Ludwig von Tökkentäkker's Finnish stronghold

These cookies are sold in most Finnish grocery stores, and they always remind me of the arcade game CarnEvil.

Helsinki City Run (after the fact)

Well, I ran it. I learned a few things:

1. Finland is cold. I should know this by now, but I am continually surprised. Even in mid-May, you cannot expect that shorts and a long-sleeve shirt will be warm enough for a half marathon.
2. I really should train for this type of event. I was quite sore afterward.
3. Finns are not good at cheering for people, and you can expect silent, unsmiling spectators at a road race in Finland.
4. The gummy-bear-at-each-distance-marker is not fun in Finland because the kilometers go past much more quickly than miles, and also the gummy candies are way too large and dense for that. Towards the end, I started just tossing a piece of candy to the side each time.
5. Peeled, pre-cut-into-thirds bananas at a water station? Genius. It was a little gross to put my sweaty hand into the box where everyone else's sweaty hands had gone to grab a slippery chunk of banana and then toss it into my mouth, but it was a perfectly timed, seemingly healthy and natural energy boost.

This is in the neighborhood of Pikkuhuopalahti. If it looks rainy and miserable, then Kimmo has done his job as a photographer.

The finish line was in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium (from when Helsinki hosted the summer olympics in 1952), which was pretty cool. 'Maali' is what they yell when Finland scores a goal in soccer, too.

May Day

May Day is a big event in Finland. It doesn't seem to be about the workers so much as it is about the students. At 6pm April 30, there is a ceremonial 'hatting' of this statue on the esplanade:
There are also parades and demonstrations and general Finnish drunkenness all night.

Then on May 1, everyone in Helsinki goes for a picnic at Kaivopuisto, a big park near the sea. The weather was warm (read: not so cold that it is uncomfortable to be outside in the sun), so it was very crowded this year. This is just a small section of the park:

Kimmo and I had a picnic with our coworker Risto and his wife Laura, their kids Oliver and Aaro, and Laura's brother.



Here is Aaro, wearing his Baby Bans:


And here is Oliver, opening up a beer:


Everyone who has graduated from high school (there are technical schools and things like that starting at 9th grade, so it's less common than it is in the U.S.) wears their high graduation cap, a nautical-looking white cap with a brim. Not everyone who is graduating, but everyone who has graduated. I saw a number of elderly people with hats so old (and likely repeatedly champagne-stained) that they were brown.


Here is another friend, Mikko, showing off the hat:


Also, we were sort of cleaning up and a photographer from the local news station (called MTV3, which confused me for a while -- I thought it was the latest ok-this-channel-is-for-you-people-who-want-to-see-music-videos offshoot of MTV) took our photos. Here we are! (#242 is of me and Aaro, #222 is of the whole group)

And maybe a greedy rat who will have an integral part to play

There is one pig in Afghanistan, and he is currently quarantined. Poor guy! They're trying to get him a female companion, but it is 'a dangerous and difficult time to get a new pig for our pig.' Maybe they should look into getting a literate spider instead.