Top Posts 2015

Inside Martvili canyon

This year I published more posts than last year. Here are my top posts of 2015.

1. The Finnish economy is struggling and therefore finding a job in Finland is difficult. In Poland you have many job opportunities for Finnish speakers. I wrote about the Polish salary levels for those who are considering moving to Poland.
2. There has been many conflicts around Georgia and also currently there are conflicts around Georgia caused by ISIS. I wrote about the safety on everyday life in Georgia when there are no conflicts.
3. Hiking in Lagodekhi natural reserves was an interesting experience.
4. Informative post for anyone who wants to travel from Tbilisi to other cities in Georgia.
5. Guest post of my friend about makeup shopping and trends in Finland.

Top posts from previous years 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

Makeup addict in Finland

My friend came to visit me in Finland. Knowing her being very interested in makeup and beauty I decided to ask her to write a guest post. Click 'read more' and read her thoughts about products of Finnish brand Lumene, experience with makeup shopping in Finland and thoughts about makeup trends she spotted in Finland. See her blog to read more about beauty related news.

Finnish School

School being demolished

Finnish education is famous all over the world. I have noticed it because many of my international friends have asked about Finnish education and when they have read news about it, I have been asked whether it is true. While having a walk and I point out a school to my foreign friends they have been always surprised that the Finnish schools are not surrounded by walls. They ask: How come children do not escape from the school? Also the lessons of hand craft, music and other activities outside of the normal class room is very surprising for foreigners. Though Finnish schools are not perfect. My primary school got an issue with mold and it got fully demolished after being 30 years in use. I remember my school having the issue already when I was attending but the problem was fully recognized fifteen years later.

The visitor

Autumn landscape

Even though October is often considered a bad month to visit Finland  I still had a guest from Caucasus. The cold weather, tendency to rain, early darkness and days without sun light makes usually October not an attractive month for a visit. Luckily this time weather has been fine. My guest has been impressed by the amount of nature surrounding the neighborhoods, the number of lakes and nice looking houses. Spacious areas and scattered houses makes the city of Kuopio look like a modern country side.

Insulting mothers

Finnish landscape

Finnish comedian Ismo Leikola noticed a cultural difference in insulting between Finland and USA. In USA it is common to insult somebody by insulting their mother. Common English expression to insult you and your mother is for example "son of a bitch" This expressions exists at least in Spanish "hijo de puta", in Turkish "orospu çocuğu"and in Georgian "bozis shvili". But in Finnish such expression where your mother is referred as a prostitute does not exist. On this clip Leikola ends with a joke how a Finnish person does not understand insults thrown at one's mother. If you insult a Finnish person by saying "your mom is a fat idiot!" he would reply "How do you know her?".

Customer Service in Georgia

Georgia is not famous of good customer service. Georgians who have been abroad told me that Georgian customer service has room to improve. I experienced also few times bad customer service. In one restaurant the quality of served khinkali was bad so we asked them not to bring the rest of the order as just half of the order was delivered. Waiter said that the whole order will be delivered and it cannot be cancelled. The full order was delivered but we decided not to eat as the quality was bad and went to speak to the management. First the manager was understanding and promised to give some discount. A bit later another person from the management came and started to threat and insult us because we were unsatisfied with the order. I never expected that by giving negative feedback you would end up receiving threats and insults.

Night life in Tbilisi

DJ set in Underwheel

Tbilisi night life is different to all the previous countries where I have been. The biggest difference is the music. in Tbilisi there are no night clubs which play commercial music. All the clubs play rather minimal club music. Here dancing for commercial music is not considered cool. Night life is mostly focused on the area of Meidani. Occasional events are organized in Underwheel which is a place on a top of a mountain in Mtatsinda park. Most of the travel guides tend to mention something about possibilities for gays to go out. In Tbilisi Cafe Gallery turns to a club in the weekends and there you can find gay people mixed with straight people having fun. Nearby Cafe Gallery you can find Canudos Ethnic Bar which has international atmosphere. Cafe Gallery and Canusdos Ethnic Bar are close Rustaveli metro station.

Shopping in Tbilisi

Table ready to be served

In Tbilisi you can do shopping in a mall or in a outside bazar. There is a big outside bazar next to the station square. You can find there groceries, souvenirs, spare parts for your vehicle, clothing etc. Outside of Tbilisi on the Kakheti highway is bazar called Lilo Mall which has the cheapest prices. Lilo Mall you can reach by mini bus from Isani metro station.

You can find also shopping malls in Tbilisi. I have visited few of them and they feel quite abandoned compared to the outside bazaars. The malls I have visited had available retail space and they were not crowded. The biggest mall is Tbilisi mall where you can find different brands of Spanish Inditex, Turkish brands like LC Waikiki and Koton etc. Near station square is shopping mall called Qarvasla. In the area of Vake you can find Pixel shopping mall which is easy to recognize from outside as it looks like pixelated building.

Georgian names

View from Jvari monastery

Georgian last names have three different kind of endings: -ia, -dze and -shvili. Three example last names with the previous endings are: Antia, Arveladze and Dzhughasvili. Georgian language does not have feminine and masculine therefore it is sometimes hard to tell if certain names belong to women or men. For example in Spain -o ending means usually that name belongs to a male and -a ending means that name belongs usually to a female. Georgia names: Nino, Nato and Qetino are names of females. Then there are also female names ending-a which are for example: Ana, Baia and Manana. Then there are also male names ending with -a, for example, Kakha, Gela and Shota. There are also Georgian male names ending with -o, for example, Sandro, Dato and Tengo.

5 attractions to see in Tbilisi

I collected the top five attractions to see in the capital of Georgia. Previously I have posted the top five attractions of the capital of Turkey.

Waterfall in botanic garden

The botanic garden of Tbilisi is well maintained and in the big area you can find many kind of plants. There is also an impressive waterfall.

Marjanishvili

Marjanishvili is an old merchant street which has been restored nicely. There are a lot of Turkish restaurants and possibility to shopping.

Mtatsminda park

Mtatsinda park is on a top of a mountain and you can have good view over the city of Tbilisi. You can find here also an amusement park. I like especially the view during the night when you can see all the lights of the city. Another option to have a view over the city of Tbilisi is to go to Mother of Georgia statue.

The bridge of peace

Next to the bridge of Peace you can find a nice park. From the park you can take a lift to the mother of Georgia statue. In the park you can find dancing fountain, activities for children and interesting shapes.

Tbilisi canyon

Inside the city of Tbilisi you can find a canyon. A route down the canyon leads to a waterfall.

Mtskheta

Svetitskhoveli cathedral on the background

The atmosphere of Mtskheta reminds the atmosphere of Sighnaghi. Both cities are restored to remind the past centuries and offer nice streets for strolling. Mtskheta can be reached by a minibus from Didube in 15 minutes. Nearby Mtskheta are two monasteries (Jvari and Shiomghvime) where drivers are offering rides for 15 - 20 laris (6 - 8 euros). The monastery of Jvari is more interesting because you have a nice view over the city and landscape around. Inside the city can be found Svetitskhoveli cathedral which is surrounded by walls and has nicely maintained courtyard.

Elder people

Mtskheta

One day I had a discussion how elderly people are taken care of in Georgia. In Finland elderly people who cannot take care of themselves anymore are generally taken care by nurses in the facilities for elderly. In Georgia sending your parents to such facilities would be considered disrespectful. If you are living in a different city than your elder parent(s) who have difficulties to take care of themselves, you would invite them to live with you. Georgians tend take care of their family and not send them to a facility.

Okatse Canyon

Platform over the canyon

The third spot which I visited near Kutaisi, was Okatse Canyon. The route to the platform is approximately 5 kilometers and taking it costs 5 laris (2 euros). The view is impressive but if you have fear of heights you will not feel 100 % comfortable walking the route.  The problem with Okatse and Martvili is that there is no public transportation to these destinations. We managed to negotiate with a taxi driver who took us to the both destinations from Kutaisi for 50 laris (20 euros). It is good idea to take a driver who actually knows the area because we missed few worth seeing spots due the lack of the knowledge of the driver.

How to go to Prometheus Cave near Kutaisi

Inside the Prometheus Cave

I visited also Prometheus Cave during my trip to Kutaisi. This is an informational post in tourist guide style. The Prometheus Cave is about 40 kilometers from Kutaisi. You can reach the cave by taking a mini bus N44 from McDonald's, N34 from central bus station of Ktaisi or N30 from the red bridge to Tskaltubo. The mini buses to Tskaltubo operate every 15 minutes. From Tskaltubo you have to take bus N42 to the Prometheus cave but the mini bus operates only every 2 hours. Each bus ride costs 1 lari (0.4 euros). Entrance fee for the walking tour is 5 laris which is about 2 euros. The tour by foot is 1,5 kilometers long and it is taken in a group with a guide. There is also separate route which you can go through by a boat. The cost for the boat tour is 7 lari (3 euros). The boat tour is only available in the morning.

Martvili

Martvili

Canyon

Last weekend I went to visit Kutaisi. 45 kilometers from Kutaisi you can find Martvili where is a beautiful place that can be seen in above pictures. There is a slow stream of water flowing through a canyon. The water is chilly so you cannot swim in it for very long. Locals were offering rubber boat rides through the canyon for 30 lari which is about 12 euros. If you bring your own rubber boat you can take your time and enjoy the place as long as you feel so. There were many Georgians visiting the place but I could not see many foreigners.

Touchy Georgian men

This is how friends walk in Georgia

In Turkey you see men walking their arms linked, but in Georgia you see men walking their hand on the shoulder of their friend. Georgian men greet each other with a kiss like Turkish men. Person who is not accustomed to such warmth might get intimidated.

Metro in Tbilisi

Metro stops

Long escalators to metro

There are two underground metro lines in Tbilisi. Metro is built very deep so you have to go a long way down with escalators. When I came to Tbilisi I noticed that the escalators to metro were moving faster than escalators elsewhere. As journey is very long there is no option to take normal stairs. I have good experience with metro of Tbilisi as the escalators and metro have been always functioning. One way metro ticket costs 50 tetri which is about 25 cents in euros.

Cab ride in Tbilisi

Marjanishvili

In Tbilisi it is very easy to catch a taxi in the day or night time. Most of the taxis are unofficial ones but they have still taxi sign on the roof. There are many taxis constantly passing on the streets and you can flag down one easily. In Georgia you don't hop into a taxi straight away. First you ask if the taxi driver is willing to drive to your desired destination and then you negotiate the fare for the trip. Common fare inside the city is five laris which is about two euros. On the back seat I have been always trying to buckle up but very rarely taxis have had seat belts available. Here my post about taxis in Turkey.

How to travel from Tbilisi to other cities in Georgia?

Meidani roundabout

There are many places to see in Tbilisi but also outside of Tbilisi are many places worth visiting This post is an informative post how to travel to other cities in Georgia from Tbilisi. Mini buses or cars do not follow strict timetables even though they have some guidelines. It is possible that they wait until the ride gets full before departing. There are four main places to take transportation by minibus to different destinations in Georgia. For example Six-hour trip to Batumi costs 20 lari and two-hour trip to Telavi costs 10 lari.

Station square

In front of the railway station you can find mini buses that go to cities in western Georgia. You can go to destinations like Batumi, Kutaisi, Zugdidi etc. There are many mini buses departing during the day so you can choose if you want to travel early in the morning or later.

Isani

When you step out from the metro station Isani already some drivers will be asking if you are interested to travel some city in Kakheti. You can travel to eastern Georgia cities like Sighnaghi, Telavi, Kvareli etc.

Didube

Near metro station Didube is a bus station called Okriba. From there you can take mini bus to Kazbegi, Gudauri, Mtskheta, Batumi, Zugdidi etc.

Ortachala
Ortachala is one kilometer from 300 Aragveli metro station. From Ortachala you can take transportation to places outside of Georgia like Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan etc.

Georgian bread

Bread called shoti being baked

Bread in Georgia is baked in an unique way. The bread is shaped in a long form and then put against a wall of a big pot. On the bottom of the pot there are hot coals. You wait until the bread gets nicely brown and take it out. Georgians like to eat the bread cracking the most crunchy parts by hands. Commonly the bread is enjoyed with cheese.

Why traffic is unsafe in Tbilisi?

"Mushroom building" by the road

Traffic in Georgia is crazy and unsafe. In this post I will discuss some reason which makes traffic crazy and not safe in Tbilisi. There are vehicles in horrible condition in the traffic. Many cars have shattered front window, buffers missing, no seat belts and list goes on. Reason for the bad condition of the vehicles is that there is not yearly inspection for the vehicles which they need to pass. It means that you can drive with anything in the traffic as long as it moves. You see plenty of old Ladas and cars which have steering wheel on the right also, Pedestrians cross the road everywhere. Nobody searches a zebra road for crossing. When crossing on zebra road and cars are turning they do not give the way to pedestrians as in other European countries. One friend told me that he completed a driving license in Georgia by driving in a track few years ago but as the traffic in the city of Tbilisi is crazy he never dared to drive.

Culture differences between Finland and Spain comic book published

Vamos

Today I published a comic book called "Timo & Fernando - Culture differences between Finland and Spain". Go to http://www.parmvoo.com/timoandfernando/ and download for free.

Churchkhela

Different kind of churchkhelas

Georgia has own national "chocolate bar" called churchkhela. In some places I have seen it being called Georgian snickers. Traditionally churchkhelas are made of walnuts and wine grape juice. Churchkhelas are prepared by attaching walnuts to a piece of thread and then dipping it in a wine grape juice which has been made more condensed by adding flour in it. Then you hang them for drying and once they get more solid, they are are ready to be eaten. Both red and white wine juice are used for Churchkhelas.  In addition to walnuts also nuts and pumpkin seeds are used for the thread which is dipped in the juice.

Cheap and tasty way to get full in Georgian restaurant

Khinkali

Tasty and economic way to get full belly in Georgian restaurant is to order Khinkali. You can order Khinkali with different meats, cheese or vegetables. One Khinkali costs around 65 tetri which is 25 cents in Euros. I get satisfied with six Khinkalis and with eight Khinkalis I feel full. The means that you get full with 2 Euros in a good restaurant.

There is a story of a Georgian man who went to a restaurant and ordered 99 Khinkalis. The waiter asked "why 99 and not 100?". The man answered, "I am not a pig".

Adventure in Lagodekhi

The bridge

The waterfall on the back

Near the border of Azerbaijan are protected natural areas of Lagodekhi. In Lagodekhi you have possibility to hike four different routes. 1. Lagodekhi waterfall which is five meters high and the hiking takes five hours. 2. Gurgeniani waterfall which is 15 meters high and the hiking takes five hours. 3. Macha castle which is a three hour walk. 4. Shavi klde Lake up on the mountains and hiking takes three days. End of May there is still snow so now the route is not open but it is expected to be open on July. Lagodekhi center rents needed equipment and horses.

I hiked to the Lagodekhi waterfall and it was an adventure. The route started with a path through green forest and a slight uphill all the way. There came a point where I had to cross to the other side of a river which comes from the waterfall. There was a narrow split tree laid down as a bridge (the photo above). The stream of the river was fast so it looked that it could take me if I fall there. The only option to continue was to balance to other side by walking on the tree. After crossing the forest became slightly more thick. I could see plants with leafs climbing on the trunks of high trees. Then came the part where I had to cross running water few times. I tried to find always narrowest part to cross but I had to remove my shoes for crossing to prevent them getting wet. There were many difficult parts to pass and without seeing the yellow route marks I would think that I am lost. After walking by the river the path goes zig zag up to a mountain wall and finally gets all the way down to the waterfall. Completing the route definitely felt like an adventure. The route had many impressive views but the waterfall itself was not that impressive.

Sighnaghi

This weekend I am visiting Sighnaghi which is known as a city of love in Georgia. Here some photos from the city.

Flowers on the roof of a church

Enjoying the view

Street of Sighnaghi

The wall surrounding Sighnaghi

Aggressive begging

Yesterday was the independence day of Georgia. There was many stands and activities organized in the city center. Many streets were closed from the cars. This kind of event attracted also many beggars to the area. I faced so far the most aggressive beggar in my life. about 7 years old girl came to me asking for money. As I tried to continue walking she quickly wrapped herself around my leg and sat to the ground so I could not move. There we stayed for one minute as I could not move. I did not give money because I did not want to reward such aggressive begging. Finally she gave up and let me go. There are also often adults with children begging for money. Few times somebody have come to knock the door asking for food. You can read also my posts about beggars in Turkey and Spain.

Transparent Police

Police station

The police of Georgia used to be corrupted. In 2005 Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili fired the entire traffic police force which was around 30 000 police officers. Complete new police force was built from new recruits. Now the police has a good reputation and there is no corruption. The police stations all around Georgia have now basically walls made of windows. the transparency of the police stations is symbolizing the transparency of the police force and that they have nothing to hide.

Georgian wine

Small qvevris on the backgroung and buried qvevris in the ground

I did a few day trip to famous Georgian wine producing region Kakheti. There I went to a tour of one wine making company. Tour introduced me to Georgian wine making traditions which are 8000 years old and belongs to UNESCO intangible heritage list. Traditionally wine grapes were squashed with feet but now a days it is less used method. squashed grapes are stored in a qvevri which is used for fermentation. Qvevri is a large clay vessel buried below ground level. Traditionally in Europe wooden barrels are used for fermentation of wine. Qvevri wine is a natural product where additional ingredients are not added.

Tour included also tasting wines. You can notice Georgian white wine has stronger color than European white wines because entire grape with skins, bones etc is included in the fermentation and not removed. Before clay cups or horns were used for drinking wine but now wine glasses are used.

Wine tasting in grocery store

Wine tasting booth

I ran into promoters offering wine tasting possibility in a big grocery store. All brands had their own representatives so there was 10 different person offering you wine tasting samples to help you make buying decision. Also in other sections there were promoters offering samples of bread, cheese sweets etc. Never before I have seen possibility to try such wide range of tastes in a grocery store.

Mini buses

Yellow mini buses waiting

There are many mini buses available in Georgia for transportation inside the city like in Turkey. Mini bus is called marshutka in Georgia. Usually everywhere you pay when you take a ride by public transportation. In Georgia you pay for the ride when you arrive to your desired destination. You do not have to be on a bus stop to get a ride with mini bus. You can be just anywhere by the road and wave the mini bus to stop. Similarly you can request it to stop in desired place.

Feeling like a child

When go abroad you might feel mentally a bit retarded as you cannot understand the local language. Basically you are on a level of under 5 year old kid if you cannot speak or read the local language when you need to communicate with a foreign language. When traveling and visiting places as a tourist you are often only in a tourist friendly places where you can survive with your mother tongue or in English. Usually you can also speak with a common language to your fellow travelers. Therefore you might not get the feeling of feeling like a retard. Especially in Georgia I have had the feeling of retarded more strongly than before because I do not understand the Georgian alphabets and therefore I am not able to read anything. Knowing the local language is essential to immerse the local culture.  I have started to learn Georgian alphabets and trying to speak something.

Finnish brand in Georgia

Finnish logo in Georgian

In Georgia I spotted one Finnish brand called Myllyn Paras which produces for example flour for baking. Interesting thing was that I spotted their products in a pharmacy. In Finland I have not seen their products being sold in a pharmacy. In Finland you find their products in grocery stores. You can see their name written in Georgian and Finnish. In Georgian it says literally "Milin parasi".

Umaglesi Liga Match

Boris Paichadze Stadium

Police watching over the crowd

Today I went to match a football match of Georgian league. The match was between Dinamo Tbilisi and Torpedo Kutaisi. The entrance was free and about 500 supporters of Dinamo had already arrived and decorated their area with flags. Few hundred supporters of Torpedo arrived to the stadium after few minutes of the starting whistle. There was a line of police men rounding the whole stadium and extra attention was given naturally to the areas of the fanatic supporters. During the match both of the supporters were throwing loud bombs towards to the pitch and also torches were light.

The match itself was entertaining. The final result was 3-2 for Dinamo Tbilisi. When ever Dinamo scored many people in the crowd shouted insults towards supporters of Torpedo and showed middle fingers. There was an interesting incident on the pitch when few players of Torpedo wanted a penalty from a dubious hand ball. The play was not stopped but two players of Torpedo ran to the referee and grabbed him from hands and shoulders. Clearly braking the rule of referees untouchability. Referee wrestled himself out and just let the game run. He did not even give warning to the players for protesting. I think that in many other leagues referee could have given a red card for the players for grabbing referees arm and protesting such way.

After match I did not see any aggressive behavior.  The attendance of the match was several thousand which is quite little for s stadium which has capacity of  54 549 people. I have been told that rugby has become more popular than football in Georgia. Hopefully I will have a chance to see a rugby match here. You can read previous football match reports from Turkey and Spain.

Is Georgia Safe?

Traffic in Tbilisi

I read an article of the top 10 safest countries in the world 2015. Georgia is on the place of 6th safest country in the world 2015. According to the article Georgia is safe because you can walk alone safely in the capital during the night time and crime rates are low. But I have witnessed the crazy driving in Georgia and therefore I do not consider it that safe. I decided to find some statistics about traffic accidents in Georgia and Finland.

The most recent statistics I found from both countries are from 2013. We can compare these countries well because the population of the both countries is around 5 millions. The number of road traffic accidents in Georgia is double compared to Finland. The number of fatal accidents in Georgia is also twice as big as in Finland. Though Finnish population has higher tendency to drive under intoxication. One reason could be that in Finland the taxi cues are very long in the weekend so getting a taxi is more difficult compared to Georgia. High number of road traffic accidents definitely decreases the safety of Georgia.

	Finland	Georgia
Total number of road traffic accidents	2741	5510
of which caused by intoxication	411	228
Persons injured	3677	8045
Persons killed	190	514

Table of road accidents in Finland and Georgia 2013


Sources:

• http://www.geostat.ge/
• http://www2.liikennevirasto.fi/julkaisut/pdf8/lti_2014-07_liikenneonnettomuudet_maanteilla_web.pdf

Social security system in Finland

Finnish social security system guarantees you better income than full time job in Poland. In Finland Unemployed person gets 1100 EUR/month in gross according to Savon Sanomat 14.4.2015. The 1100 EUR/month is formed of 600 EUR unemployment support and then support to cover rental costs which can be 500 EUR/month in the capital area. It is hard to imagine Finnish speaking person to be motivated to move to Poland for work if he/she gets paid better in Finland unemployed than having full time job in Poland. Though by working in Poland Finnish speaker has good chance to earn better than average. So one could have better income compared the neighbors  Earlier I wrote a post of salary differences between Poland and Finland and how appreciated Finnish language skills are in Poland.

Spanish Jail Comic Strip

Timo in Spain

Now I publish another strip and here you can read the story behind it. I have been working on comics which I have been gathering together. I have still more strips in store to be published in the future. Here previously published strip.

2 years in Poland

Graffiti in Centrum

Two years ago I wrote about my decision to move to Poland. I was enthusiastic to learn Polish in the beginning but my language learning motivation decreased little by little. Therefore I never learned fluent Polish but at least I can speak a little. I decided not to extend my contract and therefore I am going to Finland for one month. I do not know yet what I will do or where I will go after the holiday in Finland. At the moment I am considering and looking for different options. Lets see what the future will be.

Skiing in Georgia

On the top

Last week I did a skiing trip to Gudauri in Georgia. The skiing resort has marked routes over 50 km and the top stations is on the height of 3007 meters. This was the first time I was skiing on a big mountain. My previous skiing experience is mainly from short but steep slopes of Finland.

It was foggy on the first skiing station and you could not see very far away. I was very impressed when I reached the top of the mountain. On the top of the mountain you could see amazing landscape, clouds below and sun shining brightly. From the top it was possible to go down on steep slope covered with powder snow reaching your knees. It was the first time that I could enjoy skiing in powder snow. There are many possibilities to ski in powder snow. You can take a helicopter ride to the top of one of the many mountains in the area.

Salary differences between Poland and Finland

I have few Finnish friends and foreign friends working in a service desk job in Poland. From them I found out that you get paid very well in Polish standards. Before I have also written about the job opportunities for Finnish speakers in Poland. I decided to study the topic little more and compare the salary of service desk worker to the salary of a doctor in Poland. Click "read more" and find out the exact salaries.

Strange Finnish culture

Today I read an interesting post "here's why other countries think you're weird". In a chapter called "a confused Indian in Finland" is an interesting story how Indian business man was confused because of the lack of personnel/service in a high-class Hyatt hotel. Then one commentator in the post tells how he was confused how men do not even hold door for women which seemed pretty rude to him.