Tale of two cities

Blogging activity was suspended for about two weeks because I am now in Singapore.

We arrived two weeks ago and are living in a en-bloc development that has been put on hold. The developer re-organises the units and rents them out on a short-term basis. In this way, the company can still bring in income while it awaits better times to build the new condo.

Our first week was spent on organising "home", cleaning up the rooms and establishing a regular routine with the kids. By the time we had settled down, we got ready for my brother's wedding last Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, I brought the kids to Vivo City and Ikea at Alexandra to enjoy the children's facilities. 

Perhaps we have been away for a long time - nine months this time, and a total of three years since we left for our first posting - Singapore feels different.

I noticed more foreigners and maybe we lived in China for two years, we can spot them rather easily. Many food stalls have Chinese helpers. Even the cleaners at church are partly staffed by Chinese.

We took the kids on a cable car ride, starting at Cable Car Tower (now called HarbourFront Tower 2), passing Mt Faber, then Sentosa and back. Seems that several workers at the Mt Faber point are Indians.

Angmohs are no longer confined to the city area. They look like they fit in the heartlands in T-shirts, bermudas and flip-flops. Very Singaporean, except for skin colour.

Singapore has become an international city. People are drawn to this little island near the equator by its clean environment, keen education system, safe food supply, among other things.

Helsinki and the surrounding capital region has also seen a rise in its foreign population. My family and I contribute to the statistics. As I sense a change in the demographic make-up of Singapore, I am part of the same change in Finland.

 

Cool winter outing

This is our final weekend before we leave for Singapore next Friday. Will Finland still be in winter mode when return in April? We've heard that spring comes in May...

We decided to make the best of this weekend by definitely not staying indoors.

Since our visit to Uunisaari last Sunday, we began searching for our next outing.

Uunisaari is a little island off Helsinki. In summer, it has a popular beach and one has to take a boat to get across, even though it is just about 100 m from the mainland. Unless you are Michael Phelps (and don't mind getting wet), you are less than a minute splash away.

On the website, we read that a suspension bridge is set up in winter. When we arrived, we realised that all we had to do was hop onto the sea. Yes, we walked on the sea again. Everyone else was doing it. Men, women, children, babies in prams, dogs...

We walked to Uunisaari, around it and on it. We also walked to the island next to it. Some parts of the sea just next to the coast was slightly wet so we had to be careful choosing our next step.

Today (Saturday), we visited Ooittaa. It has a camping site and a recreation centre where we can rent skis and other necessary equipment. There is also the quintessential Finnish sauna.

I asked a family from the children's school to join us. We had visited their home some months back and hadn't had a chance to invite them to ours.

Ooittaa is a nature site just next to a large lake called Bodominjärvi. The lake is frozen and a skiing track has been made out on the ice and leads onto land. Our friends told us that the area is actually a beach in summer and popular with Finns who come to tan. Today, we could not tell where the coast starts and where it ends. And even in summer, temperatures in southern Finland hover around 20ºC and don't forget sea breeze. Bbrrr...

The kids found a slope and sledded. A lump of snow which had somehow become a slide and had a hole at the base became a playground. They also had great fun playing on the slide and swings. Children need so little to be happy.

The highlight of this trip was our BBQ. The simple menu of sausages, marshmallows and hot Milo was really fun. The pit was open to all visitors and the centre provided free firewood. People just sat around the fire and placed their food on the grill. We may look like we are enjoying ourselves, but in reality, we were actually freezing. 

Sausages were the most popular food. The other kids looked enviously at our marshmallows so we shared our large pack with them. The Tohs seemed to be the only ones who know what to do with marshmallows at a BBQ. We are happy to transfer some technology.

The pit was tiny yet everyone was happy to share some space on the grill and seats on the benches. The area was generally clean because users tidied up after themselves. Very nice.

I told you Finland is a nice place.

Can she teach your kid(s)?

I came across an interesting story in the Guardian newspaper today. 

Can you spot anything interesting about the picture? I didn't notice the girl's arm (or lack of) until I read further into the story.

Is prejudice a "skill" we acquire? Our world view is shaped by the people close to us - be they parents, family, friends, society or country - or by what we read, hear or watch in the mass media. What an individual view to be acceptable behavior may be taboo to another.

The disabled in Singapore may not feel embraced by society but I think we aren't doing too badly. 

Dr William Tan is a great example of a disabled person who does not bow to his disabilities. He has a PhD in medicine from Harvard and completed 10 ultra-marathons over 7 continents in 70 days. As for me, I am satisfied completing 2.4 km. Some years ago, I saw Dr Tan at Ikea Alexandra (Singapore) shopping in the store and then again, in the car park. His car was parked in the disabled lot (of course) and HE was the driver. 

Some people think that disabled people can't find work or take care of themselves without help. Some buskers are visually-handicapped and members of the public associate them with beggars. William Tan Wei Lian started his singing career as a busker and went on to win Singapore's first Superstar contest. While his win has been attributed to sympathy votes, most would agree that he is one of the best singers of the lot.

Andrew Bocelli, the Italian tenor, is also visually-handicapped but his songs are so moving. I watched a recent rendition of The Prayer he performed with Katherine McPhee. After the first couple of lines, I had to close my eyes and tears just fell. I am incredibly touched by the simplicity and tenderness of his voice. As the song peaked, he didn't need to scream or make wild gestures or even break a sweat. He's had several partners to this song but he's the real star, isn't it?

We often see disabled people in Finland. Wheelchairs are motorised and they move around with ease, going about their lives such as shopping at the supermarket or admin at the bank. Braille can be found on elevator buttons as well as medicine packaging.

Last Saturday, Estelle pointed to a man walking with crutches and asked me what they were and why he needed them. I replied that he had trouble walking and needed help, so he used crutches. One of his shoes was custom-made while the other was a running shoe.

Beijing hosted the Olympic Games in August last year, followed by the Para-Olympics. In the almost 2 years I lived in Beijing, I've never seen a disabled person in public. Walking paths may be lined with metal platelets to guide the visually handicapped but I've not seen one use them. Subways stations are not equipped with lifts or ramps so there is no way a wheelchair can get in. Maybe the new lines are facilitated but the city is too crowded anyway, so a disabled person is safer if he/she stays away.

Children with cleft lips are often abandoned in China. When each Chinese family can only have one child, some decide that they want a "perfect" one and try again. An American family in our church fosters and adopts such children and raises funds so they can be operated on. Another family runs a home for children with cerebral palsy so the aisles were sometimes jammed by tiny wheelchairs.

Singapore is in between. We are not totally embracing, neither do we ostracise the disabled. 

It boils down to us as individuals how we view and treat the disabled. Responsibility falls on us as parents to teach our children to respect them. 

I haven't seen Cerrie Burnell on TV but if she's good, she can teach my kids.

Another Fun Sunday

After that great outing last week, we decided to find another place we haven't been to, to do something we haven't done before.

Scouring the internet, we found Paloheinän maki. The website says it's a good place for outdoor activities. So again, find the address, program the GPS and off we go.

Paloheinän maki was crowded. The car park was full and the hills were alive with the sound of sleds.

Are you dizzy after watching the movie? Some of the slopes were really steep and slippery so we went rather fast. Some parts are so icy and slippery that you can't help yourself but slide downhill.

We saw kids as young as a few months old sledding. Their parents chose gentle slopes and they either go down with them or put them in baby sleds - kind of like a potty, except with ski bottoms.

Sledding is a great work-out. We climbed up-slope numerous times and sometimes, we slipped a few steps and crawled upwards. And every time we go down-slope, there's the rush of adrenaline. This went on for over an hour.

The outdoor temperature this afternoon was around -3ºC. We felt a little cold when we arrived but some rounds of sledding later, we warmed up. Throughout the outing, we didn't perspire nor felt hot and sticky. 

As much as the kids look forward to sunny Singapore and putting on shorts and sundresses again, I suspect humidity might be an issue.

Not so good news

What's cute, multiplies quickly and extremely dangerous?

If you are thinking about the Gremlins, you are wrong.

The correct answer is: wild rabbits.

I found out the proper term for our "pet" rabbit.

It is what the Finns call an urban rabbit. According to this story by national broadcaster YLE, these so-called urban rabbits are descendants of pets that escaped their owners, either intentionally or unintentionally. The report said that the city of Helsinki had problems with rabbits as early as the 1970s.

Through the years, the rabbits learn to survive in the wild. They multiply and their presence has spread beyond the city to suburbs like Vantaa and Espoo, where we live. The rabbits don't have natural predators. Here, the most dangerous thing that can happen to them is to be run down by a speeding vehicle.

Large parts of Finland are covered by forests and lakes. Paper and forestry are important industries here, particularly in the north. The authorities are worried that if left uncontrolled, rabbits can wreck havoc on the natural environment as well as gardens. If they can determine quickly the perimeter where rabbits live and breed, the easier it is to administer solutions.

Finland is not alone. The UK, France, parts of the US and Australia had reports of rabbit trouble. Typing in rabbit + wild + havoc on Google Search turns up a long list of examples.

Many articles go like "The rabbits may look cute and harmless but..." One website even has a "Click here to report a rabbit sighting" link.

"Long and cold winters are the best means of controlling the population," said Tapani Veistola of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation of the Finnish approach.

Winter may be the best time to tackle the rabbit problem. When spring comes, the rabbits would be more mobile and expand their territory further. 

Our "pet" didn't come back last week and tonight, it's gone again. Judging from the deeper prints it leaves on the snow, there's a high possibility it is pregnant. Nothing worth celebrating from the eco-environment perspective.

Jamie Oliver has a recipe for rabbit stew. He wrote that once you get over the thought of eating a cute animal, rabbits are really very tasty.