KuPS playing in the capital

Olympic stadium in Helsinki KuPS - Astana

This month football team of my home city Kuopio played four matches in Helsinki and I had a chance to attend all of them. Two of the matches were qualification matches to UEFA Conference League against Astana and Union Berlin. Home matches of KuPS were played in Helsinki Olympic Stadium because the home stadium of KuPS in Kuopio does not meet the UEFA requirements. Two other matches were away matches of Veikkausliiga against teams of Helsinki (HJK and IFK).

The match against Union Berlin attracted the biggest attendance over 5 000 people which was the record attendance of KuPS this season so far even though the match was played 4 hours away from the home city of KuPS. Union Berlin had around 500 supporters in Helsinki and their chants created a good atmosphere together with the supporters of KuPS.

Bolt Stadium HIFK - KuPS

Holiday 2021

Here 5 photos from my summer holiday in July 2021.

Landscape from Uusikaupunki

Art house Pilvilinna of artist Raija Nokkala

From the car museum in Uusikaupunki

We catched 3 pirches

Summer cottage which is over 100 years old

Tortilla de Patatas al Estilo Nórdico

Tortilla

I have prepared tortilla de patatas several times after I learned the recipe but this time I decided to modify the recipe of Spanish omelette. I thought what would be the typical Finnish/Nordic style to cook the tortilla and what ingredients I could use, that are typically used in a Nordic kitchen. Typically potatoes are deep fried in oil but I decided to boil the potatoes instead as in the north we eat typically boiled potatoes. After boiling the potatoes I peeled and cut them. Next I added some butter on the hot frying pan instead of oil because in Finland we use typically more butter than oil for frying. I also had some salmon left overs from previous day so I decided to add that as a substitute of chorizo. I added the potatoes, salt, salmon and mixed eggs on the pan and let it cook, flipped the tortilla around and it was ready to be eaten. I liked the final result, feel free to try and let me know how did you like it.

As a guest writer

I wrote two articles as a guest writer in two different websites.

One was in Finnish about Daniel Carrillo Venezuelan football player in KuPS

Another was in Spanish about Spanish players in Finnish football league Veikkausliiga

Padel in Finland

I heard about padel for the first when I went to Spain in 2009 and also played it few times. First padel court was built to Helsinki in 2004. Now padel seems to become a mainstream sport in Finland as my colleagues are talking about it, it is mentioned in TV programs and you see marketing about it. According to Yle the popularity of padel exploded in Finland during the Covid times. Sports arenas which previously were focused to Tennis and badminton have constructed recently padel courts. There are now in total 250 padel courts in Finland and more are being planned according to the Finnish padel association. I have also padel courts about 200 meters away from my home.

Podcast about Spanish speakers in Finnish football league

I started a podcast where I am interviewing Spanish speaking people in Finnish footbal league Veikkausliiga. The feedback has been encouraging from the first episodes and it is pushing me to make more episodes. The first episode hit just 1 000 views which is unexpectedly many views. This season there are 20 Spanish speaking players + few coaches and other staff members so there is plenty of people to be interviewed. I am writing subtitles in Finnish to make the videos understandable also for Finnish viewers. 

Cycling again

 

My Kona Dew

Bicycle has been usually my preferred method of transporation in Finland. In Poland I was cycling to work around the year and the snow did not stop me either. Since leaving Poland I have not had a good functioning bike so I decided to buy a brand new bicycle. I was considering an ebike but due the short commute to work, I opted for a regular one. Cycling 3 kilometers to work has been much more enjoyable than using the public transporation. Eventhough now during the pandemia I have been going to work seldom. I had already forgotten how practical and useful a bike is.

Cities visited in Spain

I lived in Spain in three time periods. Therefore I have visited many cities in Spain and also posted posts about them. Below I have listed the cities and linked the related blog posts. The zone of Galicia is still totally unknown territory to me as I have not visited any city over there.

Alcalá de henares

Antequera

Badalona

Barcelona

Cáceres

Castelldefels

Cerdanyola de valles

El Escorial

Fuengirola

Gibraltar

Gijón

Girona

Guadalajara

Madrid

Malaga

Marbella

Mijas

Oviedo

Peñafiel

Reus

Salou

Segovia

Sevilla

Tarragona

Toledo

Valencia

Valladolid

Vitoria-Gasteiz

Zarautz

Top posts 2019 - 2020

New year in Espoo 2019

Last year I skipped writing the top posts of the year so here I am listing the top posts from two previous years.

1. How to be miserable like a Finn

2. Historic football match that I witnessed in the stadium

3. My caffeine free life

4. Interesting book about parenting

5. Living costs in Spain

Top posts from previous years 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010

5 unpleasent Incidents I suffered abroad

I have lived abroad in 6 different rental apartments and suffered some unfortunate incidents, though none of them felt so bad that I was hoping to be back in Finland.

Below I listed the incidents, I have faced

1. Water pipe broke and the apartment was flooding

2. Cockroaches disturbing the peace at home. Getting rid of them was challenging

3. Contsructtion workers in the neighbor made a hole to my living room wall

4. Electricity cuts few times but just for few hours

5. Mold getting formed to the walls

Here some common incidents what I have been able to avoid

1. Getting robbed

2. Getting scammed when renting a flat. I have always been able recover at least 50 % of  the debosit.

3. Bringing bed bugs home

4. Extremely high electricity bill. Many people who are not aware of the costs of heating/cooling in Spain get surprised for the cost.

5. Flatmates who are impossiple to live with