Review: Sleep Cycle App

I have used the Sleep Cycle App for iOS7 (?) for about 5 days now, the minimum for getting long term statistics. This morning, for the first time, the app woke me up. I couldn't figure out what the noise was for a moment. Although it was sweet to sleep in, because usually I wake up really early and  feel sleepy later in the day, there will be no therapeutic benefit to this. I already know that I have sleep apnea, and I have already signed up to have a sleep study next week. This app is just for fun. In the morning after I use it, I get to look at a jagged line graph of my sleep pattern the night before. Whoopee!

Book Review: The Book Thief

I read The Book Thief. It is by Markus Zusak, and it is a book narrated by a personification of death, about a German girl who lives in Nazi Germany during World War II. Death becomes interested in the girl after seeing her at the site of her brother's death, where she steals a book for the first time. Book theft seems to follow the story of the girl's life, through not having a stable family life, not owning anything, to eventually having a family and being able to read to give others pleasure and solace. What is the book about? I am not sure. Death follows the girl through her whole life, but only tells the part of her life story that has to do with the war.

I'm writing this after having read two more books, so I have trouble remembering things like the book's themes. I think the book thief is a girl who has to find her way at the same time that other characters are in danger of losing their paths through life. Caring for the girl helps those other people retain their humanity. She learns how to be a human being through her interactions with these other people.

A side note: It would be difficult for me to read a book about a character sympathetic to the Nazi regime. That is not an issue in this story. The girl identifies Adolf Hitler as the person ultimately responsible for the death and disappearance of her parents, so she has a solid hatred for him beginning early in the story.

Weight Loss Race

I just had an imaginary conversation with my new doctor who I will visit about my sleep apnea at the beginning of June. I know that he will want to tell me to lose weight because that has an impact on the condition. Here are my thoughts.

I want to get down to between 130 and 140 pounds. I weigh 175.5 pounds now. I weighed 180 on April 23rd. I think I can get down to 155 by September 23rd, or September 12th if I am lucky. September 12th is when Brad’s college reunion begins. I want to be down to my goal weight within four months of that date, and I want to remain at my goal weight through the time of my own college reunion, September of 2015.

I don’t want to try to get down to my high school weight, or my college weight. I was still growing during that period, and I am uncertain that those lower weights would be healthy for me. I want to get below or at 140 pounds, and feel good. I want to eat yummy food and do fun activities for exercise. I want to feel pretty and I do want to look great as well.

Nothing stands between me and my happiness except me, not my childhood weight or any other thing. Not that I have to be happy all the time; it’s one of life’s goals, but it is not possible to be happy all the time. Weight loss is important to me right now because it is obvious to me every day that it will help me live a better life. I live in a place where there are a lot of pretty people doing a lot of fun things outside, and I can't do all of those things as well as I would like to, because I am out of condition. Getting into condition goes hand in hand with losing weight. I also want to change my attitude toward myself right now. I can't tell yet whether I will be happy when I am thinner. My assumption is that I will probably feel the same way I do now. Therefore, I am practicing feeling good about myself now, while working toward becoming healthier and better.

I just watched the whole first year of the vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green's Brotherhood 2.0. Great job, guys! Wow. I watch the new videos too, as they arise, but I haven't begun checking out the affiliated sites yet. This is primarily a source of fun for me, but very occasionally they share actual information and ask provocative questions. Very occasionally. I think they're fun though, and they have good hearts.

11AM update
Book I am currently reading: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Miss E said the part of the movie she saw was really good but that we have to read the book before watching the movie.

Book I will read next: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. because i want to read the book before the movie comes out. while I will probably read the book thief before E, E will probably read this before I do. Miss P plans to read the book thief after I do.

The book I might read after that: Divergent by whoever it is. E said it good but not great, but I really liked the movie. good, complicated answers to provocative questions.
or the current picks for the Goodreads Nerdfighters group, which are Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Maximum City. These seem to both be about Mumbai, so I have to love that.

end of first week in may 2014 update

now that it is may 7, I would like to report that I am enjoying the vlogbrothers 2007 video correspondence. I am reading The Book Thief. It is good but weird, so right up my alley. I am watching the live streaming video from the International Space Station, which mostly shows pictures of Earth. Yay!

In two days I will go to Maryland. With my mother.

April Reviews Bring May ... ?

Reviews of recently consumed media, etc.

I can't believe it, but I'm watching MacGyver again. It's full of horrible cliches, but there is a beating heart of creativity underneath. I'll give it a few more chances.

I watched a fun film, In the Loop. It stars Peter Capaldi, who apparently now plays the Doctor in Doctor Who (I haven't seen him do this yet--still catching up on the Tennant years). Don't watch this with anybody unused to foul language. Capaldi will make his or her ears bleed. It's the story of British and American government staffers who are supposed to be working on a common project, but each person involved has his or her own ax to grind.

I just began reading Linda Simoni-Wastila's book, Pure. More later after I'm finished.

I'm also in the middle of Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer. This is the book about a writer for Slate who ends up falling in love with the subject of expanding his memory. It's a bit of a how-to book wrapped up in the history of memory enhancing techniques, with a description of contemporary memory competitions.

Now it is May, and I have finished Moonwalking with Einstein. Linda, I'm not done with your excerpt yet. I'm done with MacGyver. It became insupportable in season 3. Now I am watching the vlogbrothers 2007 Brotherhood 2.0 videos. Delightful. I am beginning my own vlog now.

Dance Photos (Grandparent alert)

These pictures are from December, when the girls' dance school allowed the parents to come in and watch. There are stills and videos.

Eleanor's Jazz class.

Ballet

Now, Phoebe.

Ballet first.

Then a picture from the beginning of Jazz class.

Pictures of the MSW Robotics Team at the 2012 Maryland State FLL Tournament

The MSW robotics team is in red shirts. In some pictures, you see them from the back, with "MSW" printed on the shirts. In the first picture, you can't really see the team, but they are standing on the upper level, in the back, underneath the two yellow and black signs.

Our side of the gym.

The other side of the gym.

The table.

The MSW team is on deck.

The first of a series of pictures of the team during the first two matches.

Second

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Phoebe with Eleanor and her new participation medal, and buttons other teams have given her. Next year, our team should have buttons.

This is a movie that Fox45 took of the last regular match of the tournament. Partway through, a team mate is interviewed. After that, the MSW robot is shown knocking over some little purple Legos. After that, you can see the MSW team cheering.

Sunscreens from 2011

I'm staring at the sun blocks that are left over from the summer. I want to remember which ones are left because we bought new bottles at the end of the season, and which ones are left because we forgot to throw them away.

Sun block testing strategies included using right before getting in an outdoor pool, using right before getting in the car to go swimming, using after swimming 10 minutes and with wet skin, and occasionally remembering to re-apply after 2 or 3 hours. Some testers swam with sunscreen on for 1-4 hours. Other testers sat in the shade or stood by the pool for 1 to 3 hours. Generally, these products did not cover well on wet skin. Most have a faintly white color which will release onto the black car interior. Sun burns mostly resulted from not applying sunscreen to an area. There were very few sun burns after using sunscreen, even though it was rarely reapplied.

Sun block sprays were rejected because they were costly and wasteful, and they made testers cough.

Products were always chosen with an eye toward a higher SPF, and ingredients that protect against UVA rays (titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, avobenzone).

Products did well when they smoothed on skin easily, were easy to use on all exposed skin, didn't hurt the eyes, didn't feel strange, didn't smell horrible, and were easy to put on by younger testers. Keep in mind that a lot of products will hurt the eyes if they've been opened for a while. Once last summer's bottle has been opened, it may hurt the eyes next summer.

The best sun screens we tried last summer were (drumroll, please):

No-Ad, big orange bottle, sport lotion with a claim to water and sweat resistance. This lotion is currently replaced by their big blue bottle, which has a higher SPF. Key ingredient protecting against UVA rays: Avobenzone. I know this ingredient has been associated with an increase in free radicals, but this product smoothes on easily and stays on a long time. It didn't hurt anyone's eyes, and it is pretty cheap.

Close second: Banana Boat lotion in the big orange bottle. Another sport product that is supposed to be water and sweat resistant. Key ingredient is also avobenzone. This works just as well as No-Ad, but it is more expensive.

Best face sun screen for the extra-sensitive person: Ocean Potion's Face 45 SPF Potion. Key ingredient: zinc oxide. This cream is easy to put on and provides good coverage. It was initially rejected in favor of a stick formula, until the tester concluded that the sun block sticks didn't go on the skin as well. This cream did not hurt the eyes. The container is Recycle #7, so it may not be recyclable.

Second place finisher in the face sun block category: Banana Boat's face sun block sticks. These were easily applied and had a clear finish. Younger testers can put this on by themselves, with just a check from an older person for coverage. Key ingredient: I don't remember, probably avobenzone. Container not recyclable.

The losers?

Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby. This sun block stick probably works fine, but it has a white finish when it is applied, which some testers hated. I have two of these sticks left. I should probably just toss them because nobody will want to use them.

Aveeno Baby Natural Protection Mineral Block SPF 30. This lotion works pretty well, but it has a slightly gritty texture. You will be disappointed if you use this as a hand lotion. It is only slightly irritating to the eyes. Key ingredient: titanium dioxide. This product does not come in a recyclable container and it is a moderate to expensive drugstore product.

Biggest loser: Coppertone Water Babies Pure & Simple SPF 50. I had high hopes for this product, but when it is applied the lotion tends to stick to where it is first applied so it is hard to use quickly. It has a gritty feel, so don't use it as a hand lotion. Key ingredient: zinc oxide. Waterproof.

Note for next year: find a lotion that is inexpensive, does not contain avobenzone, and that is not irritating.

A Recipe for Rye Bread

This is the recipe I used for my rye bread last weekend, taken from the book Recipes: The Cooking of Scandinavia, published as part of the Foods of the World series by Time-Life Books, 1974.

Suomalaisleipä - Finnish Bread

To make 1 loaf

4 packages active dry yeast (I used 3 tablespoons of yeast from a jar)

3 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1 and 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 cups rye flour

1 tablespoon soft butter

Sprinkle the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the brown sugar over 1/2 cup of the lukewarm water in the bowl where you will prepare the dough. Be absolutely sure that the water is lukewarm - neither too hot nor too cool to the touch. Let the mixture stand for 2 or 3 minutes, then stir it to dissolve the yeast completely. Set the cup aside in a warm, draft-free spot for 5 to 7 minutes or until the mixture has begun to bubble and has doubled in volume.

Add the remaining 3/4 cup of lukewarm water, and, with a wooden spoon, mix in the remaining 2 teaspoons of dark brown sugar, the melted butter, salt, all-purpose flour, and 1 cup of the rye flour. When the mixture forms a smooth dough, cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Knead the dough until it is elastic and smooth. I like to do this in my standing mixer with the dough hook. Kneading by hand works too. Butter the inside bottom of the bowl, or pour melted butter, cooled slightly, into it, then put the dough in, then flip the dough over so all sides of the dough are buttered. Let the dough rest this way, with the bowl loosely covered with plastic wrap. Put it in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in volume and no longer springs back when poked with a finger.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly butter a cookie sheet and then sprinkle the cookie sheet with rye flour, turning the cookie sheet over to knock off any excess flour. Shape the dough into a round, flat loaf, 9 or 10 inches in diameter, and set it on the cookie sheet. Bake 1 hour, or until the bread has a dark brown crust and a toothpick or skewer comes out dry and clean. Remove to a cake rack to cool, and serve, if possible, while the bread is still warm.

Review of a bit of Michel de Montaigne

Last night the book club discussed four essays by Michel de Montaigne, who published the first edition of his essays in 1580. As his name suggests, Montaigne was French; we read an English translation.

Of Cannibals

Of Cruelty

Of Repentance

Of Experience

Montaigne writes about himself, rather than about any single topic. He even says so. He says that although he isn’t an expert about anything else, there is one topic of which he is the supreme master: Michel de Montaigne.

Although the barriers of time, culture, and translation make it challenging to begin reading Montaigne, he writes about the same issues we talk about today: the law, virtue, cruelty, xenophobia, finding the right path through life. In fact, just when I said to myself, This topic is as fresh today as it was in 1580, Montaigne would add a quote from Seneca, who lived 4BCE--65AD. There is a huge advantage in recognizing the eternal nature of our problems. Montaigne probably admired Stoicism because of its focus on virtue, but our reading did not show him to think he was a perfectly virtuous man.

Montaigne does not initiate a topic, describe it fully, explain the advantages and disadvantages, and prescribe a solution. Instead, reading his essays is like listening to a good friend after dinner. He might give an anecdote related to the topic, as in “Of Cannibals,” and then just begin writing. Recent experience, old experience, stories he’s heard, people he’s met, all become part of the story. He explains that strangers have strange customs. If they were people we knew, their customs would seem ordinary and proper. We are also distracted by unimportant details. If a person from a strange land has lots of virtues which we respect, we may still point and say, But he’s not wearing any pants!

Of Cruelty is mostly about defining virtue, although Montaigne does give several examples of cruel punishments. He suggests that cruel punishments are enacted for the benefit of the crowd watching, not for the prisoner. It would be better to torture the body of a criminal after death, than before, because torturing a person, even a criminal, only underlines the cruelty of the punisher and the crowd.

Montaigne contends that virtue is not virtue unless it has been tested. If you live a quiet life at home and have everything your own way, how can you call yourself virtuous? A person needs temptation and trial to show virtue.

Of Repentance is about finding the right model to follow for living your life, but it also makes a curious statement that has been borne out time and again: “Natural inclinations gain assistance and strength from education; but they are scarcely to be changed and overcome.”

Of Experience starts off by comparing reason with experience, in the pursuit of knowledge. Reason is better, but experience is what we use when reason leaves us high and dry. Then the essay moves on to complain about the system of justice that has too many laws, and the system of following legal precedent which ignores the fact that no two incidences are truly the same.

Australia trip 4

November 20th. I snorkeled twice this morning, from Taka. I had thought I would do a “discovery dive” with an instructor, the second time. In the end, though, I snorkeled. I have seen LOTS of fish. Potato cod, trumpet fish, parrot fish, clown fish, red snapper, butterflyfish, shark, giant clam, nurse shark, bannerfish. I swam with Nick, then with Matt. At the end of the cod feed, Hiro brought the feed box up so the potato cod came nearly to surface, where I could see it. Yea! Now I am sunbathing. None of us should be sunbathing, of course. Bad for the skin.

Afternoon snorkeling was shorter, the Lighthouse Bommie, south of where we were in the morning. I saw a sea turtle! It was a hawksbill turtle. First I saw it gliding along the edge of the bommie. Then I cleared my goggles, and it was beginning to rise closer to me. I saw it surface a couple of times before swimming away from me. I practiced diving while snorkeling. I’m really bad at it, but it was fun. Snorkeling here while others scuba’d, was like playing in the bathtub instead of swimming.

I saw Nemo, 2 Nemos, early on, but then they disappeared. I saw a large school of narrow, silver-white fish with narrow orange stripes along the dorsal ridge (2 or 3). I saw another large school of yellowtail fusilliers, blue fish whose yellow tails resembled less-than or greater-than signs. After we were done at Lighthouse Bommie, the guests watched the crew put the dive ladders away. We saw a young hawksbill turtle and an olive sea snake surface next to our boat. Wahoo!

photos from australia trip 3

Australia trip 3

Wednesday, November 17th. Today began with rain, like Monday did. We had arranged to go on a guided hike, but the tour guide was late picking us up. When he arrived, he assured us that, by the time we got to the trail head, the weather would clear. It did. Yea! We had a 3-4 hour hike in and out of the Grand Canyon in Australia’s Blue Mountains. John, with Wildframe, was a terrific tour guide. His area of study is biology, and his hobby is raising orchids, plus he takes tour groups through this canyon more than once a week. He knows about most of the plants and animals there, and is humble enough to say “I don’t know” when confronted with a new species. Truly, the difference between taking the train to the summit and hiking on our own, and using John, was that John drove us from the hostel, he shared greatly of his knowledge of the area, and he was friendly and kind.

There are several canyons that all seem to meet in the middle, and there is an area where mountains give way to table lands. We walked down below the cliffs, which were at about 3,000 feet. I don’t know how deep this Grand Canyon is, but it took us about 2 and a half hours to walk to the bottom of it, stopping frequently to ask questions and take pictures. I wish I could show a picture of one of the orange crawfish we saw. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get close enough to get a good picture. We learned the difference in the appearance of the tree fern and the king fern. We learned what iron stone is. We found out that where iron stone forms a layer between layers of sandstone, sometimes a swamp forms above, and then beautiful waterfalls appear below. We saw lots and lots of eucalyptus trees, different kinds, and we learned about how eucalyptus responds to forest fires. We saw different kinds of acacia, and also banxia. We saw parrots and cockatoos, and carrawongs, and Australian crows--which sounded just like cats.

Thursday evening, November 18th. We’re at the Cairns Central YHA, waiting for Pizza Hut to arrive with 30 pizzas. It’s $5 pizza night! Lots of hungry young men and women’s hopes for an early dinner were dashed when the receptionist announced that Pizza Hut was one hour behind schedule. 30 pizzas!

Tomorrow, at 5pm, we will leave for Cod Hole and the Coral Sea (Osprey Reef). Brad will scuba dive, and I will snorkel or laze about on the boat. We’ll be gone until Tuesday at 2:30pm, and we probably won’t have internet access. Have a lovely weekend!

Australia trip 2

Tuesday, Nov. 16th. We went to Watson’s Bay, and also bought touristy stuff. The ferry trip was a highlight. Our hats almost blew off. There is a cliff at Watson’s Bay, Camp Cove, where you can see the Pacific Ocean. It’s historic significance is first as the place where people would watch for ships, and then as a fortification. Now it is a national park. The cliffs are beautiful, the drop looks huge. Lots of plants I hadn’t seen before. There were signs that people are planting young plants in areas where there is only dirt now. Maybe young native plants.

I don’t know if we really bought aboriginal art gifts, but they were advertised that way. I liked the quilting squares and the coasters. I did not like the kangaroo scrotum pouches.

We keep over-eating. It’s hard when the portions are big and the menu is tempting. Today was pancakes and eggs, then fish and chips. The price of the fish and chips was astronomical-40 AUD!!!!

The hostel offered $5 burgers for dinner, so we had those and met some of our fellow travelers. Now we are doing laundry and drinking sparkling shiraz. Tomorrow we have a guided hike in the Blue Mountains. Thursday we probably check out on time (10am) and then leave for Cairns in the afternoon.

Australia Trip, Part 1

It’s five a.m. and I”m awake. Brad is trying to sleep. I went to sleep sometime after 7pm. I woke up at 9:45, 3 and 4. I’m fine. It’s just an adjustment to be in a time zone so far from home.

I got into the Sydney intl airport at about 8am yesterday, local time of course. Brad waited outside the security area while I was asked about foreign plants, controlled substances, and so on. I have a new stamp in my passport now. Yea!! I’ll have to look at that sometime. When Brad got me, we took the train to Central Station, near Sydney Harbour. The train had cars where some sections were double-decker. More coolness! We got off at Central, and walked to Cumberland Street, where the Sydney Harbour-the Rocks YHA youth hostel is located. I love it here. Although the room has no shampoo or tv, it has everything else. It’s quite similar to rooms I had in Finland hotels.

I took a shower, rested, then we headed out. It began to rain and rained until I fell asleep in the evening. We ate silly food yesterday. I had pancakes for lunch, and Brad had eggs benedict. At dinnertime, Brad had a dark chocolate milkshake while I had a Belgian waffle with dark chocolate-dipped fruit.

We shopped. There’s a bookstore near here with a selection of books that I like. I’d like to have the entire collection transported to my home. Then I could weed out the titles I don’t care for, later. Somebody at this store likes the Penguin publishing company a lot. There were two different Penguin series available. This was how I learned that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It may be simply that because Penguin is British, there's more traffic in Penguin books here. Back home, I live near a distribution point for Random House, and there is a large percentage of Random House books in our local bookstores.

I found a brown, broad-brimmed hat that I like. The humidity here means that, when I wear the hat, my hair makes a kind of half-sphere under the hat. Not really, but I do have very puffy hair in this weather. It’s like Baltimore in May or June.

It’s late spring here. There seems to be a lot of wisteria in Sydney, including a dark purple kind that is new to me. There are conifers and palms growing side by side. Brad and I walked to the Botanic Gardens. This collection has a lot of plants from other parts of the world, and I wasn’t always able to tell which ones were from where. We stopped to smell many roses. There was also a giant honeysuckle. The birds we saw were fun surprises. There are magpies here, which I have also seen in my home state of Washington, and in Finland. We also saw something like an ibis, and a smaller bird whose habits reminded me of a killdeer, except that it didn’t walk on the ground much. There were pigeons, and some kind of local gull. Also a duck that looked a lot like a Mallard, but wasn’t one.

Birds

I saw a swallow in Finland that I hadn't seen before. It is called a barn swallow, or Haapäärasky. I will show photos of a Haapäärasky and of a North American barn swallow. Here is Maryland, we sometimes see barn swallows, as well as Purple Martins, Tree Swallows and Bank Swallows. I'm not sure, but I think our local barn swallows are the most common where I live. The local barn swallows have a buff-colored breast, blue wings, and rust-colored areas on the throat and head.

Trip to FInland, 4

Food

I loved the food I ate in Finland. From the coffee to the fish soup. Especially the fish soup. There were so many kinds of rye bread, too. One for every town, it seemed. Then there were Tarja's pastries, yeasted sweet rolls, and Wille's enormous pancakes. I liked the sausage, the cheese, but especially the potatoes. Those potatoes were delicious, every last one of them. Boy, what potatoes!

I had fun seeing how people made their coffee. Most often, I saw the yellow coffeemaker at Ilpo and Merja's summer house. It looked a lot like my coffeemaker at home, except it was yellow and prettier. Then there was Elsa Bergmann's percolator. I had never made coffee in a percolator before, believe it or not. Freshly prepared percolator coffee is just fine, quite tasty. The Moccamaster coffeemakers were funny, two-part affairs that looked like they sat on a two-burner hotplate. I liked them all, and all the coffee they made. What fun! At home, Brad and I have tried making coffee many different ways, over the years. It's always fun to try a new coffee gadget.

Now that I'm home, I want to find recipes for rye flatbreads. I want to make that fish soup, probably with salmon. I want, need to find a recipe for the shaved beef with gravy. And I have promised myself to choose my potatoes more carefully.

Here in Maryland, I often try to buy local food. In Finland, I didn't worry about that. And I know that the Finnish tomatoes I ate came from greenhouses. I might not eat a greenhouse tomato at home. In Finland, I ate grapes from Egypt. I think it would have been wonderful to have some wild Finnish blueberries, if I'd been there in late July (or August?), but the grapes were good too. I certainly ate some local bread and fish, and other foods too. I didn't talk to people about what a local-food diet might be, but the food I ate was wholesome and tasty. Here, have a strawberry, or maybe a potato. And please, pass that salmon over my way.

Trip to Finland, 3

Ilpo and Merja's summer property is very, very pretty. I spent an afternoon with his father, Angervo, walking through the garden. Angervo told me the Finnish names of the flowers. Much of the time all we could do was giggle and shrug at each other, but it was fun. In Finland, in early July, this is what I saw blooming: daylilies, roses, California poppies, lupins, and strawberries. The peonies had buds but no flowers yet. I did not see ants on the peonies there the way we do in Maryland. There were lots of mosquitoes, just like people said there would be. We were okay though. Lots of Off! was used, roll-on for bare skin, spray for clothes. I liked walking around Tornio and seeing the light in the sky. I could imagine that a painter would really enjoy being that far north in the summertime, to try and catch the light. I could watch the river all day. The river was always different, and always at the end of the path through the grass.

Trip to Finland, 2

I'd like to write a bit more about the night train. I really enjoyed myself on the train. For me, the train represents travel without having to drive, or having to think about driving. In Finland, taking the night train meant I could travel for 10 and a half hours without driving, and while getting some sleep. I would like to do that again on another trip. It was convenient, and I liked seeing the "railroad" side of the towns we passed through when I was awake.

Much of Finland is flat, and there are a great many trees there; I saw a lot of fir and birch. There were lots and lots of rivers and lakes.

Small note about Avis Car Rental in Kemi. Use them. Oskar brought our rental car to the train station for us, and waited at the end of the platform so he could wave at us when we arrived.