Just got through my first day in Helsinki. So far, so good. I can still tolerate the cold although admittedly I am covered from head to toe. On the downside, it's not snowing. It was raining when I got here so the initial snow that came melted with the water. But the sheer coldness of the place compensates the lack of white on the streets.
And since it was Christmas Eve, my sister said that everything closes at about 12nn here. So we really can't go anywhere since buses and trams would not be in operation until noon the next day. So, we just went to a nearby grocery before they close at 12nn. That's also the place where they can return plastic bottles for recycling. Bad thing that I wasn't able to bring a camera, I could have taken a picture of the machine that "eats" up the bottles. The machine scans the bottles and each bottle has a certain price that they reimburse you. Then it gives you a ticket with a bar code with the total amount that you have gotten from the bottles and you can use that to purchase in the grocery. It's a pretty neat concept. How I wish they do that also in the Philippines.
For our Noche Buena, my mom just made chicken pastelle, and some pastries. That was served together with a Christmas Ham and store bought mashed potatoes. It wasn't a real feast but the food was yummy (although the mash potatoes weren't really that good).
Then the next day (which is today), it's Christmas morning. My sister brought me to the place where their building was collects all the trash. Again, they have a more or less neat system of segregation. They have all these huge bins that's labelled properly on what item you should dispose that particular trash. Simple, yet effective.
Hoping later when we go out I'll be able to take some pictures of the scenery.
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