Photographic Evidence

Here is some proof that I'm actually in Paris: Ha! No, this is me in Finland. Of course. But, I did get the directions to Paris while I was there:



Here is my apartment:

This is the overall view of the place






This is the living room






And here are the essentials of Parisian life: wine, coffee, and bread! I just bought that silver espresso maker, and I love it. I have cheese and chocolate too, but I left them in the fridge. :D

Now, that I finally bought batteries for my camera, I hope to post more photos. Tomorrow, I am taking a brief tour of Paris. So, stay tuned...

Our Lady of Paris

Last night after dinner, I decided to go for a walk. My friend, Paola, suggested visiting the courtyard of the Louvre after hours, so that was my goal. I set out along the Seine and immediately paused to admire the beauty of Notre Dame at night. What a wonderful sight. I ended up inside Notre Dame, and they were playing a documentary about the building..inside the building. My favorite part was when they played the sounds of the ancient bell called Emmanuel, which rings in F-sharp. The sound recording reverberated throughout the building, and it was beautiful.

After the film, I walked to the Louvre and watched tourists take pictures in various poses and watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle on the hour. Arriving at the Louvre, I passed a man playing a saxophone in a corridor. The sound was magnificent in the space. I found a spot to lie down, and I spent some time listening to the moving water of the fountains and staring at the pyramids projected onto the night sky. It was very relaxing.

After the Louvre, I walked along the Seine back to my apartment. At one point, I saw 5 or 6 people looking over the ledge to see the lower walkway by the Seine. As I approached, I could hear a band down there. I peeked over too. There were about 10 or 12 young adults playing various instruments in a circle: 4 trombones, a drummer, a tuba, a couple of french horn, a few of trumpets. They played fun, fast music and even sang a bit. They ignored us watching them from of above, but we couldn't resist clapping to show our appreciation.

I then walked along a pedestrian bridge that was packed with groups of young people drinking wine/beer, smoking cigarettes, laughing, and having a general good time. I crossed the Seine and continued back toward my apartment. I took a small detour down a narrow, very bright street which was packed with restaurants and tourists. It was fun to see the bright lights and the various foods being offered.

Finally, 2.5 hours after leaving my apartment, I made it back for a deep sleep.

Today, Paola and I have plans to go to the cinema or watch movies at home. Should be fun. Right now, I'm watching Melrose Place dubbed in French, which is something I think every American should experience.

Paris update

Two things:

1. I saw a lady today biking with a dog in her basket. I always thought that image was a stereotype, and not a true one. But there they were, both cute as can be. And the dog had a little visor on b/c it can get windy riding up front.

2. I have a new, very awesome apartment. There are so many wonderful things about where I am living. I am in the heart of Paris. I walk along the Seine and pass Notre Dame on my way to work.

...and there is a guy on the 2nd floor across the street playing the violin.

sigh.

So far so relaxing.

French phrases for the financially and physically irresponsible

I've been practicing my French since I basically won the lottery and was granted a 2-year fellowship to work in Paris on galaxy simulations. I got the official notice Monday, and I am stoked! I'm also nervous about all the logistics of a big move, but it will all work out.

Anyhoo, I've been working on my French, particularly focusing on listening comprehension. I'm listening to a few podcasts, one by French Today, which I highly recommend. I'm also reading and listening to French books in order to see and hear the words simultaneously. And, I've been watching the Simpson's in French. I find the Simpson's the most difficult to understand with so much slang being thrown around. I have no idea what they are saying and only catch a word here and there.

I also got a CD from the library, just to check it out. It is a "learn in your car" type CD where they repeat things too quickly and don't give you time to repeat what they are saying. This is such a weird CD. If you are making a 3 disc CD and are limited in space, I would think you would choose some of the most crucial phrases for a foreigner to learn. Here are some of the phrases they have included:

1. I want to keep this.

Possibility of my saying this? Maybe a 3 in 10 chance, if a waiter is trying to take away something I'm still noshing on. But, I'm not going to step into someone's house and need this phrase.

2. You need to pay them back.

hmmm. Perhaps I will make friends with someone who borrows money and refuses to pay it back and asks for my advice, but I doubt it. Possibility of Usage: 2:10

3. They are going to fall.

okay. Maybe I see some kids hanging over a bridge on the Seine, and they look careless. But, really? When am I going to use this? Possibility of Usage: 1:10

3. He is going to die.

my favorite phrase hands down. If I had a nickel for all the times I frantically tried to remember this phrase in French, I'd be a rich woman.

I mean. really. come on.

Possibility of Usage: 0:10 (knock on wood)


I'm actually considering copying these CDs b/c the phrases are so bizarre that I want to keep them for the novelty. It reminds me of our Finnish friend whose favorite phrase in French was along the lines of "gentlemen, prepare your bayonets". lol.



JUST FOR FUN:
What movie are you reminded of when you see these images?
French Toast
French Fries

French Dressing

Dang!

We have seven days left in Finland before returning to the United States. Next Monday (December 15th), we fly away with no immediate plans of returning. I am excited to see my family (and the Sun) again. But, I'm also going to miss Finland. It has been a peaceful and productive visit. The Finnish people have been very generous and welcoming to me, and I will definitely miss living here.

Southern Finland -- Part II: Helsinki

This is part 2 of our trip to Southern Finland. These photos were all taken in Helsinki. We spent a Sunday afternoon and a Monday morning in Helsinki. It was rainy and cold, unfortunately. We couldn't use our umbrellas b/c the wind was knocking them around too much. It was quite comical, and we had to put the umbrellas away.

We started the visit Sunday by visiting the rock church:

I don't know why it looks like people are running for their lives in this photo. The church was beautiful and very peaceful.

The church view from the balcony:

This was my favorite part, lighting a prayer candle.




Here are some photos of the hotel room:


wait a minute. I thought this guy was the gardener at Turku castle. How'd he get into my room?



We spent most of Sunday inside the National museum, but I only have a couple of photos from that excursion.

A throne:
A brief moment to pause and pitch some tightly clad royal booty.



I don't know why we only have a couple of photos from the national museum. It was packed with fascinating objects. Maybe the lack of photos reflects how exhausted we were from all the sight seeing. That night we ate some very good Nepalese food and went back to the room. I stayed up too late watching French news and bad reality TV. It was fantastic. The only horrible part was watching a french news reporter interview a man from Iowa (or maybe it was Kansas). The farmer called Obama the 'n' word, and I was shocked! shocked! The farmer said he was a life long democrat, but wouldn't vote for Obama b/c he "can't stand n!@@*rs". WTF?!!



Okay, on to the next day....

Monday wasn't as rainy as Sunday, but the day was still very grey. This means the photos look kind of gloomy, but Helsinki was a very beautiful city. Here are some photos as we walked around visiting churches and just generally ogling the city.





The massive Lutheran church.
I like this photo b/c Patrick's noggin is floating around the bottom.

The above photo is theview from the top of the stairs to the Lutheran Church.
Inside the Lutheran Church.



This photo above is the Orthodox Church. We didn't get to go inside, sadly, but it was an impressive building none the less.

This is the view from the Orthodox church. They could flip off the Lutheran's on their way to mass.

We also walked around the market square of Helsinki where they sell handicrafts. It was pretty nice, and I bought a little wooden block puzzle for my nephew.

So, overall, we had a fantastic trip. Helsinki was wonderful. Turku was unbelievable. I loved the trip and wish we could've stayed longer.

A little piece

I have been so busy lately. It's a blessing to have so much activity in my life, but at the same time I feel somewhat breathless. I like being able to stop and look around every now and then.

Tonight, Patrick and I are taking a night train to Turku, Finland. We are attending a meeting of Finnish Astronomers which will be action packed and fun-filled for two days. I am presenting a poster there that I sort of slaved over needlessly. The meeting is packed with so many talk that I doubt anyone will have the time to read my fabulous poster. Too bad b/c it's a gem.

We have decided to stick around southern Finland this weekend to do a little touristing. So, Saturday we will poke around Turku and probably visit a castle. Sunday we take a train to Helsinki to poke around there for a day we may visit a fortress or a rock church or the natural history museum. Monday afternoon we are hopping a train back to Oulu. It should be fun, and I am not taking my laptop so that I can unplug for a bit.

I'll post photos when I return if I'm not immediately sucked back into the vortex of 'work work work faster faster faster'!

It's been a while

Hello Internet Friends. It has been a while. I have been very busy with work and traveling. I have to say that this time in Finland has been very productive for me. I like my boss, and I think his work style is very good for me. He checks in a lot, which keeps me moving forward in my projects.

Anyway, I traveled to the Netherlands two weeks ago for the annual meeting of 'Dutch People for Antagonizing Americans Named Brooke' meeting. I was a fruitful meeting. Oh, I also saw my mom and my stepdad while I was there. We had a great time biking around, eating yummy food, visiting castles, watching the 7 up series, working puzzles, listening to podcasts, and shopping! I would normally post photos of the castle now, but they are on my laptop and I am at work. :( I will try to do that tonight.

The Saturday after returning from the Netherlands, I took a trip out to an old farmhouse with the Oulu knitting group. Man, that was a fun trip. The farmhouse is now a store:



It is a store with walls and walls of yarn!! yay!!




I bought some shiny silver yarn to make mittens and a hat for myself. It was a great outing. I got to see the country-side. We had coffee and sandwiches while we chatted. I met some really nice people. I have to say that knitters rock!








After our outing, I biked home and stopped every few hundred feet to look and take pictures of the trees. Fall is a beautiful time.







After all that fun, I had to put my nose to the grindstone at work. I'm frantically filling out job applications and fellowships in hopes of getting one. I've been watching the economy collapse with a mixture of fear and awe. I've also been wondering how I am going to carry all my yarn back to the states.

While I was in the Netherlands, my mother bought beautiful wool yarn for me to make a sweater that I like. It is a birthday gift. I've started the sweater (I will post pictures later), and I'm falling in love with it already. But, it is a thick sweater. I'm going to have to dump my books and other clothes to bring this sweater home. But, it will be worth it.

Speaking of birthdays, tomorrow I turn 34! huzah! Patrick and I will probably go out to eat and enjoy the Irish Festival going on downtown. It should be fun.

Well, this blog was a lot longer than I had intended. But, it has been a while.

It's been brought in for repairs

Monday was rainy and gloomy.
Tuesday was drizzly, grey, and gloomy.
Wednesday is grey and cold.

I think the sun is broken! I hope it wakes up from its nap soon and scatters the clouds. I miss the color blue. :D

On an aside note, I got a bike that fits me. yay! Now, I won't have to watch out for racking myself in my girlie-bits with a bicycle bar. And the brakes work. yay! I am learning to appreciate the simple things in life.

Tomorrow we plan to head to downtown Oulu to watch the qualifying round for the Air Guitar World Championships. I am pretty excited.

Falling in love with Finland

The weather has been beautiful this weekend. Blue skies with fluffy clouds. Temperatures in the 60s. niiice.

Saturday, Patrick and I rode our bikes to downtown Oulu. We checked out the local library, which has a large selection of novels written in English. I am interested in borrowing a book on 19th-century gothic tales. It sounds like fun. The nights are getting longer and darker here, so I am in the mood for creepy stories.

After visiting the library, we biked to the gardens. We sat down to have a cup of tea and a little snack. Patrick read while I knitted, and we listened to children laughing and playing. It was very nice. We walked around for a bit and admired the gardens, which had some gorgeous roses in a variety of shades.

It was a perfect day. yay!

The air is thick with ümlauts

Patrick and I just watched the Colbert Report for August 14th. On an aside note, August 14 is my MUCH older brother's birthday -- Happy Birthday, Steven!!

Anyway, during the Report, Colbert mentioned Finland as a country of interest.

Check it out:


Finland has been put on notice! We know what your up to.

we know.

The United Nations of Knitting.

Thank God for the interweb -- the evil creature that sucks away my life and gives me a life all at the same time. As I mentioned before, I am a member of Ravelry, which is an awesome community of knitters and crocheters. I did a people search for Oulu, Finland and up popped 2 pages of people. yay!

I picked an avatar I liked (Marika) and e-mailed her asking for locations of good yarn shops with my fingers crossed. She was so friendly and immediately took me under her wing. I am so grateful. I had no idea how I was going to find shops or fellow knitters since I am too shy to approach people in English.

Well, the knitting group here seems large and lively. We had an impromptu gathering yesterday at Sanna's house. I am kicking myself for not taking a photo, but I did forget. We sat in the garden with a beautiful spread of cake, cookies, tea, and coffee. A total of 9 of us ( and two wee ones ) sat in a sunny garden and knitted away. I am in between projects right now, so I didn't really have anything to work on. I fiddled with my yarn a bit while I chatted and admired everyone's skills.

I have to say that I think I will be learning a lot from these ladies. They have mad skills and make BEAUTIFUL socks and mittens and cowls and sweaters. I was, honestly, pretty embarrassed about my knitting level in comparison. I tend to make silly toys and big goofy scarves. But, I look at it as an opportunity to learn from some experienced knitters. And the best part of it all was that I really felt like I clicked with them. They were very chatty and made a big effort to include me into the conversations. I am looking forward to the next meeting.

Downtown Oulu and Qstock

Here are a few photos of the scenery that we see on our bike ride to downtown Oulu. It is a beautiful ride through neighborhoods, over a bridge, and through a park. I love it.

This is the local cloud factory. They also manufactures baby toes and kitten whiskers.



Patrick says these are steps for the fish to swim upstream




These are the statues outside of city hall.




Friday we biked to downtown Oulu for a music festival called Qstock.

We stopped off at a local pub to enjoy a beer and the scenery. The downtown area was jumping. Lots of people were showing up to see the bands.



I have no clue what bands we saw, but we tried to stop by every stage.
We went to the Techno tent (my personal favorite).


We also watched some heavy metal bands.



There were a lot of photo ops that I missed. While the sun was up I wasn't thinking about photos for some reason. Let's see. What did I see of interest? I saw 3 people passed out. One guy was on the beach. One guy was in a chair, and the third man was on some steps. Each time, security came up and woke them. I met an adorable girl with a Finnish-Irish accent who lost her friends.

A couple of things I noticed were 1) people politely stand and listen to the music. There weren't any mosh pits or rough housing even though the music was pretty hard core on some stages. 2) Everyone wore ear plugs, which I found smart. And 3) People near us would get real quiet and listen to us speaking in English. If they were brave enough (read: drunk enough) they'd say something and be friendly. It was a little unsettling though when you can tell the people around you are eavesdropping.

Another thing I failed to photo was the pee-dome (I wouldn't dare!). A plastic dome with 5 or six holes cut out about waist high. Guys would walk up to it and pee while trying not to stare at the person across from them. The port-o-potties for the ladies were light pink and light green. They were soooo clean....no pee on the seat covers. At the end of the night, most of the stalls still had toilet paper. I couldn't believe it. By that time, in the US, at least 1/3 of the stalls would've been pushed over or thrown into the water.

Overall, it was a fun day/night of beer, nice people, and rowdy music. I had a blast and met some really cool people. The bike home was interesting since I was tipsy and my bike is too big for me. But, we made it safe and sound!

Daily Life

Come along boys and girls as we follow Becky to work:


I wake up in here



Then I move into the living room for a little yoga, meditation, and e-mail check. I bought a yoga mat, and I am sooo glad I did.





After a shower, I eat breakfast with the dinosaurs



Then I am off to work!! Bye apartment! Don't burn down or call international numbers while we are gone! We live on the second floor, second balcony in from the left. HI!



Whistle while you walk.



Hey, I know that guy! Think he'll walk with me?



Look, it's Patrick's buddy. He hangs out at the library all the time.


Almost to work. Birch trees are so pretty!



I spy my office straight ahead. Who can find the telescope dome?


I then spend hours sweating, working, toiling, and slaving away producing the most amazing science ever known to mankind.



After the long day, I head home and...Sit in the Sauna! yay!



After the sauna, we may eat something such as chips. Many common products have funny words on them that reduce me to a snickering 3rd grader. Don't even get me started on the "shampoot". (by the way, "pussi" mean "pouch" in Finnish. Discuss the appropriateness of this amongst yourselves.)



Finally, I curl up in bead to read. Currently, I am enjoying a children's story found in a local bookstore. I seem silly to fly all the way to Finland and buy french books. But, I am so impressed with the french book selections here. It is so cool, and I so badly want to buy more. I constrained myself to one, and it has already made me laugh.