Bouldering in Pasila

I found an offer about bouldering from Groupon.com. I recommend this website because it provides you with many kind of deals from various products, such as necklaces and bags, to different kind of services, including massages, spas and the like. The offer I found is a gift card to try bouldering with 50% discount, moreover, shoe rental is included so I wouldn't need to worry about the gear. I paid for the gift card online (2€) before going to the place.

This company, Boulderkeskus, has a few offices that locate in Pasila, Herttoniemi, and Konala. My old schoolmate, Mikko, and I decided to try the one in Pasila. It was a bit troublesome to find the place, because it was hidden in old  railway engine garages close to Pasila railway station. Just remember the address Tallikatu, go along the road and you will manage to find the office in the middle of old buildings.

There I showed the staff my gift card and we needed to pay 12€ altogether. Before bouldering you have to fill a document to accept the rules. Be careful not to stay close to people who are climbing. The walls are around 5 meters high. While climbing, I suggest you to come down a bit to decrease the drop height onto the crash pads. Otherwise the continuous falling may stress your back.

Choose the shoes that fit your feet well, because it may effect your climbing. Before you climb rub some magnesium powder to improve your holdings.

I think bouldering is much harder than wall climbing even though I haven't tried wall climbing yet. Because in this sport you are on your own, there is no one lifting you with the safety rope and ensuring your climb. Bouldering trains your arm muscles extensively, especially press muscles and shoulders. It also help  improve body's control. After several climbs, my forearms got really hard and my legs were out of energy. Once you pick up this hobby, I would suggest you stretch frequently and go for massage.

If I had more times and the place is closer, I would like to start bouldering. I think bouldering was quite interesting and I recommend people to try it even for once! :D

More information about the place, check out from this website:
http://www.boulderkeskus.com/en/

PS. Did you know someone is still bouldering as 70 years-old??

Eatos - Mexican Diner

After bouldering, we (I and Mikko) decided to charge our energy with delicious foods. We went back to Helsinki Central railway station and tried to come up with an idea what to eat. Nothing came to our mind so we used Helsinki CityAdvisor to guide us :P From there we found Eatos Mexican Diner restaurant, which is not far away and took around 5-10 min to walk from the railway station..

Eatos has quite good reviews and I have wanted to try Mexican food for a long time. The restaurant is not very big but very nice place to enjoy Mexican food and cocktails, mezcales or tequilas.

The food is classic street style with a variety of tacos served up on soft corn tortillas, as well as filling burritos, quesadillas and tostadas. I chose Carnitas (grilled pulled pork) and Mikko took Chorizo (fried Mexican style sausage with pico de gallo). The food were delicious, even though they were a bit spicy (I stood it!!) :D

The tacos differ from ordinary ones - their color were marine blue. The color comes from blue corn that has many nutritional advantages over standard white or yellow corn. It contains 20% more protein
and has lower glycemic index than white corn.

The service was satisfying and people were very friendly. It wasn't so crowded at that time so we stayed and talked for many hours~~ Eatos is a nice place to spend time for drinks with comfortable decoration and views~

More information about the restaurant, check it out from these websites:
http://www.eatos.fi/en/
https://www.facebook.com/eatosmexican/

Wishing tree in Finland

Apart from seeing Lam Tsuen wishing trees in Hong Kong I found one in the park of Kauniainen in Finland. It's not well-known but a few people considered it as a wishing tree. Instead of throwing the orange tied with a paper in Hong Kong, people throw SHOES here!!!

It was believed that if the orange(/shoes) successfully were hung onto one of the tree branches, these wishes would come true ;)  I found this interesting and wanted to give it a try~ I told my wish to my shoes and then threw it. Do you want to guess how many times I threw my shoes? 9 times...

So big tree.....

Believe me, it is really difficult to throw it to somewhere high. A few times I even threw them to the opposite direction of the tree. Be sure that nobody is close to the tree or in the range of your throws! Once it almost hit my friend... whoopsies... Now the shoes are hung there and holding my hope~

PS. Don't tell anyone your wish otherwise it won't come true ;) I hope your wish comes true too!

What is sitsit?

There was Suursitsit-event on the Senate Square in front of the Helsinki Cathedral! It was meant to celebrate the University of Helsinki's 375^th anniversary and the 150^th year anniversary of the sudent cap. Also the event shows for all to see the students' festival traditions. Very many students and academic communities covered the square to celebrate the joyful traditions of the Academic Table Feast for the second time in the history (the first one was in 2012).

So what is Sitsit? It's a special academic dinner party where people can sing songs, drink wines/beers, chit-chat, and enjoy the miscellaneous and unexpected programs. Each sitsit has its own theme and dressing codes. In addtion, after parties are usually arranged after Sitsi dinners.

To start with, people stand behind their seats and wait for the toastmaster's announcement. After his small speech, he proclaim the next song ("Helan går") and everybody starts to sing. You can see there are small booklets with lyrics and shot glass with vodka in front of you. Songs are mostly in Finnish but there are also some in German, Swedish, and English. Some of them are really hilarious (you might be surprised ;) ) and you need to stand up and dance the way it requires.

You have to follow the rules and regulations instructed by the toastmaster. It's important to keep the dinner under control so everybody is able to enjoy it. Otherwise it would be chaotic and noisy. By following the rules you may avoid getting punished ;P

The big bell :P

Performance/Speech

In the center of table there is a big bell. You will hear "gong" if somebody wants to perform something. At that time people should listen to him/her and stay quiet on their seats. You will hear this "gong" again, again , and again... These interruptions continue through the whole evening so the whole dinner is full of speeches, drinking, singing, and performances e.g. dancing, and band. "Sitsit with cold food is a good Sitsit!"

During breaks people can leave their seats for example to buy more drinks from the bar, to walk around, to hang out and so on. It's also recommended to go to the toilet during the break since this is the only time you are able to go around ;)

Actually I have participated in only a few Sitsit, because this is not quite my thing and sometimes I think it's too noisy for me :P. But it's really nice to enjoy the "dinner" with your friends and make new friends. It feels good to wear suits one in a while. I can also sing some song without lyrics haha XD Sitsits are really funny and interesting. If you are interested in Sitsit, but the language (Finnish) is the problem to you, I really recommend you to participate in International Sitsit that is arranged around twice a year (in the autumn and spring semester).

More information about the event, just check out these websites:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1565227897065454/ (facebook event)
http://www.esnjyvaskyla.com/news/sitsit-101-two-viewpoints (sitsit rules)

Vapiano restaurant

In the evening I went to have dinner with my school mates in Vapiano restaurant (the address is Mikonkatu 15).

The system in this restaurant is quite special. When you enter, you will receive a card from the cashier. The card is the most important object in this restaurant so don't lose it otherwise you may get into trouble! Every time you order food (pizza, pasta, antipasti, salad, soup) or drink (alcohol drinks, tea, coffee, cocoa, juice), you need to press the card into a machine and the charge will be saved into the card. There are two floors in the restaurant.

We ordered Salame (10,90€; tangy salami, homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella) Prosciutto E Funghi (11,90€; Italian ham, fresh mushrooms, homemade tomato sauce, mozzarella),and Pesto Con Spinaci (10,90€; baby spinachi leaves, marinated tomatoes, creamy pesto sauce, mozzarella). My friend ordered beer, which cost 6€. They were quite delicious. Remember to eat the food while they are still warm! Otherwise it would be difficult to cut the pizza :P

You can add some basilia-leaves in your food :P

The style in Vapioano was unique, the Italian style contained wood, marble, leather and light elements. There were also many funny looking pictures on the wall. Tables were large enough to enjoy time with friends, families and strangers. There are living plants (fresh herbs) you can take for direct food preparation on the tables.

In the end, you need to return the card back to the cashier and pay the bill.

This restaurant is unique in both decoration and paying system. It's place to pass the time with your friends, family or workmates. I recommend you to try this place! ;)

More information from this websites:
http://www.vapiano.com/en/home/