This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.
Chocolate caramel colour. Bouquet of blueberry toffee. Creamy but not mushy head. Intial taste of bitter trappist, later becomes softer, gitst of saaristoleipä initially, then notes of blueberry, cream and honey. Awesome experience, great beer. No wonder it is regarded as the best beer in Belgium and probably the world.
Continuing with the theme of the previous post, RTVE published a documentary where they interviewed 12 Spanish families resident in Germany, Poland and Finland and asked them of their experiences in what has been described as the coldest winter in northern Europe in years. Funnily enough, one of the families they chose are good friends of mine.
You can watch it (in Spanish) in their website here.
The current winter in Finland is the continuously coldest, snowiest I have ever experienced after 9 years here. With temperatures averaging -10 (but reaching -27, without the windchill) and an amount of snowfall that is reaching a metre, the place looks and feels decidedly wintry. I mean, there’s more snow here than in Lapland!
Furthermore the exercise, the environment and the beauty of it all are gorgeous.
I have been involved in two initiatives lately, Finndiversity and the EVA Expat Forum, where professionals of foreign and local extraction come together and discuss what are the challenges faced by this community and what actions can be taken to bring it forward. While a good start (in the sense that this section of society is finally starting to get organised), there is still a very long way to go.
For starters, we are showing that an immigrant is not necessarily a refugee nor on the dole, as is so often claimed here.
One advantage of the huge amount of snow in Finland is that you can ski everywhere. Just avoid gritted streets and you’ll be fine.
Good food, good company. A good time was had by all. And I didn’t have to watch the reception on TV =D .
The Mexican community in Helsinki organises a posada every December, and this year was not the exception. The menu included chilaquiles and crema de chile poblano, we had a piñata “beauty” contest before breaking them, and of course we sang the traditional songs.
It was definitely interesting to have such a Mexican feeling so far away, and really good to see the kids getting involved, since it was their party after all.
