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englishHow fit are YOU?
Exactly about this question was the last weekend when all of us showed up for the Finnmap fitness test. I didn’t worry too much about the whole thing, after all I just finished a half marathon and was feeling pretty good in shape. But the test results showed that apparently I was wrong. Generally the measurements showed that I should definitely continue working on my body. But may that was only because I decided to make one week of training break after the half marathon (or maybe not 
). But because of these results, I was even more motivated for the afternoon where I did my first orienteering since my scout times. After 9km (which on the map looked like 6km), I was definitely hooked with this new sport, and I’m pretty sure that I will go to a few orienteering runs next year, just to give it a try.
Decided to excercise more, I started this week already on sunday with a 65km bike tour, on which I realised that 1.) autumn definitely arrived in Helsinki and 2.) I urgently have to buy me some Finland suitable biking clothing. On the search for more intense training methods I then stumbled upon intervall training and thought that I will give it a try. Which I did twice this week on my new home course. So after all this was a very successful week. While I’m still enjoying today, experimenting with Fajitas in the kitchen, there is already my first evening orienteering waiting for me tomorrow.
With full speed… against the wall
Today was the day, half marathon day. Preperations already started yesterday with a pre-race-sauna and continued after some nervous sleep this morning with the traditional spaghetti carbo loading (should one still do that today?). As the start of the run was quite easy for me to reach by bus, I still had plenty of time for some warm-up and to prepare myself mentally for the run. Finally at 13:15 the race started.
After just a few meters, I was trapped within the other runners, and soon I realised that I had gone over my marathon puls. But because I was fealing great I didn’t worry too much, which come back at me around marker 13. The big collapse came at kilometer 18.8 where I hit the wall and had to switch to walking for a while… Anyways, I reached the end and with an endtime of 2:04:56 I’m quite happy. Even though the 2hr limit still stays to be beaten, according to my table this should at least be a new personal best.
With much proud therefore the participants medal is now shining from my wall (where otherwise there is only my cerealbox art frames). At least some good use for these screws of the former tenant.
Pääkaupunkijuoksu 2011
It has been a long time since my last half marathon. But as I had such a great experience during the Helsinki Midnight Run, I thought I will once again give it a try. After searching the internet I finally found the Pääkaupunkijuoksu (“capital city run”). Still taking place in September, this is the perfect event to end my running season before the foreign projects start again. Out of curiousity I looked up a few of the half marathons in the past and found the following list (I’m pretty sure that I did more, but these are all the results I found):
| Schwarzwaldmarathon | 2005 | 2:29:39 |
| Tessin Marathon | 2005 | 2:16:32 |
| Rhylauf | 2006 | 2:12:44 |
| Zürich Marathon | 2006 | 4:56.30 |
| Rhylauf | 2007 | 2:19:39 |
| Schwarzwald Marathon | 2007 | 2:15:05 |
Looking at the time table I’m setting my goal for this run to be below 2 hours. At first sight, this might seem quite ambitious, but during a recent 18km Testrun, I managed to beat the pace limit of 05:40 min/km (which would be required for the 2hrs). So at the moment I’m still quite confident that I will walk away as a personal winner…
Olen myös suomalainen
Yes, now I’m a Finn too! – Ok, not really, but I finally got my finnish ID-card, which will make a few things much easier. No more running around with my passport in my pocket all the time. I still don’t know yet if I will have to get a finnish driving license or not, but as I’m not driving around Finland yet, there is no urge to take care of that.
Additionally I absolved in my first finnish language course. Even though I have been learning finnish vocabulary for the past few months, this basic introduction to the language improved my understanding of the finnish language quite a bit. Not that I would be able to speak much finnish yet, but I’m sure that this will come with time as well. Unfortunately the next language course will have to wait until the foreign projects are over.
Vappu 2011
I guess since IGSM 2006 in Cracow, every Finn I met told me about Vappu and tried to persuade me to join them for this special event. So now here I am! I got the full Vappu-experience, including pre-vappu-sauna-party in Otaniemi, Vappu-opening, Vappu-parade and washing of Havis Amanda up to the traditional Vappu-picnic at Kaivopuisto. After all I have to say that this really was an incredible week, and I was happy that a few of my friends from Switzerland were joining me. Like that I was at least not the only Vappu-virgin in our group…
IGSM 2011
Just a week after my return from Nepal, it was time for this years IGSM. I was really looking forward to this meeting. The meeting was organised by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where it was already held 10 years earlier. Having talked a bit to the organizers during the Meeting in Croatia, I knew that they were on a good track with organising everything. So I was not surprised that this meeting turned out to be a pleasure to participate. Thanks to everybody who was involved and hopefully see you all next year again…
My “third place”
When I was working at Starbucks, I learned that one of the goals was to create a so called “third place”. A place besides home and your workplace where you can feel good. A place where you can relax and just enjoy your time. Now I finally understand what it’s all about. I found my personal third place.
When I’m returning from countries like Nepal (or Laos), I often use Bangkok airport as an intermediate stop. The second time I was there I finally found the Starbucks store at one end of the terminal, and I immediately felt at home. Even though I still have a 10 hour flight before me, this place takes all the stress and annoyances away from me, and it almost feels like being home again. Thank you Starbucks…
Nepal: same same but different
After a quick stop in Switzerland and Finland, I’m back in Nepal for over a month now. Not much changed since the last time I was here. Our Finnmap office is now located at an even bigger mansion, which is located a little bit further away from the airport. Luckily our project manager also moved the sauna, so that we can still enjoy our frequent sauna/beer evenings on the rooftop 
. Power cuts here in Kathmandu increased during the last months from 4hrs/day to incredible 14hrs/day! And when our water tank is empty from time to time, because the neighbours tap our water supply, then it get’s a little bit annoying here.
Work-wise we are slowly approaching the end of our project. Looking back, I have to say that we had more “challenges” than usual. In total we had problems with two of our laser systems, two times the camera gave me some headaches and in addition to that my company laptop and my private notebook broke down. Somehow it appears that there is a dark cloud hanging over the whole project, and I’m really happy that we have soon survived all this.
As I’m here with our new navigator, of course we went to do the usual sightseeing program: monkey temple, stupa and a few visits in Thamel:
Vang Vieng – Luang Prabang – Oudomxai and back
As we are progressing with our work, we stopped at several stations along our flightpath. To increase the flying time of our helicopter, I drove most of the time together with our GPS-crew. Like this I had plenty of chances to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Lao countryside.
Mit dem Fortschreiten unseres Projektes, kommen wir auch an immer mehr Orte entlang unseres Flugkorridors. Um das Fluggewicht zu verringern und somit die Flugzeit des Helikopters zu erhöhen, fahre ich regelmässig mit der GPS-Crew zum nächsten Dorf und hab so unterwegs die Möglichkeit, die schönen Landschaften Laos zu geniessen.
Vang Vieng
There are many places in Laos, which are full of tourists, but none of them is like Vang Vieng. Full of drunk teenage-tourists, this city was for sure not my most favorite place to stay, even though the surrounding carst mountains are really beautiful (especially if you fly over them in the helicopter ).
Viele Orte in Laos sind voller Touristen, doch keiner ist wie Vang Vieng. Lauter betrunkene Teenager aus aller Welt, welche für die verschiedenen Outdoor-Aktivitäten hier sind. Auch wenn die Gesellschaft nicht sehr angenehm ist, die Karstberge, welche die Stadt umgeben sind extrem eindrücklich (vor allem aus der Helikopterperspektive )
Luang Prabang
The old capital city managed to keep it’s french colonial charme throughout the years. No surprise that this city is the number 1 place-to-visit for all the backpackers and tourists.
Die alte Hauptstadt hat noch immer den alt-französischen Kolonialstil aus alten Zeiten. Kein Wunder ist diese Stadt das Nr.1 Reiseziel aller Touristen und Backpacker.
Oudomxai
Maybe the only stop which is worth being called “the real Lao”. There is literally nothing going on in this town. The major language spoken here is for sure chinese, and after that mostly lao and for sure not much english. There is just a buddha statue and a stupe next to it, which one could call tourist attractions. Other than that, I counted a total of 5 bars/cafes in town, none of which I would call a “real” restaurant. Made it easier to choose where to go for a beer in the evening…
Dies war wahrscheinlich der einzige Stop während unserem Projekt, welchen man als Beispiel des “richtigen Laos” bezeichnen könnte. Es gab buchstäblich nichts interessantes in dieser Stadt. Durch die hohe Anzahl Chinesen die hier leben, spricht man heute schon mehr chinesisch als Lao, und erst recht nicht englisch. Es gibt eine Buddhastatue mit einer kleinen Stupa daneben, aber das war’s dann auch schon an Touristenattraktionen. Ansonsten hab ich insgesamt 5 Bars/Cafés gezählt, wobei ich keine dieser Locations als “richtiges” restaurant bezeichnen würde. Jedenfalls war so die Wahl der Bar für das Feierabendbier stark vereinfacht…
Vientiane
The final part of the railroad was back in Vientiane. Finally back in our really nice hotel, in a more civilized world with a huge pool and a real finish sauna.
Das letzte Teilstück des Eisenbahnprojekts war dann wieder in der Umgebung von Vientiane. Endlich wieder zurück in unserem schönen Hotel, in einer zivilisierteren Welt mit einem riesigen Pool und einer richtigen finnischen Sauna.
