I have had a little trouble setting up this site, but it seems to be working now. It also means that I have not had much incentive to update these entries. I hope that it will be more frequent from now on, but I have a bad track record with this kind of online diaries.
A couple things have happened during the last two weeks. The working weeks have been devoted mostly to getting my courses running. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I hope to finish much of it in the coming week. Then I have to start working on my own courses.
The Saturday after I arrived in Finland (that would be 3.2.2008), I visited Henri and Jenni in Helsinki. This was really last opportunity to visit them, because the second Saturday — in other words, yesterday — I helped them to move back to Tampere. Henri picked Antti T, and Teemu and me up from Hervanta and together we made the trip to Helsinki. There Henri’s brother and his friend met us with a large truck into which we loaded pretty much all their belongings. It was hard work (at least for me) but many hands made light work, and fortunately my back seems to be OK. I have had a lot of trouble with straining it and then being incapacitated for a week afterwards. At least today it still seemed OK, so there was probably no damage.
And there was one other large social activity: I went to Kaupinoja sauna with Antero and had a great time. It was hot and the sauna was packed, forcing me up to the highest level. I have spent time there before, but I’m not yet used to the sauna heat and didn’t stay too long. 115 degees is *hot* and my lungs didn’t like it for more than 10 minutes at a time. The ice cold water of the lake was more tolerable even though I still feel the dread every time I start walking down those steps into the cold water.
When I visited H&J in Helsinki, Henri and Justus and I visited the Finnish science center Heureka on the Sunday. The last photo was taken there: they have a blue screen set up that places you in front of the weather forecast map. Nice idea. The first two pictures I took a little earlier that day.
