Random

It’s honestly not worthwhile postponing the decision to buy something. I found a fabulous bag and decided to hint to T on my upcoming birthday. Went to the store to show it to him, and there were none left. I was told there wouldn’t be any. So yesterday I bought another one instead. Today I passed through the store, and what do we have there? The exact bag I wanted in the first place! Good thing I hadn’t used the other one yet so I can return it. But still, all the fuzz…

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I look out the window at the rain and stormy wind and can’t believe it’s only July 31^st. It smells of autumn too! Since I’ve been working the whole summer, the relatively *humid* weather hasn’t really bothered me, though. But I guess it’s going to be hard getting adjusted to the Spanish heat in a couple of weeks? Last summer it was different. The awful heat throughout the summer made me get used to it and Italy, even Rome, was nothing.

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I love seeing the tourists around Helsinki. It’s fun listening to them talking, speculating about people and the sights :) Also plenty of Finnish tourists. It reminds me of not taking my surroundings for granted. This young girl exclaimed in the tram that “I’ve only seen such big ships in my dreams,” when sighting the Silja Line cruise ship to Stockholm.

What wouldn't one do for a few (Estonian) huckleberries?

I bought a litre of Estonian huckleberries yesterday. They were probably a bit on the expensive side, 4 Euros, but on the other hand, you do get quite a few berries in a litre. When I got home, I realized they smelled a little funny, like they were already fermenting or something. Some of them tasted alright whereas others had a really funny taste. What would the average person do?
- take them back to the store. (Too much trouble.)
- eat them anyway. (Didn't taste too good. What if I get foodpoisoning or something?)
- throw them away. (That's really not something a person like me does.)

So I start handpicking the good ones separate from the bad ones! :D Of the half a litre I went through, maybe two thirds passed my strict selection criteria. After the procedure I rinsed (!) the berries with cold water. And they taste just nice! But still, I decided to throw the other .5 litres away. Now I kind of regret that. I could easily sort through them as well.

Another good thing, apart from having some goodies to go with my muesli, rinsing the berries removed the annoying blue color that makes milk all gross. Unfortunately, the color sticks rather nicely in my fingers and under my nails.

Next time, though, I'm going to go and pick the damn berries by myself. It's still less trouble than this...

Really a sportswoman after all?

Who would’ve thought that I, of all persons, would have sports-related problems dating back to childhood? Considering that I always thought (as a child and looking back) that I was unathletic, hated school PE and was even sort of clumsy!

I went to see a physiotherapist today about foot/leg problems I’ve been having, thinking they have to do with the past couple of years’ increased amount of physical exercise. But after I mentioned that “Well, yeah, I’ve played the violin actively for about 15 years and danced ballet for 7 years,” he went “well, THAT figures.” :D According to him, my joints are of a (rare?) type that is very sensitive and the kind of “forming” required in ballet (and playing the violin) have caused some damage… Apparently he found me quite challenging… But already started working, pointing out that even my stomach muscles are “horribly tight” – not meaning in good shape ;)

Anyway, he already managed to get something going in the foot too, and hopefully a few more meetings will get things even further. As for my weight (which my previous doctor told me to start losing…), he said that it’s better to be a few kilos overweight than to go back and forth (which I also seem to be doing). Also, he told me to start working out with lower intensity but longer periods of time. This, he admitted, would be difficult since “usually ballet dancers and violinists are the worst type – it usually doesn’t look like they enjoy exercising,” meaning that they (we) tend to strive for a 110 per cent even with the risk of damage. Well, I have to say that too kind of hit home…

So some learning to do there!

Finland is now closed (?)

It was funny cycling to work this morning. The normal never-ending stream of cars had a visible beginning and ending. When the traffic lights were red there seemed to be no noise what-so-ever. Finland is on vacation.

At this time of the year, it's easy to find a topic for a bit of chit-chat with people at work. "So, when's your holiday?", "Are you going to take all days off at once?", "Are you traveling somewhere?", "It seems the weather's going to be ok." I think these conversations are especially fulfilling with a temporary worker like me who's there when everyone else is off and takes her holiday without pay... I don't mind, but man, it's going to feel nice the first time I have a real, paid summer holiday!

Also, now that the average Helsinkian is off to his summer house, the tourists have taken over Helsinki. You hear more English and German than Finnish in the main tourist areas. It's fun, really, except when you have to ride your bike through the Market Square. People getting on your way from each direction, stopping without warning and all that. I can tolerate the foreigners, they're probably not used to bike lanes but the Finns really irritate me. I could give a lecture on how behave in the traffic. *grin*