Candy that will kill you

Okay so as most people know I have a sweet tooth, or many sweet teeth, and as part of my adventure in this land of Fin I have been testing out Finnish candy.  Well yesterday I went to the grocery store to get some chicken and vegetables for a stir-fry and while I was there I stopped in the candy isle.  Now up to this point I have only experienced mediocre candy so I decided to go big and try something that had a cool and brightly colored package.  So I pick up this package that was black with an abstracted yellow lion head and writing that looked crazy.  Now I could see the little green, purple, red, orange, and black sugar coated candies through the package and thought at worst they would be fruity and really sour.  I bought them.

Later that night after a really nice stir-fry dinner, some Pepsi-Max (max taste, no sugar!), and a nice long shower I was feeling good.  I lay down on my bed and decide to watch the Italian Job and play a little free-cell before I go to sleep (believe it or not I actually have had time to do this!)  I start the movie and decide to tryout this long awaited finnish treat.  I open it up.  It smells a little peculiar, kind of like black licorice but not quite.  So I pop one in my mouth and chew.  It's not licorice, it's more like a detergent.  Now I pop another one just to make sure I didn't just get a bad one... and of course it was just as bad, if not worse.  I needed to wash my mouth out the taste was so bad.

Today I bring the vile candy with me to school and Jono helps me figure out what it is.  "Tar Lion, Wild North" is the name of the candy.  The main ingredient is TAR.  That's right tar.  The flavors in the package are as follow:  lemon juniper berry, lacquer-licorice, licorice-tar, tar salt, and lingonberry-coniferous.  WTF?  

On the bottom front of the package it says "Exciting flavors of Finland's forests."  

I never want to taste Finland's forests again.

I can honestly say that it was the most disgusting candy I have ever had in my life.

Music

As I am sitting at a small window nook in my fourth floor flat in the middle of Helsinki, eating Honey Nut Cheerios and listening to "Australia" by The Shins, I am overcome by a deep realization of love and appreciation for music.

I used to love music for the high energy and kick-in-the-face attitude, but now I gravitate towards music that is more calming and that with lyrics I can actually understand without having to read them.  

Music makes me happy.  Good music makes me happy.

I love The Shins.

They make me happy.

So

Well our projects are finally under way.

Today James and I did a presentation on "Earth" sanctuaries.  I presented on the Hopi Pueblo Kivas and James on the Ajanta and Ellora Caves in India.  It went alright.  I feel that I presented better than I usually do...which is not saying a lot.  I think it was mainly that people were looking at the slideshow and I was sitting behind them speaking.  :)

Now our studio project has started.  I keep on forgetting that it is a sanctuary of SILENCE and not some resort or spa.  I think it's the sauna that throws me off because I have always associated a sauna with pools and fun.  Not serious meditation.  Well I guess I'm learning something.

I am going to apply for a traveling grant this summer.  I need to get working on it asap!  I am going to propose something like researching how 2+ person households in urban/dense settings have adjusted to living in smaller more condensed spaces.  It will be all about efficient living.  (If anybody steals my idea...you're going down!)  So if anybody has any suggestions as to what cities would be a good place for me to research please let me know.

It's almost 8 pm.  I'm hungry.  I'm going to go now.

If anybody wants a Finnish postcard send me your address.

It's Dina's Birthday!!!!

I am sad that I cannot be there to party with you..... but Happy Birthday Dina!  I love you!

Uto (with dots above the o)

We met at the Kamppi, the bus station, at 1:40 pm to begin our 9 1/2 hour journey to Uto.

This ferry ride was the third leg, after switching buses north of Turku.  It was freezing! We had to lug our stuff down a snowy path, through this tunnel under the highways, then up another snowy path.  We then waited 20 minutes for our next bus.

Mike, Liz and Ali playing cards in the "restaurant" of the ferry.  The ferry ride was about 4 hours.  I slept, attempted to draw, and watched a little TV in Finnish.  We didn't end up getting to the island until about midnight.

First morning I wake up and walk out of the "hostel" and this is what I saw.  It was really dark the night before and our hostel was only 100m from the dock so we had no idea what to expect the next morning.  It was so breathtakingly beautiful.

  

This is our "hostel."

There are no paved roads here.  But there is a stretch "in town" that has cobble stones, built by Chinese prisoners during WWI.

Uto was settled as a military fortress in the Baltic Sea by either the Swedish or Russians...anyways it changed hands a few times.  The Finnish military left the island three years ago.  So now some of the buildings are being converted into a hotel and yes our hostel.

This is the main building where we have breakfast and lunch as well as our lectures and drawing reviews.  Notice the red hollowed out bombshells.

There are tons of fortresses and rooms carved out of the bedrock all over the island.  Some of them are locked but others are open.......very cool!

Because Uto is so small, everywhere you are you can see water.  Only this first day was it foggy, but it certainly made for beautiful photographs.

There are very few trees on the island because the wind prevents them from growing.

We have been here for 8 going on 9 days and I am ready to go back to Helsinki.  As much as I love my classmates I am so ready to have "Cassie time."  Two more days and we will be back to our apartment.

I will post and write more later.

Love you.

I'm in Utö

So I'm in Utö.

A small island off the coast of BFE.

It is absolutely beautiful here.

I will show you more in a minute.

Mo Fotoz

I will explain these later.

Night night.