A Day in the Life

 

A Day in the Life

Overall, I’d say that one of the things we’ve enjoyed most about our trip is the change of pace.  It’s something that you don’t really notice until you’ve lived somewhere else, but life in Finland feels so much more manageable.  Our life in America honestly feels insane in comparison.

Our kids are still early risers over here, and are regularly up at 6:00.  We brew a strong pot of Nordic coffee.  The coffee maker is insane here.  It makes coffee in less than five minutes.  I don’t exactly understand how.  But generally the kids play while Amy and I wake up.  Then we make breakfast.  Well, usually Amy makes breakfast.  French toast, pancakes, or eggs and potatoes.  Usually with a side of bacon (Perkoni).  It’s thinner than at home, but very much sufficient.  After showers and maybe a family board game, we’re usually out of the house around 10:00.

We usually shoot for a morning activity and an afternoon activity with lunch and some downtime in the middle.  We often play it by ear.  Sometimes a park.  Sometimes a museum.  Sometimes just a walk in the Pyynikki.  

We often need something at the grocery store, so we try to plan so that we can stop off at Keskustori and grab it from the Prisma.  We’ve really gotten excited about the Finnish library system, so we often identify a new library we want to go check out, and plan our morning around that.  Often Amy has a meeting at some point in the day, or I need time to work on my online classes, so several days out of each week one of us goes on morning adventure with the kids and the other one works.  It’s extra special when we all have time together as a family to go out and about.

We usually try to make lunch at home.  It’s often leftovers from the night before.  Or sandwiches.  They love deli meat here so we have some at home when we need it in a pinch.  

Occasionally we’ll go out to eat.  Our favorite has been Aloha Ramen, which is a delicious spot right near Sorin Aukio.  I know I haven’t told you anything about Sorin Aukio yet.  And I won’t just yet.  That’s a literary technique called “building suspense.”  I’m pretty good at it.  Anyway the ramen is the best we’ve ever had, and the kids like the gyoza.  We usually have to go back and order seconds for them.

Lunch time is also a good opportunity to start laundry and dishes.  The appliances here take a surprising amount of time to run – the washing machine takes about three hours and the dishwasher four.  There are other modes that you can set them to, but these are the ones the Finns use.  Apparently the appliances themselves heat the water rather than bringing hot water in, which is somehow more energy efficient.  Apparently Europeans generally are pretty appalled by the energy inefficiency of American appliances when they discover it.  The Finns invented the drying rack that hangs above the sink in a cupboard, which is the coolest thing ever, and something that needs to come to America.

After lunch, the kids have some downtime to read or play with toys while we do our chores.

There’s also no clothes dryer, so we have to hang all of our clothes to dry.  So it’s important for us to wash them during lunch so we can hang them to dry before bed.  You’d think that would feel like it’s a burden, but it doesn’t.  Because the Finns have shorter work days…and because we’re not working full-time while we’re here.  So we actually have time to do the environmentally friendly thing.  We hang our clothes to dry on a rack in our enclosed patio.  

It’s really nice out there.  The windows can open, and you can slide the individual panes to have it fully open air, or fully enclosed, or anything in between.  

It expands the space, and feels very “indoor-outdoor.”  We spent the majority of our trip eating all of our meals out there, and hanging out there in the evenings – it only got too cold to do so in late September.

And it has some fantastic views!

Afternoons are varied like the mornings.  Often we go to another park.  On Fridays many of the museums in town are free, so we try our best to take advantage of that.  On other days there are occasionally special events happening around town, so we try to plan our days and movements to hit those spots.  One of the really fun things about this trip has been having the time and space to plan our outings and chores to be in sync with the rhythms of the city.

Dinners are usually at home.  We’ve had a lot of luck making delicious food in our tiny apartment.  Tacos.  Swedish meatballs.  Mashed potatoes.  Salads.  Salmon.  Most of it has been pretty good.  I was too committed to finding a great authentic Finnish sausage to grill and make with potatoes.  We tried several different sausages.  They are all just hot dogs.  But other than that the food has been excellent.  We’ve been lucky. 

After movie time (which sometimes involves something we’ve borrowed from the library) we put the kids to bed.  

They sleep together in the same small bed.  Which is absurd because it’s a bunk bed.  So they could sleep separately if they wanted to.  We anticipated they would.  But they insisted.  For all of their arguing they really love each other, and I think that they find comfort in each other’s presence.

For having to share a bed with your brother for the last two months, they’ve had great attitudes about it.  One of us puts the kids to bed while the other one works – because our work hasn’t stopped in the time we’ve been here.  It feels a bit frantic to try to manage our work like with such a busy trip.  But we’ve managed.

 In the evening we try to play a board game.  We’ve played one almost every night. 

If you’re wondering how that is possible…well…you’ll find out later.  (See how good I am at the suspense thing).  Amy’s even won a couple of times, which is pretty exciting for her. STATEMENT FROM AMY:  SCOREBOARD!  Aww, you can tell how insecure she is because she wrote in all caps.

I try to end my night with a sauna as often as I can.  Milo joins me pretty often.  He likes to meditate in there.  

Most Finns sauna at 80 degrees Celsius, but I try to do it at 90 or even 100, which is over 200 Fahrenheit.  It makes me feel more Finnish, and gives me space and time to reflect and think.  It’s amazing how clear everything becomes when things are that hot.  You start to realize the arbitrary nature of the things with which we fill our lives.  Time.  Money.  Work.  It all melts away from you and evaporates like loyly that rises from the rocks you douse with water.  The boundaries that divide us are lost in the sauna haze.  There is no hate.  No war.  No individuality.  No you nor me.  Everything is connected.  We are all the same – a constellation of atoms and molecules floating in the infinite expanse of steam.

It might be too hot.  I probably should turn it down a bit.

Hei Hei.