Snow?

It's been snowing for the past few hours, which I find a bit ridiculous. By now I'm so sick of snow that this really irritates me. In England I always wanted it to snow in winter, but being here has definitely got me over that. It makes it hard to see, it's difficult to walk on...I can't stand snow anymore.

It's still comparitively warm, so I don't think it's going to settle, but that means the ground is probably going to be sludgey and slippery, which isn't so nice. I'm assuming this is some freak weather condition because it's been a lot warmer recently, and even when I was walking in the snow I didn't feel cold, I didn't even need any gloves!

I hope it doesn't go on for a long time and start building up; it's been very nice lately to see the pavement for the first time in months. I didn't even remember that market square has cobble stones because I'd only seen it without snow for a few weeks, several months ago.

Back onto the weather

The temperature at the moment is ridiculous in my opinion! Someone told me that the clocks in market square were reading -20 degrees this morning! Even one of my new flatmates said that the past few days have been exceptionally cold, and that this isn't quite normal. Apart from at Christmas, which was around -24, this is the coldest I've felt it here, and I'm definitely more comfortable in low temperatures now than when I first arrived. It's actually painful to be outside at the moment, and earlier I managed to walk down the street in relative comfort with 4 layers, a coat, and a scarf. Even then I was a bit too cold, and even with gloves my hands were numb. This reminds me of when I first came to this country; I found the climate completely overwhelming. Luckily the weather is still bright and beautiful, which at least means that it's not completely depressing.
I still haven't managed to get to Kela - there were some complications yesterday, including trying to see a doctor and discovering that my social security number isn't in the system. They set up an appointment for me anyway, and told me to just go and complain to Maistraati. Which I did today, and thankfully it was a simple, and easily solved, problem. The address on file for me is from when I was staying with Emma and Tommi, and it was listed as only valid until January 2nd. Now I have my own house I just need to go to the police station to register as a resident of Finland, which apparently will not be that difficult, and then I should become a real person again. Although if the temperature doesn't rise dramatically tomorrow I'll be getting the bus - there is no way in hell I'm walking all the way down Erikinkatu whilst feeling that cold.
I've got so much to do at the moment that it's getting a bit overwhelming, but I'm sure things will be manageable if I just take it one thing at a time. This is clearly not going to be the most relaxing week of my life though. Plus the oven in my flat is now completely broken - everyone seems to be living on microwaved food and fruit, which isn't ideal with such cold weather.

Where was I at midnight?

Drinking Kulta Lonkero and sledding in the park!
I spent a couple of hours in the park, going down a hill with a sled/black bin bag. At first I was quite scared because it looked very fast, bumpy and scary, but ultimately I manned up. It was so much fun! The hill had a few bumps which were quite fun to go over, and we went down quite fast. The snow manages to get everywhere and freeze everything, such as sleeves and hair. I also got a lot of snow in my eyes.
I enjoyed it, and I probably would never have done it if I hadn't been here, and that makes me very glad that I am. I guess I was also having a very Finnish experience, seeing as this is something normal to do for both Finnish children and adults, but I had never done it before. In Plymouth you'd never really get the chance, but it's never come up in other places either. It really was a good night though, and a change from just going to a bar all the time. The downside was how frozen we ended up; it was extremely uncomfortable. Getting back inside and getting some warm clothes was such a relief. I'd definitely like to go sledding again though.

Damn the doctors

As predicted, the trip to the doctor was an experience. I didn't even get as far as the doctor. Just an elderly assistant with a very limited knowledge of English - thank god Emma was around to translate, if I'd been alone I'd have been screwed. Even when she asked for my date of birth Emma had to translate the month and year for her. Even the names of the medication were a problem, because although the name is the same it's pronounced differently - in Finnish "y" is generally pronounced as "oo".
The EHIC card actually is useless here, but the assistant also claims there's not enough time to treat the Finnish patients, let alone the dirty immigrant skanks. She probably didn't use those exact words but whatever. Again they had to check we were in the correct place, and didn't seem to have a clue, no one seems to know what's going on.
As things were so awkward, her only suggestion was to ask my doctor in England to contact a pharmacy in the area and arrange to send a prescription for me directly to them. When we got home Emma called the chemist to find out if this would be acceptable, and they said no. Because my doctor has no license to practice in Finland his prescription would not be legal here, plus they've probably never even seen a British NHS prescription, so how could they possibly know if it was genuine? Someone could have knocked it up on a computer for all they know. I think it's completely understandable from their perspective, even if it's annoying for me. To be honest I'm feeling ok so maybe it's not that important to get the proper medication after all, and I don't think I really need to be taking the contraceptive pill right now...
But really, communication within the health service here seems to be shocking, and none of the staff seem to know what's going on. I cannot possibly be the only person in this country who's ever needed medical attention and didn't have social security, and I'm quite shocked that the provisions for such people are so pathetic. For now I'm not worrying too much, and I guess if things get too bad I can go to the emergency department and cause a big old scene. At least I don't have a problem like diabetes for example, where going without medication could be a disaster. Have I really found a health service worse than the NHS?
I'm still applying for jobs and advertising myself:http://www.finlandforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=49813 and http://www.finlandforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=49812
Bloody Finns don't seem to be taking the bait though. Although there is an Irish pub here and the majority of bar staff are English, so tonight we're going there because it could be a real option for me. I've been there once for a drink and it was quite nice, they even show the Premier League matches! So let's hope for the best, because if I'm working I'll get social security and Finland will treat me like a real person.
Finally, today it's only 0 degrees, and I really was comfortable in that, I must be adapting. On the day I arrived Jussi and I went to get food in market square at 2am, it was the same temperature and I was freaking out. I think when I go back to England and everyone else is in winter coats I'll probably be skipping around in flip flops. I'm very glad the temperature has increased and that I'm more comfortable, last week it was getting extremely painful for me to be outside.

Cold

We have the internet again now, which is nice. It's getting colder every day though, which sucks for me because I'm really not used to this kind of temperature. In market square there are two clocks which tell you the temperature, date and time. One reads 4 degrees, the other 0.3. I think 0.3 is more accurate.
On Sunday it did snow, but it was a mixture of hail and sleet, nothing that would settle. Both yesterday and this morning it's been quite icy outside, and yesterday I almost fell flat on my arse in market square. The weather forecast is predicting coming snowfall, and I think it might have already begun in more northern areas. Things are starting to feel more Finnish. The problem is that I'm so cold when I'm outside that I'd rather be indoors all the time.
Also, financially things are going to hell. Turns out I need to pay 45 euros for a residence permit. When Jussi came to England there was no bullshit like this at all, he just turned up and showed them an EU passport. It's frustrating. I can't imagine how difficult it would be here for someone outside of the EU. Also I expect that fairly soon I'll have to face the credit card bill that paid for my flight. I'm screwed.