Snow Castle of Kemi

... at the border of Sweden and Finland is split down the middle by a river, Haparanda on the Swedish side and Tornio on the Finnish side (bizarrely 1 hour later too). There's no official border sign, but that the last thing you pass on the Swedish side is Ikea is symbolic enough! By this time it was about We trudged to the Finnish side and stayed at a non-descript hotel... and that was it for today!

... I finished exploring Tornio (there's not much more to it) I hopped a bus back to Kemi and wandered around there for a while, while I waited for the train back to Oulu. Not much to Kemi either, though there is quite a nice Marina. Tomorrow I'm catching an early train (actually several trains and a bus) to Pori, where I'll spend Juhanus - Midsummer. Hopefully today's good weather will carry on in Pori, as midsummer promises to be an excellent celebration :)

... factory where both he and Margaret now work. He was not able to get off work today. We learned more about how the Doh's are acclamating to life in Finland. I marvel how well they do as it is so cold and dark and the language is a challenge. So so different from the equatorial climate they came from in Thailand! But, freedom anad opportunity was the choice they made over living as refugees in the Merimoo camp in Thailand.. All of them are keenly aware what is ...

... he can find it. The train has gone. But, since we had come to the end of the train line, the cars were moved to a rail yard and he was able to get on it to look. He checked the sleeping compartment. Not there. Then he went to the dining car where we were the previous night. Finally, his passport was discovered wedged under the seat by the person with Bruce. They almost missed it. Anyway, Bruce came back triumphantly. Crisis averted. I was ...

... came into the then Worldwide Church of God. We had often heard that term "Karen brethren" in the Church. Well, that's who these people are who I visited. Now, some of them are in the United Church of God. The flight from Helsinki up to Kemi took a little over an hour. Outside it's dark from 3 pm on in Helsinki and it was dark throughout my entire stay in Kemi. It is such a great contrast from this summer when there was no darkness. As I landed I noticed that ...

... building a mall and apartment complex that will span both countries, as well as, you guessed it, a huge IKEA (which, as carol ann and i always knew, they pronounce eye-kay-ah in swedish). it made me think a lot about cooperation and seeing difference as a resource rather than hinderance. here, the border which once divided the people of these twin towns is now their greatest asset, bringing in ...

... Doh's apartment about five miles away. He has had his driving license for only five days. We learn that Meung Aye is Burmese who served in the Burmese army and fought against the Karen, but who came over to the Karen and lived in their refugee camp. He is also a Buddhist. When we arrive at the apartment I recognize Margaret by her voice. I have been speaking to her a number of times by phone from Indiana and now see her in person. We feel we ...

... name of Peter Schubbe. He has gotten many people on to our Bible Study Course up in Tallinn. I had never spoken to him before but found him engaging and enthusiastic. We are planning to have the Feast of Tabernacles in Estonia open to outside the country transfers in 2007. I spoke to our hotel director Iris Allorg about this and we going to start planning and preparing for an exciting Feast that we hope to hold partly in Tartu and partly on the island of Saaraama. We ...

... the docks until 11.30am so we decided to explore the town and try and find the LumiLinna (SnowCastle). We found our way to the sea front and there it was in all it's winter glory, but it was only 9.30am and it didn't open until 10am. But all was not lost, as we looked around our eyes fell upon some reindeer! There on the frozen sea was a tepee and about 5 reindeer. We had a chat with the little man in the tepee and he said we could have a 30-40 minute ride over the ice. So at 10am we ...

... to get me addicted to "snus." Nina is the name of the crazy girl who was hosting this get-together. Her hair color is a vanilla frosting shade of blonde, and it's cut like a shag. She has a sunny disposition and a nice little, happy-as-a-clown face and gravelly-blue eyes. The crazy girls wore towels and got themselves ready, drank beer and white wine, and danced to Swedish techno music. Vegetarian Nina introduced me to a political rap CD made by a bearded, white ...