He Works Hard for the Money

  

Lutheran Church. It's the most photographed site in Finland. I'm just doing my part.

Since my last post, Matt has started working (finally, the bum) and is feeling much better about finishing the assignment now that it's actually started.  So far he's worked one 12 hour day, followed by one 26 hour shift for sulfiding, and then he went in this morning around 11:00 to "finish up".  Or so we thought.  Apparently shortly after he left work yesterday the plant shut down because they had a leak.  Matt went in to inspect it today and he said there is a "huge hole" in one of the pipes, which he can't believe they didn't see during turnaround.  Ahh, such is refinery life.  I asked him if he has ever encountered a refinery that does everything perfectly all the time... he laughed in my face.  

This boat is from Porvoo.  I read it on the back. 

Anyway, nothing much doing for me here.  I've been shopping but not buying, reading but not writing, and exploring without actually finding anything new in town.  I knew this 2 weeks of no work was gonna bite me in the ass!  Matt and I already did everything together, which leaves me with nothing to do on my own!  Don't worry; I'm resilient and I can entertain myself... kind of.  Sunday I went to two different malls to go shopping and get groceries, not realizing it was Mother's Day and EVERYTHING in the city was closed... with the exception of supermarkets, restaurants and flower shops, of course.  Never fear - I window-shopped instead and mapped out my plan of attack for Monday when things were open.  Monday I went back to the same two malls and browsed my little heart out, my favorite store being one with all imported goods from (wait for it:) India!  I never said they didn't have cool stuff in India... though I may have said I didn't want to go back to find it all (and if I haven't said that before, I'm saying it now).  Though I didn't buy anything at Indiska (that might just be the Finnish word for India... it's not.  I just looked it up.) it did give me a much-needed enthusiasm boost to return to India to shop.  After all, if Matt's working hard for his money, he probably doesn't have time to spend it... I can remedy that for him.  

 

I don't know who this is, but he's on top of the Lutheran Church, so he's probably important.  I'm really just trying to showcase the power of my zoom lens.  

After two days of shopping (kind of) I needed a cultural boost and set off to find the Helsinki City Museum, one of the few free museums in the area.  While I did find the building, and while the sign on the door did say "Open" (in three different languages), when I tried the door it wouldn't budge.  I pushed and pulled for a few minutes, but a few minutes shaking and yelling at a door is all it took for me to get embarrassed, and so I moved on.  That museum is probably lame anyway.  From there I went across the street to the Lutheran Church, and this time I actually went inside!  Apart from the pretty amazing domes on the inside and the huge organ, it was pretty plain, and thus I took no pictures inside (also, I'm nervous to take pictures inside a church... you may have been noticing this pattern for some time.  I've been yelled at a lot for not seeing the "no pictures" signs so now I'm pretty cautious.).  I did take some other pictures around town, though, which I will scatter at random throughout this post, as is my custom.  

 

Everyone was taking a picture at this intersection, so, not to be outdone, I did too.

 I walked around some more and then settled on sitting on a park bench to read.  (Side note: we finally got a mail packet yesterday with about a month's worth of mail, including but not limited to four People Magazines which Matt's Grammie got me a subscription to for Christmas.  Amazing.) I was deeply engrossed in a Justin Bieber article (don't worry, I didn't know who he was either) when this guy walks up and asks if he can sit on the bench I was currently occupying.  Why, sure, stranger!  I honestly (and yes, naively) thought he just wanted a place to sit and wouldn't bother me.  After all, I had a People Magazine!  You don't mess with that. Apparently Finnish people don't know that, however, for the young gentleman proceeded to try to start up a conversation by telling me his name, to which I responded (without giving him my own name) "Nice to meet you".  To which he responded "Thanks," which I found kind of odd.  Then he asked if I was waiting for someone, and I said no, but I had to go get my husband soon.  He said "You have a husband?" Affirmative.  After this little exchange he decided to try his luck with "Well, I saw you before and I had to come talk to you."  I hit him back with an "Oh okay.  Um, I have to go get my husband now.  Nice meeting you." And then I left.  What is the world coming to when a girl can't sit outside on a blustery day in a weak shaft of sunlight reading an article about a teen heartthrob and not get harassed?  Also, I was wearing this silly little dress/pants combo (it's the warmest thing I have here) and I was feeling kind of self-conscious about how stupid I looked, and he made it worse.  Thanks, guy.  On to today: the weather has been really nice all day, so I took my second of four Peoples and set out for a nice long walk.  I was sitting by a large pond/small lake reading when I was approached by some older lady shoving a Finnish magazine in my hands.  What is up with interrupting someone while they're reading celebrity gossip?  It's a sacred time.  Anyway, after I explained to the lady I only speak English, she laughed in my face and then walked off.  Another successful day. 

 

Uspenski Cathedral.  It's up on a hill so I didn't bother going in.

That about wraps up my week (so far) in review.  I don't know when Matt will finish with work, nor do I know if we'll be coming back to the usa (I've taken to calling it usa, pronounced like you-sa, these days.  Don't worry, it'll catch on.) between assignments or not.  Well, I know I will be coming back, but I can't speak for my little engineer.   More on my Finnish journey later.  I'll try to do something more interesting before I blog again... but I make no promises.

 

The Art Deco Helsinki train station. I really love these guys on the sides.  Look at their pecs.  

Europarty

Europarty on the Lutheran church steps.

    

So I guess the May festival that I 

spoke of earlier is actually celebrated internationally as Labor Day everywhere except America.  Surely you all knew this already, but someone could have told me.  I thought it was just for the Finns.  Man, they do it up pretty big in Helsinki, though, and probably all the rest of Finland, as well.  The celebration here starts Friday afternoon and goes until around midnight on Saturday night. Apparently in other parts of Europe people use this festival as a platform for staging riots and protests and spouting out political/religious drivel. Not so, here. 

 

Coveralls and white hats.  It's an epidemic. 

The college students have pretty much taken it over in Helsinki, and in true college kid fashion, they like to party.  They all wear these coveralls of varying colors with different company patches on them.  I never really figured them out, but man did I want some of those.   Give me those coveralls and some new white-blonde hair, and I'll look about as Finnish as they come... with just a touch of something else to keep them guessing.  In addition to the coveralls, the students (and just about everyone else, it seems) wear these ridiculous white hats.  And if you're not wearing a white hat and coveralls, you're dressed in some sort of costume, usually of the super-slutty variety (only for girls, of course).  And if you're not dressed up in any way at all, you're a foreigner and you don't belong, so take your big camera and go back to where you came from.  Nah, everyone was pretty friendly to us, probably because they were so drunk.  Matt and I spent most of our time just walking around staring at people, while weaving around those who looked like they were ready to puke.  In case you haven't heard, one of my biggest fears is being hit with vomit.  That and snakes are my two bugaboos.

I'm trying to get Matt to grow his hair out like this.

Saturday, May 1st, was the picnic day, where everyone goes out and (you guessed it) picnics all day.  We heard people get out super early in the morning and stake out a spot for the rest of the day.  Some people take it a step further and set up big tents with buffets and do it up fine dining style.  Everyone drinks - a lot, it appears - and people bring their boom boxes; sometimes even choreographed dancing ensues.  The party was surprisingly crazy considering there were no alcohol vendors and no live bands performing... and that all the partiers were Finnish.  And it was a mere 38 degrees, which would drive most people indoors, but not the hearty Scandinavians... They live for the cold.  Matt and I kept pointing out how different a party like that would be in the States... I think we'll bring it back home with us for next year.  I'll be taking orders now for the college-student coveralls.  Sizes S-XXL.

Picnics in the park.

 

In other news, go team U.S.A for stopping the alleged "bomb plotter" at the airport before he flew away to the relative safety of his homeland.  In light of the recent economic crisis coupled with that "minor" oil spill, I'd say we needed that win.  On a related note, CNN beats these three stories to death every day, all day.  Yesterday the "breaking news" for the entire day was that they caught the bombing suspect.  I feel it stops being breaking news when it hits the 12 hour mark.

On the local front, Matt still hasn't started working yet, and the refinery is about three days behind... maybe they shouldn't have taken three days off for May Day and they wouldn't be in this predicament.  Matt is pretty bummed out because this means he will probably have to miss his little brother Geoff's high school graduation (I think he's mostly sad about missing the party.  I believe he was promised some good home cooking and Pennsylvania beer... come to think of it, I'm pretty sad about that, too).  Ahh, but there will be other graduations.  Assuming either Laura or Geoff finishes college, and they'd better.  They've got to keep that Correnti family name intact.  Believe me, there's a lot of pressure there.  I'm doing my part.

In spite of the sun dance I do to the gods every morning, the weather seems to be getting colder here.  It snowed and rained all day yesterday, though nothing stuck.  We went for a long walk yesterday anyway, and were soaked through by the end of it.  It wasn't all a loss, however, as we found a Finnish thrift shop and Matt got a great t-shirt that says "Murra Myytteja" on it (in case you didn't know, that means "break myths", at least according to Google's translator).  We looked up the website on the back and it turns out it's actually advertising a civil engineering firm.  What with Matt's disdain for anything and everything civil engineering related, I don't know that he'll be wearing it much.  Maybe he'll give it to Nick.

 

Matt looking short.

And now for the real news: Matt got re-assigned to the same job in India.  We knew it was coming, but dammit, it still doesn't feel good.  In my effort to appear well-adjusted and mature, I think I glossed over just how bad India is when we were there last time.  I'll save it for later, but for now, just know that it's worse than you can imagine, and we have to go back.  Forever.  It's scheduled for May 15th, so either it gets pushed back (cross your fingers) or Matt will probably have to go from here to there.  No one wants that.  No one.

Hey Hey

I am loving the fact that they say "hei hei" (pronounced like 'hey') in greeting here.  It reminds me of some ridiculously flamboyant gay man from the '90s.  It can be confusing though, because sometimes they say "hei" and I think they're yelling at me.

One of the aforementioned gay men from the '90s.  Only kidding.  It's Matt.

On a related note, I still love Finland.  The weather isn't too cold most days, although yesterday it was and it rained all day.  Matt still hasn't started work and won't until Monday, so that's been nice hanging out so much together... although we're both getting a little bored, I think.  We came to the conclusion today that it's okay to get bored even in nice places because we don't have any of those "normal" hobbies that people with more stable lives have, like a house (to clean) or a dog (to walk) or a baby (to play with... and raise into the perfect human, of course).  We get bored in Chicago, too, especially in winter, so I think it's okay we're bored here.  We'll get over it.

That said, we have actually been doing lots of sightseeing the past few days.  We took a ferry over to Tallinn, which is the capital of Estonia (like you didn't know that).  It only took about an hour and a half, and the water wasn't very choppy, so I did not get seasick at all.  I know you were all worried about it.  Anyway, Tallinn was really cool... the new part of the city had a sort of Eastern European feel (like I would even know what that was...) but it has a really amazing old medieval city within the old city walls.

Archery practice in front of the old city wall, in front of the old cathedral.

It wasn't quite as amazing as Rothenburg (in Germany... see my archives for all the details on that place... as you'll recall I got a mean case of food poisoning there a couple years ago), but it was still really nice.  

Us in front of the old wall and tower.

The best part by far was the medieval restaurant we stumbled upon as soon as we got there.  The weather was beautiful, and we wanted to sit outside, so we stopped at the first place with outdoor tables... never mind that it had flags and banners fluttering everywhere and the servers all wore the most ridiculous outfits, complete with pointy shoes.  

Matt at the "Old Hansa" restaurant.

We ordered from menus where the food was listed by who would eat it, ie, the high food was for the nobels, and low for the commoners.  I had the meat soup (an unlikely choice for me, I know) which came with fresh homemade bread and soft cheese, and I washed it all down with a mug of mead.  It was all pretty incredible.  I know it doesn't sound like it could get any better than that, but wait, it does!  The best part were the bathrooms... yup.  They are virtually pitch black with only one candle in each stall, and one by the sink.  The toilets are part of a wooden bench, with a wooden toilet seat and wooden button to flush it.  The sink had a pot of water hanging over it that you tilted to pour the water over your hands.  I'm not explaining it well enough, but just use your imaginations, because I didn't take my camera in there.  That restaurant was pretty much the highlight of our Estonia trip, and maybe the highlight of our Finnish vacation so far.

 

Town Hall in Tallinn

A couple days ago we went for a drive to Porvoo, which is the city near the refinery where we're supposed to stay.  We would have stayed there, but all the hotels are full... poor us, having to stay in Helsinki instead.  Actually, we really enjoyed Porvoo!  It's super cute with rows of painted wooden houses, and adorable little shops selling adorably quaint things that no one needs but everyone wants.  It's much bigger than the Bad Goegging (the "city" we stayed in during our Germany days), with lots more shops and a nice river running through it.  I'm a fan.  I might go back one day after Matt starts work... if I can get some manual driving lessons in first.  I know, I'm supposed to know how already.  Well, I don't.  Get over it.

Porvoo

Photo of Matt for the H&M catalogue. Again, only kidding.

Yesterday we went shopping at the brand new H&M, which is right down the street from the "old" one... which isn't closing; I guess they just wanted a new one.  Anyway, yesterday was opening day, and we had to go because we got a 20% discount on top of any opening sales they had.  We're not usually the type of people that rush out to a store on opening day, and let me tell you, this experience has not changed my mind in the slightest.  First off, they had music blaring and a countdown going for when the store's doors would actually open.  And then, as we walked in the door, ALL the staff stood on either side of a red carpet clapping and cheering for us as we came in.  And there was a photographer there who just happened to be right in front of Matt for most of the time... I wouldn't be surprised to see Matt in some Finnish papers and magazines.  I'll be on the lookout.  Anyway, of course we bought some stuff, but mostly because we needed it.  Really!  I bought another long-sleeved shirt, which now brings my total to 2.  I think those will last me until we leave.  Maybe.  Unless they have another sale.

Today is the start of the big spring holiday here... apparently it's HUGE in Finland.  I'm not exactly sure what it is, so I'll have to check it out for myself and then fill you in later.  So far we've seen lots of people drinking outside and tons of people selling helium balloons.  I have no idea how this represents the festival, but they are ridiculously expensive at 10 euro a pop.  Who are they kidding?  While I'm on the subject, it is crazy expensive here.  We literally cannot find a meal for dinner (at an actual restaurant, not fast food or mall food court) for under 30 euro for two people.  And that's with one of us getting an appetizer and one getting a main dish.  Apparently Finns only eat out on special occasions or weekends, so the restaurant prices reflect that.  20 euro is about standard for a main dish.  That's more than $25!  Call me cheap (and you can, because I am) but that's too much.  We went to a supermarket yesterday and bought stuff for sandwiches, which I suppose we'll be eating for dinner from now on.