What Anders Breivik did, and the reasons why he did it, have not gone unnoticed in Canada. Coming from another Nordic country, we have been asked some tough questions by ordinary Canadians who are utterly dumbfounded that something like this could happen in a region they have come to perceive as peaceful, progressive and internationally oriented.
Since Canada was practically built on immigration and has developed a sophisticated structure of current-day immigration, it seems inconceivable to most people we have spoken with that a 2-3% immigrant segment could cause a rise of the populist right in the scale of Finland or Norway. A dose of Halla-Aho's greatest hits in English has further added to the astonishment, to put it mildly. That obvious hate speech can be freely spread even by MP's in Finland seems to raise quite a few eyebrows.
Unfortunately, we are as much at a loss than the guys over here when it comes to explaining this. Seen across the transatlantic distance, the Nordic nationalist populism looks like a very small group of people, very dependant on the world around them, gone totally bonkers in the grip of some kind of megalomaniac, absurd delusion. That they would spill blood to defend what they see as the "true culture"(whatever the hell *that* means - beer? expensive houses? lottery on Saturday? mandatory military service? meat-eating? passive membership in the Lutheran church? easily sunburnt skin? Who knows!) is just beyond everybody here.
Because the average Finnish populist does not hate merely Muslims but also has issues with gays, feminists, environmentalists, Swedish speakers etc etc, we have to conclude that racism is not the accurate term here. Xenophobia, the deep fear of anything perceived as alien or "other" seems to be closer to the truth. Unfortunately, our history of relative isolation, demands of uniformity and the culture of "no small talk, please" have created a situation where it's hard for us to take the Other's (capital letter intended) point of view, let alone let him into our house for coffee and chat. In this, we have no other option but to learn.
"Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand. Ignorance, prejudice and fear walk hand in hand". Words of Neil Peart, a Canadian. So it's not perfect here either, but they seem to have moved a bit further. We have a very long road ahead of us, but it's the only one there is, if we don't want to enter the deep dark woods and live with the beasts.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Back in Canada: Birthdays and excursions
Leaving the stars and stripes, we returned to the maple leaf on the 22nd. The following day we drove the short stretch from Sarnia to London to stay with our friends Donna and Andy and celebrate their birthdays; in Andy's case, the Big 50. That turned out to be some evening, with lots of new people to meet, Hungarian cabbage rolls to eat, lots to drink and a suitably grand performance of The Horrible "I will never do this again in my life" Hangover in the morning (the latter for just one of us, thank god).
Having recovered enough, we all had a great time at Donna's brother's summer place in Port Stanley, a most charming town by Lake Erie. Joining us were members of their families plus D&A's musician son Dan and his colleague Allison, whose latest solo CD we now have, with autograph :) Do check out www.allisonbrown.ca if you're at all interested in North American acoustic roots music!
Monday was Town Day for us. We strolled around central London (which, it must be mentioned, has a River Thames, a Hyde Park and a Victoria Park, and no doubt a few other namesakes of its older sibling...). Reko found the so far last of his must-have Marvel books, Annu got some new running gear and everyone was surprised when we realized we had been walking for four hours straight.
After days of enjoying our friends' hospitality in their home, we moved our camp to their trailer near the town of Goderich, so it's just us four here at the moment; Donna and Andy will join us tomorrow for the long weekend in Ontario. On the way here we stopped at the stunningly pretty town of St Mary and the bigger but also very picturesque Stratford, home of the annual Shakespeare Festival (as well as Justin Bieber, a fact our boys would rather forget).
Yesterday was another excursion day, this time to the towns of Grand Bend and Bayfield. We had briefly visited both on the previous trip but now we could spend some time in both. Grand Bend is a summertime micro-California, apparently based on beach visitors and related commerce. Fun, sunshine + ice cream were not the only things we got there: one of the boys now has an earring and one of the adults now has a double piercing in one ear... Bayfield, a little way north of Grand Bend, is a different kind of summer town: serene, handicrafts-friendly, thoroughly nice and comes with a great hippie-ish this and that store. Plus there's an extra nice bookstore (The Village Bookstore, what else!) where we found some more literary baggage to take on the airplane. The fine day concluded with a Lake Huron swim (boys) and a very nice home made dinner. It rained heavily during the night (after all the heat it came in necessary) so now we have to figure out if it's mud wrestling or campground swimming today.
Having recovered enough, we all had a great time at Donna's brother's summer place in Port Stanley, a most charming town by Lake Erie. Joining us were members of their families plus D&A's musician son Dan and his colleague Allison, whose latest solo CD we now have, with autograph :) Do check out www.allisonbrown.ca if you're at all interested in North American acoustic roots music!
Monday was Town Day for us. We strolled around central London (which, it must be mentioned, has a River Thames, a Hyde Park and a Victoria Park, and no doubt a few other namesakes of its older sibling...). Reko found the so far last of his must-have Marvel books, Annu got some new running gear and everyone was surprised when we realized we had been walking for four hours straight.
After days of enjoying our friends' hospitality in their home, we moved our camp to their trailer near the town of Goderich, so it's just us four here at the moment; Donna and Andy will join us tomorrow for the long weekend in Ontario. On the way here we stopped at the stunningly pretty town of St Mary and the bigger but also very picturesque Stratford, home of the annual Shakespeare Festival (as well as Justin Bieber, a fact our boys would rather forget).
Yesterday was another excursion day, this time to the towns of Grand Bend and Bayfield. We had briefly visited both on the previous trip but now we could spend some time in both. Grand Bend is a summertime micro-California, apparently based on beach visitors and related commerce. Fun, sunshine + ice cream were not the only things we got there: one of the boys now has an earring and one of the adults now has a double piercing in one ear... Bayfield, a little way north of Grand Bend, is a different kind of summer town: serene, handicrafts-friendly, thoroughly nice and comes with a great hippie-ish this and that store. Plus there's an extra nice bookstore (The Village Bookstore, what else!) where we found some more literary baggage to take on the airplane. The fine day concluded with a Lake Huron swim (boys) and a very nice home made dinner. It rained heavily during the night (after all the heat it came in necessary) so now we have to figure out if it's mud wrestling or campground swimming today.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Michigan, July 15-22: Surviving Camp Heat
We spent the previous seven days at the Outdoor Adventures campground in Davison, MIchigan, with our dear friends and their kids. It was a week dominated by one word: heat. The over 90 F temperatures made certain that hours were spent in and/or by water, if not inside the well air-conditioned cabin. Swimming, wading, splashing and kayaking were all in the order of the day.
Outside of campground limits, we experienced
- the last Harry Potter movie
- a wonderful Japanese dinner with a real Iron Chef (yep, with all the cutlery-juggling and fireworks)
- Laser Tag, first but certainly not the last time for us!
- a bit of fishing (Atte).
It's always heartbreaking when you have to leave good friends behind, but this we had to do today, with some very heavy goodbyes involved. On the lighter side, we did make a deal with certain guys to meet them a year from now - not in the USA, not in Canada nor Finland... Where then? We'll leave you guessing...
We are now looking forward to another friend's birthday party here in Ontario tomorrow! After that we will have a week and a half left and we are not sure how we're going to spend those days, but without a doubt we will come up with something :)
Outside of campground limits, we experienced
- the last Harry Potter movie
- a wonderful Japanese dinner with a real Iron Chef (yep, with all the cutlery-juggling and fireworks)
- Laser Tag, first but certainly not the last time for us!
- a bit of fishing (Atte).
It's always heartbreaking when you have to leave good friends behind, but this we had to do today, with some very heavy goodbyes involved. On the lighter side, we did make a deal with certain guys to meet them a year from now - not in the USA, not in Canada nor Finland... Where then? We'll leave you guessing...
We are now looking forward to another friend's birthday party here in Ontario tomorrow! After that we will have a week and a half left and we are not sure how we're going to spend those days, but without a doubt we will come up with something :)
Friday, July 15, 2011
Some flies in the soup ;)
As we are now in a transitional phase of our trip and nothing much is happening right now, it's time to note that anything that's human is always by default imperfect. Here is our list of things we'd change in North America:
- That the car is king in America is a fact grounded on certain historical developments and vast distances. But it should not make pedestrians feel like trash or lower level beings, which unfortunately is the case most often. Even as we travel with a car, we like to walk (or run, as in Annu's case) around the new places we arrive at, but the sheer absence of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings in many places (and the ridiculously pedestrian-hating streetlights in many others) keep reminding us that getting by on your legs just ain't the local way. We can't help but feel that the culture has gone somewhat overboard in this particular matter.
- Find a way to include taxes in the prices, please. We have learned to mentally add taxes to price tags but it's never that accurate. And it's just more fair to the consumers if they know how much they actually have to pay at the checkout.
- It's not very safe when drivers change lanes at high speeds just like that, without signaling at all. Admitted, we are getting the same behavior in Europe too, but not in this scale (plus it tends to occur mostly with Audis). Also, when you're going to pass, pass. Too often the passer sorta just stays at the passees side and the traffic behind this pair piles up. Find that gas pedal, there is one!
- Too many commercials on television! Us boys in the family even gave up watching the MLB All-Star game because the broadcast time had more insurances, food and cars than sport. Urgh. Bautista rules, though, let's keep that very clear :)
That's the top list, really, so not much in the end... but this, of course, is the visitor's view. If we lived, worked and went to school here, we might come up with a few more, maybe. Before we would get used to everything and start to think that things are funny in other countries, that is.
- That the car is king in America is a fact grounded on certain historical developments and vast distances. But it should not make pedestrians feel like trash or lower level beings, which unfortunately is the case most often. Even as we travel with a car, we like to walk (or run, as in Annu's case) around the new places we arrive at, but the sheer absence of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings in many places (and the ridiculously pedestrian-hating streetlights in many others) keep reminding us that getting by on your legs just ain't the local way. We can't help but feel that the culture has gone somewhat overboard in this particular matter.
- Find a way to include taxes in the prices, please. We have learned to mentally add taxes to price tags but it's never that accurate. And it's just more fair to the consumers if they know how much they actually have to pay at the checkout.
- It's not very safe when drivers change lanes at high speeds just like that, without signaling at all. Admitted, we are getting the same behavior in Europe too, but not in this scale (plus it tends to occur mostly with Audis). Also, when you're going to pass, pass. Too often the passer sorta just stays at the passees side and the traffic behind this pair piles up. Find that gas pedal, there is one!
- Too many commercials on television! Us boys in the family even gave up watching the MLB All-Star game because the broadcast time had more insurances, food and cars than sport. Urgh. Bautista rules, though, let's keep that very clear :)
That's the top list, really, so not much in the end... but this, of course, is the visitor's view. If we lived, worked and went to school here, we might come up with a few more, maybe. Before we would get used to everything and start to think that things are funny in other countries, that is.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Newport to Central Pennsylvania, July 11-13
Moving camp from Lowell/Salem to Newport, R.I. was the shortest transition of the trip. Only in distance, though, because culturewise we might just as well have been transferred to the French Riviera.
Newport has always been an area with wealth, it seems. Some of the riches have beem shamefully created - it was a slave trade center in its earliest days - but for the past 200 years the town has been a summer playground for those who have the wallet to buy a piece of the heavenly scenery. Us regular folks have dutifully followed to populate the beaches and walkways.
We enjoyed the stunning views on the Cliff Walk, a 5,5 km track that snakes along the steep cliffside on the coastline. The view to one side was nature-made, a vast, awe-inspiring panorama of the Atlantic. To the other side are the famous Newport Mansions, most of them about a hundred years old and testament to the fact that for many rich folks out there, too much just ain't enough. Not that the mansions are not beautiful and impressive, they are, and well worth seeing. Bellevue Avenue is the main street in the mansion area and as the name suggests, there is something very non-American and Mediterranean about it (except for the XL sizes, of course). But just mowing the lawn has to be a full day job so we'd rather pass ;)
Since we were on the move already in the morning, we saw the thick morning fog swirl and give way to cloudless sunshine, a spectacle freely offered. The rest of the day was then well spent in Easton's Beach where the boys finally had their fill of splashing about in the waves for hours on end.
Moving on, we are now on our way to Michigan, over 800 miles to go in all. Stage 1 was completed yesterday in the tiny town of Cobbleskill, NY where the huge but gentle hills are complemented by very nice folks. We did a cavern tour first this morning and set off to the west again. Result: eight hours in the car, with Annu driving across the almost entire Appalachian Mountains! Huge views, very snaking roads and moments of will-this-never-end near-desperation... but here we are now, in Bellefonte, PA for an overnight stay in a nice motel. Tomorrow's theme: let's keep on the Interstate! We have had our share of backroads navigation for a while, thanks so very much.
Newport has always been an area with wealth, it seems. Some of the riches have beem shamefully created - it was a slave trade center in its earliest days - but for the past 200 years the town has been a summer playground for those who have the wallet to buy a piece of the heavenly scenery. Us regular folks have dutifully followed to populate the beaches and walkways.
We enjoyed the stunning views on the Cliff Walk, a 5,5 km track that snakes along the steep cliffside on the coastline. The view to one side was nature-made, a vast, awe-inspiring panorama of the Atlantic. To the other side are the famous Newport Mansions, most of them about a hundred years old and testament to the fact that for many rich folks out there, too much just ain't enough. Not that the mansions are not beautiful and impressive, they are, and well worth seeing. Bellevue Avenue is the main street in the mansion area and as the name suggests, there is something very non-American and Mediterranean about it (except for the XL sizes, of course). But just mowing the lawn has to be a full day job so we'd rather pass ;)
Since we were on the move already in the morning, we saw the thick morning fog swirl and give way to cloudless sunshine, a spectacle freely offered. The rest of the day was then well spent in Easton's Beach where the boys finally had their fill of splashing about in the waves for hours on end.
Moving on, we are now on our way to Michigan, over 800 miles to go in all. Stage 1 was completed yesterday in the tiny town of Cobbleskill, NY where the huge but gentle hills are complemented by very nice folks. We did a cavern tour first this morning and set off to the west again. Result: eight hours in the car, with Annu driving across the almost entire Appalachian Mountains! Huge views, very snaking roads and moments of will-this-never-end near-desperation... but here we are now, in Bellefonte, PA for an overnight stay in a nice motel. Tomorrow's theme: let's keep on the Interstate! We have had our share of backroads navigation for a while, thanks so very much.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Bewitched in Massachussets, July 8-10
Moving down from Maine, the last two days have been in Massachussets. We are staying in Lowell, at the U. of Mass. Conference Center, a very affordable and very nice place that also serves as a hotel. Lowell itself has also given a very good impression of itself - the place has an interesting history in American industrial life and its ups and downs. Also, there's a pink / violet / purple colored house on sale nearby and Annu has kind of set her eyes on that. The only obstacle is the million dollars we don't currently have...
Also worth mentioning is the cool and friendly Mr. Jalopeno restaurant on Merrick. The food was real Mexican, very good, and the margarita pitcher they brought to the table was... huge. Que the helpless giggles and next mornings omg's.
Yesterday was dedicated to Salem and its history of Puritan settlement and, of course, the witch trials of 1692-93. It was a beautiful day, the people were fab and the past was present, but... Us adults felt that modern-day Salem may have gone a bit overboard with the tourist industry thing. Everything came with a price tag, naturally, but on top of that everything was 101% neat, with a slight movie set feel. But hey, let's not be too picky: the town is obviously doing well and the lessons of the past have been heeded. Plus, the boys liked the place a lot :)
Today Annu will only have to drive for about two hours. Newport, Rhode Island is only a 100 miles south from Lowell, so we will be there in no time.
Also worth mentioning is the cool and friendly Mr. Jalopeno restaurant on Merrick. The food was real Mexican, very good, and the margarita pitcher they brought to the table was... huge. Que the helpless giggles and next mornings omg's.
Yesterday was dedicated to Salem and its history of Puritan settlement and, of course, the witch trials of 1692-93. It was a beautiful day, the people were fab and the past was present, but... Us adults felt that modern-day Salem may have gone a bit overboard with the tourist industry thing. Everything came with a price tag, naturally, but on top of that everything was 101% neat, with a slight movie set feel. But hey, let's not be too picky: the town is obviously doing well and the lessons of the past have been heeded. Plus, the boys liked the place a lot :)
Today Annu will only have to drive for about two hours. Newport, Rhode Island is only a 100 miles south from Lowell, so we will be there in no time.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Burlington to Bangor, July 3-7
Burlington to Bangor
After the great time we had in Ottawa, it was with a touch of sadness we left the Canadian capital for the USA. At the border we were given unexpected and very useful Maine travel advice by the nicest border guard you'd ever meet, so our welcome to the US was very warm indeed.
But before Maine we spent some very warm days in the town of Burlington, Vermont. Beautiful place and nice people. Our arrival happened on July 3 so imagine our surprise when the fireworks began some ways away but visible from the hotel room window, nicely accompanied by a lightning storm on the other side of town!
Turned out Burlington had decided to celebrate the 4th on the 3rd because it was a Sunday! Initially disappointed for missing all the parades and hoopla, we were eventually glad to spend the fourth wandering the town in peace and quiet. And Make found a neat and ultra friendly Apple store where he got the iPad this is being written on - here's a good one for the great people at Small Dog Electronics!
Yesterday was Annu's big effort, driving from Burlington to Bangor, Maine where we now are. It took about eight hours in all (these low speed limits in the US are maddening) but she got us all here safely. And the scenery, the huge mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire, were just stunning.
Today has been Hot Times in Bangor Day: heat and more heat that finally broke in thunder and downpour. The town is not the prettiest around but the people are nice, the picnic at the riverfront was fun and WE SAW STEPHEN KING!!!
Make and Annu being King fans, it was a must to try and find the home of the master. With the kind help from a local, we dared the heat and made the pilgrimage. And when taking a few polite pics of his neat house, the man himself drove into the yard in an ordinary little car, got out, walked across the yard in deep thought and went in. We registered him in awed silence and walked away feeling somewhat blessed ;)
Tomorrow it's time for nature in the Acadia National Park, and the next day we'll be moving on to dive into witch hunt history in Salem, Massachussets... Can't wait for that one...
Cheers all!
After the great time we had in Ottawa, it was with a touch of sadness we left the Canadian capital for the USA. At the border we were given unexpected and very useful Maine travel advice by the nicest border guard you'd ever meet, so our welcome to the US was very warm indeed.
But before Maine we spent some very warm days in the town of Burlington, Vermont. Beautiful place and nice people. Our arrival happened on July 3 so imagine our surprise when the fireworks began some ways away but visible from the hotel room window, nicely accompanied by a lightning storm on the other side of town!
Turned out Burlington had decided to celebrate the 4th on the 3rd because it was a Sunday! Initially disappointed for missing all the parades and hoopla, we were eventually glad to spend the fourth wandering the town in peace and quiet. And Make found a neat and ultra friendly Apple store where he got the iPad this is being written on - here's a good one for the great people at Small Dog Electronics!
Yesterday was Annu's big effort, driving from Burlington to Bangor, Maine where we now are. It took about eight hours in all (these low speed limits in the US are maddening) but she got us all here safely. And the scenery, the huge mountains in Vermont and New Hampshire, were just stunning.
Today has been Hot Times in Bangor Day: heat and more heat that finally broke in thunder and downpour. The town is not the prettiest around but the people are nice, the picnic at the riverfront was fun and WE SAW STEPHEN KING!!!
Make and Annu being King fans, it was a must to try and find the home of the master. With the kind help from a local, we dared the heat and made the pilgrimage. And when taking a few polite pics of his neat house, the man himself drove into the yard in an ordinary little car, got out, walked across the yard in deep thought and went in. We registered him in awed silence and walked away feeling somewhat blessed ;)
Tomorrow it's time for nature in the Acadia National Park, and the next day we'll be moving on to dive into witch hunt history in Salem, Massachussets... Can't wait for that one...
Cheers all!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Canada Day at Ottawa
When we booked our trip so that we would be in Ottawa for Canada Day, we had no idea William and Kate would be there on their first trip abroad as a royal married couple.
Make no mistake: Canadians have not severed the ties to the mother empire. If they had, we would not have been nearly smothered by about 300 000 loyalist Canadians who all braved the heat to get a glimpse of the rulers-to-be as they arrived on Parliament Hill with all the necessary pomp and circumstance (and about half of the Canadian Air Force).
Did we see them? Yes, on the giant screen - they passed us maybe only 20 meters away but the wall of humanity between us and HRHs effectively blocked the live view.
It was fun all the same, and as the day ended with a big concert and fireworks, we could not but notice the total absence of drunks and troublemakers in the vast crowd. Ottawa remains an elegant, friendly and warmhearted city that is as nice and cozy as a major capital can be. We will miss it when we leave on Sunday.
Make no mistake: Canadians have not severed the ties to the mother empire. If they had, we would not have been nearly smothered by about 300 000 loyalist Canadians who all braved the heat to get a glimpse of the rulers-to-be as they arrived on Parliament Hill with all the necessary pomp and circumstance (and about half of the Canadian Air Force).
Did we see them? Yes, on the giant screen - they passed us maybe only 20 meters away but the wall of humanity between us and HRHs effectively blocked the live view.
It was fun all the same, and as the day ended with a big concert and fireworks, we could not but notice the total absence of drunks and troublemakers in the vast crowd. Ottawa remains an elegant, friendly and warmhearted city that is as nice and cozy as a major capital can be. We will miss it when we leave on Sunday.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Toronto, day 3
Mostly sunny and very warm, cooler and cloudier towards evening.
Annu started the day with another early morning run. After breakfast a lovely visit to Fort York, Toronto's historical cradle, and then to Beaches for a picnic and yet another bout of comics shopping (Reko at it again).
Very nice in all, and if Jays hadn't sucked against Tigers it would have been almost too nice. *sigh*
Annu started the day with another early morning run. After breakfast a lovely visit to Fort York, Toronto's historical cradle, and then to Beaches for a picnic and yet another bout of comics shopping (Reko at it again).
Very nice in all, and if Jays hadn't sucked against Tigers it would have been almost too nice. *sigh*
Monday, June 27, 2011
Toronto, days 1 -2
After arriving late on Friday evening, we have spent 2 full days doing both necessary and not-exactly-obligatory things. Getting a prepaid local SIM to Annu's iphone was easier than expected, likewise getting Reko out of the Silver Snail with only two vintage comics editions. But spending a day in Toronto Island was almost a challenge, thanks to masses of mainly Chinese people come to celebrate the annual Dragon Boat Race weekend (yesterday was very Indian because of the Indian film industry award ceremonies). We did eventually make it to the island and enjoyed the day, dragon boats, 4-seater bikes and all.
As decent tourists, we have avoided public transport and have used our legs instead. Any Torotonian would say it's madness walking from Queen's Quay to Yorkville twice in the same day, but we never laid any claims to sanity, did we?
We'll close by noticing that Annu has now tested and approved TO`s streets and Queen's Park as suitable to running. The lady just won't stand still, not even on vacation... :)
As decent tourists, we have avoided public transport and have used our legs instead. Any Torotonian would say it's madness walking from Queen's Quay to Yorkville twice in the same day, but we never laid any claims to sanity, did we?
We'll close by noticing that Annu has now tested and approved TO`s streets and Queen's Park as suitable to running. The lady just won't stand still, not even on vacation... :)
Friday, June 24, 2011
Heading West
Hi everyone,
It's now one hour before we drive to the airport and prepare to board the plane that takes us first to Reykjavik, Iceland, and then to Toronto and adventures in both Canada and the USA.
These have naturally been hectic days but Annu has planned and packed for a few days now, using her famous organizational skills, and thanks to her there is practically no last minute panic (except for Make, of course...)
The spring was in many ways a trying one, and we very much look forward to six weeks of Something Completely Different. It's great to meet our far away friends again and we also eagerly anticipate visiting new places and seeing new sights in the northeastern corner of the USA.
That said, we declare the family blog re-opened and welcome everyone to follow our journeys (and inevitable blunders) along the roads and towns of the Western lands for the next six weeks! And here we go then...
Cheers,
Make, Annu, Reko & Atte
Sunday, August 8, 2010
What we did on our vacation: The 2010 Edition
What - summer's over already?! Unfair!
Well, weatherwise summer still very much hangs around. It's been a record-shattering heatwave summer - Virginia heat last year was mild compared to what we've had - and tonight the Helsinki region got a cosmic whopper of a thunderstorm (it's a miracle we didn't lose the electricity). The was even something like a tornado that ripped a big branch off a tree in our yard - and threw it precisely on our car! Because this happened only about 45 minutes ago and it's still storming and very dark outside, the actual damage will become clear tomorrow :( This is very, very unusual for Finland, kind of creepy, really.
Anyway, Make's returning to work tomorrow, Annu has already been working for a few shifts, and the boys go back to school on Tuesday (Reko eagerly, Atte... less so). It will take a while to settle into the routine, because our summer has been a good mix of travel and plain lazing about (in the heat it was sometimes the only thing to do, too). During summer, this has happened:
Love,
The Latvanen Gang
The boys in the beginning of summer.
All us guys in Särkänniemi, an amusement park in the city of Tampere.
Midsummer's picnic in the lakeside park in our home town of Järvenpää.
Annu and the boys reach a high point in the islands...
... and so does Make.
Reko saves the family from the depths of the forest! Hooray! (Notice the humble "I just did my duty" smile on his face)
Safely back home, Annu found a farm selling organic "U Pick" strawberries.
Return of the North Carolina Beach Bum!
Well, weatherwise summer still very much hangs around. It's been a record-shattering heatwave summer - Virginia heat last year was mild compared to what we've had - and tonight the Helsinki region got a cosmic whopper of a thunderstorm (it's a miracle we didn't lose the electricity). The was even something like a tornado that ripped a big branch off a tree in our yard - and threw it precisely on our car! Because this happened only about 45 minutes ago and it's still storming and very dark outside, the actual damage will become clear tomorrow :( This is very, very unusual for Finland, kind of creepy, really.
Anyway, Make's returning to work tomorrow, Annu has already been working for a few shifts, and the boys go back to school on Tuesday (Reko eagerly, Atte... less so). It will take a while to settle into the routine, because our summer has been a good mix of travel and plain lazing about (in the heat it was sometimes the only thing to do, too). During summer, this has happened:
- Travelled around in southwestern and central Finland, including a visit to Make's childhood and teenage years' summer regions in the islands, where Sterling visited in '86. The house is still there and someone seems to take care of it. *sigh*
- Got ourselves lost on a nature trail on said islands; Reko proved to have a bird's sense of direction and saved the day!
- Spent two days in amusement parks (Atte and Make: rides, Reko and Annu: general support, reading and relaxation).
- Spent time on beaches, with boys now swimming truly like fish. Reko likes to dive from a 3-meter board while Atte is more into distance swimming. We keep an eye on him, of course...
- Atte has been practicing his guitar a lot and very much looks forward to returning to his lessons.
- Annu was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid, which fully explained her often exhausted state, hideous heart rate and mood changes. She's been taking thyroid pills and beta blockers for about 2 months now, and they seem to be working nicely (the mood changes are not entirely gone, but that's life, eh?). They say it's not necessarily a for-life condition and it may actually go away for good with the medication, but we shall have to wait and see. Strangely enough, long distance driving seems to work as a therapy as well! In any case, by this time she's improved enough to plan running the 10 km Helsinki Midnight Run about a month from now.
- Make has been working with his current band and they're trying to get live gigs for the autumn.
- The whole family has watched the James Bond movies, in chronological order. We just arrived in the Timothy Dalton films and us adults wonder what we should do when we get to the latest, the Craig/Bond movies... The boys are immense 007 fans and they seem to know all about that stuff. We found a pile of Finnish 007 fan magazines for them and they've studied them as if they were sacred scriptures. It's just amazing how much useless information a young brain can process and hold ;-)
Love,
The Latvanen Gang
The boys in the beginning of summer.
All us guys in Särkänniemi, an amusement park in the city of Tampere.
Midsummer's picnic in the lakeside park in our home town of Järvenpää.
Annu and the boys reach a high point in the islands...
... and so does Make.
Reko saves the family from the depths of the forest! Hooray! (Notice the humble "I just did my duty" smile on his face)
Safely back home, Annu found a farm selling organic "U Pick" strawberries.
Return of the North Carolina Beach Bum!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Oops - it's summer again!
Surprise: we’re still here! We really have no excuse for not writing in *nine months*!!! so we will offer none. As for actual reasons – well:
· busy
· harsh and long winter that froze us in place
· work and school
· busy
· advancing middle age; perception of time getting hazy
· constantly exhausted because of too little sleep
· busy.
In Finland, this life period is called The Rush Hour Years, and now we know what that really means. We are very grateful our boys don’t play soccer or hockey or any of those sports that require the parents to do… well, the things that soccer moms and hockey dads seem to do a lot. We’re not made of their stern stuff; we would crack under the pressure… Oh all right, one of us would (and that’s not Annu).
This spring has been exceptionally demanding, especially as it follows a very hard, long winter (with record deep snow). Annu has been working hard. Her job demands a lot and she sometimes feels insufficient – there are limits to one's resources. Or maybe not: somehow she found the stamina and will power to do the Helsinki City Run, an annual half-marathon (about 21.5 km). Turned out 2 days later that she did it with a hairline fracture in her other ankle. Gutsy woman.
Make has found himself getting mixed up in various projects that should take Finland's government web services to a new level. It's exciting but at the same time there are all the risks that go with doing things for the first time. The results will be visible in late October, and since the projects have already been dragging on for a year now, the tolerance for living with constant uncertainty is getting a bit thin in places. But if everything eventually works right, something good will have been accomplished.
Reko played chess and read these huge Lord of the Rings / Harry Potter fantasy novels throughout the school year, and Atte has started with his guitar lessons. That's electric guitar, to be precise, and we're happy to report he hammers out AC/DC, Judas Priest and Metallica riffs very convincingly already. That boy just loves his Stratocaster and would take it to bed with him if it wasn't risky for the instrument. Both boys are doing excellently in school, by the way.
This summer us adults will only have about 1,5 weeks vacation time together, and our summer travels will be in Finland. We also try to save up a bit so we can come to USA and Canada again in summer 2011. We already have the basic plan figured out: drive (Annu drives, that is – she got the hang of American highways last year) the Atlantic coastline north from New York, all the way to Maine and there cross over to Canada where, we hear, will be a special birthday we have promised to attend :) Then to the UP in Michigan, and then around the Great Lakes' western shores in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois (perhaps see Chicago) and then into Michigan from the South.
2013 it'll be Vancouver, BC, and Seattle, WA, and in 2015 the classic NY-LA trek. We've got a huge map of North America in our dining room so we can trace out possible routes and mark the traveled ones. So yeah, we will be around...
August 2009: Cat muffins and jello cats for the cats' birthday -it's a tradition already, and we usually serve something vaguely American for the occasion.
Reko the Vampire at Halloween. Notice grand aunt Ghastly's portait,
straight from the Past Tense country store :)
Make recording the drum parts for the new band's demo on Dec. 5. You can listen to the results at http://maihinnousu.net/altidude. The latter is the band's name, duh.
Christmas Eve, the main cemetary in Helsinki. Annu with the boys lightning candles for the ones gone before us. Jack was lovingly remembered, as were Annu's late father and others now absent.
The absurd masses of snow this winter don't really come through in this picture, but otherwise it's so Finnish: snowy trees, cross-country skis, and the mandatory Nokia cell phone. Annu demonstrates the correct style of conversing while not letting the ski poles drop.
February 13, Make's 44th birthday and we're in Stockholm, Sweden. No hurry that day, because the birthday boy managed to hurt his back and we did the day very, very slowly... which was nice, for a change.
Our traditional Easter window, the 2010 model.
The Wonder Woman getting ready to do the half-marathon. Notice the manic gleam in the eyes - everything you've heard about running being addictive is 100% true.
...and spring finally arrived for good in early May. The slightly solemn faces are because the boys were told to put away the pc games and books and go outside 'cause it's wonderful out there and you'll need the oxygen and so on and so on. But they loved it, really.
Almost summer.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Beautiful days flashed by...
...and it was the last days of summer, again. The annual routines and ceremonies are there but it feels a bit different this year, because of the long summer out of the country.
The annual blackcurrant day. This year the yield was the best so far, and with Annu such a fast picker, the berryfest continued late into the night with jams and purees and stuff... There's also a few litres of blackcurrant liqueur in the making - now there's a good reason to wait for the xmas holidays :)
With the start of the school year Reko has come to face the fact that the Finnish 3rd grade is a leap forward from the 2nd. Homework must really be worked with, there's no casual "just taking care of it" anymore. And the school days are longer, too, which is not a bad thing - less time to get bored ;-) His first foreign language at school turned out to be English after all. Reko's own choice was French but there were too few kids to get a group started. He was disappointed at first but got over it fast and says he now enjoys English a lot.
Atte still has it easier this year, and plays with other kids a lot. He hasn't touched the drums a lot after we came back but spends time with his synthesizer instead. Atte retraces our American travels in Google Earth and shows his friends pics and videos of the huge American rollercoasters (not that he actually rode them all...).
The first morning of the school year, with the boys modeling T-shirt styles from across the ocean.
With Annu back at work it's basically full steam ahead for the whole bunch. In Canada we decided to become better people (us adults at least). Consequently, Annu has now promised both to run a half marathon and yell less to the kids, while Make has enrolled in an all-male yoga class; the "yoga for geezers" thing is getting bigger year by year.
The boys will try their sporting selves again, this time with floorball, which is pretty big in Europe. Time will tell if they want to stick with it.
Time flies and we all have lots to do. We have started making more detailed plans for North America 2011, and if everything works out right, we all may be in for a few things worth waiting for... but that's for later.
The cats were so well taken care of by our friends & neighbors during summer that they hardly noticed our return. They are doing great and send a big purr to everyone who helped!
So yeah, right...
...we all got one of those neo-retro hippie tie dyes. We are so, like, peace and love and everything, anyway, eh ;-)
The annual blackcurrant day. This year the yield was the best so far, and with Annu such a fast picker, the berryfest continued late into the night with jams and purees and stuff... There's also a few litres of blackcurrant liqueur in the making - now there's a good reason to wait for the xmas holidays :)
With the start of the school year Reko has come to face the fact that the Finnish 3rd grade is a leap forward from the 2nd. Homework must really be worked with, there's no casual "just taking care of it" anymore. And the school days are longer, too, which is not a bad thing - less time to get bored ;-) His first foreign language at school turned out to be English after all. Reko's own choice was French but there were too few kids to get a group started. He was disappointed at first but got over it fast and says he now enjoys English a lot.
Atte still has it easier this year, and plays with other kids a lot. He hasn't touched the drums a lot after we came back but spends time with his synthesizer instead. Atte retraces our American travels in Google Earth and shows his friends pics and videos of the huge American rollercoasters (not that he actually rode them all...).
The first morning of the school year, with the boys modeling T-shirt styles from across the ocean.
With Annu back at work it's basically full steam ahead for the whole bunch. In Canada we decided to become better people (us adults at least). Consequently, Annu has now promised both to run a half marathon and yell less to the kids, while Make has enrolled in an all-male yoga class; the "yoga for geezers" thing is getting bigger year by year.
The boys will try their sporting selves again, this time with floorball, which is pretty big in Europe. Time will tell if they want to stick with it.
Time flies and we all have lots to do. We have started making more detailed plans for North America 2011, and if everything works out right, we all may be in for a few things worth waiting for... but that's for later.
The cats were so well taken care of by our friends & neighbors during summer that they hardly noticed our return. They are doing great and send a big purr to everyone who helped!
So yeah, right...
...we all got one of those neo-retro hippie tie dyes. We are so, like, peace and love and everything, anyway, eh ;-)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
In America: Epilogue - and all the delayed pics!
So we're home - well, in Finland at least. The drive from Toronto to NYC took about 12 hours with all the stops included, but it didn't feel that long. Actually, we got to New York itself in about 10,5 hrs but it took us more than an hour to do the final few miles from the Washington Bridge to JFK! In any case, the stunning scenery of upstate New York definitely was worth the trouble!
Annu sets up camp in Adam's Inn, a b&b we heartily recommend if you happen to travel that way :)
Freedom and democracy! Reko decides Lafayette's a pretty good role model to follow.
"...and that's our new summer home you see in the background. Mowing the lawn does take a few hours but otherwise it's very peaceful."
Our appointment with Mr. Lincoln - we made it!
Sun sets over the National Mall and the Washington Monument, view from the upper stairs of the Lincoln Memorial.
Little spacemen! Reko and Atte by the real Apollo 11 command module at the National Air and Space Museum.
Annu and the boys get cooler after a very hot day. The beautiful fountain is by the National Archives main building.
Adam's Inn from the outside.
Been there, done that :)
MICHIGAN (June 23 - July 1)
Back at the screenhouse...
...and back on Jack's fourwheeler. But would you trust a guy looking like that doing the driving?
A Michigan breakfast pancake - Reko is in heaven!
Watching Allison doing great in her softball game, Annu and Reko realize they like this sport! Atte is busy figuring out the score...
TORONTO (July 1-13)
Hello Toronto - it's great to be back!
An appropriate outfit for celebrating Canada Day...
No, it's not Shanghai or Beijing. That's Spadina Avenue, just a couple of blocks from out T.O. home.
Far from the madding crowd, even if the crowd is a metre away. Give Reko a superhero comic book and he's gone...
"Hey, that's our house!" Yes, you could see it from the CN Tower: just a little to the left of the big buildings with a big chimney (that's West Toronto Hospital, actually) in the center of the picture.
Ontario Place had great water slides and Annu and Reko wasted no time to go splashing about!
Casa Loma's annual Renaissance Fair was great fun! Our family was under protection of noble Sir Alan so we didn't need to worry about highwaymen or other villains :)
Marko on steps that look somehow familiar to some people. Hint: there was a picture-moving operation going on this very spot back in 1981. The location is old Ontario Parliament at Queen's Park.
Annu created an artwork on one of the Toronto Beaches...
...which happens to be one of the places we could gladly live in!
But we would not mind the Peace and Love neighborhood of Kensington either, we stayed close by to this area too! Incidentally, you can see the Toronto garbage strike in this picture: notice the overflowing blue trash can!
Well, ok, Cabbagetown would be ideal, too! Annu thought about setting up our own b&b here - now there's a thought...
Splash! After a long hesitation, Atte conquered himself and braved a water slide in Brampton's Wild Water Kingdom. Hooray!
OTTAWA (July 14-17)
The boys admiring the view from Parliament Hill. That's Quebec on the left and Ontario on the right of the bridges across the Ottawa river.
Annu took a photo of the Government building complex while Marko was actually in there meeting his Canadian colleagues.
One of the views from the Ottawa River cruise: lodgings of the rich and well-off by the river. Just hop on your own boat and off to work...
Ottawa Locks at the end of the Rideau Canal; Alexandra Bridge and Gatineau in the background.
...and Annu decidely agrees!
Who's afraid of giant spiders? Not Reko - that's him under "Maman", a landmark sculpture by the National Art Gallery.
Annu and the boys doing some time travel window shopping: Canada's past times are alive in the Museum of Civilization.
MONTREAL (July 17-19)
"Explorez le Quebec"? OK, we'll try :)
A beautiful park somewhere in Central Eur... no, sorry, that's Montreal. Hard to realize you're in North America.
On weekend the major shopping street was closed from traffic and turned into a miles-long outdoor market.
Taking a time-out from walking by the Bonsecours Market.
Wind, finally! The crowd of people on the street are waiting to enter the Bell Centre for a Green Day concert.
Spotting nature wonders in the Montreal Biodome.
Sunset on King's Highway 401, driving from Montreal back to Toronto.
LONDON & SURROUNDINGS (July 21-23)
Look who's riding in the back! We got a surprise treat when our new friends Donna and Andy took us to see how the London, Ontario fire department works.
Camping days: Andy took us fishing on a beautiful little river near the campground.
Annu and Atte at the camper with Chester the dog, the second big and friendly dog we met on the trip.
TORONTO and farewell (July 24-31)
Who's into baseball now?! Our former "Definite NO to spectator sports" Annu had a change of heart with the American national sport, and Atte was into it all the way...
...not to mention Reko, of course :)
Yeah, the Jays' home ground is no mere sandlot. The roof of the Rogers Centre was opened after the ealier thunderstorm turned into a nice night.
Canada's Wonderland! (photo taken before everyone was too dizzy from the rides to take any pictures)
The boys got new haircuts on our last full day in T.O.
Our T.O. home, in the morning light just before we took off on the road.
The car is packed and ready, and so are the boys. Strange how the luggage just multiplied on the road...
Annu at the wheel, with the last of Lake Ontario in the morning sun.
In the US side of Niagara Falls, saying goodbye to Canada.
Last glimpse of the Manhattan skyline. Until next time, America...
Annu's long-distance driving didn't end there either: she and the boys are now in Kuopio for a few days before she goes to work on Friday. Marko is at home instead of work: a respiratory infection got him just as we were returning to Finland. Quite a flight for him, trying not to cough for 7 hours straight... Btw, it's not H1N1, that's confirmed. We've been both amused and bemused at the level of hysteria that swine flu seems to generate in this tiny country's media. Ho-hum.
The jet lag is really awful when you travel this way; from east to west it's nothing because you save a few hours, but this... oh jeez. Only Reko slept at all on the plane, so Saturday went in a haze. On Sunday Annu was surprisingly perky and got all our many bags unpacked and the contents sorted out (you'd never believe how many books we bought on the trip - we didn't!) but Marko was feeling the full blast of the lung infection. The jet lag and the indoor air on the plane definitely made it worse than it would otherwise have been. The boys are still sleeping long hours but they will recover. They loved seeing their neighborhood friends, and we loved seeing how much the other kids like having them back :)
We had a proper scare when the jack adapter piece for the boys' brand new US-bought Nintendo DSi refused to work here! Thankfully, Sterling's assumption that the device can probably handle different currents by itself proved to be true: we only needed to buy a regular European DS charger and it works without any current conversion adapters or such, just plug it right in and charge.
Because we didn't have a computer with a broadband connection at our place in Toronto, the latter entries of the blog have been, as you've noticed, without pictures. Well, we will fix that problem right away, so here's our Greatest Pix for late June and all of July!
The jet lag is really awful when you travel this way; from east to west it's nothing because you save a few hours, but this... oh jeez. Only Reko slept at all on the plane, so Saturday went in a haze. On Sunday Annu was surprisingly perky and got all our many bags unpacked and the contents sorted out (you'd never believe how many books we bought on the trip - we didn't!) but Marko was feeling the full blast of the lung infection. The jet lag and the indoor air on the plane definitely made it worse than it would otherwise have been. The boys are still sleeping long hours but they will recover. They loved seeing their neighborhood friends, and we loved seeing how much the other kids like having them back :)
We had a proper scare when the jack adapter piece for the boys' brand new US-bought Nintendo DSi refused to work here! Thankfully, Sterling's assumption that the device can probably handle different currents by itself proved to be true: we only needed to buy a regular European DS charger and it works without any current conversion adapters or such, just plug it right in and charge.
Because we didn't have a computer with a broadband connection at our place in Toronto, the latter entries of the blog have been, as you've noticed, without pictures. Well, we will fix that problem right away, so here's our Greatest Pix for late June and all of July!
NOTE: Just click on the picture to see it in full size! For some reason the very first picture doesn't seem to work but the others do.
WASHINGTON D.C. (June 20-23)
WASHINGTON D.C. (June 20-23)
Freedom and democracy! Reko decides Lafayette's a pretty good role model to follow.
"...and that's our new summer home you see in the background. Mowing the lawn does take a few hours but otherwise it's very peaceful."
Our appointment with Mr. Lincoln - we made it!
Sun sets over the National Mall and the Washington Monument, view from the upper stairs of the Lincoln Memorial.
Little spacemen! Reko and Atte by the real Apollo 11 command module at the National Air and Space Museum.
Annu and the boys get cooler after a very hot day. The beautiful fountain is by the National Archives main building.
Adam's Inn from the outside.
Been there, done that :)MICHIGAN (June 23 - July 1)
Back at the screenhouse...
...and back on Jack's fourwheeler. But would you trust a guy looking like that doing the driving?
A Michigan breakfast pancake - Reko is in heaven!
Watching Allison doing great in her softball game, Annu and Reko realize they like this sport! Atte is busy figuring out the score...TORONTO (July 1-13)
Hello Toronto - it's great to be back!
An appropriate outfit for celebrating Canada Day...
No, it's not Shanghai or Beijing. That's Spadina Avenue, just a couple of blocks from out T.O. home.
Far from the madding crowd, even if the crowd is a metre away. Give Reko a superhero comic book and he's gone...
"Hey, that's our house!" Yes, you could see it from the CN Tower: just a little to the left of the big buildings with a big chimney (that's West Toronto Hospital, actually) in the center of the picture.
Ontario Place had great water slides and Annu and Reko wasted no time to go splashing about!
Casa Loma's annual Renaissance Fair was great fun! Our family was under protection of noble Sir Alan so we didn't need to worry about highwaymen or other villains :)
Marko on steps that look somehow familiar to some people. Hint: there was a picture-moving operation going on this very spot back in 1981. The location is old Ontario Parliament at Queen's Park.
Annu created an artwork on one of the Toronto Beaches...
...which happens to be one of the places we could gladly live in!
But we would not mind the Peace and Love neighborhood of Kensington either, we stayed close by to this area too! Incidentally, you can see the Toronto garbage strike in this picture: notice the overflowing blue trash can!
Well, ok, Cabbagetown would be ideal, too! Annu thought about setting up our own b&b here - now there's a thought...
Splash! After a long hesitation, Atte conquered himself and braved a water slide in Brampton's Wild Water Kingdom. Hooray!OTTAWA (July 14-17)
The boys admiring the view from Parliament Hill. That's Quebec on the left and Ontario on the right of the bridges across the Ottawa river.
Annu took a photo of the Government building complex while Marko was actually in there meeting his Canadian colleagues.
One of the views from the Ottawa River cruise: lodgings of the rich and well-off by the river. Just hop on your own boat and off to work...
Ottawa Locks at the end of the Rideau Canal; Alexandra Bridge and Gatineau in the background.
...and Annu decidely agrees!
Who's afraid of giant spiders? Not Reko - that's him under "Maman", a landmark sculpture by the National Art Gallery.
Annu and the boys doing some time travel window shopping: Canada's past times are alive in the Museum of Civilization.MONTREAL (July 17-19)
"Explorez le Quebec"? OK, we'll try :)
A beautiful park somewhere in Central Eur... no, sorry, that's Montreal. Hard to realize you're in North America.
On weekend the major shopping street was closed from traffic and turned into a miles-long outdoor market.
Taking a time-out from walking by the Bonsecours Market.
Wind, finally! The crowd of people on the street are waiting to enter the Bell Centre for a Green Day concert.
Spotting nature wonders in the Montreal Biodome.
Sunset on King's Highway 401, driving from Montreal back to Toronto.LONDON & SURROUNDINGS (July 21-23)
Look who's riding in the back! We got a surprise treat when our new friends Donna and Andy took us to see how the London, Ontario fire department works.
Camping days: Andy took us fishing on a beautiful little river near the campground.
Annu and Atte at the camper with Chester the dog, the second big and friendly dog we met on the trip.TORONTO and farewell (July 24-31)
Who's into baseball now?! Our former "Definite NO to spectator sports" Annu had a change of heart with the American national sport, and Atte was into it all the way...
...not to mention Reko, of course :)
Yeah, the Jays' home ground is no mere sandlot. The roof of the Rogers Centre was opened after the ealier thunderstorm turned into a nice night.
Canada's Wonderland! (photo taken before everyone was too dizzy from the rides to take any pictures)
The boys got new haircuts on our last full day in T.O.
Our T.O. home, in the morning light just before we took off on the road.
The car is packed and ready, and so are the boys. Strange how the luggage just multiplied on the road...
Annu at the wheel, with the last of Lake Ontario in the morning sun.
In the US side of Niagara Falls, saying goodbye to Canada.
Last glimpse of the Manhattan skyline. Until next time, America...
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