From Chile to Finland

Hello everybody. It's been a while but life just got a bit crazy. I'm no longer in Helsinki but before I get to that I'll just mention two places which you must visit.

Pub Sirdie.

This place is wonderful, the best I've seen in Finland. It's website alone is brilliantly nostalgic. Tiny, toasty, no frills. Just how I like a pub. Go there,

Sandro.

There are two of these in Helsinki. We went to the new one in Punavuori (Tehtaankatu 34 D).
Girlf. reserved a table (recommended) for the brunch, which seems to be a more acceptable way for middle-class people to say All-You-Can-Eat. The food is vegetarian and north-african/middle eastern and I honsetly don't remeber a time I ate so well (and so much). Go there.

So. On with the story.

The reason we went to Sandro was because Girlf. was treating me to a celebration brunch because I'd just been offered a job in Ruka.

Basically we'd been talking about the possibility of working in Lapland so I sent a general enquiry type email to a tourism company Girlf. knew. A few weeks later a reply arrived asking if I could come and work for them the following week. The ever-amazing Girlf. agreed to take on the responsibility for Dog and Cat so I dashed to the train station, sprinted past Bill Murray, ran along the platform and jumped onto the overnight train heading north.

Here's a video of it all.

I've been here almost a week and it's great. Ruka is a ski and tourism centre for (mostly) Spanish tourists who want lots of photos of the real Christmas. My job is to translate the instructions they need to understand in order not to die whilst Ice-Fishing, Snowmobiling, Ice-Karting and riding in reindeer or dog sleds. A lot of the time my job is trying to keep kids happy whilst they're shivering on a frozen lake. It's an amazing place. The monochrome indifference of the landscape is so exciting. Cold winds with cold ice and cold toes. It makes you feel tough and crazed at the same time. How did I get here? What are we doing!

As for the activities. In case you were wondering, here's my round-up.

Ice-fishing. Surprisingly effective. Often bleak. Cold.
Ice Karting. Slidy. Makes me hear bleeps and music of Mario Kart all day.
Reindeer sled rides. Nice view of a Reindeer's arse. Reindeers very good at looking unimpressed by the guests, especially the kids.
Dog sled rides. The single most beautiful activity ever. Silent sliding through wintry twilight, leaning into curves, tapping the foot brake and watching dogs ahead bounce along like schools of porpoise. Glorious.
Snowmobiling. Noisy, stinky, obnoxious but haring across a frozen lake at 70 kmph is great.

I'm here until the first week of January and I've already realised that from now on I will need a northern winter for at least one month of every year for the rest of my life.

Here are some photos.