Guess Who Am I

We are having a boat trip with Jari and Saku. Currently we are in the small island in Näsijärvi.

After the thunderstorm we got hailstorm. After that there was some snow left on the ground.

We got some cold weather and then of course some snow. And this time smaller roads are icy an snow actually stays longer than couple of hours. Maybe this is beginning of the Winter? Well, they have predicted that soon we will again see some warm weather so it will melt away but anyway, we are progressing to right direction all the time.

Beginning of October there was just yellow and red leaves in the trees and most of those were actually falling down. Nature was preparing for Winter.

And then suddenly there was a storm hitting the Finland, twelve days later from the first picture. The strong wind brought also some rain with it and also the temperature went down so the rain came down as a snow. We have seen the first snow for this Winter, it of course melted away already during that day but this is the beginning.

There is ongoing festival in Finland in many cities, including Tampere. Today I visited the Keskustori (main square in Tampere) to see what is going regarding the Chinese market and also what kind of other happenings there are. These all are related to the Nordic Chinese Culture Festival.

What I learned today? I learned the basics for Weiqi board game. The rules are pretty easy to learn but I can already know that it takes quite a long time to master the game. Anyway, lots of fun.

In the evening there was a Chinese opera in Tampere Hall. Kunqu opera is one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera and almost vanished but in 2001 it was added to UNESCO World Heritage List and is now very strong revival. The Romance of the Western Bower tells a story about a young couple’s struggle to gain society’s approval to get married. The experience was very new to me while I have seen some Western operas before and there are similarities but still some differences. As you would expect, the dresses are fabulous and music plays very crucial role. I liked this opera very much, it of course requires some concentration to follow the story especially if you do not speak Chinese fluently as you have to follow the English texts to understand the details of the events but I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has an opportunity to experience this ever.

This is overall view from Keskustori, Chinese market:

And these photos are from the opera:

Circus is here. This photo is actually taken from the front of the building I live and looking to the nearby sports field.

Floral Festival has been going on for one week and it was the last day - time for the traditional Samba Parade. One of the leading Samba schools in Finland is arranging this parade every year and believe or not, this was the first time I was actually going to see this.

After the parade, what could have been better idea than to learn to cook Wontons? And my friend was teaching me patiently, while I wasn’t quite understanding how to wrap the meat inside the pastry. I have never been too clever with this kind of complex tasks.

I have had so much fun during the weekend; on Friday it started with a visit to friends who just got finished their smoke sauna. It was very nice experience, I haven’t been in smoke sauna for many years.

On Saturday there was a visit to Pori Jazz festival in the program, due to the different schedules we actually didn’t go there until the afternoon but then spent almost whole night there. Pori is quite close to Tampere so it is easy and very nice drive there.

We wanted to see the festivals and get a glimpse to the world of jazz. Pori Jazz has both free of charge and non-free concerts and at least this year the main event in Kirjurinluoto was sold on many nights so we just concentrated the Jazz Street and free of charge concert along that street. The stage along the Jazz Street featured Jippu on Saturday night. The weather was sunny and provided the best for the visitor during that day.

The evening turned into a night and continued in the Voodoocity, which then featured another kind of music more into the younger people’s taste, orchestrated by DJs.

And on the positive side, it was very quiet drive back to Tampere between 3am and 4am - you were only able to see few cars on the highway and most of the time it was just you, a car, a highway and a sleeping passenger. I like the quiet and peaceful drives during the night, of course as long as you don’t feel sleepy yourself while driving. You can find some of the photos in my photo gallery.

And I just came back from visiting my family from the summer cottage - it was time to celebrate my little sister’s birthday.

Very nice weekend with lots of different things happening.

Yesterday I went to Museum Centre Vapriikki to see the China Exhibitions: Jade Princess, Pieces of China and Ni Hao. All of these exhibitions are absolutely fabulous, you can see the burial suit made from small pieces of jade and all the developments happened during Han Dynasty. Pieces of China exhibition will show the development of the China during past years, in photos. Huge collection of photos and posters presenting different aspects of life. Ni Hao presents some of the traditional Chinese dolls from two collections.

I definitely will recommend these exhibitions to everyone who are interested about Chinese culture. In addition, you can visit the other exhibitions too. Velomania presenting the history of bicycles, Hockey exhibition the hockey history in Finland and Poko Records exhibition the history of music industry in Tampere.

I had great time, the afternoon was very perfect and not just because of the museum.

Tomorrow is the Midsummer Day in Finland. The city usually gets rather quiet as most of the people will go to their summer cottages to enjoy the summer and this special celebration. I am just enjoying the extra holiday in the city and relaxing. Good to be lazy sometimes.