Getting excited about making a list of things that made me excited

It's hard to start writing again after six weeks of silence. Do I continue like my previous post would've been just yesterday or do I need to explain something? Well, a new job and a new home have stolen my time and attention. It doesn't mean that I haven't had time to get excited about things but it does mean that I haven't had the time to report those excitements.

So, I decided to make a list of the things left unreported. Those that I can still recall. I consider making lists very enjoyable and I find it helpful when I don't know what to do.

1. Women's Weapons: Lipstick and Tears?
This exhibition was about "multifaceted nature of feminity". Or, as described in Finnish, "multifaceted nature of womanhood". I consider feminity and womanhood to be two different things as not everyone expressing feminity is a woman nor does every woman express feminity. However, although I really enjoyed the exhibition, I'm not sure if all the works really fit either description. Some of them surely did but then there were works made by women that had really nothing to do with either feminity or womanhood. Or maybe I just didn't get the link.

Although the whole exhibition wasn't that coherent, it could also be considered a strenght. The works of art were varying and I'm sure that there's something for every taste (assuming that one likes art). I highly recommend the exhibition to anyone living in or visiting Tampere. My favorites were the works by Elina Merenmies, Stiina Saaristo and Teemu Mäki. By the way, the name of the exhibition comes from Donald Duck.

2. Books
 Reading books and buying books excite me. I read an amazing book targeted for young adults but which I found very suitable for a bit older adults as well. The book was Pojkarna by  Jessica Schiefauer (the book is written in Swedish, I read it in Finnish) and it brilliantly discussed the themes of gender, sexuality, and growing up. I guess the genre of the book could be magical realism but somehow I found it more realistic than any of the young adults books that I remember reading. Apparently a movie will be made based on the book and I'll be waiting it anxiously, in both good and bad. I already noticed that the name of the movie in English will be "Girls Lost" and I can't understand why (as the original name is "Boys").

The second book-related excitement was brought to me by the post. I ordered Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine and I can't wait to read it!

3. Autumn
In September, the weather was quite nice and the trees started turning all red and yellow. Those crispy but sunny days motivated me to take walks in the colorful forest and they set the atmosphere for books, candles, and hot tea. But now it's getting a bit too crispy for my taste as the temperatures are nearer to zero degrees Celsius. 

4. Dancing
I have been taking dancing lessons with my partner for these last six weeks and learning new things is always gratifying. For me (or for the both of us), it good be considered as lessons in ego management as you don't always succeed or even know what you're doing. There we learn some traditional Finnish dances that I don't care so much about but also some international ones. I think my favorite so far has been rumba.

5. Docventures
This is a Finnish television program showing a different documentary every week and commenting it afterwards with some experts on relating topics. It's also a social media phenomenon and an incentive for social gatherings. I thing the whole concept is great and the guys hosting it are great (also known from the TV series Madventures). So far I have seen the documentaries Red Chapel by Mads Brügger about traveling to perform in North Korea and Citizenfour by Laura Poitras telling the story of Edward Snowden. I can strongly recommend both of them. I'm also planning to see this week's documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief by Alex Gibney tomorrow. Can't wait!

6. New bars and restaurants
Not all of these are really new but for me they are. Sitko, a little finer pizza restaurant in Tampere was a very positive experience. The vegetarian pizza was just great! If you're looking for greasy hangover food, this might not be the right place, but if you're looking for quality and good ingredients, I would say go for it! They also have wines that are suitable for my taste on their list.

Maya Bar & Grill, a Mexican/South American restaurant in Helsinki, very near to the railway station. They had good vegetarian tortitzas and fajitas but I would like to check the "main dishes", too. They had a good selection of vegetarian and even vegan food. Compared to "real Mexican food", Maya's food was lacking some flavor but it was still quite decent.

Steam Hellsinki, a rather new steampunk bar in Helsinki, near to the Kamppi bus station. I just loved the place! The decoration had been taken to the maximum and everything was planned: the music, the looks of the bartenders, the drinks (advertising gin quite a lot). I had the best mojito ever (and I've some really good mojitos in Spain) but the price was also quite remarkable. Although, they did serve free shots for everyone. I also had to taste the day's special, a gin-based punch, that was served in cute little tea cups. I was ridiculously impressed by the cups...

Stockholm

Yes, I went to Stockholm with a dear friend of mine. It has been maybe 20 years since my last visit so I thought I ought to give the city another chance. I think that along with Tallinn, Stockholm is the most visited city by Finns as it is easy to reach by boat. It's just two nights at the boat and one day roaming the city streets. I'm quite amazed that I only managed to take one picture during the whole trip. I guess it had to be quite an extraordinary situation, then. You'll see. For more touristic pictures of Stockholm, use Google.

First a few words about the boat trips. I pretty much hate cruises. It seems that there are lots of people who pay for cruises just to get completely wasted and act like complete idiots. I did this when I was 18 or 19 but apparently not everyone gets too old for that. My first impression after getting on the boat was some young lads making stupid remarks of me and my friend and I was sure that the whole trip was doomed. Luckily, they were the only idiots I had to encounter this time. Maybe because we stayed away from the places where alcohol was served. However, the dry overpriced cheese sandwich that I had in the cafeteria in the evening didn't really cheer me up.

But Stockholm, it was beautiful. Even though we had to wake up at six am to get out of the boat, I was really happy. Visiting new places usually has that effect on me. We had breakfast in a cute little cafe called Gilda's Rum. It was colorful and rather kitsch. Very good start for a morning (although not for a vegan, I had the third cheese sandwich of the trip).

We started the day by walking around Södermalm and marveling all the cute hipster places we came by. Once again we concluded that Finland is really lacking color. The sun was shining and life was easy. We headed to Hornstull for a vegan and feminist oasis called Femtopia. There we had midday cafe lattes and some delicious chocolate cake. My only picture taken in Stockholm was from their toilet. Here it is:

This is what Stockholm looks like.

After our doses of caffeine, we headed towards the old town. It had its charm but it's pretty much taken over by souvenir shops selling exactly the same things. And of course the sci-fi book store where I could spend a fortune in. We also had a great and late buffet lunch in a vegetarian restaurant called Hermitage, after which we took a free walking tour around the old town. I can highly recommend doing that. After the tour, I realized having a long list of things to see or do in Stockholm so I guess I will need to go there again in not so distant future.

Cabin fever

After the long day in Helsinki, I decided to run away from the city and stay at my parents' summer cottage for a few days. I was really happy that I finally decided to go as I don't think it's possible to relax so completely at home. Not for me, anyways. The first evening was a bit difficult as I felt like I didn't have enough things to do but the two days after that I was just happy to stare at the lake and observe animal activity. I guess you could call that mindfulness practice. Well, it wasn't all I did. I did also read, swim, go to sauna a few times, carry quite a lot of firewood to the shed and watch the world championship games with my father. No fever was included despite the misleading title.

The book I was reading appeared to be very good. It was Ville Kivimäki's Murtuneet mielet ("Broken Minds") which is based on his PhD study Battled Nerves: Finnish Soldiers' War Experience, Trauma, and Military Psychiatry, 1941–44. The name tells everything. The understanding of trauma and mental health problems was very different during the II WW but another huge reason to leave people untreated was discipline. It would've been too easy, they said, to pretend that one's nerves have failed and thus get away from the battle. This is one of the history books that I think could be labeled as horror. I also asked my father some questions about people he has known who had been to the war and he told me that for example his uncle had been shaky and scared for the rest of his life after returning from war. Things have changed, of course, in 70 years but I still can't help thinking how the people escaping the wars of today are managing and how the governments of rich countries appear to consider themselves entitled to decide if those people should be helped or not.

This is the book.

We had some swan friends visiting.

The bees were very busy.

Who doesn't love sunsets?

Demonstrating and partying

What a lovely Saturday. I spent it in Helsinki, the weather was great, all kinds of good things happened and I got to spend time with many of my friends.

My main reason for being in Helsinki was the anti-austerity demonstration (I find it becoming that the Finnish national media company mainly reports how the demonstration affects traffic and that nine people got detained for occupying a street nearby). In a nutshell, the demonstration was against the cuts that the government is planning because they would mainly affect the people already having problems getting by such as students, unemployed, pensioners, and families with children. And on the other hand, the government is planning on putting more money on guns and big companies. Basically, I think, they're making all the same mistakes as during the 90's depression. But I don't think we can expect more.

The demonstration itself, however, was quite enjoyable and inspiring. There were people from all age groups and all backgrounds. People had a lot to say and the Finnish Rhythms of Resistance groups were setting the pace for the march. And did I mention the sun! I saw the Finnish rapper Paleface performing after the march but sadly I missed Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät (you know, the band from Eurovisions). I was too busy waiting to get food from Sen Chay, a crowded vegetarian restaurant near to Hakaniemi Market Square.

After the demonstration, it was time to find our way to Oranssi (literally as I'm totally lost in Helsinki if I need to leave the city center). The occasion was the release party of the Queer Calendar 2016 and the Tähtirakkaus ("Star Love") manifest of the Mustikka collective. The calendar is very nonnormative which means that it may not be that functional but the pictures are just lovely! The evening had very little to do with official stuff (in Finnish I would say pönötys but I have no idea what could be the equivalent in English) and more to do with having fun, music, poetry (Susinukke Kosola's poetry was quite extraordinary, I highly recommend it for Finnish speaking people), danceoke, DYI workshops and the best vegan brownies I've ever tasted. Many of my friends were there too so I really enjoyed myself even though I'm really bad at staying awake late nowadays. More of these, please!

Peace, love & power!

Nature and culture

I've made two very different, yet very enjoyable trips within the last few days. This might seem like a travel advertisement for "different sides of Finland" but I think my crappy pictures will prove otherwise.

First, I went to a forest with a dear friend of mine. Well, I actually do this quite often as I live right next to a forest and go for walks at least once a week on my own or with a friend. But this was a different forest, one that I've never been to before, and it was only the third time this year that I went looking for berries or mushrooms. This forest was quite near to place called Lihasula which reminds me of melting meat. I've been intrigued by that name every time I've seen it on a bus and finally I know where they go.

Anyways, it was great! The sun was shining, the weather was warm and there were barely no mosquitoes (at first). Walking in a forest is probably the best form of free therapy. And walking in a forest with a friend is even better! Not to mention finding free food. We actually went there to look for mushrooms but there were not that many and those few we found were really dry. The chanterelles don't seem to enjoy the warm and dry weather as much as I do. However, there would have been endless amounts of blueberries but I only had the patience to pick 1,5 liters. I'm very grateful that my parents took me to the forest with them and taught me to recognize different edible mushrooms from a young age. It's a shame that there's so much food growing in the forests but not that many people seem to be interested in finding and picking it.

The second trip was to the city of Pori. It's located on the West coast of Finland and according to Wikipedia, it's the 11th biggest city in Finland with 85,000 people. It's easy to like Finland in the summer when everything is green and blooming. I also find cities with rivers very appealing but not that much when the rivers are frozen. There are some beautiful old buildings in Pori, too, and I guess they stay that way in the winter as well. I was trying to imagine myself living there, and it might be nice for a while. A change of environment would be welcome even though I'd rather move into a bigger city, not to a smaller one. I was very intrigued by the current exhibitions in the Pori Art Museum and I think I will need to go there this year on a less sunny day. And as regrettable as it is, I've never been to Pori Jazz. I will need to do that soon, hopefully next summer.

In a nutshell: 1) go to a forest and 2) visit Pori.

Restaurant day

Restaurant day, what a great concept! The variety of foods was again impressive in my city and the prices were very reasonable as usual. I was also happy to notice that many places had vegan options as well. Today I only had time to visit two restaurants for lunch. As a starter, I had a sriracha seitan wrap. It was delicious but not very photogenic and quickly eaten. As a main dish, I had bibimbap. I chose this one as I wanted to refresh my food memories from South Korea from a few years back.

Here's the bibimbap, i.e. mixed rice (the ginger beer was bought from Punnitse & Säästä shop nearby). And like I remembered, it's not one of my favorite foods. Don't get me wrong, it was very well made but it tastes too much like kimchi.  Somehow I haven't learned to like fermented cabbage in this form or any other and they serve it basically on every meal in South Korea. Perhaps this is why I'm not a big fan of Korean food in general. However, I remember eating bibimbap every other day during my two-week stay in South Korea because it was one of the safe and less meaty options.

After admitting my distaste for kimchi, I have to mention that I enjoyed many food-related things in South Korea, too. First of all, I loved those little side dishes that you could snack while waiting for food (like in the photo below from Seoul in 2012). There was always kimchi but it was separately and thus easy to avoid. I've also had one of the best dinners in my life in a blow fish restaurant in Seoul. They served seven dishes made of different parts of blow fish, and they were all great. If I remember correctly, the dessert wasn't made of fish. There was also a big Loving Hut restaurant in Seoul with a huge vegan buffet. It was pretty close to heaven even though I find the movement behind the restaurant chain a little suspicious. And finally, I tasted green tea ice cream in South Korea for the first time and it was mind blowing. Sadly, I haven't found one as good afterwards.

I hope I have now saved the reputation of South Korea's food culture and I warmly recommend everyone to try Korean food if they haven't already. Even kimchi.

New beginnings

For some time now, I’ve been musing about starting a blog.  Mainly because I enjoy writing but I’ve been lacking ideas lately. So why not start from my own life: The things I’ve enjoyed and I’ve been annoyed with, dreams and memories, my views on how things are and how they should be, random things that make me smile. Whatever I feel like writing about. I will try to keep the focus on my interests, not on my personal life, if the two can be separated. After all, I do get excited about my personal life occasionally, too. I’m also hoping that writing about my interests might inspire me to try out new things, to go to new places, or help me see mundane things in a new light. Or at least make me eat healthier so that I can post food pictures without feeling embarrassed all the time.

There were some difficult decisions to be made before I could start.

Language. I’m writing in English even though it’s not my native language. I’m bound to make mistakes with the grammar and probably with the spelling as well. This is a little terrifying for me but I’m willing to risk it just in case someone who doesn’t understand Finnish would be willing to read my thoughts. I guess this could also be considered an exercise against perfectionism as I tend to have too high standards for myself.

Name. This was the hardest part. I’m still not sure about the name but I probably never will be. I ended up stealing a name from a Finnish book that I haven’t even read (I’ve heard it’s good though). This blog has nothing to do with that book but somehow I got stuck with the name and couldn’t come up with another one. So this is it. I think the name depicts well not only the feelings of excitement, enthusiasm and inspiration but irritation and anxiety as well. I’m trying to focus more on the former. I usually don’t get that excited about things that would literally make my heart beat faster so if that’s what you’re looking for, I’m sorry for misleading you.

Theme. As mentioned, I’m trying to concentrate on things, places and experiences, not that much on my personal life. I’m lucky to have people around me that I can talk about my personal life whenever I feel like it and so I don’t have a need to do it publicly. However, I'm hoping that sharing some of my thoughts might pay off. There can never be too much excitement, awe or dreams of justice in the world. And perhaps I could get new ideas from other people when sharing mine.

What do you need to know. I thought about this for a while. What I think will become evident is that I live in Finland and I speak Finnish as a first language. This means that my blog will include pictures from Finland, discussion about the situation in Finland, and maybe occasionally some text in Finnish, too (e.g., news articles, memes or book covers). Being born, raised, and educated in Finland might also have an effect on my views of the world, although I want to stress that I’m not nationalistic in any way. I would rather live somewhere else where it’s warmer and sunnier even though I do appreciate many things in Finland and Finnish culture. But I think that’s enough about my background.

When to start. It seems like it’s never a good time. I’ve always felt like I need a new start to be able to start writing. I often thought that when I move abroad, I could start writing (well, I tried that once but it didn’t help). So, I thought, maybe now there are enough changes in my life that I can consider this a new start. I graduated recently, working life is about to begin, and I’m moving in to another apartment soon. The new apartment is only two kilometers away from the current one but the surroundings will be new anyways.

So, what are those things that make my heart beat faster? I would guess that the tags I will mostly use in my blog could be books, science, feminism, equality, (vegan) food, traveling, nature, music, movies, art, cultures, religions, and history. Hopefully there will be many more!