Ten Interesting Things About Finland

1. Finland's population is about 5.3 million, substantially less than that of Israel. Its land area is 337,030 square km, over 15 times that of Israel, which has 20,770 square km.

2. Finland's official languages are Finnish and Swedish. Finnish uses some extra letters/symbols/diacritics in addition to the standard alphabet and is not a European language. This leads to the interesting situation of my telling my Norwegian neighbor "so when we didn't understand things, we read the Swedish." and him saying "but you don't speak Swedish either." True, but we were actually able to figure out a fair amount of what we read in Swedish and almost none of the Finnish.

3. Blueberries are called mustikka and are very popular, though not very cheap. Blueberry pie, called mustikkapiirakka is considered a traditional Finnish food.


4. Most of Finland's trains are electric, but have diesel backup, because snow and electrical storms can down the wires. If the tracks are entirely unavailable in an area, the train providers provide buses for the shortest possible part of the route.

5. Many of Finland's trains contain a family car. On the family car, there are private compartments for families, as well as a children's area containing a mini-library, a small slide, and some other toys. Other cars on Finnish trains include the dog car and the dining car.

6. There are trains from Helsinki to St. Petersburg and to Moscow daily. The morning train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg is a Finnish train, while the afternoon train is a Russian one, and vice versa. On the Russian morning train into Finland, they offer you two choices for breakfast - apple juice and cake or beer and nuts. Air conditioning on Finnish and Russian trains is spotty at best, and not all are equipped with windows that open. When it's 27 degrees out and you have a baby sleeping on you, this is unpleasant.

7. Almost everything in Finland is wheelchair/handicapped accessible. In places built before elevators were around, there are elevators that follow the path of the stairs. This is highly cool.

8. Because of the enormous number of lakes, streams, rivers, etc, there are enormous numbers of mosquitoes and other biting/flying insects in Finland. They all think Kinneret is very tasty.

9. Swimming in lakes in Finland is very different from swimming in the Mediterranean in Israel for a number of reasons. The one you'll notice first is the temperature. If the water temperature is 24, that's considered warm.

10. Public places, including public restrooms, including those at campsites, are immaculate.


And finally, a video on Finland:

One Olut, Kiitos!*

So here we are in Joensuu, Finland, and I'm too lazy to upload photos.

It's beautiful here. Behind our cabin is a small creek. Cross over the creek on the bridge and you'll arrive at a gate. Go through the gate, and you'll find a game of volley-club going on. Walk past the game, and you're on the shore of a lake where the water is cold and refreshing. It's a very gentle slope, and we've taken the kids walking into the water. It's lovely, but very very cold.

The weather has been playing a game of cat-and-mouse with us. We've seen rain, almost freezing temperatures (5 c), and today was hot hot hot (30 c). Our cabin is heated but not air-conditioned. It's not even well-ventilated. There are two windows, but the hinges on one window are broken so it can't be opened. (i tried on the first night, with somewhat disastrous results.)

Food has been an interesting challenge. We've been eating a lot of fruit, including MANY bananas. The kids are addicted to blueberry yogurt. We've eaten too many potato chips, a fair number of omelets. You can get Philly cream cheese here, some of the bread is kosher, and you can get lox! We had rice and tuna for lunch, and our kids are big fans of tomatoes...Most interesting is the little miniature pies that we've been devouring... they come in apple and blueberry - super yum.

And the juggling... We bought 5 more hats, and I'm working on hat juggling now. we're hoping to work on a hat act. Right now it feels worse that starting fresh with balls, but each day is a new day.

Finnish words
*Olut-beer
*kiitos-thank you

Ephraim - Cuter than Ever

Rachel Inbar commented on my last post, saying: You could have mentioned the fact that Ephraim takes this all incredibly well and is cuter than ever...

She's right. The kid's a total trooper. He wakes up the morning after surgery in an unknown place and as soon as he sees Mommy, he's all smiles. He's really incredible.

Stressed

A few weeks ago, Ephraim had a recurrence of the abscess that took us to Hadassah for surgery last year. At first, I thought it was no big deal, but then I wasn't so sure. I ended up taking him to Terem - an urgent care clinic - about an hour and a half before Shabbat. They sent us to the ER. I called my mother and she and I went back to Hadassah (Mt. Scopus) - with Ephraim of course. We arrived at the hospital about one minute before sunset...

Around midnight, they operated on Ephraim. Needless to say, the situation was stressful. Moreover, the surgery was not fully successful. He will need to have more surgery in a few more weeks.

The surgeon wasn't clear about that or what to do in the meantime, which has led to a little more stress along the way. For those keeping score at home, this will be operation number FOUR for Ephraim. He's not yet 1.5.

I was reading an article about delayed gratification. These days, the most I can muster for delaying gratification is not eating the batter before the cake gets into the oven...

It's been a stressful few weeks.

Sabbath candles

Rules: My niece is doing a bat mitzvah project on lighting candles. She would appreciate your responses to the following questions. Please click the link at the bottom to fill it in for her. You can then post it on your blog, your Facebook, or just leave it on SleeQo.

• When did you start lighting candles for the Sabbath?

  I think when I was three, I started making the blessing over the candles with my mom.

• What made you start lighting them?

  my mom told me I could, I guess.

• Do you light candles every week? If so, what makes you keep lighting them each week?

  Yes. I'm an observant woman, and I've always kept Shabbat, so I've always lit candles, with very few exceptions.

• Do you have any special traditions related to lighting the candles (e.g., my husband always gets them ready, I cover my hair, etc.)? If so, what?

  I always say a prayer for the wellbeing of my family.

• How do you feel after you have lit the candles?

  usually I feel very calm after I light candles.

• Are you the first generation in your family that lights candles for the Sabbath?

  no. my mother lights candles, my father's mother lit candles, and at least one of my mother's grandmothers lit candles for Shabbat.

• Do you have any memories to share from previous generations?

  not really.

• Is it important for you that your daughters light candles for the Sabbath?

  yes. very.

• How meaningful do you feel it is to you to light candles for the Sabbath and why?

  Very meaningful. It seems to fill the house with a special kind of light, and it gives a real distinction between "week" and "Shabbat"

• Is there anything else you would like to add about lighting candles for the Sabbath?

• Do you agree to be quoted on the things you have written above or would you rather your name not be mentioned?

  yes

• If you have filled this in anonymously and agree to be quoted, please give your name.

Everyone tagged
Click here to fill in this meme

5 Pieces of Information that New Olim Should Know

I'm playing around with a new tool called Sleeqo which automates the whole meme process. This is my first meme creation using Sleeqo. Be sure to try it out yourself!

5 Pieces of Information that New Olim Should Know

by triLcat
Rules: Post 5 things that a new immigrant to Israel needs to know. No politics!

1. Israeli doctors don't have thermometers. You're expected to have taken your temperature (or your child's) at home.
2. If you want to make a graham cracker crust in Israel, you use tea biscuits.
3. The best time of year to buy new dishes, pots, and pans (in terms of deals) is right before Pesach.
4. We don't have kool-aid here, we have syrup, called petel, which means raspberry. It's called petel even if it's grape flavored.
5. Almost every supermarket has delivery for about 15 shekels. If you buy enough, it may be free. You can also order groceries online or by phone.

Click here to fill in this meme

My New Earrings

About two months ago, a webmaster named Sarah randomly contacted me and asked me if I'd like to try a pair of earrings from her site, Lushae Jewelry and write a review of them. Never one to turn down something free, I said sure. So she let me pick a pair of earrings and sent them to me, and here it is... my turn to tell you how I like them.

First, a word about me and jewelry. I like shiny things, but I rarely wear much jewelry. I wear my wedding and engagement rings and I wear the necklace that Yaakov gave me at our wedding. Other than that, I rarely put on a pair of earrings. Even on Shabbat, I don't always quite manage. The other thing is that my jewelry breaks down into two categories; real gold and real cheap. I have quite a lot of stuff that you could pick up for under $10. I have a few nice pieces, including the above mentioned wedding/engagement jewelry and a few heirloom pieces from my grandmother. I have pretty much nothing in the middle.

So these earrings, gold-plated with a pearl, with a price tag of $65, are somewhat of a novelty for me. I have to say, I was expecting them to feel cheap, and they really don't. They feel nice.

They shipped quickly, in a beautiful box. The style is delicate and elegant enough that it looks like the real deal. People have complimented me on the earrings every time I've worn them.

Would I buy them for myself? I'm not sure. Would I be thrilled if my husband did? Absolutely!

P.S. They ship internationally, including to Israel!

Travel Meme

My travels

Rules: Fill in the following questions & tag 5 friends (try friends who travel a lot).

• My best trip ever...
  Ireland


• My worst trip ever...
  7.5 hour layover in Amsterdam where I was both quite sick and too scared to leave the airport


• Most important thing I ever lost on a trip...
  passport, but I found it!


• Most important thing I ever forgot to take on a trip...
  the phone number of the person we were supposed to be staying with. (though we did get it... just took some international calls)


• Thing I miss most when I'm away...
  Poofy, home-cooked meals, Israel


• Thing I miss least when I'm away...
  stress


• Favorite travel partner...
  Yaakov, Rachel


• Place I hope to travel to someday...
  China

Nobody tagged

fill in this meme

Subsidizing Inner City Tomatoes

I was reading Hannah's Cooking Manager and she pointed to another post...
Vered at MomGrind wrote a post called Fat Acceptance, and it triggered all kinds of angry feelings in me and in a bunch of her readers - you can read the comments. And then I looked back at what she'd written and I pulled it apart again to figure out why.

Here's the thing. I agree with the second part of her post - modern societies need to work on better food education, better food choices, and better nutrition. When I was in Philadelphia a few years ago, I paid about a dollar for a single tomato. I grant you that this was in a smaller convenience-type mini-market, but still! A dollar for a tomato, when a whole bag of chips that could keep 3 kids from whining "I'm hungry" for at least an hour costs less than $2? There might need to be subsidies for inner-city families to get vegetables at reasonable prices without having to go far outside of the city to places they may not be able to get to because they may not have cars or simply may not have the time.

The first part of her post, though, made me angry. Who are you to judge? What possible benefit could your staring have? How could your judgment help her?

The reality is that Vered has no idea of this girl's story. Maybe the girl is suffering some terrible trauma. I put on about 30 lbs the year that my best friend died and my grandmother died. A year later, I took it all off. Maybe this girl has a thyroid problem and no matter what she does, she doesn't lose weight, so she figures she might as well at least enjoy herself. (A friend of mine got down to 500 calories a day and still GAINED weight.) Maybe the girl just doesn't think about it. What is certain is that society's stares and mistreatment will cause the girl to hate herself and lose self-respect and while she may lose weight from self-loathing, it will probably be through bulimia and self-starvation, not through the sensible, healthy life choices that come from self-love.

Am I missing something? Does anyone really think that their stares and nasty comments and mistreatment can help the problem?

Eye-rony

I've talked about how I take Ephraim to a clinic in Haifa for his eye. At the clinic, pretty much everyone has at least one eye that is "broken" in some way. Some, like Ephraim, have a small eye which needs to be enlarged. Others are cancer survivors who had to have an eye removed. In any case, pretty much every patient is one-eyed. Tuesdays are children's days, and there are a lot of toys. One of the toys is a big teddy bear. When I was there yesterday, I noticed that the teddy bear was missing an eye, and someone had taped an X of masking tape over the place where the eye had been.

I simply didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Obama's New Anti-Terrorism Plan! Totally Foolproof!

Following his success with running a presidential campaign by stealing cartoon character Bob the Builder's slogan of "Yes we can!" Obama has been hard at work figuring out how to wipe out airline terrorism. He has it all figured out now.

He will be using a clever take on Dora the Explorer's slogan of "Swiper, no swiping!" and will be hanging up signs that say "Bomber, no bombing!" in airports and on airplanes. The plan took a long time to come up with because:

1. Dora the Explorer is really high above his comprehension level.

2. The extensive changes to the slogan were quite complex for Barack Obama and his team.

Needed: Subjects for Usability Test

I'm looking for subjects for a usability test. The test will take place in Tel Aviv on Wednesday or Thursday. (Dec 9-10, 2009)

Subjects should be 20-35 with a good knowledge of Hebrew (Israelis preferred) and need to have a nokia smartphone with internet access and data plan.

Subjects will be compensated for time and travel.

Please contact me at LeahGabrielle at Gmail dot com if you are interested.

Please repost this anywhere and everywhere you think someone relevant might be looking!

What You Missed!

For those of you who didn't join me today (that would be everyone except Ephraim), here's what you missed...

First, we had to scale a big concrete wall. Well, okay, it wasn't that big. It was about waist height, but you try scaling it with a stroller. This really nice young lady (late teens, I'd guess) helped me, and it was actually really not bad. This is because the mall isn't open at 6:30 in the morning, and I didn't feel like walking 3 blocks out of my way to get to the train station. The road that goes to the train station should be open by the next time I need to go, and if not, well, my appointment then is at 10am, so I'll be leaving a bit later anyway.

Next, there was a guy wearing a kilt on the train. I mean, a real live Scottish kilt. But here's the funny thing. Usually when you see a guy in a kilt, they're like decked out in full gear... not this guy. He was wearing this blah t-shirt and a North Face jacket. It's like someone secretly switched his jeans with a kilt and he didn't notice...

Ephraim and I played peek-a-boo a fair amount of the way to Haifa, and then we found a taxi and got to the clinic right on time. The clinic staff was fantastic as always, and Ephraim is doing great. They didn't get us a new lens today, but they fixed the one he's wearing now to make it more comfortable, and they'll mail us a new one in the next few days.

On the train home, Ephraim really wanted to crawl around, and there's a bit of clear space where I guess wheelchairs could be, so I let him down, and I closed the door so he couldn't leave the compartment, and I went to sit back down.... only I forgot I had been sitting in a jump-seat (like a movie-theater seat), so I ended up on the floor. Ephraim crawled around for a while, stood up next to some older gentleman (by older, I mean older than my father), banged on the seat next to him a little. I asked the man a few times if it was ok, and the man said it was fine. Then someone left the compartment to use the restroom, so I got up to close the door and when I sat back down, I again landed on the floor! It's too bad there was no video camera on me. I think it could've gone viral. :)

Anyway, we're all home and my chair here.........k;lgj/efgjgjdkf/

(just kidding)

be well.
LeahGG