A daily blog to keep my friends and family up-to-speed with my 3-month sabbatical at the Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA) in Suonenjoki, Finland. For my birding friends, I'll post the "new" birds seen each day.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wed, 19 Aug

I'm back in Suonenjoki, along with my new house guest. Yesterday I caught the noon train to Helsinki. I arrived at the Tikkurila station in Vantaa (just north of Helsinki) about 16:00. I took compassion on a tall German who was trying to figure out how to get to the airport. Since I was heading that way, I took him in tow, and we boarded the 61 bus to the airport. He went to the terminal, I walked over and checked in to the Hilton. My sister Rhoda wasn't due in until 19:30, so I took a little nap and ate the free chocolates. About 19:00 I walked back over to the international terminal and discovered her Polish Air flight was actually arriving in Terminal 1 (the domestic terminal, I don't know why) and she was arriving 15 minutes early. So, I hustled over to Terminal 1. And waited. And waited. The board said she had arrived. And waited. Where is she? And waited. Because the baggage claim was behind customs, I couldn't see in to see if she was waiting in there or not. Finally, it was nearly 20:00 and still no sister. I found the girl on the scooter who looked official, and she informed me that about 20 Polish Air people had been sent to the wrong baggage claim.... ahhhh, that's where she is. Almost as soon as I started for Terminal 2, there she was. We hiked back to the Hilton, talked for a long time, ate a little dinner, and finally called it a day.

This morning we had a bit of breakfast (way too many choices), caught the 61 bus back to the train station, found Otto so Rhoda could get some funny money, and made our way to the correct platform. We were joined by Heikki Smolander, the director at Suonenjoki, and boarded the 11:16 train for the 4 hour ride "home". Rhoda and I broke up the ride by having lunch in the dining car, and Heikki and I shared an afternoon coffee break there as well. A shuttle met us at the Suonenjoki station and ferried us back to the station. We took a walk, took refuge in an empty greenhouse as it rained hard for about 10 minutes (nice rainbow), and then had a potpurri of leftovers for dinner.

From here on out, blogs will be hit or miss depending on time and WiFi access. If nothing else, I'll post a summary blog when I get back to Moscow, the first of September.

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About Me

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Moscow, Idaho, United States
I'm a research plant physiologist with the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Grassland, Shrubland, and Desert Ecosystem Program. I'm also the National Nursery Specialist for the Forest Service.