이연화씨의 Finland 아들집 방문기.

[샤이홍]

카나다의 이연화씨가 카페에 글을 올리려 하는데

Pass-word가 맞질 않는것 같습니다.

그래서 나에게 이글을 카페에 올려 달라고 메일이 와서 올리는 글입니다.

사진도 보내주시면 올릴테니 메일로 보내주길 바랍니다.

Hello SoGang64,

We had a wonderful 16-day trip to Finland to visit our youngest son, Francis and returned home safely. When we left Ottawa on October 1^st, at Ottawa airport, Chang-Jo had a hard time to clear the USA security-custom, because he packed a container containing soy bean paste(된장) in his luggage to bring it to Francis in Jyväskylä, Finland. USA security-custom scanned his luggage 3 times and in between they inspected visually the soy bean paste too, because it generates the same or similar chemical signature as a bomb. Thoughtful father tried to make sure that his son will have his favorite Korean food in Jyväskylä too. All USA flights have USA security-custom in Ottawa airport. If we fly directly to Europe from Ottawa, we didn’t have to go through USA security-custom here in Ottawa.   However because we had purchased a cheap ticket going through Newark, NJ airport, we had to learn a lesson, not to bring soy bean paste in the luggage.

For this trip, Chang-Jo studied many options, but we finally decided that we will spend 3/4 days in Stockholm and then fly to Helsinki  for 3/4 days before visiting Jyväskylä where Francis stays for one year. For me I did not care where to visit, as long as we spend some time in Jyväskylä with Francis.

We had a great time walking around all day in Stockholm. In the center of the downtown of Stockholm, there is a pedestrian only street named Drottinggatan, just like Myung-Dong in Seoul.  Our hotel was a short distance from the street and we walked and walked all day long.  During his career as a research scientist, Chang-Jo visited most of major cities in Europe but not Stockholm.  Although I did not expect very much from Stockholm, I have enjoyed the city very much.  The only thing that I didn’t like was rainy weather like Vancouver in Canada.

Stockholm being a big city in northern Europe, I expected many varieties of pickled herrings, but unfortunately we had only two kinds of pickled herrings in our hotel in addition to smoked or marinated salmon in the breakfast buffet table. The city gave us a great good impression, clean, beautiful and interesting place.

When we flew to Helsinki, we did not have any security problem with the soy bean paste, but we have to adjust our carry-on baggage since Finnish flight has very different weight regulation. Their security check was rather simple compared with that in North America. Perhaps because it was from one European Union to another EU country?

Helsinki did not have fast train from airport to downtown not like in Stockholm. We took airport bus to our hotel in heavy rain. Francis came down to Helsinki by train from Jyväskylä  to meet us in Helsinki.  We ventured out to Helsinki downtown to find a good Finnish restaurant and we found a very traditional Finnish restaurant, but the food was not good and they did lots of funny things such as bringing drinks in a ski and all menus covers were made with a wooden block. Good and interesting Finnish experience. In Helsinki, Francis guided us many interesting places including taking a boat to visit an island called, Suomenlinna.

Suomenlinna (“Fortress of Finland”) was built in the mid 1700s by the Swedes, who ruled Finland back in those days, and called the place Sveaborg (“Fortress of Sweden”). It was so much windy there in that day.  One of my impressions of Finland was that Finland is like our Korea surrounded by big and strong countries, yet Finland did not loose its independence and prospers.

We drove about 230 km to Francis’ place in Jyväskylä on October 8^th by a rented car.  On the way, we did not see many farms or houses, but only forests. Some parts are covered by very young trees. It appears that Finns manage their forest like farm in Canada. Francis’ apartment was on the top of the hill. The view from his wall to wall window was so pretty, yellow and green trees, little houses and their garden. In Jyväskylä, we had also celebrated is his birthday on October 10^th which coincides with Canadian Thanks Giving Day. I tried to roast a turkey, one of his favorable dishes but only turkey that we could find was a gigantic size in Jyväskylä.  Instead we celebrated Francis’s birthday with stuffed Chicken and apple pie.  In Finland, most of things are sold in small package, but not turkey and in his small kitchen I could not handle a gigantic turkey.

On Oct. 11^th, we drove about 130 km to a small town called Kuopio because Chang-Jo was invited to give a talk at Finland Geological Survey. In the evening, the host of Finland Geological Survey took us to dinner and concert.  We had a wonderful evening and it also coincided with on our 43^rd wedding anniversary day.

On the same day in Jyväskylä, Francis presented a result from his recent research at the university and he was very relaxed when we turn to Jyväskylä next day. Francis wanted to go to Pyhä-Häkki National Park, which is a small national park about 70 km north of Jyväskylä. This park’s main claim to fame is the old growth forest, some of the oldest forest in that part of Finland. Considering most of trees are over 300 years old, the size of trees were not impressive, but the floor of the forest was completely covered with all kinds of moss and berry plants, not like any other forest.

Last full day in Jyväskylä, we drove around pretty lakes and Francis’ university campus. Remarkably wherever we go in Finland, we saw a school even in very small village. I do not know how the country keeps up so many schools everywhere in Finland. While we were there, Francis wanted to celebrate Chang-Jo’s early birthday by inviting us to an interesting restaurant. I baked apple and berry cake for him. I was using the berries picked up in the forest the day before.

At 5 o’clock in the morning of October 15^th,, we drove back to Helsinki airport and returned our rented car. There was no inspection of the rented car. Only question “Was every thing all right?” was the only comment.  Finns (Finnish people), in general, do not smile to stranger, but it seems that they trust people.

We arrived in Stockholm from Helsinki to stay one night near airport, since we wanted to make sure we are going home without missing our flight. We had a very interesting experience in Stockholm airport.  In that, we could not believe that we have to negotiate TAXI price with taxi driver in Stockholm airport in a civilized country like Sweden.  Every driver gave us a different price to take us to the hotel nearby.  May be life is interesting since the world has full of surprises.

On the way flying home, weather was so clear I enjoyed ice covered Greenland from my window seat.  Surprisingly when we arrived in Ottawa, we still enjoyed the full color of autumn leaves in the nearby forest; we call it “the symphony of color”.

I feel like that I have completed my homework for SoGang64 to write this article. I enjoy every article on SoGang64 café including JungSook’s pictures and MiJa’s article. It makes me very happy.  Only regret is that my computer has a problem with some articles in SoGang64 café.

Many Thanks to every SoGang64.

Yeoun-Wha

[양문자]

Yeoun-Wha! It's so nice to hear from you. I read your article very interestingly.
What a funny story about the soy bean! Did you go through the security-house with the soy bean finally?
Did you cook with it for your son? I hope so.
Thanks for visiting Sogang 64 cafe frequently. Keep sending us your amazing story more.