Material Girl

I'm fully aware of the privilege of moving to another country and "starting over", so please don't think I'm whining in this post. I'm simply observing some of the material aspects of making such a move.

First of all, a medium flat-rate Priority box is, believe it or not, the cheapest way to send things to Finland. (Well, perhaps pound for pound, getting an ocean-going container is cheaper, but I didn't have thousands of dollars to send all my belongings here.) At $47 each, with an upper weight limit of 20 pounds, that translated into not a lot of things being sent over. I did budget for 9 such boxes (an academic can't be without books, right?), which all arrived, I might add, in splendid shape. But those boxes (as several of my friends who so kindly helped me move can attest) are not suited for sending books that aren't very short top to bottom so you can fit two layers in each box. So I stuffed other things into the leftover nooks and crannies. Silverware into one. (Very fine idea.) Doilies and cloth napkins in another. (Not as successful. Did I think I was going to pin them to a wall, since I have no side tables, or have a dinner party when I don't even have chairs?) Bicycle pants in another. Here I must digress. Joensuu is an incredibly bike-happy town, even moreso than Eugene. Cyclists and pedestrians share all available traffic surface; cars aren't as friendly. (A colleague warned me not to be so sure that drivers will stop for you in a crosswalk.) But almost nobody wears a helmet, and I haven't seen anyone wearing any cyclist gear. I have seen one helmet since I arrived. So back to the topic at hand: bicycle pants may go on the same shelf with doilies and napkins.

In the clothes department, I think I did pretty well. I probably overdid the sweaters and coats (check back with me on this in November, though). But I sure should have stuck some towels in there as well as more than one washcloth. I don't know why Europeans don't like washcloths. I haven't seen any in the store that are smaller than what we would call a face towel. Hangers would have been good too, but those I can probably pick up pretty cheaply.

Today I made several acquisitions that I am proud of. I got a new sim card for my cell phone and a "stick" for Internet access at home. I can proudly say that I managed to get the stick's sim card into the "Mokkula" (module) after only five tries, and that I was able to interpret about seven error messages in Finnish related to this. I bought a small lamp after realizing that not having any light impairs your activities even when it's not entirely dark outside. I also bought a frying pan so I can cook something for my friends Jim and Chris, who arrive tomorrow night. They may not be as fond of Karjalan piirakoita as I am.

And for my last comment on material goods: my lovely landlady loaned me a fine wooden table and two wooden chairs. I'm using all three right now. This has made all the difference, because I can sit here blogging while looking out my big window at birch and fir trees and the Karelian skyline while resting my broken toe.