Conference Commentary

InSEA, InSEA, where art thou InSEA?

In case you haven't picked up upon conference information yet... the theme of this years European Congress, InSEA 2010, is SUSTAINABILITY.

Besides learning a great deal about all kinds of theoretical and pedagogically inspiring information regarding the aspects, questions and practices regarding sustainability. We have also managed to enjoy the not-so-professional ideologies around the sustainability theme.

These themes include, but are not limited to:

1. Plusing and minusing (which has been previously mentioned in an older post).

2. The fact that every particle of left-over food at lunch is composted and then our non-disposable dishes were washed = less landfill waste.

3. The numerous conversations I have had over how to create sustainable art projects such as willow sculptures, recycling the entirety of a reindeer, carrying around congress bags made of recycled bed sheets/curtains.. and of course decorating them with more reindeer parts.

4. The lights in our hotel can only be turned on if you put your door key in a special little slot... thereby decreasing the amount of wasted electricity that occurs when you leave the room and forget to turn the lights off. This DOES NOT come in handy when you room key has become suddenly de-magnetized however.

5. Biking biking biking everywhere and by everyone. Everyone except us that is. If a bike rental shop opened up in Rovaniemi, I can guarantee you the owners could strike it rich.. but there isn't... so we walk. And walking is still sustainable.

Things that aren't sustainable...

1. The LONG days we have experienced thus far in the trip. Every day so far has been go go go... and it is easy to loose track of time and have difficulty sleeping when the sun never sets. Sustainable energy will not exist for me if I remain here much longer without a day off and a nap.

2. And although we are composting our food at lunch... I can't seem to find a recycle bin??? What that is all about, I cannot explain.

3. The number of times I have heard confusing, theoretical jargon such as the words: problematize/problematic.

And one last congress-related, sustainability themed, problematized question for you: while we talk about sustainability during the conference... as art educators seeking to teach in more economically, socially, culturally, and environmentally sustainable ways... (the majority of, at least) the speakers continue to lecture and read from papers, using powerpoint as the main tool for visual experience. It doesn't take long to figure out that sitting in this way for hours upon end is not a sustainable way to present information during a four day conference. This can be evidenced by my plan to go take a nap as soon as I finish this post.. instead of going to the last few lectures. But again, I'm just problematizing about sustainability people.

Signing off - R.Gray

Blogging: No "Original" Ideas are Safe Anymore

    I am writing this on a European keyboard so be patient because I do not know where any of the keys are. Here is the proof öäå€ whoa.

    Anyway it was brought to my attention today in a subtle yet not so subtle way that we have copied off the idea of three delightful undergrads. I was quite open to the fact that we were inspired by these three brilliant people and we were using their ideas of blogging about Finland. All in all this is a fun and interesting way of journaling while abroad and I commend the "South of No North" blog for it´s breakthrough advances in travel blogging. We can only aspire to be as intriguing and engaging as you have been.

    As the true humanitarians as we are here is the official blog page for our forefathers.    

  http://southofnonorth3.blogspot.com/

   In all seriousness, their reflections are truly interesting and we are glad that we have had the opportunity to be inspired by their travel blog : ) Kiitos!

Highlights.

My first post: Highlights from the trip thus far.
6-23-2010

Jet Lag – Couldn’t sleep at all during the plane ride, when my options were a comfy chair, plenty of familiar, soothing music, a darkened plane cabin, sleep mask, etc. Nope. Nothing. Bright eyed and bushy tailed I sat upright for the entire 7.5 hours. Of course, by the time we got to the Helsinki airport I was so dog-tiered I don’t remember a good portion of it. And by then, during the 2.5 hour layover, my only sleeping option was a coffee tabletop in the middle of the airport, in the middle of a café, in the middle of our 17-person group. So did I take it? You bet I did. Out I went – trying not to drool on Megan’s laptop case – for a whopping 45 minutes.

Kebabs I know = not Kebabs that I ordered in Finland.

Our first full day included: A gorgeous run around the river and across the main bridge called Jätkänkynttilä (pronounced something like: Yacht-can-koon-tee-la), a visit to Santa, and meeting with our Finnish counterparts for the first time.

Visiting Santa! Creepy maze, picture with the OH-IO, and the abounding touristy gift shops. Exciting! There was one letdown… such as a sitting on Santa’s lap ride, which was out of business. Other important updates: it IS actually colder when you cross the latitude line which separates the rest of the world from the arctic circle. CRAZY. Also, when you send your letters to Santa, he actually gets them. He just doesn’t read them, or keep them. Instead, your envelopes get packaged and sold as souvenirs, to art teachers! However, sending mail from the North Pole was a huge thrill... I cannot deny it.

Ounasvaara, one of the bigger hills in Rovaniemi. You can climb up the hill to see a view of the entire city of Rovaniemi. You can also bring fabulous company with you and roast your dinner over the fire pit. And that’s what we did. In addition to the lovely sights and conversations Ounasvaara has to offer… it also offers some unique wildlife viewing opportunities. One such example was a giant rabbit, or what was at first thought to be a deer, that a small group of us observed while hiking back down the hill. We cannot be sure, but it may or may not have had an eye patch, ugly grimace, and been involved in a potentially felonious crime (see facebook photos for a mug shot). But to be sure, the rabbit is now Courtney’s new spirit animal.








The 1.5 mile walk to and from Lapland University and the Hotel Santa Claus, which is normally beautiful, charming, and good exercise… just not in the pouring freezing rain. This is apparently June in Rovaniemi.

This is what I was told when inquiring abou the weather. June in Lapland = 13 degrees and raining. “Oh well, that’s just summertime in Finland!” says the front desk attendant. Why did I not check this before I came with shorts and sandals!?

Foods and menus are, for the most part, labeled gluten free, lactose free, and low-lactose. Thank you to the allergic Finnish culture that came before me.

The words we have learned. For example: Moi = hi, Moi moi = goodbye. Why can’t everything in language-learning be this simple?

Knochel-raisins. Another attempt at learning Finnish. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as adding raisins onto Aaron’s last name.

What we like to call, “Plusing and minusing.” Minus is for the most frequent trips to the bathroom. Plus is just simply for larger loads. Simple as that.


Sauli helping us to pronounce “Suffeli Puffi,” a kind of Finnish candy we can only describe as, “cheese puffs, minus the cheese, and covered in chocolate… trust me, it’s good.” One bummer: I am allergic to most of the awesome licorice they have here. Dang it!

All the conversations and wonderful people we have met thus far. Plus the amazing roommates I have. (Here we are at one of the functions for the congress... there was singing dancing, and MANY speeches. PLUS a bunch of performance pieces including wish embelished snowflakes fluttering from the forth floor... onto my head.)

Joo joo, ihan sama… which means: Yeah yeah, whatever. Ha! Awesome.

Not so sure fancy museum events are my gig. The Arktikum, Rovaniemi’s cultural museum, was beautiful, and the exhibits were really interesting… but I think I shall pass on the deep-fried fishies with eyes still intact. PLUS… during this shin-dig.. Sara found my first gray hair. WHHAAT!? Apparently I’ve hit the hair-crest and it’s all downhill from here. On the bright side, I have somehow managed to further legitimize my married name. There’s a plus side to everything.

Finishing our presentation, and having all of our professors, advisors, dept. chair there to cheer us on. It felt like the proud little Art Ed family from OSU, C-bus, Ohio, USA. Warm feelings inside.

The name plates we crafted out of Elk bones… the buttons I created today, and the congress bag made out of recycled bed sheets that I pimped out with reindeer antlers. I’m feeling very sustainable right now.

Round two of the Kebabs that I’m still not entirely sure about.

Last thought of the day – Finnish sauna is AMAZING… seriously. I want to know why I never learned that you could go in and out in and out of the Sauna multiple times, or that you were supposed to. AND… how come I never had an ice-cold river to jump into between sauna sittings? Did you know that your skin can actually tingle when you get back into the sauna after a quick jaunt in a 10 deg. cel. river? I did not. You can also pass out if you make the transition too quickly... so if your every in Finland sauna-ing and you don’t have a Finn to tell you otherwise... walk slowly from the sauna to the river and vice versa… or we’ll have to not let you sauna anymore.

Signing off!
-Mrs. GRAY

Ounäsväärä: Full of Hills and Thrills

Welcome to the walk to Ounäsväärä. Along this walk you will see numerous sites. One being the gorgeous water mass that is a dark crystal blue as well as numerous Fins cross-country skating. The lovely bridge below is called Jätkänkynttilä and is referred to as the lumberjack's candle. This is one of the best words I have learned yet because it sounds like "yacht count chocula".

Below you can also see the watch tower that we were able to go up into and look out over all that Rovaniemi has to offer. It was very wobbly once you got to the top.

All along the Watchtower....

Watch out hikers this is mosquito season!

The view from the watchtower...this is our little group. If you're wondering what was on the grill it was reindeer sausage and veggies. yum.

The mosquitoes are quite awful in Finland. They are not the large mosquitoes that we sometimes have in Ohio so they are the small little black buggers that just swarm you every time you go outside. In short we have been bathing in mosquito repellent and I have gotten used to the taste of the chemical. haha. As you can see in this picture Rebekah was doing a fine job protecting herself from these persistent bugs.

As you can clearly see on Sara's forehead that she did not do a very good job in applying the protection shield.

While we were up on the big hill we discovered that animals are not trained by actual languages but by the sound of the command. We were taught how to tell dogs to sit and lay down in Finnish. To sit sounds something like, "e-stoop" and to lay down sounds like, "marrvvvvv". I am not quite sure how to spell these. obviously.

After a long walk up the hill one needs a refresher. Apparently Olvi is the last name of a person and it is the Miller Lite of Finland. Not only does it hold a lot of Finnish value but it is also quite tasty also.

Moi Moi,

Megan

Santa Claus is My New BFF

As Sara brilliantly described earlier about our adventures in Santa Land I too have had quite the interesting experiences with the cheery man up north.

Up in the north there are times when the weather is a bit too chilly. When you're walking the streets of Rovaniemi with your boo sometimes you need to sacrifice the warmth for the touch of your partner. But in the land of constant snow there are these really cool mittens that you can wear that keeps the warmth of both parties. how sweet.

In some of these other lovely pictures you can see Sara and Rebekah far too excited to get on the bus to Santa Land!

There is also a picture of Sara on the Arctic Circle, a photo from the Rovaniemi airport...where there are lovely testaments to the big man himself and his eight furry friends, and a picture of Santa from a TV screen that is located outside the Santa-dungeon.

Also, to see Santa you must walk through a "magical wonderland" of Santa where you are actually experiencing what it would be like to walk through the north pole into his workshop. in reality this magical land was quite scary and dungeon-like. there were creepy noises, fire and ice, a larger than life clock, and strange noises from nature. i think there should have been an age limit for the santa dungeon because i could see any child under 6 years of age being quite terrified. anyway....

Santa is a man with an economic and rockstar plan. there was no flash photography allowed while in the Santa-dungeon and our entire experience was videotaped which could be purchased later at the end of our visit. as a group we decided to buy the large gift pack where we were able to get the copyrights of the pictures as well as the video. everyone is splitting the money so all in all it was not so expensive. as soon as i get those photos i will post them for sure.

We also taught Santa how to do the O-H-I-O.

Oh and also since Santa-Land is a tourist money trap you can also buy children's letters to Santa from all around the world for a small fee but rest assured the money goes to charity. Santa is such a giving man.

Overall, i give Santa-Land an A++. it was a nice adventure after a long flight and it was fun to cross the arctic circle. i especially enjoyed the christmas music from all around the world that was playing in the court yard. AND i also enjoyed the fact that we could send post cards from the North Pole with a special Santa stamp. Be on the watch out for those, coming your way.

And to all a good night,

Megan

Wanted: Elves from Santa's Villages

Much to my love, i have seen that the great MC has crossed the ocean to inspire the young minds of Finnish artists. I have no idea what this box is for, perhaps as a billboard or an electrical box, but i love the message behind it. if you think about it, it truly is time to 'stop! Hammer time!' With this in mind, I will humm the 'ooo-ooo-oh-oh' and sway my legs. Do as the message says and just let loose.

On to more exciting things, I have been to the artic circle. and as much as i would love to call myself a BAMF, i cant help but say that it was simply a tourist attraction and i was wearing my Sperrys and a shirt with roses on it. When i was 10 years old, I thought that if i would ever go to the artic circle, i would be adorned in wool and boots. As a presenter of environmental sustainability, i believe it is my right to say that my childhood fantasy has been ruined by global warming (or i dont know what im talking about because it is the middle of june).

Rovaniemi is considered the hometown of Santa Claus. It is pushed into my face every day when I exit my hotel (Hotel Santa Claus) complete with 2 elevators respectively called Snowball and Red Nose. Anyways, the main point of this blog is to tell each and every reader that there are no Elves in santas village. i asked a few workers if there were elves there, and i was being very serious because if there is santa there must be elves. if i can pay 3 euros for a stack of envelopes that children from all over the world send to santa, then why the hell cant they find people to make appearances with little curled up shoes and pointed ears. after i pondered this thought a lil further, i thought, "well, maybe their interpretation of elves are that they are tiny people and not dwarfs" So, i continued to look up in the trees and in small corners of the village to see if perhaps there are some small elves who are taking a holiday.

Fierce & Reindeer,

Sara Christmas

Moi!

Obviously ecstatic to get on the flight.

We're off to Finland! I feel like we have been planning our trip forever and now the time has finally come! This was my first international flight so I was concerned about how long we were going to be sitting in one place. our first flight was to jfk where we had a three hour layover but we were able to pass the time with cheap chinese food and chips ahoy.

The first thing i noticed when we got on the plane was the unusually tall, blonde stewardesses which was the first sign that we were going to a nordic country. the other large give away that this was not going to be your usual in-country flight was that all the safety directions were delivered in at least six different languages. is this part of their job description? can you only be a stewardess if you speak twelve different languages? i need to look this up.

if you plan on flying to any nordic country i would highly recommend finnair. it was a really great flight and there were TV screens in the back of the seats in front of you so we were able to choose what movie we wanted to watch. you could also choose between TV shows as well as music playlists. i recommend listening to finnish classical or finnish easy listening.

apparently on the flight over no one could sleep so when we got off the plane we all looked like zombies and were all disheveled. i tried my hardest to fall asleep but there were a couple of things that were out of my control that decided to keep me up for a majority of the flight. one large problem was that my seat was broken and couldn't recline...bummer. the lady in front of me decided to recline her seat all the way back...which i am happy that homegirl could get her sleep on but i am not a petite person so i cannot fit into small areas for long amounts of time. sara likes to say that it looked like i was in a bubble the entire time. i liked pretending that i was a mime and stuck inside a glass box since i couldn't move anywhere. anyway there was also a small child sitting next to me that was adorable at first....then she put on her headphones and insisted on screaming at the TV since obviously she couldn't hear herself. needless to say the flight over there was enjoyable but i wouldn't want that same situation to happen to me again.

overall, international flights are not as terrible as i was expecting. try a test drive before you sit down to make sure that your seat works...but there is always a possibility that it doesn't and you're forced to sit up straight for 7 hours. obviously avoid small children at all costs when flying over three hours.

that's all for now. - Megan