginners lesson. Despite it being our first time, we impressed the instructor with our skills—after all, we are the Joensuu International Band, world famous for our creativity and problem solving skills! We also provided much entertainment for the rest of the skiers. I think all of us managed to fall of the ski lift at some point, whilst Myriam managed to ski down the slope backwards, and I performed a 360 spin and stayed on my feet to continue the run.
We were on the slopes until it got dark—which was by 3pm! Then we headed north again, whilst eating the supply of food we had brought including lots of big yellow dudes and little orange dudes. By 5pm we were in Salla and easily found our cabin, which was situated next to another ski slope. We had a wander around and cooked some noodles for dinner, and I drank 3 cups of tea to restore the drought that I had suffered during the day. After dinner we took a sauna, as we had our own in our cabin, and we made good use of the deep snow outside our cabin. By this time, we had been up for over 20 hours and we were getting sleepy, but it seemed that everyone was not ready yet for bed. There was some suspicious cake making going on too.
At midnight I was encouraged to go out with Clint to check out the northern lights. Unfortunately, the only thing we saw was the northern clouds! On returning to the cabin though, it was lit up by candles and as I entered the band were singing happy birthday, the cake was ready and tea had been made! I had not really been expecting to take much notice of my birthday and this was a lovely surprise, but this turned out to be the first of many special events that would take place in the following 24 hours. Thank you Clint, Shujao, Myriam and Anya for making it so special!
(To be continued.) (See some photos.)
I arrived back in Joensuu at 2am this morning from a most exciting and memorable trip to Lapland with Clint, Shujau, Myriam and Anya (the newly formed University of Joensuu International Publicity Band). It was a great privilege to spend my birthday in such a warm friendly group in deepest darkest Lapland. Now I am back I have a long list of birthday messages from more lovely people – and sorry I have been out of contact the last few days – so I hope to catch up with you soon. I am also going to try to write a full report on my jollies in Lapland, which were numerous—and particularly humourous!
I have not been very disciplined in my blog writing this last week, but this is not for the lack of things to talk about. I moved out of my flat on Tuesday, and so now I am staying in Erkki and Paivi’s home where I have been made very welcome and entertained a great deal. There are always people coming and going here, so there is never a dull moment!
On Friday night Clint and I went to a concert at the university that was put on by the choir. It was all in Finnish, but the singing and music was really good. The concert was celebrating forestry, for which the university has a big department, and all the choir were dressed in traditional Finnish clothes of people who work in the forests. After the concert, and after wandering about the town, I ended up in an Irish pub playing scrabble and drinking hot chocolate! :)
On Saturday we went to see the Joensuu basketball team beat their opponents from another part of the country. I never thought my first basketball experience would be in Finland, but at least I was there with an American who could explain the rules to me!
In the evening I went to Ilkka’s Christmas party at his house which involved quite a different concert from the previous night. It was a small gathering of friends which I was privileged enough to be invited to. We sat around eating and drinking (as is necessary at any Finnish occasion) in Ilkka and Sari’s living room with some special entertainment: Ilkka’s band Takauma played a short set of their own songs as we sat bopping away on the sofa. It was really good, so good in fact that I am sure the neighbours were rocking away to the sound of the drums and guitars in the surrounding houses. After the performance, we had the traditional Christmas drink (Glögi) which is similar to our mulled wine, and then we headed to the sauna. There was plenty of light fluffy snow in the garden (the snow goes like that at -10 degrees) and so we rolled about in the snow to cool off in between trips to the sauna.
Also at the party I learnt to make ice lights. Here is what you need to do… Fill a bucket with water and leave it outside for a few hours (or if you are in England you probably need to leave it for a week or put it in the freezer). The water freezes at the surface and at the sides and bottom. Using a knife (which it seems everyone carries in Finland!), cut a hole in the top of the ice and pour the water out. Now with a little persuasion (or hot water) the ice in the bucket will come out in one piece that forms a hollow cylinder. Then a candle can be placed in the hole to make a pretty ‘ice light’.
Today (Sunday) has been different again, because Clint and I took Dr. Lee from South Korea on a tour of the local area up to Koli. Clint organised a university car and we were free to drive wherever we liked for the day – the American and the Englishman as tour guides in north Karelia! Koli was as beautiful as ever, with the lake starting to freeze over completely, and now the surrounding slopes have enough snow we saw many people out skiing.
We rushed back to Joensuu to catch the university choir performing at the main church in the city. I was surprised this time that they were singing most of their songs in English, and I was most pleased that I was able to sing along to the classics such as O Little Town of Bethlehem and Oh Come Let Us Adore Him. I am sure that Warwick Buddhist Society choir wish they were here! Joensuu university choir sang beautifully as ever (especially Anya!), although some of the hymns were not exactly in the style of Narborough church and their set failed to include (in my opinion) the best Christmas carol We Three Kings Of Orient Are. I hope there will be chance to warble away to this one when I get back to England. :) It seems that I am consistently attending church events whilst I am in Finland – as yet I have not met another Buddhist!
Back at the house we were able to relax over tea and cake – an activity that should be cultivated at every opportunity. The cake, expertly baked by Paivi, was to celebrate the fact that Erkki has secured funding for an international science festival for children (SciFest) – and if SciFest tastes as good as the cake then it will surely be a big success.
