Top Posts 2018

By the Martvili waterfall

Time to list the Top Posts of 2018.

1. Previously I read only non-fiction, but also fiction can have a big impact.
2. After 6 years I edited a throwback video of my trip to Easter Turkey
3. Local football is not flourishing in Georgia
4. The street fashion of Barcelona in order to blend in
5. Watched the derby of Barcelona in Camp Nou

Top posts from previous years 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

Return to Martvili

The waterfall

Last summer I visited Martvili for the second time, three years after my first visit. I wanted to visit the place again as I enjoyed the place very much in the first visit. When we arrived it was a big surprise that the area of Martvili canyon had had a big makeover. The area was fully comerzialized with organized rubber boat tours, landscape by the canyon and a big building with restaurant and other services. Exploring some of the area was restricted due the changes on the other hand some new areas had been made accessible. You were not allowed to swim either in the canyon. Though nearby is an impressive waterfall where you can swim and enjoy the chill water in a hot summer day. The most of the tourists did not seem to know about the waterfall as it was much more calm there than in the area of the canyon. Personally I enjoyed more spending time by the waterfall.

Moved again

I have moved again but this time I did not move outside of Finland. Now I am living in the capital area of Finland. Still in a new city in my home country I have felt a little like an outsider. You still need some adaptation time even in your home country and despite having moved many times.

Lessons about Muslim culture in "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

I read novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini as it was recommended by James Altucher. The novel is a story of an Afghan boy who flees from Afghanistan to USA and much more connecting the war in Afghanistan to 9/11 terrorist attacks in USA. By staying 10 months in Turkey I learned a lot about Turkish and Muslim culture. But by reading two books of Hosseini I learned a lot more about Muslim culture.

The novel gives tells how important it is to follow the traditions in Afghan culture.  Especially now a days in the western world often the individualism is highlighted how one should follow their heart and do what they feel being right. As in the Afghan culture the most important is to follow the old traditions and values in order to maintain the harmony and the reputation within the community. One has to make sacrifices and give up own desires in order to keep the reputation of yourself and your family. Even though the facade might look great, there are tightly kept secrets underneath.

Racism is also discussed in the novel. No matter how loyal or good human being Hazara people are in the novel, they are never treated equal. Similar way bastard children are also in a very difficult position.

The male protagonist Amir is few times thinking how lucky he is as he has a male privilege compared to women. In order to learn better the social status of women in Muslim culture, I read the second book of Hossein "A Thousand splendid suns". Even though a man has behaved irresponsible and a woman has been involved, he can escape the responsibility, by blaming the woman and then without a question the woman has to carry the consequences. Another example is that as long as the husband did not abuse his position of power the the female protagonist Mariam in "A Thousand Splendid Suns" was happy with him. With power comes responsibility.

I did not like the chapter 22  in The Kite Runner as it was like a cliche from an action movie where the bad guy is in a total control of the situation and still the good guy manages to make a miraculous escape. Despite the cliche scene I can strongly recommend reading both of the books mentioned in this review.

Uefa Nations League in Georgia

Georgia - Latvia

Earlier this year I went to see a match of Geargian national league and it seemed that football is not doing well in Georgia. On Sunday I had a chance to see a match of national team of Georgia. I bought a ticket for 1,6 euros and thought how many people would attend the match. The 55k stadium was not full but I would estimate that around 45k people attended. The match was not very entertaining but the crowd kept supporting their team which was rewarded with 1 - 0 winning goal from a penalty kick at 77 minutes. Waves were started but they did not manage to catch enough people to go around the stadium. National team of Georgia is still drawing crowds to the stadium eventhough local league teams are not getting much people to the stadiums.

My reading list

Here my reading list in alphabetical order from the past few years - in total 36 books. I have read books in English, Finnish and Spanish. Basically I have read fiction from Paulo Coelho and non-fiction from various other authors. I have enjoyed reading most of the books but to highlight some of them, I have highlighted five books which I would strongly recommend to read. The titles are written in the language in which I read the books

Coelho, Paulo - 11 minutes
Coelho, Paulo - Acran kirjoitukset
Coelho, Paulo - Alchemist
Coelho, Paulo - Aleph
Coelho, Paulo - La bruja de Portobello
Coelho, Paulo - Zahir
Coelho, Paulo - Valkyries
Coelho, Paulo - Voittaja on yksin
Erikson, Sven-Göran - Svennis: Elämäni pelit
Fleury, Theo - Kovaa peliä
Fox Cabane - The myth of charisma
Gilbert, Daniel - Stumbling on happiness
Graeber, David - Debt
Greene, Robert - 48 vallan käytön lakia
Gullit, Ruud - Miten katsoa jalkapalloa
Hirvonen, Tatu - Varo varo varo! : Irti ylisuojelevasta kasvatuksesta
Hyttinen, Mika - Vaurastu kuin Warren Buffet

Hämäläinen, Karo - Taivas + helvetti 1
Hämäläinen, Karo - Taivas + helvetti 2
Hämäläinen, Karo - Taivas + helvetti 3
Hämäläinen, Karo - Urheilijan Taivas + helvetti
Kyrö, Tuomas - Mielensäpahoittaja

Levi, Primo - Tällaineko on ihminen

Levi, Primo - Aselepo
Levitt and Dubner - Think like a freak
Litmanen, Jari - Litmanen 10

Kazantsakis, Nikos - Zorba the greek

Konstig, Joonas - Vuosi herrasmiehenä
Maxwell, John C. - Everyone communicates few connect

Oksaharhu, Jukka - Sijoita kuin Guru
Seppänen, Juhani - Hullu työtä tekee
Stewart, Rod - Rod Stewart autobiography
Strauss, Neil - The truth
Tucker, Max - The mate
Torkki, Juhana - Tarinan valta

Westö, Mårten - Eremenkot

Why I Don't have ads on my blog

One of first blogs I started to read was blog of Seth Godin. His blog started 2002 and has been ad free since the beginning. Godin has written that ads are the new online tip jar, by clicking an ad on the blog you say thanks to the writer and writer gets few cents from the advertiser. Godin has also written that the best advertisement is remarkable product, you have to earn the right to contact the readers and undesired ads are noise that disturbs the reader.

How much could you earn with ads? Blog downshiftaus calculated the possible earnings with TradeTracker affiliate links. With 2000 weekly visits which means 100 unique visits per day could get 11 sales per year. With product of 15 euros it would mean yearly income of 165 euros. Rather modest income I would say. Seth Godin makes a good point and the modest income is not a good reason to turn your blog into a billboard. Therefore I have decided to keep my blog ad free since the beginning.

Walk in the Eastern Turkey

It has been now 6 years since my trip to Eastern Turkey. The route was more than 2000 kilometers. On the road I wrote travel update 1 and 2. The budget of the trip was less than 30 euros per day. Overall successful trip with unforgettable experiences.

Anaklia

Bridge to Ganmukhuri

I had a chance to visit a summer holiday destination in Anaklia on April. As it was off season the hotels were closed and there were just few people around, one street dog joined us when we walked 552-meter long bridge to the beach in Ganmukhuri. The same dog followed us also on the way back when we returned. The area used to be swamp but it was transformed to a summer holiday destination. You could hear the frogs coarking and see the mist floating in the air

Decline of Dinamo Tbilisi

Renovated Dinamo Stadium on 2018

Last weekend I went to see Erovnuli liga match between Dinamo Tbilisi and Saburtalo. It was a local derby of the teams topping the Georgian league. There was less than one thousand people attending on a stadium with capacity close to 55k people. I saw a match three years ago, then attendance was several thousands and also the fanatic supporter group was bigger. In the Soviet Union Dinamo stadium had average attendance of 45k. Therefore you can say that the popularity of Dinamo Tbilisi has drastically decreased. In the times of Soviet Union Dinamo Tbilisi was a big European clud and won UEFA Cup winner's cup. Seems that the collapse of Soviet Union has had very bad impact to Dinamo Tbilisi and Georgian football. One positive thing compared to last time was that the stadium had been improved. For example the seats had been renewed, two big screens had been added, the grass looked good etc.

Georgian Easter

Easter cake "paska"

This year I had a chance to celebrate Easter in Georgia. Georgians are mostly orthodox therefore the Easter is the most important celebration of the year. Georgian easter tradition is to paint boiled eggs red on red Friday. On Sunday you battle with the eggs against your neighbours and family members. In the egg battle you and your opponent choose an egg and hit the sharper ends against each other. The holder of the egg which breaks loses and gives the broken egg to the winner. The winner can battle again with the egg that did not break. The Easter meal is eaten on Sunday and the Georgian Easter table includes cake called "paska" which is funny to the Finns as it means shit in Finnish. Funnily Finnish have Easter dessert called "mämmi" which looks like shit.

Ice Hockey Playoff match

Yellow crowd

I had a chance to see a playoff match between Kalpa and Tappara. The last time I saw Ice hockey match in Kuopio, I paid attention to the supporters. This time the fan section was not only formed of young females. There was also men. This match had high stakes so it was sold out and the attendance was 4704. I noticed that the supporters did not have chants like in the match of Barcelona. Finnish crowd did not sing much but they supported by clapping rhythmically through the game. Overall entertaining match with good atmosphere and the most importantly 4-3 victory to Kalpa.

Adeu Barcelona

Winter landstcape from Kuopio

I have returned back to Finland from Barcelona after two years and one month. The cold weather of Finland did not feel as cold as I expected after comparatively warm winter of Barcelona. This was my third return from Spain back to Finland, previously I had lived in Alcalá de Henares and Madrid. At the moment I am in transition phase so I have not yet found a permanent place to stay. Another chapter is starting.

What is the most worn flag in Barcelona?

The jacket

Recent political movement towards independence of Catalonia has increased the number of visible Catalonian flags on the balconies. Also some people are showing support to Spain by having a Spanish flag on their balcony. But these flags are not worn by the people on the streets on ordinary days. You can see many people wearing a jacket with a Norwegian flag on the middle of the chest. Jackets with Norwegian flag are especially popular among the teenagers. The jackets seem equally popular among girls and boys. When I walk 20 minutes to the local shopping mall, at least five people will pass by with a Norwegian flag jacket. The jackets are with text of Napapijri or Geographical Norway. The brand is originally Italian. Another sign of the popularity is that the copies of these jackets are sold next to the copies of Barcelona jerseys by the street vendors.

Copa del rey - Derby of Barcelona

Camp Nou

I went to see a Spanish cup match Barcelona against Espanyol in Camp Nou on Thursday evening. Espanyol had won the first match 1 - 0 and the match being a local derby there was some extra tension. Still it was possible to get the tickets one day before the match for 42 euros which were not even the cheapest ones available. Matches of Barcelona tend to attract a lot of tourists so I was not expecting much from the atmosphere in the stadium.

The stadium was almost full and right away I was positively surprised by the atmosphere. The crowd sang along the official hymn of Barcelona when the players entered the field. Also during the match chants started by the small section of fanatic Barcelona supporters were joined by the people all over the stadium. One chant was naturally for Messi and his name got sang few times during the match. At one point someone pulled out a Spanish flag in the crowd which caused right away friction and small brawl, that got some people removed from the stands. I have to say that the seats were narrow. It was not possible with normal shoulder width to lean back and relax. Every other has to lean forward in order to fit.

The match was Debut of Philippe Coutinho in Barcelona. The crowd welcomed him by extra cheering when he touched the ball. Barcelona won the match 2 - 0 comfortably. The referee got criticized during the match with various whistle concerts. To sum up the match was a good experience.

My previous football match report I wrote about Spanish third division match.

Montserrat

View from Sant Jeroni

Montserrat Monastery

End of December I went to Montserrat which is about one hour train ride from the plaza España of Barcelona. Once I got out from the train, I took cable car to the Montserrat mountain. Montserrat offers different routes to hike on the mountain or just casual stroll around the monastery area. I decided to hike to the point called Sant Jeroni which was estimated to take about 2 hours one way. Sant Jerroni offered a great view but due the windy weather I could not fully enjoy the view on the top. After returning from the hike I had a look on the monastery area where most of the tourists stayed. If you decide to hike you can nicely spend a full day in Montserrat. Though in my opinion you can also spend full day not so nicely if you decide queue hours in order to touch the virgin "La Moreneta".