Walking in snow using trekking poles. It's like cross country skiing
without any skiies. Hands work the same way. It's good excercise. It's
better to walk with those "canes" or "sticks" when paths and roads are
slippery of ice. Especially elderly people enjoy going out with sticks.
You could try it in sand too, like on the beach. I planned to try in
Singapore but never did. Nor I didn't in Australia. But I still have my
sticks with me and I am going to use them some day.
In Finland there is usually snow from mid November to mid April. Summer
comes in the end of May and lasts 2 to 3 months. There might be around
10 to 20 hot days in a year, ie. days when temperature goes over +25
celsius.
I used to live in this little flat for a bit more than 2 years before moving to Singapore. That was nicest place I have ever had, a 60 square meter flat in the second floor. One big living room, kitchen in one end of it and balkony in the ohter end, a little bedroom, bathroom with attached little sauna. And a little toilet of course. I was living all by myself. In Finland unmarried adults usually don't live with their parents like in Singapore and many other countries. Of course, when my grandparents were young there were big extended families. Now there is the welfare state. Elderly people get their pension and they are taken care by the government. Students get benefits and loans from the government and they can rent apartment in students dormitory if nothing else found, and of course they can live with their boy/girlfiends already before getting married, or not marry at all. If you are working you can loan money from any bank to buy an apartment. Having debt will reduce your income tax a bit. Finland is a country of rather high taxes, 30% income tax is quite normal. It's because of the social security. I don't think it is bad at all.
First go in to the little house you see on the left. Take your clothes
off, sit for a while in hot sauna (often more than 100 degrees
celsius). When you have heated yourself run out and jump into the ice
cold sea. That really was my great fun there. These pictures were taken just a few weeks before I left to Singapore.
