Morning - Day - Night

In this post I want to talk about what I recognized in Pori in the morning, during the day and at night.

At a 'normal' day I get up between 6.30 and 7 o'clock, have a copious breakfast and then I ride by bike to the university. I need app. about 20-25 minutes (a spotive Finn would maybe need 15 minutes) to my workplace and everyday I hope that it's not going to rain, because then I had to take the bus (and as you know: here in Pori using buses is like gambling). On my way to the university I can see quite a lot other cyclists, but it's not that different from my home country - when I went to the university or to work in Germany, there were a lot of people on their way to work in the early hours of the day as well. So, that one was no big surprise. Another similarity between Finland and Germany is their punctuality and their organized way of doing things - and I have to say: I like that! A good organized and well-arranged time table always makes me happy :-)

When morning is almost over and we are close to lunch, people are starting to hit the canteen. Normally, Finns eat lunch between 11 and 13 (latest!). A few colleagues and I regulary eat at 11.30 and the break ends 30 minutes later - of course we could stay longer, but a half an hour break would be normal. The menu offers something different every day, e.g. potatoes, meat, noodles, rice, vegetables, salad (every day) or some casseroles. But one thing that is served on a regular basis is (of course) BREAD! Most of the Finnish people do not use the bread to dip it into the sauce of the main dish (or something like that), they just butter the bread (and it seems like they are really loving it!). Sometimes they serve a drink for lunch, which is some kind of 'home made beer' - first I was a little bit shocked, because I did not expect any beer for lunch (on the workplace), but as I recognized later, there is almost no alcohol in it. I think I have to ask my colleagues once more what this is all about, so maybe on the next post there will be some more information about the 'lunch-beer'! To wrap it up I'll have to say that (so far) I really love the Finnish food, I hadn't have one meal which I did not like!

After work, which mostly ends around 16.00, I'll get home, relaxing a little bit, eating a little supper, maybe buying some stuff at the supermarket or doing a bit sport... Last weekend it was my first time we went out in Pori. First we met some students from the social services and health care department in an appartment near the marketplace, which is owned by some of the female students from our group. My roommate and I were trying some Finnish red wine and sorry, but for me the Finnish wine was as strong as a shot - it really did not taste bad, it was just too strong (at least for my taste). After two hours we went down the river to watch the fireworks organized by the City of Pori. The reason for this was the celebration of the 'unofficial' last days of summer, unfortunately. Well, after seeing the great fireworks, we met some more Erasmus students, went to a bar and finally to a club called Down Under. I have to say, I was kind of surprised then... I am used to clubs in which people (at one night) represent the same lifestyles, e.g. rock/gothic people, pop girlies, hip hop guys, jazz lovers, and so on. So, in my experiences the clubs are either full with people representing the one OR the other lifestyle. But in this club you could find every kind of lifestyle, which made up a funny-looking and (let's say) very interesting mixture! And I think Finnish people are used to that way of variety, because it seemed normal to all the people in the club to belong to such a heterogeneous audience. I liked it, it was something different, new and interesting. What irritated me a bit as well, was the black jack table in the middle of the club, to be honest, I have never seen such an 'offer' in a surrounding like that before. Oh, but by the way, why are there even some gambling machines in the front corridor of a normal supermarket? I do not know, but actually people are using those kind of machines, really. 

Okay, I think that's it for today. See you next week or maybe earlier! Moikka!