What is good "rye-ight" now?

I haven't really missed any food from Finland during all this time. Like I have mentioned before, you can find pretty much everything your heart might desire from the next door grocery store. However, after more than a year in between I just visited Finland briefly (it was actually warmer in Finland than in Singapore, imagine that!). On my way back I noticed that there is a proper grocery store inside Helsinki-Vantaa airport Arrivals hall. It is mostly catering for folks returning home in the evening flights, but realized then and there that it can also provide added value for departing passengers. I ended up buying a loaf of rye bread and some delicious cheese. I can get some Swedish rye bread in the local supermarket, but not the good everyday stuff. Also you can surely find various different cheese, but I am not sure if the Asians really appreciate the smelly goodness. It is a 12 hour direct flight from Helsinki to S'Pore, so any food will stay easily fresh in the cargo hold.

Now writing this particular blog entry with my mouth full of oh-so-familiar Finnish taste. It is actually pretty surreal feeling.

PS. As always it was a charm to waltz through the Changi airport with my multiple entry Visa permit. Having my fingerprint scanned and welcomed back home took me only few minutes.

PS2. BTW, while in Finland it did feel good to have access to proper toilet paper. Soft yet sturdy. Not the Singaporean fluffy stuff that easily gets all mushy in the wrong places.

A blast from the past

This day goes down in history. I believe this was the first time ever that I have queued for a cashier and deposited a paper form cheque to my bank account. I am of the generation of people raised in Finland who never had to engage with check books or checking accounts. I had my first debit card when I was 15 and was later using a crude pre-internet bank over 36,6 Kbps modem connection (who remembers the infernal noise?) for all my bill payments and money transfers.

Honestly Singapore is not the worst place in terms of advances in banking. Actually there is a fierce competition between the regional and global banks to demonstrate who are seen as the most innovative and cutting edge with rolling out new services like NFC payments. I can get by using mostly my credit card including for small purchases like taxi trips. But still everyday bill payment through electronic means is not as straightforward and everywhere accepted as I have grown to expect.

Also there is some inherent weirdness and unnecessary level of complexity in the way electronic banking is set up here. I can pay a bill normally (provided that I have added a new payee) or choose to use GIRO, bank transfer, credit card, standing instruction, online cheque (!!! if I had a checking account)  or advance pay. All of these modes of payments are hidden in various parts of the navigational hierarchy of my internet bank UI. In Finland in my bills I have two pieces of information: recipients bank account and typically reference code and after that I set it to run automatically if it is a reoccurring payment. I see all transactions (past and upcoming) in one place. How hard can that be?

All your berries are belong to us

I have a had a massive misconception all throughout my life. Now that I have recently been enlightened by my wife and learned my lesson, please allow me to contribute to the shared body of knowledge in case there are others like me out there.

While I really, really enjoy the regional cuisine in SE Asia, I have been vocally of the opinion that there are few food items that indeed are objectively better in Finland (perhaps also in Sweden and other neighboring countries) than anywhere else in the world. I am obviously talking about berries here. Strawberries are much sweeter and tastier in Finland compared to their sometimes bigger and even visually more appealing foreign siblings. The same thing applies to blueberries. I just can't seem to find as good blueberries as the ones which I can pick up readily from practically any forest in Finland as per quite extensive freedom to roam.

You know nothing, koo mikko! 

The thing is that I have been comparing apples and oranges -- or more precisely comparing bland blueberries to real tasty bilberries. I have been unjustly dissing that other blue colored berry to its Nordic relative. It's actually pretty easy to make the distinction now that I know what to look for.

Thus for the record, let me apologize globally to all the berries I may have offended over time. I regret my actions deeply.

Celestial wonders on the Finnish summer sky

Even though I have witnessed the natural phenomena of midnight Sun (or at least not so dark nights) every summer for several decades, it still continues to fascinate me. Especially powerful the effect is after having survived yet another dark winter, which is the flip side caused by the the same axial tilt of the Earth. In Singapore somebody flips the light switch at 7.30 PM and turns it back on at 7 AM practically all year round. So even after this systematic approach, it was yet again captivating to enjoy the summer solstice in Finland this June with close friends and family.

A quarter of Finland is located north of the Arctic Circle. This is where you get to experience the actual midnight Sun. I was celebrating the midsummer festivities in the Central Finland, where the Sun does set, but only for few hours and it doesn't really get that dark at all. Only a dusk. I have heard from a number of foreign friends that they have actually trouble sleeping during Finnish summers when it is so light outside. My tip for all travellers is to close their eyes when sleeping.

Picture taken at midnight on summer solstice.
That is not the Sun in the sky, but another coincidental celestial marvel: supermoon.

PS. I have been lately wondering that there aren't likely many vampires living in Finland during the summer months. Then again they all would be having a field day all over lasting from September to March.    

Finnish Cultural Imperialism pt III

Strange. Last time I had just returned from a trip to Finland I spotted this global supply chain oddity. I came back yesterday after having enjoyed the midsummer festivities with friends and family and now I spot a can of Lonkero in a local ordinary supermarket. Well, to be honest it was one of those supermarkets that does tend to the needs of home sick (and wealthy) immigrants in addition to providing everyday groceries. This can was close by to some pretty authentic looking rye bread, which had Swedish label texts.

The moral of the story is that I can get pretty much everything in Singapore to keep the dawning home sickness at bay. Of which there hasn't really been any real symptoms of during the past 9 months though. The reason why I was browsing the alcohol section of the store more closely was to seek out any particularly scrumpy ciders which I have so far only found out in Wales and New Zealand. But glad I'm not a kiwi as apparently not all sorts of home sicknesses can be cured even when willing to pay a premium.

To cater for the non Finnish audience of this blog, here's the wiki entry of the classic Lonkero, which dates back to the Helsinki Olympics '52.

Finnish cultural imperialism pt 2

Back home at SG and here I come across yet another weird example of globalization. I picked up the ice cream in the picture below from local 7-eleven downstairs to my office.

I truly have trouble understanding what sense does it make to ship ice cream from Finland to Singapore. Especially with very standard product by a global conglomerate. Then again it does keep any potentially dawning home sickness at bay.

 

PS. In case you are wondering (like me after rereading this entry after almost 2 years) why this is called part 2: here was the first sign of Finns taking over the world. 

Greetings from Winter Wonderland

A modest 60 degree difference in temperature provided a warm welcome when coming over to Finland for Christmas celebrations. I didn't bother packing in any Winter clothes when relocating thus the weather felt a bit chilly in a tee shirt.
Similar warm sign of coming home was delivered By a Finnish flight attendant on board the Finnair flight. He accidentally poured apple Juice on my arm and sweater. The only apology offered was a muffled "Oops".
Despite the cold weather or perhaps due to it, the scenery looked absolutely wonderful! Snow covered all the trees like sugar frosting.

Happy 95th Birthday Finland

To celebrate Finnish Independence Day here at the office I just shared the following post from my facebook wall with my global colleagues. Now they have a better understanding what I have to put up with when it´s constantly over 30+ degrees outside. Oh, poor me.

+15 °C, Spanish wear caps, gloves and winter coats, Finns are sunbathing.
+10 °C, French desperately try to get their central heating on. Finns plant flowers.
+5 °C, Italian cars won't start. Finns drive with convertibles.
0 °C, Pure water freezes. Water in river Vantaa thickens a bit.
−5 °C, First people are found frozen in California. Finnish midsummer festival ends.
−10 °C, Scottish turn the heat on in their houses. Finns start to use long-sleeve shirts.
−20 °C, Swedes stay indoors. Finns are having last barbecue before winter.
−30 °C, Half of the Greek people have frozen to death. Finns start to dry their laundry indoors.
−50 °C, Polar bears evacuate North Pole. Finnish army starts it's winter training.
−70 °C, Siberian people are moving to Moscow. Finns are furious since the Koskenkorva booze can't be stored outdoors anymore.
−273 °C, Absolute zero. Finns admit that it is quite cold outside.
−300 °C, Hell freezes over. Finland wins the football World Cup.

Wake up and smell the coffee

Weirdest thing ever: having just arrived at work and filling in my water bottle for the day, I noticed a pack of coffee on my colleagues desk. And not just any coffee, but a fresh package of Finnish coffee.

My Indian colleague had received it from a friend who had been to Canada of all the places. He had absolutely no idea how the coffee had traveled around the world. 

It's worth mentioning that this was not coffee to be exported, but a standard pack of Juhla Mokka, brewed in Helsinki with Finnish only label text on the packaging. 

There we savoured the moment with homely smell of fresh coffee and me explaining to anybody caring to listen what a nation of coffee afficionados Finland really is.