This weekend Turku celebrates its glorious past by having a medieval market. This is in the same league as Night of Arts in Vasa or maybe something that Skansen would do. So beautiful and really family oriented.
Two guys get to beat the crap out of each other. When I first saw them they were hitting each other with swords, but then someone blew a horn and I thought the fight would end – but no, they just gave them even bigger weapons!!
The parents of the little girl on the left thought it would be funny to have a picture of her stuck in one of those medieval punish devices. It took some time though to get the picture right and as I was walking away I heard the girl say in a pitiful voice “äiti mä en pysty” something like “mother, I can’t do it”. Poor thing!
Johanna was there with me, but I think she left before I really started shopping…
They have hired actors to play out little scenes, love quarrels or convictions of criminals – and all the vendors are dressed in these “medieval” clothes! Besides a lot of handmade accessories and knick-knacks they also sell a lot of food. I had some roasted almonds and a very nice sausage (not served in a paper but in a cabbage leaf!). And I also bought some karjalan piirakat, 15 for 5 euros, that’s pretty cheap.
AND I bought two pairs of earrings and wanted to by a clay ikon – but by then I had already been to the vending machine twice so I though I could let it go…
During midsummer I had the pleasure of spending some time with my friend Hanna at her amazing apartment. And I had no trouble sleeping over – her bedroom is bigger than my place (including the bathroom and sauna). And besides two bedrooms, a livingroom, a kitchen and two (half) bathrooms she and her roommate also have one dining room, a corner room (read library) and something the previous owners used as a hobby room. A good thing for me, and not so good for Hanna, is that these “extra”-rooms are filled with all the stuff that two old ladies can gather during their lifetime. Hopefully the apartment will be emptied soon but I was happy to get a chance to take some pictures:
Celebrated midsummer in Helsinki this year. I think it was a first. And even though I’ve been living in the city for like 6 years it was the first time that I visited Svartholmen as well!
Svartholmen is where my church has its campsite. It’s four mold infested buildings + a sauna + an outdoor toilet (utedass) = total beauty. I felt like I was 9 again and visiting Vassor lägergård.
The weather was actually nice. Johanna (Annika) and I went swimming early on Saturday. Some people even went waterskiing. The water felt more like +4 than the +17 it was supposed to be. Ulrika spent the weekend filming for Fila. In the evening there was a so called kokko – midsummer fire. And we ate a lot of sausage.
Or rather how to make them do what you want them to. The best way to make a 100kg animal walk in the right direction.
The teacher suggested pushing them with something that looked like the shields policemen use at riots. He pointed out that it shouldn’t have any holes in it since the pig would just put his snout through it and throw the shield aside.
But I had a distinct memory from my childhood when my dad came home after chasing a pig. He, my grandfather and Gunder had not been able to get the animal anywhere until they managed to get a bucket over its head.
So my question was naturally: Why don’t you just place a bucket over their heads?
But obviously something was wrong with my memory since all the three pig experts in the room dissed my idea.
Maybe Gunder just used the bucket to keep it from biting him…
But I remember how my dad told us the pig think it’s nighttime whenever it is in the dark. But as I said, I must have been wrong.
****
Later I had a very interesting discussion with the Polish guy that works with us.
During his PhD studies he had to take the umbilical cord from hundreds of pigs. At the same farm where he did this was a girl who got terrible eczema. She had been to the doctors and got a lot of different ointments but nothing seemed to make the rash go away. Then she started handling the piglets, taking care of the mother when it was giving birth.
Some people like to use gloves while doing this, but she was a hardcore farmer and handled everything with her bare hands. Among the things that come out of a pig when it gives birth is the placenta. And what she noticed was that after some time her eczema went away.
The point being: There is a point in using all those expensive cosmetics containing placenta. OR you could just go to a farm and ask if you could assist when the pigs are giving birth.
And no, my grandfather never let me do this, I have patted a small piglet though – they are sooo cute, and scream like… well like pigs!
Today I ignored my want for eating porridge in the mornings and went to get a tan instead of buying a microwave oven.
Did not get a tan since I got out around 6pm.
Did however get to spend some time with my favourite author William Gibson and read sentences like: “The Panther Modern leader, who introduced himself as Lupus Yonderboy, wore a polycarbon suit with a recording feature that allowed him to replay backgrounds at will.”
And I know nothing about computers, so I’m lost half of the time. I just like to use them. Like for watching things on surfthechannel.com. Have almost finnished the last season of Project runway.
So really, I like TV.
Today I’ve also; watched My name is Earl Watched some mice sperm, Eaten some cinnamon pecan nuts, Washed a machine of clothes, Gone shopping for food and currently I’m Baking a bread.
And I’m wondering why I always have more energy when I get home from work than when I’m at work. But today I had a laboratory animal course and just sat and listen to legal issues and such.
Important info: Killing an animal is not considered an experiment. I am therefore allowed to kill an animal even before I’m allowed to keep it in a cage.
A marching band walking past playing “I’m just a gigolo…” Somewhat inappropriate since they were followed by a long row of future football pros aged 7-13.
Someone playing music very loudly in their car. First I thought it was the neighbours that were having a party and enjoying some techno but no…
And some guys singing.
All this with my windows closed. It’s kind of impressive, especially when you consider that I’m living on the fifth floor.
But the walls are isolated as nothing I’ve ever experienced, it’s just that when you make a hole through them and cover that hole with glass, well…
We’re having a lecture series at work. About animal imaging. And I came to the conclusion that I know nothing about it. And that you soon have to know way too much about computers to be a scientist.
One of the lecturers was from Gotenborg. He was a Chinese with a very obvious Swedish accent. Except for when he spoke quickly, then he had the typical staccato of a Chinese.
My landlady came to visit today. She works in a bank, and acts the part. Her husband came too. He was the one measuring my bathroom cabinet. I’ll hopefully get a new one since the lamp cover got burnt by the previous tenant. jej, I like new things!
Then I washed a machine of white clothing and baked a bread. Here is the recipe:
3 1/2 dl rye flour
3 1/2 dl flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 dl sesame seeds
1 dl raisins
1 dl sunflower seeds
1 dl oatbran (havrekli)
1 dl pinhead oatmeal (urvete)
1/2 dl syrup
4 1/2 dl sourmilk
2 egg
Mix the dry ingredients. Whip the others in a separate bowl. Mix all together. Bake at 175 degrees Celsius for about one hour. (I took this recipe from a book and you can basically vary it at much as you like. You don’t need to use eggs, you can add some lingon berry jam or use any kind of seeds or nuts, it’s good either way)
I’m not used to this regular oven. It’s too quiet! With the hot-air one you could always hear that there was a bread baking.
It took me one and a half hour to read the blogs on bloglovin today – half an hour was spent singing along to the worship songs on Stina’s blog. Especially “Prince of piece”. Here is a sample (and the lyrics):
When I moved in to my new flat I quickly came to the conclusion that they only support digi-boxes with cable function in this building. Crap for me since my box (50 euros I had to pay for it two years ago!) only functions with antenna.
With the excuse that I’m still paying my TV-licence and that my washing machine was so extremely cheap, I walked to the nearest Anttila to get myself a TV (so far I’ve only watched TV via my computer – with the help of a TV- and a digi-box of course).
There I realized that my apartment would totally fit a 26” flat screen. Unfortunately I can now tell you that a 26” box does not exactly fit into an IKEA bag. I therefore had to carry the box in a very uncomfortable position when walking all the way back home.
This is the route I took. And I tell you – I almost lost all faith in humanity – no one even asked if they could help me. Here I am, carrying a 15kg heavy box across town and no one even bothers ask how I’m doing. Or maybe it’s just that I look so incredibly strong…
But I got it home and have thuroughly enjoyed it ever since. And about the size of the thing; in a home design program they would probably say that it’s the “focal point of the room”
And today my faith in human kind was restored!
I had bought a bicycle basket at Anttila (a fantastic store by the way) but couldn’t really figure out how to get it screwed onto my bike. Or rather, I was standing contemplating how many screws I would have to unscrew to get the handlebars off it.
Then my neighbour came rolling into the garage on his motorbike and saw my troubled look. He reassured me that I wouldn’t have to undo any more screws and then tried to pull the handlebars off the bike. Easier said then done since the bike is probably 20 years old and has a wonderful patina of rust all over it. When after a lot of huffing and puffing he finally got it off he quickly went to get some oil, cleaning spray and some rags so that I could grease up the old thing and maybe get the handlebars back on the bike myself.
So after today I will not only be able to get my groceries home from the store but I will also be able to grease my bike chains.
Watched some mice sperm, Eaten some cinnamon pecan nuts, Washed a machine of clothes, Gone shopping for food and currently I’m Baking a bread.
