Night Reflectors

So if you're not interested in the shapes available and want to make your own - it's totally possible and very easy!
You can find a link here on how to make them, and no, you don't have to live in Finland to be able to use them.
Benefits of wearing a night-reflector on your outer clothing ?

1. Cars can see you better when their lights shine on you while driving.
2. People on bicycles with lights can see you too...
3. You have a better chance of NOT getting hit by one of the two vehicles mentioned in 1 and 2.

It's also strongly recommended to carry a safety reflective vest in your car/vehicle - so people can see you if you pull over and need to fix something on your car...or pee on the side of the highway...

It's also a super smart idea to put one (a vest or reflector or little non-blinking light) on your dog or other pet, when going for walks!!
Animals can be un-predictable - even the better trained ones - and move into the opposite side of the sidewalk and ended up getting hurt (or hurting a cyclist) for example.

Bullying.

All around the world people are being bullied.
It's not nice and it's usually over petty things like:

• Weight and size
• Accents and pronunciations of difficult words in another language
• Fashion sense or clothing worn
• Sexual preferences
• Being smart or deemed not being smart at all
• Financial status
• Race

The list goes on as you know, but one new "trend" going on here in Finland is making fun of children for wearing REFLECTORS to school.

Finland gets really dark in the winter time - to the point that the sun doesn't come out until about 9-10 am (depends where you are located) and is gone between 2 and 4 pm. 

It is SUPER important to wear a reflector when outside because it's very hard for drivers to see you - let alone anyone else - bikers etc.

Perhaps it's because of the shape of them can be deemed "baby-ish" like shapes of rubber ducks or hearts or ghosts...but the point of them is to be seen so you don't get hit by a car, bus or anything else that can hurt you.

The police of Finland are noticing a growing trend with bullying about wearing reflectors in school and children are starting to not wear them and becoming higher risk of getting hit by cars.

Here's the article in Finnish.

Of ALL things to be made fun of...

How To Survive Winter and Things To Do!

I try and blog about this every year for those that are new to my blog and I hope this provides some useful information!
If you've never seen snow before - well, people in Helsinki are (supposedly) expecting 50 centimeters of the white stuff relatively soon...
This year (similar to last year too) the snow has been slow getting here and staying on the ground.
So I am enjoying it as much as possible - although snow helps to brighten up the darkness and it's fun!
(Also it makes it a lot easier to spot and avoid dog mess when playing in the snow...)

SO!

How to survive winter and the darkness of Finland...

• Wear safety reflective vests, reflective bands, clothing and dangling reflectors ALL over!  Well, you don't have to blind anyone but definitely at least 1 on each side of your body!  Especially if you are walking a lot and crossing the road - it's not easy to see the other side of you from a driver's point of view!!  Many roads are poorly lit and many pedestrians like wearing black for some reason here (yes it goes with everything and blends into the darkness and is a slimming "colour" or shade...but you won't be thinking that if you end up in the hospital!).   And it's not just cars you have to worry about but cyclists as well that ride on designated bike paths or on the side walk.
• If you have a vehicle - it would be smart to pack a couple safety reflective vests in the trunk - should you need to pull over and check something under the hood.
• And you should probably pack a shovel in the trunk too - in case your car gets plowed in with snow!
• If you're walking a dog - please put some sort of light on them or reflective coat too...
• Wear a head lamp or have a good lamp on your bike! It's hard for YOU as a cyclist to see where you are going on a dark road - let alone for pedestrians and other cyclists to see you too.  A non-blinking lamp is probably best so you don't give someone a migraine or a seizure...
• Wear LAYERS!!!  Layers are necessary once the temperature begins to drop and depending where in Finland you live - the more Northern you live - or near the coasts - the more necessary layers become!  Aim for relatively light-weight layers so you are not instantly sweating by the time you are tying your boots!  This also helps you to move comfortably too.
• Here's some information about frost bites and hypothermia!
• Take your VITAMIN D!  Without a lot of sunlight - you'll be feeling extra sleepy and this can help perk you up a bit!  Or you can get one of those special lamps that radiate vitamin D and fake sunshine to get you going in the morning.
• Get MOVING! No, don't pack up your belongings...but just get outside and enjoy the weather as much as possible and the fresh air too!  It can be sad and lonely indoors - so definitely invite your friends over or meet up for coffee somewhere - just for the sake of having a social life outside of the internet or cell phone world.  
• Sign up for some courses like Zumba, yoga or Tai-chi!  Or perhaps go rock-climbing (indoors), play sports or join a craft group or reading circle!
• Pick up a new hobby or new project involving a hobby you're already familiar and interested in!  (I.e. Ravelry is fantastic for knitting and crocheting patterns...)
• Volunteer!
• Keep warm!  Yes that was hinted with the "Wear LAYERS!!!" above - but even indoors - keep warm.  Some flats and old homes can be quite drafty so definitely wear some layers at home if necessary, drink lots of hot beverages (i.e. coffee, tea, hot chocolate - or do you call it cocoa?) and become BFs with your sauna.  
• Remember, some Finns are hardcore sauna fans and they'll not only roll in the snow once they're hot enough but they might even take a dip in the freezing nearby lake.
• "BF" means best friend not 'boy friend' in this case.
• Wear sunscreen on sunny days! Many people have been fooled by the idea that they cannot get a sun burn on any exposed skin during a cloudy day but that is not true.  If you plan on going out for a long period of time - you may want to dig in your summer bag for a blob of sunscreen just to be safe.  The sun does peek out a bit in the winter and it is possible to get a burn...combined with dry air (if you live in a dry area of Finland) - the results are not pretty!
• MOISTURIZE!!  I live in Central Finland which is nice and dry - if you do too - you'll definitely want to moisturize your skin - body lotions, lip balm and so on - so your skin doesn't crack.  Trust me - it hurts like a you know what!

Things to do during a Finnish Winter...

• Ski - down hills or cross-country!
• Skate - or play ice-hockey!
• Craft - knit, sew, crochet, make cards, scrapbook, pottery, carpentry, weave...
• Travel - you'd probably want to go somewhere warmer for a bit - or travel to Lapland for the Northern Lights...or perhaps to Santa's Village?
• Study!  Sorry I reminded you...
• Work...sorry I reminded you about that too.
• Do a polar dip after sauna (then run like crazy back into the sauna!)...
• Bake and cook popular holiday goodies!
• Read or write....
• Take photos or write a blog about your life in Finland!
• Join Postcrossing!  (I am not an employee or volunteer - just a member and love it thoroughly).
• Have movie marathons with friends...
• Learn Finnish!
• Thaw out and clean your freezer and fridge!  Your food can go on the balcony which should be cold enough!!
• Stock up on ice-cream - this is a prime time if you don't have a car and have to walk quite a bit to get home!
• Drink gl�gi...sorry egg nog is not sold here.
• Make snow angels, build snow people, have a snow ball fight...
• Shovel snow or pump up the snow blower!
• Sleep?

Autumn in Jyv�skyl�

I haven't taken many photos - I really should take more!  But here are some photos of my neighbourhood while walking around with my son this evening.

None of these photos were adjusted in terms of lighting or shadows - I did crop the last two photos, as I discovered a spot on my lens through the photos...so that's all that was cropped out.  (You can see it in the first photo near the top...)

Believe it or not - these were taken at around 615pm on October 15 (today)...and it was completely dark by 710pm!!!

It's cold enough that our balcony is serving as an extra fridge or cold-storage area!  Which is handy for baking that needs to be chilled...or extra bottles of pop or boxes of juice!!

So dig out your night-reflectors and your long underwear! It's getting colder (currently 4*C) and dark faster!!