Hi Everyone! Sorry for the late post. This week has been pretty busy. I've been doing a ton of math, but I'm not sure how productive it's been. I finally had an idea for the problem I'm working on, but the constants keeping going to infinity (math geeks will know how annoying that is). Anyway, lets see what has happened this week.
Well, for one thing, it's been snowing ALOT. There's about a foot on the ground now and it's supposed to continue snowing until sunday, when it will be -25C and therefore too cold to snow. I'm quite proud of my biking skills. My bike, which I've dubbed "The Dingo" is not at all suited to deep snow. It has road tires and metal fenders. You might ask, what difference do metal fenders make? A big one. Today, after leaving my bike outside for a few hours, I found that the wheels were completely immovable. At first I thought the cassette or freewheel had broken, but they appeared ok. Finally I realized that snow had been caught between the tires and the fenders, and since the fenders are metal, the snow had frozen into ice, which had frozen to the tires. Thus, the bike would not move an inch. At the time, I was outside a coffee shop in the city center. Around the corner was the pedestrian mall, which has a heated street (yet another awesome thing about finland). So I lay the bike on its side on the sidewalk, and went to have another coffee. My bike was not stolen for two reasons. A) Nobody steals bikes in Jyväskylä (welfare state + university = no poor people = no bike theft) and B) there is a lock built into my bike which immobilizes the rear wheel. Anyway, after the extra coffee everything had melted nicely and I was off again.
I had dinner with the italians tonight. I thought, "wow, I better impress them with my food skills," so I baked a loaf of focaccia bread this morning (using only a water glass and soup spoon for measuring!) and bought a nice bottle of Chianti. So I was a little disappointed to find them using bottled generic pasta sauce! It was not so yummy. My bread was good though, and they were impressed.
My "buddy program" on tuesday went well. We were supposed to have 4 Finns and 4 Foreigners, but it ended up being 2 Finns and 4 Foreigners. Alas. We went for pizza after the meeting. I should say here, in Finland every pizzeria is more than just a pizzeria. It is also a kebab joint and mexican place. That is to say, no restaurant here (except Soppa Baari) seems to sell just one kind of food. They all feel the need to branch out in strange directions. And the name and atmosphere DON'T always indicate the best food. For example, the pizza at Pizza Maria is pretty terrible, but the kebab is good. However, at Sabor Latino, you don't want to get a burritto without a side of Pepto, but the pizza is decent. I think I'll stick to cooking my own meals.
Well, for one thing, it's been snowing ALOT. There's about a foot on the ground now and it's supposed to continue snowing until sunday, when it will be -25C and therefore too cold to snow. I'm quite proud of my biking skills. My bike, which I've dubbed "The Dingo" is not at all suited to deep snow. It has road tires and metal fenders. You might ask, what difference do metal fenders make? A big one. Today, after leaving my bike outside for a few hours, I found that the wheels were completely immovable. At first I thought the cassette or freewheel had broken, but they appeared ok. Finally I realized that snow had been caught between the tires and the fenders, and since the fenders are metal, the snow had frozen into ice, which had frozen to the tires. Thus, the bike would not move an inch. At the time, I was outside a coffee shop in the city center. Around the corner was the pedestrian mall, which has a heated street (yet another awesome thing about finland). So I lay the bike on its side on the sidewalk, and went to have another coffee. My bike was not stolen for two reasons. A) Nobody steals bikes in Jyväskylä (welfare state + university = no poor people = no bike theft) and B) there is a lock built into my bike which immobilizes the rear wheel. Anyway, after the extra coffee everything had melted nicely and I was off again.
I had dinner with the italians tonight. I thought, "wow, I better impress them with my food skills," so I baked a loaf of focaccia bread this morning (using only a water glass and soup spoon for measuring!) and bought a nice bottle of Chianti. So I was a little disappointed to find them using bottled generic pasta sauce! It was not so yummy. My bread was good though, and they were impressed.
My "buddy program" on tuesday went well. We were supposed to have 4 Finns and 4 Foreigners, but it ended up being 2 Finns and 4 Foreigners. Alas. We went for pizza after the meeting. I should say here, in Finland every pizzeria is more than just a pizzeria. It is also a kebab joint and mexican place. That is to say, no restaurant here (except Soppa Baari) seems to sell just one kind of food. They all feel the need to branch out in strange directions. And the name and atmosphere DON'T always indicate the best food. For example, the pizza at Pizza Maria is pretty terrible, but the kebab is good. However, at Sabor Latino, you don't want to get a burritto without a side of Pepto, but the pizza is decent. I think I'll stick to cooking my own meals.
posted by Kevin at 5:31 PM
2 Comments:
Wait, there's a Sabor Latino in Finland too?! I had a funny feeling it was an organized international syndicate of foodcrime...
The whole concept of a "heated street" really boggles my brain. Could you possibly take a picture? Do people sit on the curb dressed only in towels and pour water on the pavement to make steam?
Hi kevin, enjoyed your blog...march is the best month in finland. Enjoy!
And beware---people do steal bikes in finland. We've had bikes stolen from outside Ilokivi (a bar on campus, if its not still around), from Kauppakatu near Hemingway's, and from outside our apartment near kauppakatu. To be sure, at least one of these times the bike wasn't locked, and the other two times the bikes were left overnight. But still. So, over the past ten years, we've had bikes stolen in Jyvaskyla and Ann Arbor at equal rates. Still, people in finland can walk past an unlocked bike without feeling compelled to steel it, unlike here.
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