So, I have survived in this cold country for three days already. Unfortunately, snow has eluded me. It was raining this morning but it suddenly stopped. Now the sun is up...for how long, I can only guess.
The sun was up for two days (25-26). The sun rose around 8:00am GMT+2 and then set at 3:00pm GMT+2. So, there was about only 7 hours of sunlight before it total darkness once more. 2:00pm here would already look like around 5:00pm in Manila and 4:00pm here would look like around 7:00pm in Manila. The sun plays peek-a-boo here. One minute it's showing, giving off what little heat it could provide and the next minute it's behind the clouds again.
Anyway, my sister took me around the city center those two days of sunlight. I really wouldn't go into detail of where we went since the pictures that I had taken would already give you the idea of where she brought me. (See The Mitchie Chronicles photo album on Facebook). What I would go into detail though was how we got around the city.
Finland has a very impressive transportation system. You have one card that you can use in all public transport except taxi (Taxi you can pay either credit card, debit card or bank ATM...I think cash as well but I have yet to see my sister shell out actual euros to pay anything). The card you can use in the bus, the metro and the tram. I haven't ridden a train yet but I think you can also use the card there as well.
The bus are numbered to a specific area of the city. They also have a specific bus stop. There are different waiting sheds all over the place but the bus only stops at specific waiting sheds with their number. The buses and the tram have schedules. If you miss that particular schedule you have to wait for about 15 minutes before the next bus/tram arrives.
You go in the bus at the front door and you go down at the back doors. Not unless you're a senior citizen, you're not allowed to go down at the front door. You press the "stop" button before your stop. If you don't press the stop button, the bus wouldn't stop especially if the driver doesn't see anyone at the bus stop to pick up.
All drivers here are very disciplined. They give way to each other and they stop whenever there's a pedestrian crossing. Commuting here isn't as stressful as it is in Manila.
And like I said earlier, my sister has yet to pay anything in actual money. Since you practically use a card here for anything. When we ate at Hesburger (a local burger joint that has huge yummy burgers), my sister used her card to pay. When she loaded up our card to use for the buses and trams, she again used her card to pay for it. Even the vendo machines here has the option for your to pay via credit card.
Anyway, those two days were pretty uneventful. I did enjoy the parks and the sights. I even saw an actual squirrel climbing up a tree. We had a staring contest for a brief moment until it grew bored of me and jumped up another branch.
The next day (which is today), there was a short burst of rain (yup...still no snow) and then the sun has risen. It's already 2:00pm GMT+2 as I am writing this, so I have about 1-2 hours of sunlight left before I would see good bye to it again.
Anyway, my mom decided it's a good time for us to do the laundry since my sister is at work and we really don't have anywhere else to go for the day.
My sister doesn't have her own washing machine so she uses the communal one in her building. There's only one machine so you would need to schedule if you want to use the laundry room.
The laundry room is a standard room with an automatic washing machine and a dryer beside it. There's a weird looking contraption that my mom claimed to be used for ironing clothes (although for the life of me I can't really see how you use it as such). Then, you have separate room for hanging your laundry. Since this country doesn't really have that much sun, they have a machine that more or less imitate the sun's heat so that your clothes can dry off even if it's indoors. The laundry room and the room to hang your laundry isn't really my favorite place to be since it doesn't have windows. It was scary for me although I got to help my mom with the laundry long enough before claustrophobia hit me.
So ends another chapter of my chronicles. I'll be posting pictures after I get them organized.
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