Warm Snow Causing Dangerous Conditions

Helsinki is drowning in snow - Sunday pushed the capital deeper into the white mire

The heavy snowfall throughout Sunday caused traffic problems and cut off sidewalks. A woman was killed instantly under falling snow in Töölö on Monday morning.

A woman died in Helsinki after she was hit by snow and ice falling from a roof in the Töölö district on Monday morning.

Police are advising pedestrians to take extra care to avoid falling ice and snow after heavy snowfall over the weekend. The milder temperatures are causing snow to absorb moisture, making it heavier and more likely to drop down into the street.

This was the first such death in Helsinki since a similar incident in January 2011, when an elderly man was killed by ice falling from a roof in Hakaniemi.

The managing director of the maintenance company involved in last year's Hakaniemi incident was fined. The accident later led to a renewed vigilance from housing companies and building boards.

YLE

Yesterday we went to the Wrong Noodle Bar for lunch. I had noodles with teriyaki sauce and beef. The Professor ate fried noodles with chicken.

We had a great deal of fun trying to guess why the noodle shop is called Wrong.

Mr. Wong ordered his business cards for his new shop. When they arrived all of the cards said Wrong Noodles instead of Wong Noodles. Since he was pinched for capital with his new business, he kept the cards and changed the name of his restaurant.

Or did Mr Wong discovered that Wrong had been painted on his shop instead of Wong and he kept it anyway.

I tried Google, but no one seems to have been as worried about the origin of the name of the bar. In fact I only found a few more suggestions about why the noodles are Wrong. No answers.

Whatever the case was The Wrong Noodle Shop turned out to have a very tasty lunch.

Hello Kitty

While we were in Utah for Christmas, I went shopping one day with Noah. We looked at all sorts of things. When he saw these ear buds with Hello Kitty on them, he picked them up and put them in our basket.

Since we listen to both Sacrament Meeting and Relief Society with a translator, the ear buds have been perfect. Thank you, Noah very much.

The quality of the picture is not great, but I love it. Noah who is 3 went to the movies with his Aunt Kristi (our youngest daughter). I have no idea how much of the popcorn he ate, but I love his upside down sunglasses at the movie. He loves to go shopping with me even if all we do is look at the toy section without buying anything. He used to get up in the morning and say to his mom, "I am going shopping with Grandma today." Even if he wasn't.

When he was told in January that I was leaving, he told his mom, "No she's not. She wants to stay here."

When I have Noah to shop and play with, why would I want to leave?

Story

When we went to dinner and the Professor spoke to the senior missionaries, we learned that many of the men had served on missions in Finland. A lot of the couples have one person who speaks Finnish and feels right at home here.

One of the elders told us a story about Ezra Taft Benson that I enjoyed. When Pres Benson was the Secretary of Agriculture, he was traveling around Europe which still bore so many wounds that had not healed from WW II. When he came to Finland, the embassy had appointments already set up for them. Pres. Benson said that all of those where fine but he wanted no appoints on Sunday because he wanted to meet with the Saints.

The political assistants started scrambling. Who and what were The Saints? Finally someone thought about the mission home and called there to find out exactly what it was that Pres Benson wanted to do on Sunday. Of course, the missionary who answered the call was delighted to tell them what they needed to know and undoubtedly told others in the mission office and started the legend.

Of course, no one on the staff would have considered asking Ezra Taft Benson himself.

Kappeli

This afternoon the Professor and I had the chance to have lunch at Helsinki's famous restaurant Kappeli. We were invited to dinner by Terhi who is the head of Fulbright Finland.

Kappeli actually means chapel so that in all of the translations to English that we have seen it is called chapel. I prefer thinking of it by its Finnish name. Kappeli sounds so much better. This Helsinki landmark was originally opened in 1867. I has gone through several incarnations before emerging as the beautiful partially glass structure that it is today. It sits just opposite a modern "band stand" in the park and therefore in the summer this is the center for much of the night time entertainment.

One of the items of history that has pride of place at Kappeli is that it used to be the center for Finnish artists to gather. I particularly like this story from Kappeli's history:

Sibelius is in Stockholm

Took place in the chapel, and took place. Perhaps the most famous report, A fairly large number of artists: Aho, Järnefelt, Leino, Sibelius and Gallen-Kallela, among others, were sitting, as usual, the chapel when the Sibelius had to leave for a couple of days in Stockholm to do batch composition.when he returned to his business trip, had the same mass the size of the chapel remains. Some artists then blurted out: "Hear, Janne, you are either outdoors or indoors, but you do not ramppaa those doors."

For those of you who are not fluent in translations from anything to English, the punch line of the story is that when Sibelius returned after his journey to Sweden, he found the same group of friends, sitting a the same table at Kappeli. One of the artist blurted out: "Listen here, Janne, either you stay outside or stay inside, but stop coming in and out all of the time."

Warmer Weather

The Professor is standing next to a car that has not been moved in a long time. It is now between two monster piles of snow. The snow on the car is settling so it does not look as buried as it once did. The snow has settled over time. The professor said, "Do you think anyone would believe that there is a car UNDER that huge pile of snow?" Probably not.

Today walking to a restaurant for lunch, we saw some of the problems that have arisen because of the warmer weather. It has not got above freezing according to our thermometer but the roads are mush and the edge of the inlet is thawing. Did I send you the picture of the men on the inlet ice fishing? There were still a couple of guys out on the ice closer to the Gulf of Finland. However, on the side of the bridge where the water diminishes there is brown water along the sides.

We noticed people looking over the edge of the bridge, so of course we had to look too. On the bank there was a man in his scuba gear. There was a huge red emergency vehicle. Close to us on the bridge there were two other emergency workers. The man on the shore seemed to be looking to them to tell him what else he should do. Needless to say, we have no idea what he was diving for. It was evident that he had not found it. Obviously it had to be something valuable enough to call out this crew. But we sure hope they were not looking for a body.

On the lighter side, we saw three truck loads of young people. College age, maybe. They were shouting and waving and they even threw us candy when they saw me taking pictures. The last truck had a sign on it in English. Part of it said, "Throw your hats in the air.." I don't know if they were out campaigning for someone or what was going on. Dad said that sitting next to the window he had heard them go by several times today.

The other interesting sight we saw was these two men who were out cleaning off the tram tracks. Usually the tracks are clear even though they look as if they are down in a white canyon. The snow and ice builds up to about two or three inches on either side of the rail. With the slush, some of the rails have started to be buried in muddy brown snow. These two were out trying to get this track clear so the business of running the tram could get back going.

Note from a friend:

...the Penkkarit parade! It means 'press the bench', but no one knows why they call it that. It is officially the last day of school today for Grade 12 kids. To celebrate they decorate a lorry and drive around town. I wonder if the lorry that had English on it was from the International school.

We can't figure out how it's the last day of school since they still have to do exams and don't officially graduate until June 1.

You Know You Have Been in Finland Too Long When

Ruth Cline Detter

‎21° F and Lauren says, "It's almost warm enough that I don't have to wear a coat!" Finland has definitely changed our perception of 'warm enough'.

The Professor quotes a column that starts 'you know you have been in Finland too long when...'

Lauren and I have been in Finland too long because I understand exactly what she was saying. It is just such a wonderful relief that the temperatures are no longer on the minus side.

Ups and Downs of the Day

I fell today while walking to church. My legs just went out from under me and there I was on the ground/ice. I hit my knees hard, but I really hurt my right arm. It is too painful to lift to brush my hair or even bring a glass up to my mouth. I have taken some advil and put some "arthritis" rub on it. Hopefully I can sleep okay.

Tonight we went to dinner with the missionaries who work at the temple and Elder and Sister Roberts. The Professor spoke for a few minutes about Mormons in America. They had asked him to talk about Romney but that was too political to talk about on Church property.

Welcome to our Family

Tek was born on Thursday, February 9th, 2012. I can hardly wait to meet. He was born at 6:54 am and weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 20.5 inches long.

He looks a lot like his big brother who is pretty much still a baby too. Two of the sweetest little ones.

Friday in February

The Professor and I walked to a meeting this morning to hear Thomas F Schaller talk about the upcoming US election. We were almost there and were concentrating on finding the house number when snow fell from the roof barely missing the Professor. I stopped him just before he walked under it. At least that is how I remember it.

The sidewalk was actually closed off, but someone had failed to put the tape and orange cone back. We were so busy looking for building numbers that we were not aware of what was going on around us. I would guess that there was enough snow to knock us over perhaps causing some injury. Our meeting was on the 5th floor of the building opposite the one with the roof being cleared of snow. That should explain the photographs. We are very grateful that neither of us was hit. The man on the ground quickly moved the cone back where it should have been.

We enjoyed the morning and had lunch with Markku and Jonathan who attended the lecture also. Someone new in the office saw Jo nathan's name written with a space between two key letters. For quite awhile Markku went around calling him "Joe Nathan" like the new member of the staff.

I don't think I learned a whole lot that was new. Schaller predicts that Obama will win against Romney in November. Needless to say, he predicts that Romney will get the Republican nomination.

Thomas Schaller

A Lunch for All Children

Last fall the Professor had the opportunity to work with a man who was a retired educator. He was a scientist who had worked to teach the next generation. Before retiring he was the president of a university in northern Finland. The two of them had been asked to interview Finnish applicants for Fulbright grants. The people they spoke with were hoping to go to the United States to study for the year 2012 to 2013.

As they worked together, the professor grew to admire and respect his fellow worker. He and Ossi met over three days. They would read and study a group of applications overnight and then talk to the applicants the next morning.

In Finnish society the meal in the middle of the day is the large or main meal of each day. As the two men talked, the professor learned that the school system of Finland feeds the children lunch every day. Making sure that the children are fed and nourished is part of the educators' mandate.

As with all nations in Europe during WW II, Finland suffered from lack of food. Even though there was little to eat, the schools continued to feed the children a meal during the day. Ossi remembers that frequently the only food to eat was a beet.

Keeping your Hands Warm

My father, Bob, grew up in a small town in southern Alberta, Canada. He was the eleventh child of fourteen born to his parents. He lived on a farm as many people did at that time. They worked hard and they ate what they grew.

Bobby was only ten years old the year that the stock market crashed in New York. Because they lived on a farm, they were fortunate that they were never hungry. He said of his mother that no one who wanted food was turned away hungry either.

During the summer time, the children went everywhere bare foot. It was only when the cold came in the fall, that they put on shoes. Probably those shoes got recycled through as many children as they could before being completely worn out.

Hill Spring was a little farm town. Bob's family had a barn and fields along side of the house. I assume that the town had the traditional one room school house where children of all ages were taught by one teacher in one classroom. Alberta gets extremely cold in the winter time. When Bobby left for school, he had a baked potato in each pocket. He would put his hands in his pockets and keep them warm. When lunch time came, he eat those same potatoes for his lunch.

I do not know how Bobby kept his hands warm on the way home from school. Probably there was warm bread waiting for him when he got home.

Ice Lantern Competition

Senate Square is not far from where we live and where the Professor teaches his classes. Yesterday when we walked by, there were cubes of ice set on platforms at one side of the square.

This afternoon we got to see some people still working on their "lanterns" and to see some finished products. I liked the light bulb. The toilet was unique.

We were interested in the man ironing the sides of their cube. Over at another lantern, a man had a house plant watering can and was watering their structure. There were only a few lanterns with lights inside. But like the wimps that we are, neither one of us was willing to bundle up and spend more than a half hour outdoors to see the final product.

Thank goodness my friend Ruth and her children had no problem going out into the cold to see the lanterns finished.

The Art of Teaching and Other Skills

At the beginning of the semester, the Professor discovered that the seminar he teaches on Tuesday overlaps with a class that some of his students are enrolled in. He talked to the professor teaching the other class. His colleague said that it didn't matter to him. His class that started at 2:15 was large enough that it didn't matter to him if three students were late every week. The Professor's class is apparently small enough that he cares whether his students will miss part of their next class every week. His class is now ending 1/2 hour early so that his three students can get the first half hour of the other class.

It didn't seem to occur to the other professor that he could make a concession and start his class 15 minutes later so that the students would benefit from the compromise.

I happened to be there when the two instructors were discussing the problem. The Professor's colleague was very off hand about the situation. It didn't affect him personally so he wasn't concerned.

I am very grateful the MY professor cares about his students.