Hel-a-cold Helsinki!

I'm on track to hit my 30 by 30 goal... I spent this past weekend in Finland, which was country number 28. I will go to Luxembourg this weekend (take two - Leslie and Erik, please don't get sick this time!), and then my 30th country will also be my last trip here (well, we'll see... I have a strange itch to see Paris one last time...) will be to Athens, Greece. Greece was tops on my list when I arrived, and, somehow, I never went. I got all of my plans together last week, and I'm excited to achieve this (somewhat silly) personal goal. :)

Anyways, on to Helsinki... I flew in on Friday night, arriving to the city around 10:30pm. It was bitter cold there... as in, so cold that my snot was frozen in my nose instantly when I walked outside. It was -18 C... I'm not sure what that in in Farenheit (my, how screwed up my mind has gotten with temperatures, clothing sizes, times, etc!), but it was REALLY COLD!! I made it to my hotel, no problem, and then crashed into bed!

When I was packing, I had found hand warmers in my cold weather drawer... now, I'm not sure when or where I bought them, but, I must say that they were a LIFESAVER on Saturday. I like walking around new cities, but it was so cold in Helsinki that I opted to take a bus tour. Before that, however, I wanted to try a local breakfast (did you really think I wasn't going to mention food?!?). I went to the Old Market Hall, and tried some of the local fish. It was a different kind of breakfast, but yummy and filling.


Salmon and shrimp on toast - yum!


View of the Finnish Orthodox Church from my breakfast spot - think it might have been cold? ;)

The tour guide on the bus was awkwardly funny. He really wanted to talk to me, but then he kept saying strange things about me finding a Finnish boyfriend and nonsense like that. Oh boy! I tried to stay as far away from him as I could! :)

We stopped at this really cool church, which in English is just "the church in the rock". It was carved out of stone in the late 60's, and was so naturally beautiful. We only got 10 minutes there, which was not really enough for me, but I enjoyed it.

The Church in the Rock

The ceiling was made of 13 miles of copper woven together.

Natural Beauty

Our next stop was at the Sibelius Monument. This was a famous Finnish composer, and his monument was really cool (remember I dig sculptures). :) I enjoyed looking at this as well - all the pipes welded together were impressive. :)

Think it snows much??

Sibelius Monument

Sibelius Monument - from underneath

After the tour ended, I went from coffeeshop to coffeeshop, taking in sights in between. I had a really great book to read, so I didn't mind the somewhat relaxed sight-seeing. :)

Lutheran Church - prettier on the outside than on the inside, to be honest

After I had done a little shopping, I decided to go the experience something quintessentially Finnish - the sauna. Okay, now, over time, my comfort level with nakedness has gone something like this - 1. immediately after arriving in Amsterdam - "must not expose skin, even in locker room" 2. a few months later "well, maybe it's okay to get dressed in the locker room without covering myself up entirely with a towel", 3. "aw, screw it - who cares who sees me in the locker room", 4. "Maybe I'll go topless in the hammam in Istanbul", 5. "maybe I'll go sans bathing suit to the sauna in Helsinki". Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I've finally got over my American phobia of nakedness. True, I did kind of keep my towel around me the whole time, but THERE WERE NO CLOTHES. :) So, in other words, I've come a long way. :) The sauna was quite an experience. Lots of naked women speaking Finnish. It was quite the social experience. The men were in a separate room, but at intervals, they would go outside in only their towels to drink beers in the snow and socialize. I kid you not. It was something unlike anything I've ever seen before!

I had had my heart set on getting a massage at the sauna, but unfortunately, the massage therapist was not in that day. I'm honestly not sure WHAT I was thinking (okay, I think I was thinking "I really want a massage"), but I decided to go to a place that had a neon sign with the words "Thai Massage" written on it. Again, what the hell was I thinking? First indication should have been that I had to ring a doorbell to go in. A Thai woman in a very short skirt with a lot of make-up on answered the door and invited me in to her HOME, to reveal another scantily-clad woman smoking a cigarette on the couch. This was not the nice spa I remembered from Bangkok - no, I'm pretty sure this was a front for a prostitute's house!!! I quickly thanked the woman and got the heck out of there! I will NEVER make that mistake again! Oh boy!! :)

The sauna...

After the sauna, I went back to this lovely cafe I had found (or rather Rick Steves had recommended), and just relaxed with The Economist for a few hours. It was just so nice to have some time to myself.

Helsinki by night was beautiful! :)

That evening, I had dinner at a really fun place... it had a tractor theme (not really sure what that was all about, but, hey, I'm a country girl!). I tried local beer and, sorry, Rudolphy, but also tried sauteed reindeer. It didn't taste so different from ground beer, but was a unique item on the menu that I couldn't pass up. :)

Rudolph on a plate - with pickles of all things!

It snowed overnight, which made the city even more beautiful. I made the trek out to see the Finlandia building, in honor of my lovely friend Suzie back in PDX. :) She's an architect and likes Alvar Aalto, who designed this building. Wish she could have been there to help me "get it", but it was a nice walk. ;)

Finlandia Building by Alvar Aalto

The snow was beautiful!

After yet another coffee stop at a cafe, the churches I wanted to see were finally open. I went to see the grandiose Finnish Orthodox Church and the stark Lutheran Church - amazing to see the contrast between the gilted alter of the Orthodox chruch and the white-washed walls of the Lutheran one. Always keeping my brain open... I take in so many new things on these trips!

The Lutheran Church

The Finnish Orthodox Church

I ended my trip at Finland's department store, Stockmann. I made a few purchases, and then made my way back to Amsterdam, where it was a balmy zero degrees. :)

HOME home

Over the course of my life, I've had many places that I have called "home", but there is truly only one real home for me... and that is Ohio. I just returned today from 10 great days with family and friends, and feel renewed by being in the only place that really recharges my batteries. I flew in on Tuesday the 22nd, and this journey was reminiscent of journeys past... meaning kind of a nightmare! ;) When I booked the flight, I was already pretty nervous about all of the connections (Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Washington D.C. to Columbus), however that was the schedule that was available for the price I wanted to pay. I knew that it was going to be tight, so when my first flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt got delayed by 45 minutes, I was worried that the rest of my schedule was going to come tumbling down, domino-style. I was pretty stressed and nervous for the whole flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, and, when we finally touched down, it was that classic airport scene - girl with large backpack sprinting from one end of the airport to the other, shouting "excuse me!!!" as she passes passengers with a more leasurely schedule. I sprinted all the way to to customs, and then to my gate. When I got there, I was SO relieved - that flight was delayed also! I told the lady at the desk how happy I was, and she told me not to say that so loud, because the other passengers weren't too happy. ;). This delay however made it really tight on my connection to Columbus, so it was another sprinting drill at Dulles. I thought for sure that when I got through customs, security, etc, and it was already time for my plane to be taking off that I was going to miss it. I ran to the gate anyways, and when I got there, they saw how out of breath I was and just said, "Columbus?". I seriously started crying at this point... it had been SUCH a long and stressful day, and they had held the plane for me. Unbelievable. So, I made it home on schedule. My luggage, unfortunately, didn't find its way home for 4 days! That was honestly the least of my worries!

KP, state-side!

The first few days in Enon, it was just me and my parents, so I just relaxed, got used to the time difference (6 hours), and discovered my new passion for Wii Fit. What a fun program! I also drove up to Lima to meet my two best friends from college, Ellen and Mandy. It was really nice to just have a few hours to catch up with them. :)

Ellen, Mandy, and I at Bob Evans.

Em and Matt arrived on the 24th, and we continued our annual tradition of Chinese food with my Aunt Deb, Uncle Bob, and their family. We made it to midnight mass that evening, which has been moved up to 10pm... not exactly midnight, but with the jet lag, I was just as happy! ;)

Rubbing the Buddha's belly on Christmas Eve

Ready for midnight mass...

So, every Christmas, my dad hides the pickle ornament on the tree... I think this is a German custom, but I'm not really sure. Anyways, the person that finds the pickle gets good luck for a year, plus bragging rights. I don't think I have EVER found the stupid pickle! And this year, with Matt as part of our family, I have more competition than ever! And, guess what? I didn't find it again! ;) It's all in good fun!

Looking for the pickle... sneaky santa found it this year!

Every year, we have a progressive dinner with some of my dad's family, where we eat appetizers at one house, then salads, main dish, dessert, etc. It's always a lot of fun, and this year was no different. Here is the whole crazy group at my parents' house:

Pitsticks on the loose... look out!

Saturday after Christmas, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful, but cold weather, and go for a hike to the Pine Forest in Glen Helen. It was nice to get out and enjoy a little Mother Nature. :)

Bundled up in the forest

Sean arrived on Saturday night, and so the whole family drove down to Cincinnati to enjoy a dinner at the Hofbrauhaus (yes, the sister to the real one in Munich) and to pick up Sean. It was so nice to see him... everything felt a little more complete after he got there.

yum!

Sunday, we carried on our annual tradition of a family movie at Christmas-time. This year, we saw Avatar in 3D, and it was AWESOME! I absolutely loved it -the story and the effects were great!

The whole gang enjoying one of my mom's delicious meals

Sunday night, the snow was really coming down. Since I'm still a big kid at heart, I was really itching to go out and play in it. I proceeded to get wrestled to the ground by Sean... fun times!

It's a little cold!

On Monday, Em, Matt, Sean and I went skiing at Mad River Mountain... unfortunately, my camera died, but we had a great time!!

Wednesday, Em and Matt had us over to their beautiful home for a yummy dinner. I made my first recipe out of the Julia Child cookbook I got for Christmas - Reine de Saba chocolate cake - to bring for dessert. It was a really nice evening.

The Pitwards, Pitwolfs, and Pitsticks

For New Years Eve, Sean and I decided to get out and spend some time just the two of us. We booked a hotel in Cincinnati, and enjoyed the sights there. We of course had to go to the Hofbrauhaus, and then we made our way to the Newport Acquarium in Kentucky. It was cool, but a little overpriced, I thought.

My favorites were the jellyfish!

We celebrated the New Year at Cincy's oldest bar, Arnold's, where they had a really great blue grass band playing. We made our way to Fountain Square just in time for fireworks and to welcome in the new decade.

Happy new year!!

Sean and I both left on Saturday... him for Portland, and me for Amsterdam... it was hard to say goodbye after having such a nice week. We are counting down the days until we can be in the same city permanentely... which is hopefully less than 50 at this point, but I don't have the exact date yet.

So, here I am, just me, myself and I, back in Amsterdam after such a great week. Waiting for my suitcases... oh yes, that's right, they didn't make it. AGAIN! Hoping to have them by this afternoon, but I'm not holding my breath!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy new year!!! All the best! xx

Typical...

So, every Monday when my colleagues and I arrive in the office, we are always complaining about how cold it is. That is because the heat gets turned way down over the weekend, and then our Facilities Service team doesn't turn it back up until around 6am, which doesn't give the building enough time to heat up.

Rather than turning the heat on earlier (as I have to think we would do back at home where things are "normal"), here is the solution in our Facilities Newsletter:

Climate control
When you come back in the office after a cosy Christmas, the temperature may feel low around the office. We assure you that it is regulated to within accepted levels. If you are cold, an extra layer of clothing could well be the answer.

Way to go, Dutchies!! Couldn't help but post this... it kind of represents my frustrations in general. Rather than fixing a problem, just deal with it!

Wishing you all a happy (and warm) Holiday! :)

Slight Change in Plans...

I had originally planned to go to Luxembourg this weekend with Leslie and Eric, but, unfortunately, the two of them came down with a horrible flu on Thursday, and we had to cancel our trip. I was bummed not to go, but, not much you can do about the nasty flu that's been going around here!

Friday night was our holiday part at work, and I had SO MUCH FUN!! It only lasted until 12:30, and the time went by WAY too fast! There were so many people out at the venue that was rented in Amsterdam that it was hard to keep track of everyone that I had come with and wanted to see. I know that I talk about all the people that I've become good friends with, but I honestly didn't have a picture of some of them until last night. So, now you can put some faces with names. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! xoxo


KP with Zoe and Nadia - my friends since orientation on the first week there! Two awesome gals from the UK! :)


Good looking bunch of gals... Marilou (my yoga instructor), Sonia (my cute Spanish friend), not sure who this chick is, Mayte (fun colleague from footwear), me, and Gulsun, who you all have seen before - my friend from Rotterdam who I ski with!


Sanne and KP - one of the footwear designers that I love and who turned me on to Bikram yoga


We had a cover band... they played Phil Collins and U2 - sometimes, the music tastes here make me scratch my head...


Stefano, my little brother, and his lovely girlfriend Rixt... love these guys! :)


Erwin & KP... I think I can say that Erwin was my first Dutch friend... love him and his lovely girlfriend, who unfortunately couldnt' make it.


Alex, my tiramisu instructor, Claudia, my dear friend from RoPa Run, and, hmmm... looks like Hugh Hefner... oh, wait, it's my crazy friend Anthony! :)

Gulsun, my buddy for the evening, Paulette from the UK, and Dom, a fun designer friend who had me over for some pre-funking...

I have to say, I am so blessed with friends. Everywhere I have lived - Enon, Toledo, Portland, Amsterdam... everywhere, I have had the most amazing friends that make living so much fun! The friends that I have made here are what is going to make it SO HARD to leave. Thanks to all of you for being you and being a part of my life. All the best to you and your families over the holidays!!

Hospitable Hungary

I'm on a mission. My 30th birthday is this coming July, and my goal is to see 30 countries by the time I turn 30. After this past weekend, I'm at 26. I know, I know, I'm crazy, but these are the things that I enjoy... a little personal challenge never hurt anyone, right? :) In the meantime, I've seen enough cool things for a lifetime!! :)

So, I've pretty much seen all of the countries that are pretty close to the Netherlands, so I'm having to branch out a bit. This past weekend, I visited Budapest, Hungary. I didn't really know what to expect. One of my first boyfriends was from a Hungarian family, so I did know a little about the food, but, other than that, I went with an open mind.

Prior to going, I had been in a training class, and there happened to be a guy in my class that was originally from Budapest. I barely knew this guy, but I could tell he was really nice. I told him I was going to Budapest, and he told me that he would tell his family that I was coming. I thought maybe I'd meet up with someone for lunch or something, but, no, his family went totally out of their way - his dad met me after lunch on Saturday and took me all over the city doing sight-seeing, and then he made reservations at a traditional Hungarian restaurant and both he and his wife met me there for dinner. What a heart-warming experience. I travel by myself a lot, and, while I don't mind it, having people to share meals with was SO much nicer. I was just blown away by this hospitality - and to a girl they didn't even know! Wow!

I got in late on Friday night, and found my way to the apartment that I had rented. I like staying in apartments when I can - it just feels more like you are a part of the city, and you can get locations where there are not hotels. The location was fantastic, the woman who met me gave me a hug goodbye (seriously, these people are SO nice), and the price was amazing - 30 euros a night! That evening, I walked about 5 minutes up to the Christmas market that was alive and kicking up the street... I had a yummy dinner of potato dumplings with onion and paprika, and then called it a night.

The Market

Palace by Night

Saturday, I got up on the early side and had breakfast at this lovely cafe that felt like it was straight out of the 1920's. I then took a bus tour out to an amazing sight - it was a statue park of statues from the communist era. Might not sound so interesting to you, but, in a Europe where communism has been gone since 1989, it's not everyday that you get to see this kind of thing... most of the statues were destroyed, so this was a real treat.

Stalin hailing a cab ;)

This one was amazing - if you see the guy next to it, you can imagine the scale

After the revolt of 1956, the big statue of Stalin was torn down, Saddam Hussein-style. All that was left were his boots, and these are them (is that even proper English?? Seriously, the longer I am away from home the more I start to think things sound funny!!)

When I got back to the city, Mr. Hamori met me and walked with me around the city. First stop was the big Market in town, which was designed by Gustav Eiffel. It was sensory overload once again - food, crafts, people - wow!

KP with the Market

After a few hours, Mr. Hamori dropped me off at Hero's Square, which is supposed to be like the Place de la Concord in Paris - a celebration of Hungarian heros

I did some sightseeing on my own for a few hours, and then met up with the Hamori's for dinner that evening. Mrs. Hamori didn't speak English, but I could tell she was SUCH a sweet lady by the twinkle in her eye. We spoke through her husband, and it was such a nice, relaxing evening.

Me with Mr. and Mrs. Hamori after an amazing Hungarian dinner

Sunday morning, I started the day off early and went to one of the famous Hungarian baths. Turned out it was me and people my grandparents' age at that hour. :) But, still super relaxing. I have adult-onset ADD, and have a hard time sitting in one place at a time, so it was fun to jump from lap pool, to warm pool, to warmer pool, to steam room, and back again. I ended my experience with a massage, and felt oh-so good. :)

The bath house was within this lovely hotel. :)

After relaxing all morning, I wasn't really feeling up for a ton of sight-seeing, so I had a lengthy-lunch (complete with cold wild berry soup - yum!), and then just walked around. I saw a few churches, etc, but nothing too exciting. The view from the top of the hill I walked up, however, was amazing:

The Hungarian parliament building

I had to head back to the airport around 3, and found my way on public transit no problem. I think that's one of my favorite parts about new cities - trying to figure out how to get around without a car. I NEVER do this in the US, but maybe it could be a new challenge. :)

Next stop... Luxembourg this weekend with my friends Leslie and Eric. That makes 27... ;)

Thanksgiving Visitors

Okay, okay... I'm a little behind on getting this updated! :) The Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving, I was lucky enough to get to welcome both my parents (on Saturday) and Sean (on Sunday) to Amsterdam. My parents' flight got in at 6am, so I boogied over to the airport to get them, and then proceeded to tell them that we MUST take a nap when we got home. Despite my dad thinking that he "wouldn't be able to sleep", both of them passed out for a few hours, along with myself! We had a really nice, normal day that day, as I didn't want to plan too much with them getting in so early and having some jet lag. They are such troopers! It's so fun to take my parents around - it's really cool getting to show them things that are normal to me that they are seeing for the first time. :) Best part of Saturday? It was the Ohio State-Michigan game, and I had recently downloaded ESPN America - and the GAME WAS ON!!! We got to watch the game (and some serious Wolverine butt-kicking!).


Dad and I sampling an "Oliebollen", literally "oil ball". Mmm... healthy! ;)


We also checked out a local brewery which is inside of a windmill! Fun! :)

Sean arrived on Sunday morning. His flight unfortunately had been delayed, and so, since we had planned on going to Germany that day, he willingly came with us directly from the airport on a two and a half hour drive to Cologne for the Christmas Market... he was a trooper too. Especially since the Christmas Market didn't start until MONDAY. Oops. :( We still had a fun time walking around, trying German food and beer, and seeing where the Market would be... the next day. Needless to say, I felt like a major idiot, but everyone was totally understanding (or so they say...). :)

Pitsticks (plus Sean) at our lunch spot in Cologne

Monday and Tuesday, Mom, Dad, and Sean toured a few of the towns in Holland while I went to work. It's always so hard for me to be at work when my loved ones are in town, but, 1. I'm running out of vacation time and 2. I've already been to most of these places anyways. Still, I would have much rather been with them than at work...

Tuesday, November 25th was my parents' anniversary, so we went out for Italian food to celebrate. As I think you know, because I've been b#$^$ing about it so much, Dutch customer service isn't exactly a highlight of living here. BUT... when I called to make a reservation, I told the host that it was their anniversary, and they brought us all limoncello and my parents a piece of cake FOR FREE. I couldn't believe it. It was a super nice evening. :)

Wednesday I took the morning off and went with Sean and my parents to the Flower Auction at Aalsmeer - it was fascinating. Most of the flowers that you see all over the world pass through this auction. Bidders bid on various plants/flowers as they go by, and then the flowers are immediately packaged and shipped, maybe to be found on your front door tomorrow (ha - if only we were that lucky, right?!?). ;) Watching the operations was like watching ants on an anthill, and I'm seriously surprised that I didnt' see any accidents with the crazy way things were going. It was definitely a unique experience. :)

The Wall Street of Flowers

The flowers getting packaged and shipped

Our Thanksgiving plans did not include the following: 1. Turkey 2. Pumpkin Pie 3. Football 4. Fat Pants. What they did include, however was this: 1. Belgian Beer from a Monastery 2. Belgian Waffles, straight off the grill 3. A delicious local Belgian dinner and 4. The Mannequin Pis. :)

Thursday morning, we drove first to the town of Westmalle, Belgium, to check out the monastery there that brews one of the 6 Trappist beers from Belgium (Trappist is an order of monks). You can't go into the monastery, but you can walk around the grounds and then drink the beer across the street. We then made our way to Brussels, where we just relaxed for a bit before our amazing Belgian dinner. The restaurant we went to was fantastic, and the whole thing was run by one man - he did all the seating, order taking, food bringing, and plate taking away. Not to mention made sure that our glasses were full at all times. Seriously?!? Belgian is another word for heaven. :) It was a really nice dinner, and I have to say, I didn't really miss the turkey.

The next day, we did some sightseeing between the raindrops. It was fun to see some new sights, but, to be honest, the weather was pretty crappy, so we chose to get home early and have a night of pizza and beer! :)

Sean and I with the Mannequin Pis in Brussels

Mom with her Belgian Waffle... beer, waffles, fries, and chocolate - CHECK! Trip complete! :)

My parents and I with the Royal Palace

Sadly, my parents had to leave on Saturday morning after a quick week. It's always nice to see them, and I love the relationship that we have. Sean and I had two more days together, and we tried to make it as normal as possible - going to movies, out to dinner, to the driving range, and just making dinner together...

I'll be home (HOME home) in Ohio from December 22nd through January 2nd. If you'll be around and want to get together, you know how to find me.

Happy Holidays!! :)