Sweaty conditions

To commemorate this day, on which there was the first snow fall for this winter season in Finland (!), I would like to comment on some of the more long-lasting effects of the inherent temperature difference of the two countries. People are often asking me on how am I coping with the hot weather.

To begin with, people seem to adjust to hot weather differently from person to person. I am willing to bet that there is some hot weather gene controlling individual's capability on handling the temperature changes. I have been making an empirical observations on people around me (family members, colleagues, friends, people visiting us -- mostly people who do not originate from Singapore) and I am ready to make a hypotheses that from this study group about 50% of people embrace hot weather without any issues -- some actually seem to be enjoying it -- and then there is other half to whom hot weather seems to be more of an unbearable burden (with obviously a number of individuals to various degrees in between these two extreme cases).

Luckily I have seemingly been born with Resistance to Fire +20 (using terminology from role playing games). This particular perk seems to have negative correlation with sweating skills. People who sweat extensively are understandably more ticked off by the hot weather conditions than those who don't. Case in point being my two sons: the younger one can be found bathing in sweat while sitting passively on a couch watching Moomin show on YouTube, whereas the older one hardly breaks a sweat even after running wildly around and fighting invisible zombies with karate moves.

There is also clearly an element of adjustment over time. I would like to share a couple of somewhat scary findings from thorough self examination: is it really this quickly that a person from particularly cold corner of the world starts to acclimatize to so very different thermometer readings?

Observation #1: I was leaving work just the other day while wearing my typical work attire: long sleeved shirt and trousers -- it is a relief that a suit with a tie & jacket (AKA standard consultant coveralls) is not generally expected as everyday dressing code. Even though the sun was out, I realized that it didn't feel particularly hot outside. My feeling was justifiable as it was mere 32 degrees.

Observation #2: This year has surely been Year of a Water Snake since it has been raining more than normally even during the drier months between the monsoons. It is not once that I have felt it has been way too cold outside to go for a swim on a cloudy day. Understandably 30+ degree weather raises goose bumps.  (On a totally unrelated note I have noticed an uncontrollable urge to vacate the pool immediately if it starts to rain. I wonder why is that. To prevent myself from getting wet?)

Observation #3: Quite early on I stopped using air con at nights. Mild night time temperature of 28 degrees feels cool enough to sleep well -- as opposed to having air con freezing your feet or head.

Admittedly there has been at least one recorded moment of frustration with me suffering from the exceptionally warm weather. While picking up my son from school I was standing on the school yard way too early at pretty much during the warmest time of the day and this given day happened to be particularly hot one. It tends to get royally hot and humid if it hasn't rained at least a bit in the past few days. I begged for an approval to whine a little from a friend of mine in Finland with whom I was chatting to pass the time. For some unknown reason that approval was never provided.

No squating allowed

I have already blogged about Singaporean toilet adventures a few times before. I promise you this will be the last time!

Just wanted to share a warning sign which you probably would not expect to see in a workplace toilet in Finland.

Then again Finns can have part of the action with funny signs. This one was apparently found in one restaurant toilet in Finland. Obviously makes you wonder that there must have been a good reason(s) for a sign defining an appropriate toilet behaviour to appear on the wall in the first place.

Found this from imgur.com --> http://imgur.com/QKLuVtN

Now if I really put my mind to it, I guess squating over Western type toilet bowl is not that bad offense after all...

Never ending dog days

People already in ancient Mesopotamia (bear with me, this is actually going somewhere) associated hot weather in the summer to the rise of the star Sirus, which is the brightest star in Canis Major (Large Dog) constellation. The term "Dog Days" was used at least by the ancient Greek and later by Romans (diēs caniculārēs) to refer to the particularly sultry or humid, warm days at around end of July and August.

In medieval Germany this time of the summer coincidentally was also at the same time when farmers were burning forests and woodlands in order to create fields for crops. This slash-and-burn technique provided name for this season and it became known as Rodenmonat. Now, the Danish in turn took this phrase and translated it not with the original meaning, but by the sound of it. In Denmark this season was known as råddenmåned or rotten month!

Finally when the term landed in Finland in the middle of 1600th century it was called mätäkuu (or more specifically mätekw as per Mikael Agricola, who is considered to be the de facto founder of written Finnish, had documented it into the first ever calendar in being published in Finnish language). Now the concept of rotting and decay was integral part of the term.

Interestingly, it was apparently the label itself which started living its own life in Finland and people of old times began associating things like how easily food goes bad or how wounds do not heal so quickly during this particular time of the year. Similarly there are various folklore driven beliefs associated with dogs in the parts of the world where the term Dog Days is being used.

But furthermore, it is seemingly not only folklore, as lately there was a study being conducted in a Finnish hospital, where surgeons reviewed total of 50 000 patients. It turned out that there was indeed a statistical significance in the bigger amount of infected wounds with patients during mätäkuu than any other time of the year. There was an increase in the number of bacteria, but also one probable reason was the more lighter clothing being worn during Summer and thus more likely it is to attain skin scratches and wounds.

The reason why I am relating this long winding introduction is that just recently I have ended up with two minor surface wounds on the top of my left foot or instep. The root cause was yet another pesky mosquito going after my succulent Finnish blood again and me scratching the surface of the skin while sleeping. There was no dengue this time (I am actually now immune to one particular serotype of dengue for the rest of my life, but then again would be likely to have more serious disease if I was ever contaminated by any of the remaining three other serotypes), but both of these wounds got infected quite annoyingly.

Luckily both wounds are finally getting better, but even though the last day of August is now upon us, mätäkuu is likely to continue all year around here in Singapore.


PS: Now that we are dwelling in the global etymology of words, there is a curious notion that while Dog Days is not being used in Finland, the phrase "Cat Days" in Finnish actually refers to special time of luxury and relaxation. With quick googling and wikipeding (!?) I was not able to find any similar term in other languages.

PS2: In order to give credit, where credit is due, this more academic blog entry owes much to aforementioned Wikipedia. I am so heavy Wikipedia user in both at work and at free time, that I have started to show them my support by donating. It keeps amazing me that much of the accumulated body of knowledge from entire human history is being provided free of charge and being available practically anywhere at any time. Additionally I used couple of additional Finnish articles as a source of information.

PS3: My son just realized that it is unlikely coincidence that the character Sirius Black in Harry Potter series can transform himself into a dog of all the other possible animals that a well trained Animagus can morph him- or herself into.

Mmmm.... Delicious iPads!

The gates of Hell are open. The ghosts of the long dead are roaming the streets. And they are hungry.

No, this is not a poor tagline from the next Sam Raimi splatter, but premise for the Hungry Ghost Festival going on for the current lunar month in Singapore. Based on Taoist and Buddhist traditions this is the time to remember those who have passed away...

...and feed their everlasting hunger with burning incense, Hell bank notes (apparently that's their local currency) and of course iPads (made of paper though). What a way for modern life to meet with old traditions! One of my local friends of Peranakan descent mentioned that someone had been wondering out loud whether they should burn paper made electric generators and battery chargers along with these gadgets. The half creepy part of the festivities is to make sure that there are always empty seats reserved for the dead in any musical performances during this time.

I had not heard of this Yu Lan festival before moving to Singapore. Quite honestly this does sound pretty weird to me. Then again, Lutheran tradition of feasting on the body and blood of a zombie-son of God at the Holy Communion must sound at least as far fetched and out of this world for outsiders. It is just a matter of perspective. 

I came across this enlightening blog entry regarding many dos and don'ts of the Hungry Ghost festival. I was happy on behalf of all Finnish Nokia stock owners to see in the picture in the blog that the dead still crave for those Nokia phones from their more lively days. Sadly though looking at the current market share results it is pretty much only the dead who are hungry for Nokia anymore...

Oh the Greenery

I believe I mentioned long time back how thrilled I was initially with the amount of flowers, bushes, trees and parks in the city of Singapore. The thing is that it still keeps fascinating me. Having some comparisons with other South East Asian big cities, it is absolutely lovely that even with the scarcity of available land there are trees everywhere.

Case in point: the highway leading to my home from work.
Yesterday I succumbed to taking a taxi which takes me home in 10 mins vs. 45 minutes with public transportation.

Happy 48th Birthday Singapore!

August 9th marks the National Day of Singapore. Contrary to what I had previously thought, Singapore gained independence through separating from Malaysia in 1965 and not from under British Crown. To a great extend autonomous Singapore had intentionally merged with Malaysia already few years prior to that and thus ending being a part of the British Commonwealth.

A big thing on the National Day is apparently the National Day Parade which is running a particular theme for each year. This year's theme is Many stories... One Singapore. This particular story shown on the video took me by surprise.

 

Hectic big city life

It is same in all big cities, I presume. City life just tends to be more hectic and fast paced than in more rural areas. According to my observations people actually seem to walk faster and check the time more often in cities than in smaller towns. People are rushing for public transportation even though it is running on few minute intervals as opposed to running once every half an hour or so. I wonder what is actually the cause and what is the effect. I bet that there is plenty of studies done on the topic.

You have 5 seconds to comply.

At least one thing that is increasing the feeling of hecticity (that's not really a word, is it, but interestingly word "city" is embedded in there) is displaying the seconds left for pedestrians to cross a street. In Singapore there are ridiculously few seconds offered to cross a street -- even one with multiple lanes. Just seeing the seconds diminish in front of your eyes forces you to fasten your stride. The clock starts ticking probably at 12 seconds meaning that unless you are there already waiting to cross the street, the chance is that you will not make it safely across in time. And this is coming from somewhat fit and somewhat still young (!?) individual. The kiasu mentality of people behind the wheel doesn't really respect pedestrians. I have no clue on how senior citizens or those disabled can cross the street in sub 10 seconds time...

But actually now I do! I just spotted this little curiosity (see picture below) close to a pedestrian crossing near a medical facility. You just need to flash your senior citizen smartcard to the street light in order to add few more extra personal seconds for safe crossing. How innovative is that?

 

ps. Jaywalking is naturally yet another crime in Singapore and offender could at least theoretically face punishment of up to 3 months in jail! Yes, you read correctly. For crossing a street.