Adventures of Biz Monkey

October 20, 2009

            I’ve found a new obsession. A new hobby. Something that probably sounds nothing like me, and until now, has been nothing like me. It’s food. Well, more-so, the making of it.

            I can’t pinpoint exactly what triggered this movement. There have been many times that the thought of cooking something delicious sounded very fun, but the thrill left me pretty rapidly and all too consistently. I will say that recently I’ve been sort of stalking my friend Tim’s blog. Tim is notorious for making creative snacks and lunches that aren’t necessarily Top Chef challenging, but simple and delicious. I even remember a few times I went over to his house for lunch or dinner and was jealous of his food selection, which is usually pretty healthy and fresh. It seems he has his snacks down to a “T” at this point. To top it all off, the guy sketches and renders his lunches all the time. With a new interest in photography, he now has mouth-watering photographs of his food creations. BUT, this post isn’t really about Tim. And I certainly wouldn’t want his head getting any bigger.

some photos from Tim's photo blog

a few sketches from Tim's normal blog

            The reason I mentioned Tim is that the other day, I was peeking at his blog and found a stunning image of a sandwich made out of rotisserie chicken. The caption spoke about how he buys one about every week and can use it in a variety of meals including this lightly toasted sandwich. I sat back and wondered why I never do things like that. It’s absurdly inexpensive and much healthier than frozen pizzas and grilled cheese sandwiches. I suppose you could say it was the beginning of my epiphany.

            I’ve got this terrible habit of finding a food that seems easy to make and loading up on it. I could eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner. Of course, that would mean that I would actually have to eat breakfast… lunch… and dinner. More often then not, it turns out to be one or two of the three. Since I’ve been in Finland, my main meal obsession has been eggs. Yes, it’s true that I’ve always loved eggs, but as often as I eat them, I considered Googling “egg overdosing”. 

Though I suppose there are worse things, there are most certainly better!

            The older fellow in my Bible study, David, has offered to teach me how to make Kombucha so that I can make it in America. This has me very excited because I absolutely LOVE the drink, and it is very healthy for you. I feel like once I learn to make it, I am going to want to make it all the time. I just hope I can do it well enough so that it tastes like his.

find out what I'm talking about here

            Recently, I have been researching and trying to find some good Finnish delicacies that I could take back with me along with the Kombucha. So far, no food has really stuck out as a MUST-TRY and everything is pretty doughy and fishy. There was a man outside of Tokmanni the other day at a hotdog stand where he was smoking fresh salmon. It smelled at looked absolutely amazing. If I knew anything about preparing salmon, I would have hopped in line and taken one of those bad boys home. There are a few challenges to having this new desire to cook in Finland. The first obstacle is obviously the language. It is very hard to grocery shop here. I don’t know if I’m buying sugar or flower… turkey or ham (or mystery meat)… swiss or provolone. It is all just a guess based on color, images, packaging, and ultimately intuition. You can see how shopping is unsuccessful plenty of the time. J The second obstacle is that even if you do know what you are buying based on the things I listed, you then have to already know how to prepare the food. Cause Finnish directions will not get you very far. I usually look for key numbers like, “220ºC” which is often used for pizza, “dl” which is deciliters… I think, “10 min” this is naturally my favorite indication on a package. 

Also very helpful are pictures with spoons and arrows pointing out your need to stir. I think being here has improved my improvising skills. I can add a little something here, leave that out, mix it with these, serve it on that… not because I’ve become more bold, but simply because I don’t actually know the proper way to begin with. It’s been a bit freeing. The last issue is that if I would want to explore preparing foods I am familiar with, I am not guaranteed the right ingredients here. Even if they have the right ingredients here, finding them is a whole ‘nother challenge in and of itself. Likewise, if I learn to make Finnish delicacies here, I’m not guaranteed I will have all of the ingredients to make the same thing at home. For instance, I think reindeer is a bit more rare in North Carolina…

            Today commences my first try at something not-boxed, -packaged, or -canned in such a final state. I decided to tackle an American favorite that I suppose I love and miss. Pancakes. Not just any pancakes… homemade buttermilk pancakes from scratch. Sounds pretty easy right? WRONG. I now understand just how difficult this may be. I accepted a few failures before even venturing to the store. First of all, I don’t know what Finnish “buttermilk” would look, taste, or act like. Yes, I said act. The food has strange tendencies, ok? So I decided I would be making my own buttermilk with whole milk (cause I know how to find that here) and distilled white vinegar. That was about all I accomplished on my shopping trip besides buying flour. Let me discuss my issues. For one, I don’t know whether or not the flour is all-purpose or self-rising. I will probably have to figure out a way to translate and try to find out. Number two, if it is all-purpose, that means that I still need to find baking powder and baking soda. I think I will have better luck finding these things downtown at Stockman tomorrow. Now here’s one of the biggest issues yet… I’m going to have to convert all of the measurements. L A simple cooking project that could take a 5-minute grocery store run and 20-minute cooking process is going to end up taking me days to perform. Luckily, I cultured my own buttermilk and put it in a glass jar and sealed it so that I can use it when the time comes. I’m going to make these pancakes if it’s the last thing I do. And then… on to conquer the world of food! Mwahahahahaha

Comes From Within

October 18, 2009

            If I miss one material thing from America, it would be my car, Lucilla. 

She’s the best 2001 Ford Explorer a girl could ask for! I consider it pure joy to go for a ride and just listen to music. I often make excuses to go places for this sole purpose. I love my sound system and even if my subs don’t rattle houses or take your breath away, they give my music a nice bit of added intensity. The closest thing I have to that here is when I go for a bike ride and listen to my iPod.

There are a few things that really move me. Music and art have a way of grasping my heart and evoking me with powerful emotion. Now, when you explore different combinations of the three, you are sure to get a great result. For instance, a Sunday afternoon full of Andy Davis and painting… that’s time well spent. Though I don’t think many people have as much passion as I do in these areas, I also think many people have more. Now, I’m just going to drift away for a few minutes. Feel free to tag along.

Sticks and Stones - Dave Barnes

I've got a particular love for human art.

A few of my own...

Union & 3rd - Andy Davis

Many know that my favorite color has been green for some time now, but in the last few years, I've been particularly interested in the passion and intensity of red...

Do You Hear What I Hear?

October 16, 2009

It’s snowing again today. And sticking quite well, I might add. I’ve got a Christmas-scented candle lit and also a Gingerbread-scented candle lit. It makes my room feel cozy and makes me feel like Christmas (though we never have white Christmas’s) is just around the corner. It’s funny to me how weather.com says that we are getting “light snow” and I look out my window and think that it’s nothing short of a blizzard… minus the wind. I sort of wanted to go shopping just so that I would have an excuse to go ride my bike to town, but I know I will get sopping wet since I don’t have the right gear for riding in the snow yet.

I am becoming a bit anxious about my Design Competition project. The competition I chose has to be submitted by October 31^st and I feel that I still have many things to accomplish by then. I think today, instead of shopping, I will work very hard to finalize my design so I can then get help with the printing and the paperwork and get it ready to send off to Sweden within the next week and a half. Boy wouldn’t it be nice if I won 5000 Euros. I am not so confident in my design yet though… but who knows!

Yesterday was quite an eventful day for me. Starting out, I was actually on time leaving my room to go to class. As I stepped outside, I realized it was warmer than the day before and I probably wouldn’t even need my beanie on this bike ride (it got up to a whopping 41 degrees). The sun was shining and I approached my bike with a smile. The smile quickly faded though. My bike lock has been giving me trouble for a little while now and though I have thought about replacing it, I hadn’t acted on it yet. I worked on the lock with my two different puny keys until I about broke my keys and my hands in the process. I went from sitting on the rack to the ground to trying to force it open by pedaling. Nothing was working and I was very late for class. An hour passes and I realize that I need to figure something out because this lock is not coming off in a traditional manner. I, of course, turn to Google. I read all these German articles about breaking off your lock and I head to Tokmanni where I bought some wire clippers and a small hacksaw. I probably looked half insane. Since my day had started out so badly, I bought a bike light and some paint and little white candles while I was there. Those things may seem random, but they lift my spirits. I then went back outside and clipped and hacksawed for about half an hour before the lock was finally broken free. I’m pretty sure everybody who passed me thought I was a crazy lady stealing a bike, but I didn’t much care at this point. I got on my bike and rode down to Alppis secondhand store to see if they had bike locks or any neat things or winter gear. I found a little spiral bike lock with more puny keys sort of like the last lock I had. I decided it was better than nothing since I was panicking about having not locked my bike while I was in the store. I ran into Carmen in the shop and she was telling me about her new warm, waterproof boots she got from Prisma. I thought she said they were 15 Euros. Apparently she really said 60 Euros. Spanish accents kill me. But since I didn’t know this, I headed over to Prisma. Seeing that the boots weren’t 15 Euros, I decided to meditate on that decision a bit longer. They were very cute and looked very warm and comfortable. Anyways, I went around the store and found my Christmas and Gingerbread candles as well as a really tough bike lock with big strong keys. I decided I could just put the lock I got from Alppis in my closet until a rainy day when I or somebody else needed a new lock. On my way back to Linnanmaa, I stopped into Sale and got a few groceries. I felt very happy as I parked my bike and attached my brand new lock with my big sturdy key that has a laser on it. I went inside and put away my groceries and set up my candles to burn.

Now my room smells like my house did when we used to decorate the Christmas tree and listen to Manheim Steamroller while we drank hot chocolate. I really miss that. The sad thing is that Halloween hasn’t even passed yet… much less Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is Brittany’s favorite Holiday and I think we are going to have a little feast of our own since nobody else here celebrates it. She said that her grandmother gave her a Thanksgiving before she left America. How funny! All this talking about food and Christmas is making me hungry, though so I think I am going to go cook and watch the snow fall. I am excited about bigger snows and I even saw a “snow racer” in Prisma yesterday. It was like the ultimate sled. All the Finns say it is a lot more fun around here when there’s snow. There is a lot more to do. I can only hope.

Authentication Failed

October 10, 2009

My internet has been down for the past four days. The first day, I thought it was just a little glitch and I took the time to work on a project for my Architectural Lighting class. I felt relaxed as I took my time to cook and work pretty diligently through the evening before heading to bed around 1:00am. With no internet to worry about, I didn’t feel like I was constantly reporting and waiting on people. I’ve finally been feeling like I live in Finland. Before, it was like I was trying to live in two places at once. Going to bed on American time and waking up in Finnish time leaves me with a couple measly hours of sleep and no motivation to do much the next day. Since I am cycling 12 to 24 kilometers a day in freezing conditions, it’s pretty hard summon up enough energy to get through, much else do any other work. It has been causing me to be pretty unhappy here and that’s just not me. If I didn’t think I would like this experience, I would not have come. But the fact is, I know I can and will enjoy this experience. I’ve just been so blinded by situations that I’m not even acting like myself anymore.

I think I have mentioned before the overalls that I see the Finns wearing often around town, usually in groups. I got an e-mail the other day about overalls for those studying Architecture being sold. The Architecture overalls are white. Each department has a different color. I think white is fun! Some people didn’t think they were worth the purchase but I have been envying these overalls since I first laid eyes on them. Other people say they won’t wear them in their home country. You better believe I will be wearing these bad boys in America! They’re like all weatherproof and frankly, quite practical here. As for America I just think they’re pretty awesome and may even get a few laughs. I can’t wait to decorate mine with patches and things. After I ordered mine, I went to Stockman with Brittany. They were having some ridiculous sale all week and stuff was very cheap. It was like a madhouse inside. I think all of Oulu was in that one store. Nothing really caught my eye though and I was happy to get outside to the chilly air to catch my breath.

Yesterday, Rebekah tried to give me directions to Prisma so that I could go to Nordea (my bank) and pay my internet bill. Yes, THAT’s why I haven’t had internet. The only problem is that when people tell me directions, I am so busy trying to visualize what they are saying that by the time I’m done picturing the first few turns, they’re done with all of the directions. I, of course, then just nod my head confirming that I’ve understood everything when I actually have a very vague idea of where I should be going. It should come as no surprise that I got very lost trying to find the bank. I loved it. I was lost for a good 45 minutes. I even got off track on purpose for a bit. I took a dirt trail off one of the bike roads.

It is so beautiful to be in the woods. I had my iPod in and I was smiling and enjoying the country I came to be in. There are little red squirrels here that are absolutely adorable. Squirrels in America look like they are on crack. They have huge beady eyes bulging out of their small stiff grey heads. Their tails are wiry and it looks like someone took a cheese grater to their ears. Squirrels in Finland are a beautiful red-brown color and they have tall, wide “German-Shepherd” ears. They have small noses and sweet eyes. Sometimes I think they could pass for kittens with huge tails. Their fur is fluffy and shiny and they prance around all over the place, hopping into nearby bushes and scurrying up the short trees. I’m thinking of a plan to catch one and keep it in my room. I wonder if squirrels like Margherita pizza.

I did eventually find the bank and got everything settled so that I hope to have internet sometime in the next week. Still, a part of me doesn’t want to have it. It reminds me of Beach Project when we didn’t have television or computers or anything. They aren’t bad things and if I felt that I could use them without hindering what I want to do here, I would not care at all if I had it. The inconvenience has been quite slight with it gone. I like to be free. It makes me happy to go about my day exploring and doing things on my own with nobody to answer to. Nobody has to be checking up on me. Nobody is timing me and wondering where I am. This may sound strange or inconsiderate or lonely to some people, but it is what I love. It’s amazing how much I can do here when I just decide to go and do it.

I Can Be a Bit Passionate...

October 5, 2009

Some people may hate me for what I am about to say and some may love me. I just finished watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince online and remembered how much I love these movies. I know tons of people who rave about these movies and I also know tons of people who don’t give them a chance because they think they are about silly things like witches and wizards who wave wands around to make food appear and things like this. The truth is, I am deeply moved both by the artistic and the emotional beauty of these films. It is so simple of a plot; a fight against good and evil. Now, don’t get carried away with what I’m about to say, but something in these movies just really reminds me of the Gospel. Granted, there are plenty of parts that do NOT remind me of the Gospel. But I just look at the type of good and the type of evil in them. Voldemort is so deceptive. He is sneaky and he strives to corrupt Harry as a whole person with an ultimate desire to destroy him. Harry is astonishingly obedient and loyal to Dumbledore. He has complete trust in him even when he doesn’t know Dumbledore’s plans. I find it amazing to see this type of relationship portrayed in a “silly movie about magic” when it’s so far beyond what many of our own relationships look like with God. We want control. We want to be in the know. We want to do things our way. We lose faith. We are disobedient. You can even see Harry’s struggle at times within the movies when he wants to act out of emotion or pain or hatred. But he has community around him, whether it is his professors or his friends or just other people who are also loyal to Dumbledore, who are always there to speak truth into his life and let him know that they are there to help. I love all of the pain in the movies. It blows my mind how strong of a character he is after all of the loss he has suffered. And now venturing in another direction, the art in the movies is simply breath-taking to me. There is a scene in the Half-Blood Prince where Dumbledore is swirling fire over his head and it is consuming all of the creatures around him and even going into the water and striking them. It is an extremely powerful scene to me and I can do nothing but stand (or sit) in awe when I see it. The transitions into memories and use of magic (whether it be simple or things like freezing a moment) are nothing short of extraordinary. I feel the artists are true creative geniuses and it really awakens my passion for art. I thought I would leave you with a scene I find beautiful and moving from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 

If the video does not work, use this link:

Voldemort Vs. Dumbledore

All Shapes and Sizes... and Ages :)

October 2, 2009

            I went to a Bible study this past Wednesday with Rebekah. I had been looking forward to it ever since we had talked about it last Sunday and I was filled with excitement as we walked to Bastion’s house. I don’t actually know if that’s even how you spell his name. To me, Bastian just sounds like a nickname for Sebastian… so until I see it written, I will spell it this way. He is from Germany but lives in Finland now. I’m not sure why. I didn’t ask. I guess I was a bit timid.

            Rebekah and I were the first people to arrive. We talked to Bastian and went through the typical questions with him; where are you from? what are you studying? how long will you be here? Those sorts of things. He must be in his late 30’s or early 40’s. I can’t really tell because I am horrible with estimating age. As more and more people began to come, we had kahvi and tee (coffee and tea) and apple slices. I tried very hard to remember everybody’s names because I am very bad at that. I know there was Mitch from Australia, Patrick from Philadelphia, David from… Germany? and David from India. David’s wife and son were there also. His son’s name was Isaac. I love that name! Most of these people were probably in their 30’s and 40’s. There was one man there who was in his 70’s. He made us all Kombucha. It is a drink that is made from tea and mushrooms. It’s supposed to be very good for your body and it tasted like a mix between white wine and apple juice. Needless to say, I loved it!!!

            When we all started talking, it was simply amazing. These men [and woman] were so wise and so educated about spiritual things. Rebekah told me that David from India is able to quote like the entire Bible. I felt like I was sitting in a room full of Pastor Riddle’s and C. S. Lewis’s. Ok… that may be pushing the envelope, but you get the gist. Everything I’m hearing is like something I hadn’t taken the time to really think about as deep as these people were talking. I grabbed my notebook only to realize that I forgot a pen. I FORGOT MY PEN!?!? I was a little put out with myself but didn’t feel like asking for a pen at the time, I was too busy listening to everything. I felt so comfortable here. They looked at Rebekah and me no different than anybody else, though there is an obvious age difference. They valued our words and opinions and everyone spoke in turn. There were usually moments of silence after one person would speak where you could tell everybody was thinking on what they said. I will admit that I didn’t say much because I was quite intimidated by their spiritual maturity and knowledge of the Bible. I was glowing inside though thinking about how much I can learn and grow from these people who already seem to have a genuine interest and care for me. After Bible Study, we said our goodbyes and they were all excited to see us at church this Sunday for the international service (it’s in English) at St. Luke’s Chapel.

One of the men graciously drove us home so we wouldn’t have to walk in the sleet and dark.

            I am so excited that the Lord provided me with this community. Though it looks a bit different on the outside from what I expected, I can really see what awesome relationships I can build here in Finland. Tonight, Rebekah and I are going to Lift downtown at the Pentacostal Church. It is a youth group and is actually held in Finnish, but we were told that the Finns there love to speak English. I hope that we can go tonight and meet some awesome Finns our own age and be able to have some fun and maybe learn a bit of Finnish too! The Lord has really been proving to me just how big He really is!

Rovaniemi

September 30, 2009

Yesterday, I went to Rovaniemi with the Architecture kids. It was an extremely fun trip! We met outside at 7am and it was quite frigid. 

The minibuses began pulling in and we piled into them. I love early morning field trips. They remind me of things like going to Barrier Island in fifth grade or going to Conference last year with Campus Outreach. It was a bit over 3 hours in the car. The closer we got to our final destination, the more snow I was seeing. I had my camera pressed against the glass and I was listening to my iPod just watching all the white objects fly by. 

It was something beautiful. There was so much land and so many lakes with small cottages here and there. Perhaps there would be a lifted truck and a few hybrid cars in a driveway. I even saw one trampoline, which reminded me of the best snow cream I used to make off of the trampoline I had as a kid. This is one of my favorite parts of traveling. When your eyes can’t move fast enough to see everything they want and you’re in your own world, remembering old experiences and anxious for the new ones to come.

We arrived at the University of Lapland in time to look around and go to a lecture. We then ate lunch at the University before going to see some buildings by Alvar Aalto. He did a city plan that shaped out a reindeer antler. We couldn’t exactly see that from the ground and Leena the Great fell through on arranging our personal helicopter rides. We toured through a Library he designed and also a Theatre.

 They were both amazing and I saw a few chairs that I had to draw in my second year History of Design class (the very class that got me interested in Scandinavian design in the first place). We then went to the Rovaniemi airport and saw signs of Santa and some cute little woodland animal scenes. After touring these buildings, we went to Santa Village. I was probably the most excited about this. If you can imagine a little biracial girl running around saying “Where’s Santa!?” and leaping over the Arctic Circle line, well, you can probably paint a pretty clear picture of what happened. 

We went through a sort of Haunted House entrance to an upstairs where we saw Santa sitting in a large chair (for he was a large guy). He spoke so many languages, I was impressed. We took a picture with him and then had to rush back to the vans so that we could go to the museum. We spent a few hours touring the museum. It was pretty interesting.

 I liked petting all of the stuffed polar bears and things… of course. We had to leave by 5:00pm because our minibuses still had their “summer tires” on and it was supposed to be freeeezing and icy that night. It was a very fun trip!!!