Things around you

Missä ikinä asuukaan, arjen rutiineja alkaa väistämättä muodostua, ja uudet lähikaupat, bussit ja kadut muodostuvat jokapäiväisen elämän vakiovieraiksi. On juuri siksi niin hienoa, jos näistä asioista pystyy nauttimaan aidosti, ikään kuin ulkopuolisen silmin. Se kun kävelen lähikauppaan mukulakivikatuja vanhojen talojen välissä, tai kun juoksen etätyöpäivänä lounastauolla kohti kukkulareitin näköalapaikkaa, ovat juttuja joita olisin vielä Suomessa asuvana ja täällä vain vierailevana turistina halunnut kokea. Muistan kun minua jossain vaiheessa risoi suunnattomasti Sörnäisten metroasema. Liian arkista, aina vaan samaa. Ja 19-vuotiaalle minulle sekin oli silti niin paljon parempi kuin sulkeutuneet pikkukaupungin kuviot. Arjesta saa hyvin usein sellaista kuin siitä tekee.

Home office day, lunch break location

Every morning starts with a tram ride... And the sun begins to rise. Mannheim mornings.

In my parents' home I always had little stars above my bed, now I brought some of that here 

Admittedly getting myself to Mannheim, after waking up about 1-1,5 hour earlier than I would have if I had just had a home office day, is not that glorious, but I still try to believe that the mundane set of every-day routines can be something beautiful. Sounds like I'd read a pile of self-help books, but I did come up with this plan on my own. I can always find something to complain about in the things that happen to me, but when it comes to basic pillars of life, the stable things around me, they need to give me strength and happiness, never the other way around.

Weekend trips within 45min distance from home

Speyer is a blameless, idyllic little town on the Middle Rhine, which I do recommend to visit if you are in the region. You have the basic German pattern: old houses in the centre, newer houses on the way to the main station and a cozy main square filled with restaurants and cafes. Speyer is also known for its extraordinary catherdral , much damaged and much repaired, a thousand -year-old survivor of a lost civilization (or so I found myself thinking when spotting the fragments and traces of reformation). A nice German town just needs to have the above mentioned things. And one of the great European rivers flowing through it, obviously. Rhein also seemed bluer than usual that day.

So, what else... One weekend later we went to Ladenburg with my friends. The town, once again a beautiful tiny entity of fachwerk houses and an old town idyll, seemed to be packed like never before. The reason: a festival taking place only once a year. So amidst the ocean of food stands and pop-up bars we tried to enjoy the ,+33c day without getting squeezed too much. I mean the old town streets, dodges a Londoner would say, are very narrow. But I do love German festivals. There's always imbiss, beer and good vibes. What I could live without though are the unnecessarily high drink deposits. You might have to pay a "Pfand" of 2-3 euros for a simple plastic cup. 

And life outside free time chilling: work, home office, shopping tiny deco items to make my flat look cozier, running, gym and a bit more running. I have always been a runner, but never ever have I known that I could be this much into up-hill running. Not until I discovered the Odenwald hills here. And after simultaneously performing one sort of summer cleaning on my diet here (aka tiny portions of everything, hell of a lot of protein and water, no sugar or other crap for that matter) some real satisfying results from the workouts began to emerge. I even lost weight, not muscle it seems, which wasnt even the goal but still gladly welcomed. Very rewarding to see how easy, in a way, it is to shape your body if you just want to. And now that I'm happier (than ever maybe) with the way I look and the way I can do physical things, I am craving for a new hobby here. Pole dancing, some new form of boxing I haven't tried yet... Or some fierce version of pilates. We'll see.

Favourite forms of protein at the moment

Sleep quality during vs before sport/diet reformation

Oh yeah, and last weekend we spent participating this hotel seminary workshop on feedback strategies with my friends (=colleagues). I must say, I haven't slept that well in ages... I mean in the room itself, not the workshop. Ehee.

hi

Kesän touhut ja kotitoimiston ylistys

Uuden blogitekstin puljautus on eittämättä mennyt sellaiseksi kerran parissa kuussa -harrastukseksi, mutta kun huomaan statistiikasta Saksaa googlailleen ihmisten päätyneen tänne, aion kyllä jatkaa näiden kirjoitusten väsäilyä. Tahti on tosiaan vaan tällainen epäsaksalaisen verkkainen ja chilli.

Coming up with something new to post has become a rare phenominon it seems, but as I have people who actually google Germany/immigration topics and then end up here, I will continue trying my best. The pace is just either chilled or slow, so anything but German I'd say.

Kesä oli melko kiva tänä vuonna. Joidenkin suomalaisten mielestä olin aika paljon töissä. Kieltämättä itsekin olen saanut isän ja äidin sekä muiden sukulaisten lomatottumuksista sen verran vaikutteita, että kuvittelin aluksi pitäväni sellaisen perinteisen "neljä viikkoa heinäkuussa ja siinä se" -rykäyksen. Kuulema tarvitsisi ottaa kunnon köntti lomaa kerralla, jotta tuntisi olleensa kunnolla poissa. Voin ylpeänä todeta olevani nyt täysin vastakkaista mieltä, sillä itselleni sopii erinomaisesti osiin pilkottu loma. Kesällä minulla oli mielestäni kolme lomaa, ja jokaisen jälkeen tunsin olleeni poissa ja saaneeni akut täyteen, so to say. Ensin olin veks tuon aiemmin esittelemäni Freudenbergin loman aikana - ja silloin olin itse asiassa vain kaksi päivää. Lähtö oli keskiviikkoiltana (ranskalaisilla kilvillä varustetulla vuokra-autolla, hah, bonjour vaan kaikille takasin, ketkä oletti että osaan enemmän kuin 2 sanaa ranskaa), ja paluu siinä lauantain tienoilla. Sitten oli juhannusloma, long story short:

Summer this year was nice. It was full of new things, above all. Some (point the fingers at the Finns) said I worked quite a lot, but it's actually not my cup of tea to take four weeks off in July and call it a vacation. I liked having three smaller vacay slots booked. After the Freudenberg mini-getaway I spent a couple of weeks working as usual, and then flew to Finland for 1,5 weeks to celebrate midsummer, meet up with friends... Loved every second of it:

Koti, juuret, omat huudit/ home, roots, my hoods

Heinäkuu meni aika jännästi sekin. Sain ensimmäistä kertaa töissä vastuulleni ns. pumppupuhelimen. Kyseessä on diabeetikoiden insuliinipumppujen päivystylinja, jonka sisään tulevat puhelut ohjattiin omaan työkännykkääni toimistoaikojen ulkopuolelella kellon ympäri viikon ajan. Ekan viikon aikana sain pyöreät nolla puhelua. Lisät tietenkin kolahtivat silti, koska olin valmiudessa. Olen tällä hetkellä kolmen kollegani kanssa näiden tiettyjen diabeteksenhallintalaitteiden osalta jonkinalainen asiantuntija, joten laiteteknisissä kysymyksissä koitan auttaa soittajia. Toinen pumppuviikko oli heinäkuun lopulla, ja silloin soittoja kyllä tuli. Yksi muun muassa, kun olin Stuttgrtissa Allmandringilla piknikillä.

The second week of July I spent being responsible for the so called pump phone. Insulin pump users from Finland can get technical support from me and my colleagues during normal business hours, but in addition to that we have launched this additional 24/7 service just for pump users. Basically after 5 p.m the calls get treansfered to one of us (work phones). During my first week I got 0 calls (wohoo), but the second week was a bit busier, and one of the calls came in when we were having a picnic with our dear Stuttgart gang in Allmandring. This doesn't limit your life almost at all, just be ready to document some deep stuff and burst into an alien language in Lidl or in a pub... And you obviously get paid for this, so don't feel sorry for me hons...

Ja tältä se näytti. Huvitti muita. It might have raised some questions - what are you doing ..

Kolmas kesälomapätkä, kaksi viikkoa, oli elokuussa. Sain näyttää saksalaiselle vieraalle vähän Suomea, mikä teki visiitistä vähän normaalia spesiaalimman. Olin myös pisimmän pätkän perheemme mökillä vuosiin, viitisen päivää siellä vierähti. Tajuamisia tuolta ajalta: 1.  olen luontoihminen  2. kun olen ikivanha, haluan vetäytyä jonnekin luonnon keskelle, ainakin kauas Saksan kaltaisesta väestöntiheydestä 3. voisin saunoa joka päivä, ja saunonkin, jos voin 4. mikäli jossain muutaman kilsan säteellä on edes yksi pistorasia, voin asua mökissä ilman sähköä 5. rakastan sienestää ja marjastaa ja ennen kaikkea syödä itse poimittua puhdasta ruokaa. Ainakin neljä isompaa ateria saatiin kokoon itse kerätyistä kanttarelleista. Koko kylä, metsät ja kukkulat, kaikkialla oli täysin hiljaista. Hienot päivät.

In August I got to show Finland to a person who had never been there, which gave that visit some nice extra. That was also the nature getaway dot com that I had been waiting for. Five days by a lake, in a quiet summer cottage in the middle of the most beautiful forest and village landscapes, going to sauna every day. I learned from myself that I definitely am a country side person, and one day when I'm old, I want to settle down in a place where population density isn't as extreme as it is, well, in Germany for instance. In Germany quiet and beautiful places most likely excist but the authenticity is missing. They are always in their own way branded and frequently visited...

Ja tähän väliin pieni avautuminen Saksan luonnon rauhasta. Tavallaan täällä arvostetaan ja toisinaan etsitäänkin juuri jotakin tällaista, mutta toteutus on jotenkin keinotekoista. "Tule rauhoittumaan, tule luonnon keskelle", kaikki tämä on oikeastaan kaupallistettu. Tai ei eihän näissä mitään hurjia rahoja liiku, mutta siis mihinkään paikkaan ei vain voi tuosta vain mennä ilman, että se oli tiedossa jo valmiiksi jonkinlaisena "luonnon helma" -mestana. Eli spontaanius puuttuu. Tulkintani on nyt vuoden verran outdoor-seikkailuja tehtyäni se, että tämä väestömäärä tekee melkein mahdottomaksi sen, että Suomen kaltaisia aidosti hiljaisia ja tyhjiä paikkoja löytyisi. 

Tästä huolimatta ja tähän liittyen tuli Suomi-reissun jälkeen käytyä vuosia hekumoimani Mosel-laakson varrella patikoimassa. Majoittuminen tapahtui pienellä saarella joen keskellä. Siltaa pitkin rinkat ja teltta selässä respaan suoraan juna-asemalta, teltta hemmetin kiviseen maahan pimeän tultua, aamulla muonat uudella spiritus-keittimellä ja sitten vuorille. Patikointireitti oli aika haastava, kapeita vuoripolkuja oli siellä ja täällä, ja keli oli perinteiseen saksalaiseen elokuun tapaan 30 celciuksessa ja ilmankosteus tapissa. Mutta maisemat olivat toden totta sen arvoisia. Ja miltä luonto siellä tuoksui, maissipeltojen läpi seikkailu, eväät vuoren päällä, jossa muuten välillä tuuli kuin tornadon silmässä... Onneksi oli huivi päässä, niin ei tarttenut menettää hermoja. Ja raikkaaltahan se tuntui pitkän taivalluksen päätteeksi.

Right after Finland a little Mosel getaway was needed. One _amazing_ natural landscape after another until you puke, right.. This was so amazing, seriously. Hiking, walking next to wine plantations, staying on an island, counting ships, skipping stones and living with minimum amount of groceries, because the city of Hatzenport didn't have a supermarket. Nor did it have a smart phone compatible internet connection. A great place, with and without sarcasm. And seriously, I've wanted to go to Mosel valley for ages already. Next up maybe a day trip with a wine tour. Wine is actually the thing that brings the tourists in that area but we made a conscious decision to soak on the nature this time.

Alas päästiin perinteiseen tapaan paljon helpommin, ja reitti kulki mitä idyllisimmin viini-istutusten välistä. En voi muuta kuin suositella Mosel-laaksoa kaikille. Paikka on tunnettu viineistä, ja siitä syystä sinne yleensä reissataankin, mutta totesin, että viinimaistiaiskierroksen voi ottaa joskus päiväreissullekin, nyt oli tarkoituksena toteuttaa sporttiloma. Kaupunki, jossa olimme, oli nimeltään Hazenport. Erikoista tässä paikassa oli muun muassa se, että koko kaupungissa ei toiminut mobiili-internet. Heillä oli edelleen joku ei-älypuhelin-aikainen yhteystyyppi koko alueella. Eikä markettia ollut. Tuli siis todella mentyä niillä hedelmillä ja proteiinijauheilla, mitä oli kokoamassani ja suunnitelemassani retkipakkauksessa. Ja hyvin pärjäsi. Limsapullon kävin kerran hakemassa respasta.

Reissujen jälkeen oli aika palata taas töihin. Pakko sanoa, että olen lähikuukausina syystä tai toisesta törmännyt paljon kirjoituksiin elämän laadusta. Haluatko elää työtä varten, haluatko että tunnit päivästä uppoavat vain sinne, haluatko viettää kaiken tämän ajan erillään läheisistäsi tai mahdollisesti lapsistasi... Netti on vastaavasti ollut täynnä "irti oravanpyörästä" -tekstejä - kertomuksia siitä, miten otettiin riski ja vähennettiin työtunnit alle puoleen ja kiristettiin vyötä, jotta vastineeksi saataisiin enemmän aikaa itselle. Tämä olisi kieltämättä ollut pitkällä tähtäimellä myös oma suuntani. Jotakin kuitenkin tapahtui heinäkuussa, ja olen sitä mieltä, että jos se tapahtuisi kaikille, kukaan ei ahdistuisi työssään niin paljon, että tarvittaisin ainakaan totaalisia irtiottoja. Tapahtuman nimi oli etätyöt, työkielellä home office, suomikollegoiden kesken kotitoimisto tai kotiluola. Voin nukkua melkein tunnin pidempään ihan vaan koska ei tarvitse mennä juniin, ekat pari työtuntia (muutenkin lähes aina melko hiljaisia) voin makoilla pedissä työläppäri sylissä, tehdä rauhassa aamiaista, eikä ole väliä miltä näytän. Lounastauolla olen töissä aina firman kuntosalilla, ja kotitoimistopäivinä sitten vain juoksemassa Rohrbachin Himmeltreppe-polkua pitkin vuorelle. Joka ainut päivä olen pysynyt urheilurutiinissa, ja siitä on tullut yksi asia, jota odotan. Pakolliset 15 minuutin tauot mahdollistavat syömisen, hyvin ehtii. Eikä minusta tunnu siltä, että jotenkin työ ja koti menisi sekaisin. Tuntuu lähinnä siltä, että olen saanut ekstravapaapäivän, koska olen saman tien vapaa menemään mihin vain. Eräs päivä tässä oli 07-15.30 vuoro, ja kun olin kaupungilla kahvilla jo klo 16, tuntui kyllä melkein lomalta. Tällä tavalla en oikeasti varmana väsy tai turhaannu. Ja kun tällaisia päiviä pitää kaksi viikossa, on aina mukava mennä töihin näkemään ihmisiä, jotka ovat oikeasti kavereitani, ja on ihanaa saada ajastaan enemmän irti.

Suosittelen kotitoimistoilua kaikille, joilla on vähänkään pitkähkö työmatka, ja joille siihen annetaan työn luonteen puolesta lupa. Lomiakaan ei tarvitse odottaa niin vesi kielellä, kun on rauhallisia kotiaamuja säännölliseen tahtiin. Itseäni ainakin uuvuttaa ja lomalle eniten vetää tietoisuus aamujen takkuisuudesta. On vaan niin hankalaa joskus herätä ja mennä se sama matka junalle nollat taulussa. Kaikki tämä poistui lähes täysin kotitoimiston myötä.

Ollaan onnellisempia ja tehdään töissä parasta mahdollista jälkeä :)

After travels it was time to get back to normal every-day-life. I know that looks like some mile-long preach up there but basically what I'm saying is that I have found the perfect balance between work and freetime. And I hope everyone can do what I have done, I assure you it makes you a happier person. And it's called home office. Two days a week is a good amount. It's also good to see your colleagues and work place friends so don't be an outsider and do it every day. The best of both worlds. Parents get to spend more time with their children, commuters can gain hours of extra time to watch films or go to restaurants in the week with their loved ones... You wake up slowly and take your time with the breakfast while working. And a funny thing, sometimes you find yourself reading a good book in a cafeteria, laughing on a date just some minutes after you've switched off your work laptop in the afternoon, and you actually feel like you've had a day off. And you develop your routines with home office too, I run up the hill and back down during lunch breaks and use the shorter breaks for eating. I don't need to eagerly wait for the next holiday, because work life like this doesn't feel hard. And we all know that a lot of sick leaves are based on the fact that people are exhausted. Sometimes when you look around (at the working people especially, heading either home or work) it feels like the whole world is exhausted and frustrated, always waiting for the next big break, whatever it is for them. I am a better employee like this, and I'm pretty sure it's like that for many others too. I hope the companies are brave enough to answer this need, and I hope to see the larger scale effects this could have on national health. One can always hope.

Fear and isolation - we don't have to do this

The world in which we live in seems to have turned into some unrecognizable clump these days. The world politics in general (some kind of clash of civilizations as Huntington the scientist put it) aside, rising nationalistic tendencies are creeping me out big time. This is not a happy topic in general, but it needs to see the daylight for that very reason.
Growing up in Finland, an unspoken solidarity between "us Europeans", especially the northern countries, Germany and maybe the benelux sector on top of that, was somehow always there. At least luring in the background if not admitted. It was us against them, the others being from further away - in the sense of culture, religion or map.

I've now lived in Germany for a year, and a huge layer of the society today seems to think it's Germany against everyone. Germans in Germany, the ideal situation, everything else is unnatural. You can fool the pattern by speaking perfect German. Otherwise you are in a wrong place. It is not natural to move that far from where you were born. This is how I've seen it.
During the elections in a tram, a man giving out brochures said we are "ok people, just in a wrong country". A colleague a lot like me calls the officials speaking obviously foreign German, mentions her (freaking good) position in a pharmaceutical company and gets a reply of "OH you have a job? OH. Oh." And to me the nastiest of them all: someone vandalizes my letter box name tag. Twice. Obviously I have a foreign name. German flags in private balconies. Someone yells "hau ab" (=leave) when I'm on the phone speaking Finnish.
Then there was the Brexit. The same old unhappiness with the situation of refugees and economy, only this time chanalised more chaotically than "just" one right-wing party hybris in one round of elections. Some days after the vote a Finnish girl working as a bartender in Wales encounters a well-dressed sober young man questioning her right and abilities (foreigner and all) to pour pints in a british pub. All the leave voters are not racists, but everyone who is a racist, probably voted for leave. Probably also the person behind the idea to laminate signs encouraging certain EU originated immigrants to sod off, as the UK is leaving the EU.

It's not that the majority of one kingdom is racist, it's just the ones that are, now seem to think half the country agree with them.

Old idiots affected the lives of so many

In Finland they already started an initiative to organise our own referendum, "fixit". The dude who started it argued: "Look at the other areas outside EU, their citizens' life there seems to have worked out just fine." Well, only limited people assume that somebody's life merely takes place inside the country they were born in.

I am so far from understanding this logic of "us against everyone" and "stay put where you come from" that I don't know what to think. Normally I detest racism, now I just feel like this is another planet and I want to go back to how things once were, or at least seemed to be. I want to point out that there is no reason to isolate yourself from other nations, the people are often very much like we/you are. This is a realization you usually get if you've spent time abroad yourself. From a pedagocical standpoint I think someone should catch this ball. Nothing feeds the attitude of patriotic solitude more than unawareness. If you never left your home village, you might just end up laminating insults. We need more international work shop days in school, more comparative religion/international relations experts in work life, more exchange programs already at younger age and just more positivity and love.

Just look at this, and tell me you agree with me - borders between us are actually often just fake:

Kesä 2016, ota koppi

Täällä ollaan pitkän ja töissä hujahtaneen kevään jäljiltä täynnä energiaa ja valmiina uuteen eräily- ja retkeilysesonkiin. Viruspohjaiset sairastelut on vaivanneet aika paljon, ja pari viikonloppuretkeä on pitänyt siirtää tän takia. Nyt siis mennään täysillä aina kun päästään.
Ja mitäpä muuta, uusi kämppä on ollut alla huhtikuusta lähtien, ja kesä on ollut meneillään noin toukokuun alusta. Tuli leikattua hiukset, täytettyä vuosia, käytyä pääsiäisenä hiihtämässä Suomessa jäällä, ajeltua ympäri ämpäri osavaltion maaseutua, nukahdettua pari kertaa Germersheim-Heidelberg -junaan, ostettua uusi puhelin, käytettyä sitä pari viikkoa ennen kuin joku sen jo nyysi laukusta, nahisteltua nationalistin kanssa ja käytyä toteamassa, että valtavat amfiteatterit vuorien päällä oli normitouhua kolmannen valtakunnan aikana. Töissä kuviot on jo rutinoituneet, ja on ollut mahtavaa huomata, miten nopeasti siitä on tullut oma yhteisö ja oma paikka, jossa minua tyyppinä ja osaajana ihan aidosti arvostetaan.

Terassikausi aukesi joskus... Maaliskuun alussa taidettiin työkavereiden kanssa tämä happy hour testata

Nyt on pyörä! On tullut tehtyä muutama Neckar-jokivarsiretki tämän yksilön kanssa

Uusi kotitalo aseman vieressä. Ja taivas on ollut useammin kuin kerran tuon näköinen kotiin tullessa

Tarkoitus olisi kirjoittaa enemmän arjesta, kun sitä on jonkin verran muualla sosiaalisissa medioissa kysytty, eikä vain näistä jännistä reissuista, mutta kopioin nyt heti kärkeen kuitenkin kesäkuun ekan viikonlopun pikkukylän kahvilassa raapustetut reissumuistiinpanot Lontoon murteella.

Odenwald bushrallies etc.

So like Lazarus I have returned. I already wrote a rather long post, composing it together for weeks, but just as I was about to put it here I pretty much realised it was crap. Also, old information. I was feeling down for a while and wanted to whine about it back then, in April and March that is, but I now know how to handle my shit and decided to keep this place positive. Especially when there are so many nice things in life. There is so much more to explore in the southern Germany, and I am just about to get my schedules in order. The thing is, after my home office starts going smoothly, I will have many extra hours per day and week, more time to engage in sports and other things that make me happy. By the way, I moved in April, and I now have a studio apartment of 33 square meters just for myself. Occassionally I find myself missing the WG life, but then again it is ok to be able to leave a cup in the sink for a day without anyone pointing it out.
I am very lucky to have been granted holidays from work although this is only my sixth month at their service. My plans are to go to Finland twice, first briefly for some midsummer chilling in June and later for two weeks in August. I still have time to do camping trips with my greatest outdoor pronto Maki, and in fact, we are camping as we speak (or write. Or I write, and he is driving somewhere on his way back here).

Omelettes on their way...

I always loved German villages. If I want a vacation, I usually don't want some busy touristy place. Right now it is not even weekend yet, I sit in a cafe in Freudenberg, a small quiet village by Main, look outside and see its old town. Thats pretty much all I have seen today, apart from handful of people. You know that feeling, when you're definitely the only tourist anyone has seen in ages, taking pictures walking down the main street, and the few people you actually come across, look at you with a mixture of confusion and delight? If not, try it.

It started to rain a bit, and I decided to shelter it in a city museum. The entrance was shared with the Rathaus, city office, and as I got in I had already made two new friends, just random officials working there, who wanted to tell me all about the city, the house and the museum. One of them even wanted to give me his umbrella. The museum was pretty nice, in five floors, basically telling the story of one village.

Nature is just so important. I need to go and do some bush rallies regularly to compensate the daily commuting and time accounting that happens to be my life. The nature here is amazing. The camping place is located in the greenest possible spot, there is a small lake that is just as good as any Finnish lake, hills on both sides of the camping area and the weather has been great (not super sunny, but it doesnt have to be). And this is not the high season. The peace and beauty, that's what I'm paying for.

Can I drinkz dis

Yesterday we went for a hike in the Odenwald, a huge forest that begins from somewhere here and continues all the way to Heidelberg that is 150km away. The forest is super deep, and once you've entered, you forget very fast what it is like breathing city air. We found a stream running through the forest, made a short stop, cooled down, ate our lunch sandwhiches and then headed back. It's been really relaxing.
So, all the people in Finland, Canada and some here as well who have been asking, this is what has been up, I'm doing ok here and look forward to hearing from you too.

Spring-like winter and spa

Heidelberg, Neckar, February... Some weeks ago the weekend looked like this. 

Last weekend's plans: enjoying the beautiful weather in the amazingly beautiful countryside landscapes. No, I will never get used to the hills, I will always be slightly amazed at least

Last week was pretty intense at work, and the person I got probably the best along with since the beginning retired. He had a pretty festive day I must say, a conference room turned into a party-room

with everything you can imagine from confetti to cake. Everyone could go there for a while in between their own personal tasks, when they had time, to say hi and bye. After that we had our team event, doing stuff together with the closest colleagues. We went to an escape room, solved clues together as a team and finally managed to exit the room. I can definitely recommend escape room live action games to everyone, this was the second time I tried the whole thing, way more difficult than the previous time (well, this was professional, the previous one was organized by a student organisation:)) and yes, good good fun.

For the weekend I ended up taking an Intercity to Stuttgart, and with me I took.. Hmm, nothing! Because I had dropped my keys last week, my roomie had been letting me in, but she had just moved out during my working day on Friday, and I was under the impression the replacement key would be delivered in my post box by Friday afternoon. Well, surprise surprise, it was not there when I got home after work with a solid intention to get some luggage from my room. Well, obviously I had to wear the same dress+blazer combo (phew thank god it's pretty nice at least) all weekend long, but that was all. Resolution: one can survive one weekend with just a handbag. Ok, a short visit to a supermarket cosmetology department might be handy.
Saturday was probably the prettiest day in ages, weather-wise at least. We were driving around the countryside roads... And once again it got me thinking, when the heck am I ever gonna drive a car again ;D I just can't here. And I've forgotten absolutely everything. PLUS the cars here are way too fancy to my liking. If only I had the old Toytota you had to kick a bit under the gas pedal to get it started. All this bluetooth+video feature stuff _in a car_ is just something I cannot understand. It is great, but I would not know what to do. Which is often the case anyway... I think in Finland it is more difficult to find fancy cars I have seen here, because as a nation, we are just not that much into it. Luxury is ok sometimes, but just not in cars. It would be a wrong place to invest it. 

I also had to buy myself a bikini because this is what was on the bucket list for Sunday:

Thermalbad in Beuren

Yes, swimming or more like bathing or floating in a spa. All the pools were +34 at least, and there was a steam sauna. Not quite the same as an authentic real sauna we have at home, but still, good enough for me. I think people are mostly thinking of Baden-Baden when someone is talking about German wellness spas, but actually they're pretty spread out in these areas where the groundwater is exceptionally rich in minerals and utilized in these pools. What was a surprise was the fact that they had a lot of warm pools outside, even if it is in theory a winter as we speak. It was pretty fun... To be able to enjoy the landscapes (which - yes, I get it now - are never ugly or even slightly platitudinous in these areas) with all the mountains in the horizon. And no, your head does not freeze in the process which I was sure was going to happen.
So, things are still pretty great here. Keep in touch!
 

When you get re-al-ly sick in a foreign country | Sairastuminen Saksanmaalla

There can be few better times to start appreciating ones health than when sitting in a hospital waiting room waiting for the fifth (?) doctor's opinion on the infection going on in your cheek/gum area. The initial cause for everything was a tooth. The first doctor wanted to remove it and force-sell me an implant for 2-3k. This diagnosis was given through mere feeling of the area, no xrays of the problem area per se were taken. The second one was ready to save the tooth by performing a special root canalling, but that would cost 700 euros. At that point I was already hitting a fever so high that the appropriate place to drag myself was hospital. An xray of the specific cheek/tooth area was taken, and the doctors did exactly what the expensive dentist would have done, just almost free of cost. Fun fact in the middle of a crisis: my dentist was definitely younger than me, first times for everything... I was also sent to a surgeon, who (relievingly) did not end up waving any instruments near my tissues though. Two days later I was still feverish and went back to the clinic. After an authentic House moment the doctor _discovered_ I have to be allergic to the antibiotics the first dentist had prescribed me. And I'm already allergic to one type of antibiotic meant for that area. I got a prescription for new antibiotics and ever since it's been a bit better. But it will still take some time.

 However I'm so happy to be able to go to work tomorrow. It's pretty tiring to just sweat and maybe hallucinate every once in a while. And since bureaucracy has a central place in German life I first had to spend a small eternity waiting for a temporary "krankenkasse" document as my health insurance card was not ready yet. Because without a health insurance number (indicated in the document) you don't excist for doctors here. And the insurance guy could not send me the document because my social security number (a-ha, a different number that is) was missing. They should have got it from the company I work in. And the reason the company didn't have it and therefore hadn't sent it was... *drums* the fact that I didn't have a health insurance number. See a fine pattern of inconsistency? This is what I call German loopholes. Well, it might have made me age some years in a couple of days, but it did get sorted finally. Like usually in Germany. The expression "how the hell" was springing into my brain more than once during last week, but what I did realise was that you can get sick and get treated, regardless the severity of your condition, in this country too. The process works like in Finland (minus the bureaucracy) and I can't just keep on thinking nothing will ever happen to me because I'm not home. I guess I needed to experience that I am safe here too.

Leaving the sickbed, boom

Terkkuja siis lasaretin puolelta! Vihdoin siis tapahtui se myyttinen asia että sairastuin ihan kunnolla Saksassa. Hampaan juuri ja poskikudos ja vissiin ontelokin vielä tulehtui, sain kunnon kuumeen ja koin kaksi karua hammaslääkärien myyntimieshetkeä. Osta implantti, osta erikoiskäsittely. Lopulta ratkaisu löytyi sairaalasta pään alueen sairauksien (heh heh kuka yllättyi) poliklinikalta. Siellä hellyttävä nuori mieslääkäri (siis minua nuorempi) hoisi saman homman puoli-ilmaiseksi kuin kallis spesialisti olisi hoitanut seitsemällä sadalla. Antibiootit ei silti vieneet kuumetta pois, joten jouduin vielä asioimaan klinikalla uudestaan samalla asialla. Selvisi, että olen allerginen tuolle antibiootille, ja siksi sain kuumeen alkujaankin. Uudet antibiootit sitten nitistivät kuumeen. Eipähän tarvi olla toista viikkoa töistä poissa. Ehti tulla jo ikävä työkavereita. Homman tuoksinnassa pääsi myös tappelemaan byrokratian kanssa. Sosiaaliturvanumero ja sairausvakuutusnumero ovat ehdottomia, mutta toista ei oikein saa ilman toista. Ja kukaan ei myönnä olevansa se eka linkki koko projektissa, jossa näitä numeroita ja väliaikaisia todistuksia haetaan. No, lopulta varmaan tänkin homman oleellisin opetus on, että tässä maassa on aika samanlaista sairastua ja tulla hoidetuksi kuin Suomessa. Väkisinhän tämänkin joskus piti tapahtua.