SNOW SNOW SNOW!

You would think that because Finland gets a lot of snow - that everybody hates it.
But that's not true!
Because it's dark by 4pm...if not earlier...and the sun doesn't come peeking out until about 9-10am...it's pretty dark out!  The snow acts as a reflector of the street lights and it brightens up the area A LOT.

But at the same time, it has it's down sides too....like having to bundle yourself and your kids up in at least 3 layers....pushing a stroller with hard plastic wheels can be a complete pain when there's clumps of snow in the way (or the sidewalk has yet to be plowed)....oh and then half the side walk is usually gone too.

And a word of caution:

For some reason - Finnish drivers do not (doesn't apply to all) sweep the snow off the roof of their vehicles.
Can we say: DANGEROUS?!

• Scenario #1: Think of it this way...you're the driver behind the jerk who didn't sweep off their roof...a bit of warm air, a breeze or a sharp turn or brake - and POW!  You have tonnes of snow and possibly ice on your windshield...you can't see...it's a green light and you can't see.
  You're swerving...the people behind you are swerving...and the jerk up ahead is trucking along totally oblivious to the hazard they just caused you.
  
• Scenario #2: You're a cyclist (yes Finns ride their bikes in the winter) and you get a face full of snow....and then you fall and possibly get hit by someone else from behind or on the side.

• Scenario #3: Scenario 1 happens and your windshield cracks...it's totally possible with the weight of ice and snow and speed and other physics-related things...and 1 little tiny crack can cause you a huge-assed problem.  It'll spread and it costs a TONNE of money to replace your whole windshield!

So please, PLEASE, PLEASE...wipe the snow off the roof of your car.

Onto other Dangerous Snow-Related Accidents in Finland:

• Be cautious of walking under trees....they are heavy with snow and probably some ice because it's been raining....it hurts quite a bit when a chunk falls and smacks you in the face, head or neck.
• Be VERY cautious of walking near tall buildings...sometimes people are on the roof shovelling the ice and snow off and it hurts a lot if you get hit.  Normally there's someone below telling the shoveller when pedestrians are walking by....not always.
• Sometimes ice and snow just falls off the roof of buildings - the taller the building, the faster the fall, the harder it'll hit you.  So try to not walk glued to the sides/fronts of a building....

Many pine trees are so old that the weight of the snow is weighing down their branches and they are SNAPPING off...so be careful!

Downtown on a Friday

So instead of going downtown tomorrow - we decided to be spontaneous and go downtown this afternoon.
Slightly bad idea to do a few hours of walking when yesterday I did a lot of squatting/bending and crouching to get blueberries - ah well. I'll probably make it worse and go picking berries tomorrow if the weather's decent.
This morning it poured - reminded me of Nova Scotia - except it lasted less than 10 minutes. Then it was sprinkles and mist throughout the day, some sunshine and so forth.

We went back to Grilli 21 - as one should be well fed prior to the ups and downs of downtown Jyv�skyl� - and it was a different girl making our Bacon-burgers. *Note photos via Facebook*
Instead of relish - we had pickle slices (YAY!), instead of raw onions - we had crispy-fried onions (YUMMY) and she packed it on. It took me about 5 full minutes to get to the patty because I had to clear through the onion fried bits. But it was good.
So now that we're fed - it's off to downtown's City Center to see what's going on.
I found some black yarn (as per Tim's request) to make him some slippers - and the one slipper is turning out great so far! I picked up 4 balls - so I'll be keeping myself busy - I don't think it'll take 4 to make one pair of slippers. I just like being overly-prepared.
So not only were there massive tents/kiosks with yummy smelling food (see some photos), there was a fashion show too! Why they did this on a Friday before 5pm - as opposed to a weekend - I don't know. But there were TV crews and lots of people watching - it was pretty packed.
And finally - the book store. It's huge! It has 2 floors and there were some English books....they had Twilight books in English!...and the bottom floor was just for kids books and stationary. OMG the stationary. Walls of papers, notebooks, agendas, calendars and stickies and many books had LINED paper at that!
I must ask why grid paper is the norm here - it's really driving me crazy not knowing. Yes I am a stationary junky. I think I'd go back to school just to shop for stationary...I love it.

Hello Kitty seems to be pretty popular here too...I'm so glad because I love Hello Kitty a lot - I have a lanyard with a stuffed HK hanging from it for my keys and a wallet too! Secretly I'm also very glad I drew HK on my grocery bag - maybe I can blend in with the store products. Haha.

So we took a look in the Eco store again today and have decided we're going to go cloth diapers - but not the overly fancy ones (as they're about 20 Euros a pop) but just the simple diaper cover and fold the cloths/liners and use those. And the plastic pants if necessary.
Night time/visiting or traveling = disposables for sure.

Went to the grocery store and decided to pick up some basic ingredients for baking...I can't find the brown sugar. ARGHHHHH! Will have to try again next time. The white sugar wasn't with the flour and oats (I also can't find or translate the baking powder either...another must for next time) - it was with the tea!
Speaking of tea - Tim finally found a box of Twinings "Prince of Wales tea". He loves the stuff but in Halifax you have to pay an arm and a leg at Pete's Frootique for a box of it or get a mixed blend with other flavours.
I also recommend Twinings "Russian Earl Grey" it was very nice. *Note - I generally do not put sugar or milk in my tea...milk is only mandatory if it's super hot and I can't handle it. And never in the green tea!

Alright the dogs are crying to go out and to be fed...and my internet has yet again been wacky lately.

PS we got a new English-Suomi Suomi-English dictionary - it's great:) Suomi being Finnish