Giedre tyttö Leijonakaupungista

Things you learn while living in tropics

Finally! The blog has been transfered to its permanent space so you can post comments again! Please, do! Its a pleasure to realize that somebody is reading this, you know... There are few glitches that need to be fixed, so be patient, but it will get back to normal very soon!

This is what I saw through our window one day. Hmm.. What could it be? I saw it happening again and again after few days. I asked our security guy about it and he explained that they do "fogging". Supposed to kill mosqitos that spread dengue fever. This fog actually contains some poison. (Poor guy down there, what a job he has...) Malaria is not a risk here, but dengue fever is on the rise. It is a pretty vicious deadly desease and there's no medical cure. If your immunity system is strong enough, you'll survive. There has been couple of thousands dengue cases in the island this year. Apart from that, last week there was an outbreak of cholera in Leijonakaupunki - 8 cases (1 person dead). They suspect that all the people have contracted it through eating in one food court. However, people continued happily slurping their food in the very same food court the day after the news came... Life is pretty exciting here.

What happens to you if you stay longer in the tropics is that you develop a "panda look" - black circles around your eyes. That's because you drink about 4-5 liters of water every day. What happens a bit later is that you start getting cramps (they say thats due to the lack of minerals in the body). Got those already. Maybe I should start chewing some soil to get more minerals? Also weight drops some 4kg (at least mine), although I have 2 warm meals a day compared to 1 or none in Finland.. I guess the noodles explain the slender looks of many Asians.

Also your personal space contracts. It becomes ok to stand very near another person. Also you learn crossing the street - if you see a mass of people coming in front of you, you're not supposed to change your trajectory. Just walk straight and at the very last moment someone will give you space. All the confusion happens when you want to be polite. Entering the train, you should push inside before other people leave, so maybe you get a seat. Also don't look around if there's people more in need for the seat, just squeeze yourself in. If you thought that people don't let you exit the metro in Helsinki, you should try exiting the train here..

Also "kopi" starts tasting better than capucino. "Kopi" is a tar black coffee and half of the cup is sweet milk. So its sweet and full of killing cofeine, just what you need to start a day. You also stop using salt sprinkler, because salt just doesn't come out through those little holes. It gets stuck because of humidity. So, use your salt in spoonfulls (also helps to restore the minerals and reduce your cramps) Since it started raining more often, the laudry doesn't get dry for 2-3 days and when you lie in bed in the evening, the sheets are a bit humid. But it is warm, so it doesn't matter.

Another danger that you start thinking about is, what if a body-board hits you in the face and you get a blue-eye and you need to go to a job interview next week.. :) Yeah, last weekend I've been excercising my new role of "surfer duddess". Since it is raining quite often, its much better to stay in the water all the time while you're in the beach. Few times I caught some really big waves that carried me all the way to the shore. But most often I was drinking water through my mouth and nose... Yoko (on the left) is real "surfer duddess". She can actually stand on the board and has the right attitude.

Posted by gkligyte at October 26, 2004 07:09 PM