Goodbye Oulu, hello Safeway

My three weeks have come and gone and I am now back home in Berkeley. Oulu is a distant memory...well not exactly. Though I may be back in Berkeley, it certainly felt like I was on another planet for a few days. Hopefully I managed to fool a few people at work. Jet lag gone, I've now re-joined the working world, atleast temporarily.

Though my travels home were fairly uneventful, there was one interesting twist. I arrived at the Oulu airport expecting to board the 7:45am flight to Helsinki only to be told that I was booked for the 6am flight, which had left an hour before I got there. Long story short, I took the last seat on the flight. Just to set the record straight, my flight itinerary did have me flying on the 7:45 flight. :)

Now with that behind me I can focus on enjoying the summer!

More to come soon!

Even though I had to work on the plane flight home I did manage to take a few pictures of the great views. Check out the shots of Greenland and Iceland.










<- Greenland
Iceland ->















Mike, Myah and I celebrating a great 3 weeks.




Team Oulu with Heikki and Vuokko













The park by the hotel

Finnish Sauna

Finnish Sauna Experience

One of the most well known past times in Finland is the sauna. In fact there are two saunas for every five people in Finland. Our team was lucky enough to be hosted by the city of Oulu at the city's sauna, Pehkolanlampi. The night began with smoozing and cocktails (a tar liqueur), followed by the sauna. After the sauna we all convened in the main lodge again for wine and dinner. Dinner consisted of the famous salmon soup...Apparently the record is 14 bowls. I was full after a bowl and a half.


Below are pictures of the surrounding scenery, sauna and main lodge.

Picture of the Women's Sauna

In Front of the Main Lodge

More Oulu Updates

More IBD Pictures

Myah, me & Tanya in Helsinki

Inside the hockey team locker room

Ship at the Port of Oulu

One of the 5 Technopolis locations

Oulu at its best

Printing machine at Kaleva newspaper

Finnish baseball Field (in Oulu)

Nao & Jun in Helsinki

Crane at the Port

Tallinn, Estonia

Pictures from my trip to Tallin

Market Square

Russian Orthodox Church

The Gang in Tallinn

Russian Dancers