This is the Beauty of Finland

January 7, 2013

Snow fell the previous night, clouds were low in the sky; everything was enshrouded in a frozen, winter mist. The sunlight "danced" in this environment and the snow crackled below my feet.  I took several hundred pictures - spinning in circles, amazed at the beauty before me.  This picture is unaltered; this is what Finland offers to those who spend time with her in the winter. It puts everything in perspective. I’m officially over my confusion/delirium/fatigue/culture shock.  I’m building a life in Finland.  

These pictures were taken in Joenssu looking south from Aavaranta, looking out over frozen Lake Pyhäselka.

The Only Sound in the Room....

January 6, 2013

The only sound in the room is the hum of the heating pipes.

It is 6:15 on Sunday morning, my second full day in Finland. It is dark outside and a streetlight shines through the curtain on my studio apartment window. There are sounds coming from the heating pipes - a flowing sound - the result of the burning of peat in the Joensuu heating factory. My apartment lights are off except for the light on my iPad.  (I really should turn on some lights.) Decorative lights illuminate the dark, snowy streets. There is safety and serenity here, but also loneliness; only my thoughts to keep me company. Conquering this will be my challenge.

I remember last year when I moved from my old classroom downstairs to my new classroom upstairs in the science building in the middle of the year; my seventh period class was having difficulty settling down. I asked them why they were having trouble and they said, “There are new sounds,” “The desks are slanted rather than straight,” and “It’s just different.” It was revealing to me how they were having trouble adjusting, how their brains were processing the new information and how the human brain thrives and calms with patterns; how it thoroughly resists changes. A third of my class rose their hands when I asked how many of them were having trouble adjusting to the new location – and that adjustment was only about changing something small in their life: they still had their friends, their school, their families, their teacher, their everyday life.  Even with all that stability, they still had trouble settling down and being productive.

I think about my own brain right now because it’s having trouble – silly, but true – trouble because everything is so new and I feel isolated. Typically, my life is filled with activities, friendships with people of all ages, many projects and many levels of organization with lots of energy being exerted – all the time. If there is empty time I fill it up. Being in a new and quiet apartment in the dark, far from everyone I know, is new and quite different from my typical patterns. This experience will change me, for sure, and hopefully it will be for the better. If what I learned from my students is true, I should try to build into my life some patterns so that I am more comfortable with the changes I’m going through. I know I need to have patience with myself – I’ve been in Finland less than 48 hours, I have jet lag, I’m adjusting to new cultural norms in a foreign country, there’s a new language and I need to learn how to navigate their world.  Okay, I need to cut myself some slack.

In addition to my research project this semester I want to learn how to photograph the amazing light I’m already experiencing in Finland. I will cross country ski again. I will learn to cook simple meals with Finnish foods that will satisfy and nourish me.  I will have to do these things to thrive and to grow.

So I take stock in what I know is comforting here – the Finns have been kind and generous with themselves and their time and I feel completely safe. The Finnish people, even in their largest airport, seem at ease with themselves and the people around them.  I don’t feel any angst or the need to watch out or that anyone is concerned with my presence other than to be kind and considerate when I approach. They don’t say “Hi” very rapidly, but I do; they seem shy. That’s okay, I feel shy, too.

I contrast my Finnish experience (thus far) with what I experienced in the Los Angeles airport last Thursday – the two couldn’t be any more diametrically opposed. At LAX there were so many people and too little space, and everyone was trying to get their own spot in line; it took many people real effort to remain calm in that environment.  Here, there is ease, at least so far. People walk and even cross-country ski in the darkness without fear, even late in the evening. 

At dawn I walked down to the lake, down the cross-country trail and into the woods toward Joensuu. 

Click here to see the video of dawn in Joensuu.

I saw several parents pulling/pushing their children on sleds, people walking, others riding bikes, people skiing, or walking their dogs. I met several friendly dogs and their owners. I also met some girls in a photography class who were shooting pictures on the lake. It gave me the idea to try and find a photography class - in English – but finding one that teaches in English might be the challenge.

I had two or three conversations with Finnish people walking their dogs. Well-fed, balanced dogs seem to wag their tails and wiggle with excitement everywhere you go in the world. My limited Finnish vocabulary lets me say things like, “Good morning. Do you speak English?” “I speak a little Finnish.”  “Excuse me/I’m sorry.”  “Thank you.” “Good-bye.”  “Hello.”  A smile goes a long way when you don’t know the language.

My iPhone shut down during the walk but hopefully it was only because of the cold. (It seems to be working now, inside and plugged in.)

I missed the bus, then took another bus to the city center and tried to follow the path Kari and I took yesterday so I could find the stores I needed. I was largely successful and was able to find many things. I also picked up some bread and soup for dinner. I have enough fruit and veggies for a few days.

On the bus ride home I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss my stop and I ended up pushing the “STOP” button too early; I ended up further away from home than expected.  Oh, well.  Another (longer) beautiful walk and another lesson learned.

Click here to see a video of a sunset in Joensuu

Tonight feels better, probably aided by the amount of exercise I got today and the ability to connect with friends and family on Facebook and email. Bryan said he looked at the Joensuu marketplace webcam to see if he could see me.  I told him I had walked to the little hut in the marketplace with the star on top just in case he was looking. We miss each other and our silliness, and somehow we meet in our minds through the marketplace webcam. (I don’t have Internet in my apartment yet.)

Tomorrow I need to transition to “work brain.” I need to pull out my notes and prepare for my meeting with Kari and his colleagues on Tuesday so we can talk about my research project. Perhaps I should bring my work to the library so I can spend more time away from my apartment during the day. I think it would be helpful to spend more time around other people.  I also need to open a bank account.

The only sound in the room is the hum of the heating pipes.

The Fulbright Adventure Begins!

January 3-4, 2013

In a state of delirium due to fatigue, a cold, and the inability to sleep for the last three nights, I finally threw everything in the suitcase at 9:00 the night before departure and went to bed.  The prep work of getting my students and classrooms ready, my house, my dog and their caregivers ready, and myself ready to move to another country for six months had me living from to-do lists for months. I had nothing left; I only hoped that the planning of the last three months would make up for my inability to form a complete thought at this moment.  At 3:30 I awoke without an alarm, vacuumed the upstairs (See?  Not thinking.) and prepared to leave.  Dennis showed up at 4:30 AM and we left to pick up my mom on the way to LAX.  By this time I had relinquished all thinking to them.

Video: Waiting at the Los Angeles International Airport 

I had two very LARGE suitcases and when we weighed the heavier one at home it read 46 pounds – a relief because the limit is 50 pounds. So why did this same suitcase weigh 72 pounds at the LA airport?  Were the wheels on the ground when we put the suitcase on the scale at home or were we now on planet Jupiter, as Dennis quipped, where there is significantly more gravity? Or perhaps my suitcase became hydrated when I opened it at LAX?  – because of the moisture in the air, you know – water weighs a lot.  My mother warned me against packing too many liquids – that they weigh a lot – and I took her advice – but I didn’t tell her about the four tripods and metal steady cam I also had to pack. Metal weighs a lot, too. (They told me it would cost 200 American dollars to ship my suitcase but somehow they took mercy on me and only charged me 50 American dollars. (Surprise!  There isn't an American dollar sign on the Finnish keyboard. :)

The flight went from Los Angeles - New York City (JFK) – Helsinki and then a turbo prop to Joensuu, Finland.  At JFK I had the pleasure to meet Lucca.  (See Lucca's story here.)

I asked Chris, Lucca’s handler, if he had seen the BBC videos of dogs that had been trained to drive a car.  He said he had.  When I asked him if he was surprised to see that dogs could drive he said, “Not at all; they’re very smart.” 

I called AT&T to shut down (but hold) my phone number for six months and my phone line went dead.  The separation from the U.S. was beginning....

I was “over the moon” excited to learn I had been placed in business class from New York to Helsinki – which means I got a seat that reclined to a bed!  I said to the stewardess, “Are you sure?  How did I get this?”

She smiled, as did a man sitting in business class across the plane; we knew the difference between seats where you had to sleep in a sitting position for 7 hours and the luxuries of this section.  I was elated…then melted into the airplane bed after take off and fell promptly to sleep without dinner.

After a good sleep in my massaging bed-seat I woke up to fresh coffee, orange juice, and a ham and cheese roll. I found my reading glasses, which had slipped behind the console, and listened to some new music on the audio system called “Delay Trees.” I decided to take a chance to find some new music on the flight and it paid off.  I will purchase this album in the future. 

We’re now flying over Norway, one hour and ten minutes from Helsinki in the direction of 103 degrees east. I think this is the same direction that Dennis and I calculated the sun to be rising in Laguna Beach when we took the time lapse pictures last Sunday – a funny coincidence.

There’s a “new” airplane graphic in air travel that shows the jet in motion with the earth, in its daylight and darkness in the background, with the earth spinning in relationship to the sun. I see the relative darkness of the northern latitudes, and how Finland looks to be in a sort of twilight.  

I didn’t get a picture of the graphic but about 120 miles west of Helsinki I saw this out the window:

Early dawn was breaking over Helsinki. There were no clouds above the dawn, just open sky – but this early light was captivating in the northern hemisphere.

I was met at the airport by my Kari Sormunen, my mentor from the University of Eastern Finland, who took me to my new apartment and helped me learn the practical things of Finland - like how to heat my apartment, how to shop in the grocery store, where to find the bus, etc. – all the things that will make my life manageable during my time in Finland.  He is a lifesaver.

My apartment in Joensuu is quite lovely in the snow.  I live across the street from a large lake and a cross-country ski trail. (Pictures to follow.)

Video: First Video of Finland

 

I took a walk out to the lake before going to sleep on my first night in Joensuu; I was richly rewarded with the most beautiful twilight I’ve ever seen. 

(I found out later this probably wasn’t twilight, that it might have been caused by the lights of the city center, which now, since I know where the sun rises and sets, it was.)

Then I slept but not for long; jet lag crept in.  So I took some pictures in my cute little apartment.

Laguna Beach Sunrise - Time Lapse

How do sunrises compare around the world?  Dennis Grice and I took this time lapse movie in Laguna Beach, California today to record what it looks like close to home.

When I'm in Joensuu, Finland I'll take another to compare.

Laguna Beach is at latitude 33.5 degrees north of the equator.

Joensuu, Finland is 66.2 degrees north of the equator.

I know they will be very different, but how similar will they be?

(I wish I owned a polarizing filter.)

P.S. I just realized that the sun is above the hilltop a little over five seconds as it ascends the sky.  The sky also glows about five seconds before we see it crest the hilltop.  It makes me think about the position of the sun - which was far below the horizon - when it started showing light in our morning sky.

Click on picture to see movie.

A Pause

I woke up to the sound of rain and thoughts that in less than twenty days all the comforts I have grown to love and need will be far away; they will temporarily be replaced by people and sounds and patterns I do not yet know. The darkness and cold will be new realities, too; I've heard the darkness can be quite comforting and its stillness conducive to quiet thinking without distraction. I'm curious to see if I will feel the same way.

But now I lie awake at 3:49 in the morning, relishing the sounds and sensations of my "normal" life, unable to imagine how I will feel when I move to the other side of the world. I'm sure I will love the experience once I'm in it, but right now it's difficult to understand what it is that pushes me to do things out of my comfort zone. I'm driven to do such things, I know, because I believe in working to improve education and I have a great love of adventure, but for now I stay still, simply grateful, grateful for the sound of the rain, the people and life I love, and the comforts of my own home.

A Visit From a Finnish Fulbright Family

(Pictured from left:  Iiris Sydanmaanlakka [16], Bryan, me, Olavi Sydanmaanlakka [father], Otto Sydanmaanlakka [11], and Saana Sydanmaanlakka [14]. The Fulbright Scholar, Marianna Sydanmaanlakka, was taking the picture [see her picture below].) (Honestly, this is not how Saana's neck looks in real life - but it seems to have become so in the virtual world of digital images.  [This image was not Photoshopped!])

Marianna Sydanmaanlakka (the mother in the hat below) is a school counselor in Finland and she and her family are living in Baltimore, Maryland  on a Fulbright grant for 4 1/2 months.  I wanted to extend a little American hospitality to this family so after meeting them at the Fulbright orientation in August I invited them to visit me in California.  This picture was taken during their first trip to the Pacific Ocean.  The entire family danced and spun in the sand and giggled with the experience - and then told Bryan and me we were "boring" because we weren't as exuberant as they.

The Finns will return to their US home (since August) in Maryland tomorrow, and then to Finland in about ten days.  I think they're ready to go home but they've had a marvelous time.  When I met them at the Fulbright orientation in August the children barely spoke English - and now they speak fluently.  The family carries with them so much joy, so much of a sense of wonder, and a genuine desire to learn about other cultures.

I love our new friendship!

P.S. I'll be moving to Finland in 25 days.  :)