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Helsinki

My Favorite Restaurants in Helsinki

by Audrey March 22, 2020

written by Audrey

This quarantine life has hit so many businesses in what seems like a blink of the eye. Restaurants have been hit especially hard, which is why I’m doing what I can to support local restaurants and businesses. It has actually been beautiful to see communities come together and support each other. No matter how small you think your part is, every little act of kindness make a difference. I’m truly hopeful that the entire world will come out of this as more social and compassionate human beings. 💖

For now, I thought I’d reminisce about my favorite food spots in Helsinki until we can meet again.

Lunch Culture 🍽

Before I dive into my favorite lunch spots in Helsinki, I thought I’d share a bit about the differences in lunch culture between here and LA.

People actually go to lunch – The lunch culture in Helsinki is big. I never see people skip lunch and in fact, most people take their full lunch break, even if they decide to bring their own lunch to work. Back in LA, I would often skip lunch, or eat my lunch at my desk while I was working.
Meet up friends for lunch – Since Helsinki is pretty small, if you work anywhere near the city center, then it’s doesn’t take long to meet up people for lunch. This makes it really easy to stay connected with friends or have business/networking lunch meetings. There have been weeks where I had lunch with a different person each day.
Lunch card – Many businesses offer a lunch card benefit, which further encourages people to go out for lunch, especially with other colleagues. Your company basically pays 25% of your lunch up to €10.70. So basically free moneyyyy, why wouldn’t I take advantage?
Buffets galore – Buffets and salad bars are really common during lunch. Tons of restaurants either have a limited lunch menu with an accompanying salad bar or a full on buffet. They’re usually around that €10.70 lunch card price point. This has been a tough thing for me to get used to, because I have such a hard time with portion control. 🤦🏽‍♀️I often joke that I’m a 300 lbs (90 kg) man living in a 115lbs (52 kg) woman.
People don’t share food – When I started going to lunch with colleagues, I would ask if anyone wanted to share or split different dishes, and I got some weird looks. It’s not common for people to share food here. In Asian cuisine, we often eat family style, where we order several dishes and everyone shares. That’s how I grew up eating. Even in LA with my non-asian colleagues or friends, we often ordered different things and shared so that we could try several dishes. I’m just a lover of food, and I enjoy being able to try different things. Why order two of the same dish, when you can order two different ones?

Best Lunch Restaurants in Helsinki 🌮

Ok now that you how we do lunch in Helsinki, here’s where to go…

Vibami – Favorite Vietnamese spot. My go to dish is the Bun Thit Nuong.
Lie Mie – Vietnamese & Korean fusion. Shanghai Tacos are bomb diggity. Also, their lunch salad bar is 🔥.
Taqueria Lopez y Lopez – Favorite Mexican spot. Al pastor tacos. Enough said.
Xiao Mei Lin – Juicy soup dumplings and pan fried dumplings.
Red Koi Thai – Where I get my Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, and Panang Curry on.
Fat Ramen – Best ramen in Helsinki. This is in the Hietalahti Market Hall, which by the way you can’t go wrong at any of the restaurants in here. I’ve tried them all, and they all get my stamp of approval.
Bali Brunch – Hip and delicious Indonesian spot. Rendang plate is my jam.
Hoku – Hawaiian Japanese fusion restaurant. Everything is delicious, especially the chicken katsu and salmon teriyaki.
Social Burger – My favorite burger joint in Helsinki.
Kabuki – The closest I can get to good sushi and Japanese food.
Sandro – Middle Eastern & African cuisine. This is one of the lunch buffet spots, but I’m into it. There’s always such a colorful spread with lots of great healthy options.
Cargo – Really good vegetarian option. Their menu changes daily. I don’t know what they put in this yellow spread they have for their bread, but I just want to drink it.

Best Dinner Restaurants in Helsinki 🍝

Farang – Asian fusion restaurant. A dinner spot to splurge and do the wine pairings. Everything was fantastic.
The Bull & The Firm – Tapas style dishes that change seasonally and according to local ingredients available. They also have really good cocktails and natural wines.
Pur Pur – My first time trying Georgian food, and it didn’t disappoint. Khachapuri, Pelmeni, beef shashlik, and some Georgian red wine, yes please!
Shelter – I’ve been here twice now, and their food is quality, but really I’d just go there for their Finnish malt bread. Seriously, the best bread I’ve ever had, hands down! 🤩
Juuri – So far my favorite Finnish restaurant.
Via Tribunali – THE spot for Neapolitan pizza.
Korea House – The closest I can get to some Korean BBQ.

Filipino Restaurants in Helsinki 🇵🇭

I never would have guessed that Helsinki would have a Filipino food scene, let alone five Filipino restaurants! I’ve tried almost all of them now, and even though most of them are more fusion or inspired, they’re all actually masarap (delicious)!

Platito – This is a Spanish Filipino tapas restaurant. I recommend getting the Filipinas and España platters so you can try the best of both cuisines.
Sentro – I was finally able to find my favorite Filipino dish here, sisig! Ugh, so good.
Kamalig – The most authentic of all the Filipino restaurants I’ve tried. They’ve got the most traditional dishes like adobo and sinigang. Just like home.
Pobre – If you’ve never tried Filipino food, this is the perfect place to try it out. Filipino inspired dishes that are approachable, and more importantly delicious!
Paisano – From the same people who started Pobre. It’s Filipino food with a twist and tapas style so you can try a variety. I also have to mention that the cocktails are superb!
Kainan – Ok so this is the one I haven’t tried yet. Also, it’s in Espoo not Helsinki. When I’ve asked other Filipinos here what they’re favorite Filipino restaurant is, I’ve been told Kainan is the place to go. I definitely need to make my way out here.

Best Desserts in Helsinki 🍦

To be honest I haven’t explored the dessert scene in Helsinki that much yet, but here are a few must try places that I have ran across. I do have to mention that my favorite dessert is ice cream, and for some reason the artisan ice cream scene hasn’t landed here yet. That’s surprising because Finland is 4th in the world for countries that eat the most ice cream per capita. I haven’t ran into any good ice cream shops, just ice cream stands with basic ice cream flavors. There are a few specialty brands that you can find at the grocery stores, but no freshly made ice cream with intricate flavors like Salt & Straw and Ginger’s Ice Cream in LA.

Suklaakeisari – The best raw chocolate in all of Finland! Guilt-free and freaking delicious chocolate. They’re sold in several cafes around town, but you can order them directly online.
Kanniston Leipomo – Great coffee, and even better pastries! They also bake their own bread. You’ve got to try some traditional Finnish pulla.
Petiscaria – This is a Portuguese restaurant in the Hietalahti Market Hall, but I go there for their Pastel de Nata. My favorite pastry from Lisbon.
Brooklyn Cafe & Bakery – Best cupcakes in town from two sisters from Brooklyn. Red Velvet and Carrot Cake, need I say more?
Jätskiauto (Ice Cream Truck) – Yes, you’re reading that right. We have an ice cream truck that comes a couple times a month around our neighborhood, and they have these Toffeevene bars which are toffee flavored ice cream with a toffee sauce in a waffle boat. Bomb dot com.

Favorite Local Restaurants in Jätkäsaari 🏡

I live in the Jätkäsaari area of Helsinki, which is a pretty new area. There’s tons of construction going on, as it’s still being built out. Restaurants only started popping up in the last year or so. Since we’re in quarantine, and a lot of the restaurants in this area are quite new, I really want to do my part to help support the local restaurants and businesses. Since being in quarantine, I’ve been cooking dinners, but grabbing takeout or delivery lunches from the nearby restaurants. I’ve been trying a different one every day and so far these are my favorites.

Urbine – I really dig the living room vibe of this restaurant. Really cool decor and cafe-style food is good too. The menu changes daily, and right now they’re doing free deliveries when you order 2 or more items.
Malaga Bar – This was a great local bar that sometimes had live music. It’s also dog friendly, which is always a plus. Their pizettas are yummy!
Vacco – The Diavolo and Vacco pizzas were 👍🏽
Faro – I love going to this place during the summer because it’s along the canal and has a beautiful patio and view. Their portions are huge and the food is fresh. But, the real reason I go here is for Finnish pancakes on Thursdays. There’s a tradition in Finland that every Thursday, you have pea soup and pancakes. I’m not really a fan of the pea soup, but I can eat Finnish style pancakes all day. They’re much denser and sweeter than American pancakes, yum!
Vessel Burger – My local burger joint. My favorite is the Gorgeous Goat. They also have a Bistro restaurant next door, but I haven’t had the chance to try it yet.
Be My Guest – Cute little Vietnamese restaurant. The bread on their Banh Mi is legit.
Ismet – Kebab spot, which is my go-to for hangover or cheat days.

So those are my favorite restaurants in Helsinki that I’ve been able to try so far. There are so many more on my list to try, so look out for an updated list in the future. Until we can get back into the restaurants, let’s all try to support them however we can. Thanks for reading!

March 22, 2020 2 comments

Helsinki Travel

Is Santa from Finland?

by Audrey November 29, 2019

written by Audrey

It’s officially the holiday season! I’ve already started jamming my Spotify Christmas playlists. Rambo also got his first Christmas Calendar from Kimmo’s parents, so that will be a new tradition. He gets a treat every day in December until the big day. How cute is this?

The history of Santa

If you ask a Finn, they’ll probably tell you that Santa is from a town called Korvatunturi in Lapland. I know when Kimmo told me this, I almost believed him. But as any good partner would do, I questioned him and googled the facts. Haha!

St Nicholas, the generous medieval Christian saint believed to be the inspiration behind the modern-day Santa Claus, was bishop of the small Roman town of Myra in the 4th Century in what is now Turkey. Turkey, what? Then where did the stories of snow, reindeer, and northern lights come from?

Before Christianity and Santa came to Finland in the Middle Ages, Finns celebrated a pagan mid-winter festival called Yule where men dressed as Nuuttipukki wandered from house to house, came in, and demanded food, especially booze. Nuuttipukki was a scary character (like Krampus) dressed in fur jackets, birch bark masks and horns. The Nuuttipukki were evil spirits; if they didn’t get what they wanted, they would make loud noises and scare children.

When St. Nick came along during the 1800s, his image blended with Nuuttipukki to create Joulupukki (‘Yule Goat’). Joulupukki handed out gifts instead of demanding them. Unlike Santa Claus who climbs down the chimney, Joulupukki would knock on the door and ask “Onko täällä kilttejä lapsia?” (“Are there any well-behaved children here?”).

In November 2017, Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture approved Joulupukki (or Finnish Santa Claus tradition, as it is known today) to be included in the National Inventory of Living Heritage (part of Unesco). This was huge for Finland, and strengthened its position as the country where Santa Claus lives.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20171221-does-santa-claus-come-from-finland

Visiting Santa in Lapland

Okay now that you got the history lesson, let’s talk about meeting Santa and real reindeer! I might be a little partial to the fat man because I was a huge fan as a kid, so when Kimmo told me he was going to take me to Santa’s official home, I was pretty stoked. We visited two places in Rovaniemi last November, and I’ll give you the lowdown on both.

Santa’s Village

Santa’s Village is free to visit, but you pretty much have to pay for any activity you do there.

Picture with Santa – If you want your kiddos to meet the real Santa, the jolly man in the post office is as good as it gets. They take a high-quality video of your visit and he genuinely asks about you and what you wish for Christmas. When I went in 2018, I wished for Kimmo and I to finally be able to live together in the same country, and guess what? A few months later, Kimmo proposed to me and I got a job in Helsinki! The man made my Christmas wishes come true and I have a video from that day to remember it by =)
Real Reindeer – I just about freaked out when I got to see real reindeer doing sleigh rides! They’re adorable. The only thing disturbing was that there was a reindeer restaurant right next to it, so after you meet the reindeer, you can also eat reindeer. Santa should probably think about making these two things further apart from each other.
Husky Park – We didn’t actually go in here because we didn’t want to pay the extra entrance fees, but from what we could see when we peeked through the fence, there were tons of cute huskies excited to greet the guests.
Cross the Arctic Circle – The Arctic Circle is a circle of latitude that runs 66°33′45.9″ north of the Equator. It marks the southernmost latitude where the sun can stay continuously below or above the horizon for 24 hours – known as the Midnight Sun in the summer and the Polar Night (“Kaamos”) in the winter. In Rovaniemi, the Arctic Circle runs through Santa Claus Village, where it is clearly marked. You can even get a certificate confirming the feat.
Moomin Snowcastle – We didn’t get to see this because we went at the end of November, and there wasn’t enough snow yet. I would have loved to check this out though, so make sure you check what dates this is available.

Audrey and Kimmo with the real Santa Claus

Santa’s Park

Don’t let their cheesy website fool you, we actually enjoyed Santa’s Park more than Santa’s Village. You can think of it more like a theme park. Here are some highlights:

One ticket price to see everything
Ice Gallery – We wanted to visit the infamous Arctic Igloos, but you had to be a guest at the hotel to see them, so this was the next best thing!
Elf School – Yup, get your Elf Diploma!
Mrs. Gingerbread Bakery – Make your own gingerbread man or woman
Train Ride – Take a ride through Santa’s Workshop

Tips

Where to Stay – Hotels are pretty expensive. We stayed in an adorable Airbnb which was really affordable.
Transportation
- Train – From Helsinki we took an overnight train that left around 9pm and arrived at 7am in the morning. If you have the time to kill, I recommend taking a morning train so that you can see the sites along the way. At night it’s pretty hard to see anything, but we didn’t want to waste an entire day traveling, so it was convenient for us to be able to sleep on the train and arrive there in the morning. We got a private room which had 2 bunk beds, bathroom, and shower even.
- Fly – We flew back to Helsinki through the Rovaniemi airport. This was a quick, easy, and cheap flight!
- Santa Express Bus – Once you’re in Rovaniemi, there is a Santa Express bus that stops at Santa Claus Village, Santapark/Arctic Treehouse Hotel, Santa’s Igloos Arctic Circle and the the Airport. See timetable here.

But Rovaniemi is just the tip of Lapland. There is so much more to explore. For instance this snowboarding video of Sanni Oksanen was sent to me from two of my American friends and is going viral because sites like TheCoolHunter reposted it. When I went last year in November, there wasn’t enough snow yet, and when we tried to chase the Northern Lights, there was no such luck. I’ll be back for you Lapland and aurora borealis!

November 29, 2019 0 comment

Helsinki Los Angeles

Cost of Living in Helsinki vs Los Angeles

by Audrey November 23, 2019

written by Audrey

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be featured in an Ilta Sanomat article (the most read online newspaper in Finland). The article is in Finnish, so in case you’d like to read it, I’ve translated it on the LAxHEL Facebook page. The article came about because one of the journalists stumbled upon my blog through Facebook and wanted to interview me about my last blog post. It was a wonderful experience and I received a ton of positive feedback and “welcome to Finland” comments from people who read the article. I was so touched by all the kind words. I also have to mention that when I shared the story about complimenting a woman in a clothing store and she ignored me, many Finns explained to me that it was probably because she didn’t know how to take the compliment since Finns are known to be quite humble, which I totally agree with.

Almost free

Although I couldn’t quite understand all of the comments on the article since it was in Finnish (Google Translate isn’t super accurate), from what I could gather, there seemed to be quite a bit of discussion around the high taxes in Finland along with education and healthcare not really being “free” since you do incur some nominal fees. So maybe I misspoke, but compared to where I’m from, they are practically free. Our taxes in LA are also not low (I was paying 31.95%), yet it doesn’t go towards our personal healthcare or college tuition. In case you’re curious, this California tax calculator can give you an estimate of California tax rates. All of this got me thinking about what the cost of living in Helsinki vs. Los Angeles is.

It is true that Finland has one of the highest tax rates in the world, and the wages in Helsinki are not as high as in LA, but the cost of living is lower. The real question is, do you end up taking home more money, less money, or break even? In my case, my salary in Helsinki is about half of what it was in LA, yet somehow I found myself with more money left at the end of each month after all my expenses. How is that possible? Well I did some digging and I thought I would share what I discovered.

Cost of living comparison

I used this cost of living comparison website to get average salaries and expenses in Helsinki and Los Angeles. A few of the amounts were my exact personal expenses in LA (student loan, car payment, health insurance, auto insurance, and gas). Please note that everything is converted to euros to give you a better comparison and there are a few items are not an apples to apples comparison such as:

Student Loan – I put €0 for Helsinki because if I was a Finn and went to college in Finland, I wouldn’t have needed to pay for tuition. I spoke to a few Finns, and none of them needed to take out a student loan but mentioned that some people may take out a small bank loan for books and living expenses, but definitely not an $80,000 loan for tuition alone like I needed.
Transportation Costs – In LA, you pretty much need to have a car, while in Helsinki you can get away without having one, so I included my monthly car payment in LA vs. my monthly Helsinki metro pass cost. Since I don’t need to have a car in Helsinki, I also no longer have auto insurance and gas expenses.

So upon further inspection, even though I only make half of what I was making in LA, I actually have more money leftover after expenses. I also didn’t include expenses like food, but I find food costs to be pretty similar. Again, I can only speak for myself and my own situation, and I understand that this is not an exact comparison, since there are people who do own cars in Helsinki and incur those costs.

And now I’m feeling nostalgic, so here’s a few pics of my old apartment in Downtown LA and my old car, which I’ve given to my parents.

Cost of having a baby in LA vs Helsinki

Although you don’t need to pay for health insurance in Finland, several people commented in the article that they do incur some medical expenses (for things like medicine, hospital stays, etc). This got me curious about the out of pocket medical costs in LA even with health insurance. Kimmo’s big brother recently had a baby and he asked me what it cost to have a baby in Los Angeles. He shared with me that his final hospital bill came out to €440 total for the entire delivery plus 3 nights stay in their own room at the hospital for 2 adults with food.

Since I’m just a dog mom, I asked one of my best friends from LA what it cost her. She had one of the most premium insurance plans available, so other health insurance plans would not necessarily cover this much and the out of pocket costs can be much higher. In any case, with an excellent health insurance plan, this is what she had to pay out of pocket versus what the actual costs were.

*Note: These costs are from 4 years ago, so they might have changed since then.*

Even though you can easily look up cost of living comparisons between cities, it was really interesting to sit down and do the actual math for my own situation. It was actually very eye-opening and before moving to Helsinki, I had no concept of what it cost to live outside of LA. I always knew I could move somewhere cheaper, but I was never sure if anywhere else could live up to LA…

November 23, 2019 4 comments

Helsinki

My First Six Months Living in Helsinki

by Audrey October 29, 2019

written by Audrey

It has been about half a year now since I’ve moved to Helsinki. It’s my first time living somewhere with actual seasons, and the leaves turning is truly a beautiful thing to see during the autumn. Although I get super homesick and I miss the LA weather, it hasn’t been as hard to adjust as I had imagined. But then again, winter hasn’t come yet, so ask me again in a couple of months.

I think a few reasons why it hasn’t been terribly hard to adjust is because the architecture of Helsinki is really modern, it’s a small city that’s easy to get to know, everything works well, the quality of life here is really high, and most people speak English, so it doesn’t feel like such a foreign country. But don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been a walk in the park either. I miss my friends and family immensely and it took some time to make my own friends here. Also, just because people speak English, doesn’t mean anything is written or spoken in English. So let’s just say I have to rely on copying movements in gym classes and my grocery runs take extremely long, since I’m constantly using the Google translate app camera function. By the way, Google translate for Finnish – 60% of the time, it works every time.

Modern apartment buildings in our neighborhood

But in all seriousness, I feel so lucky to have the chance to live in another country and continent, actually. I’m learning so much and just trying to soak it all in and appreciate every new experience and learning. All I’ve ever known is my LA and Orange County bubble. The rest of the world is doing things differently but here’s what I’ve learned about Helsinki so far…

Top 10 Reasons I Enjoy Living in Helsinki

Free Healthcare – Basic healthcare is free, and even covers dental work. Most companies also provide additional private healthcare insurance at no cost to the employee. If health is wealth, then I’m set for life here.
Free Education – Meanwhile, I’m still paying for my grad school loan while Finns can get their PhD for FREE 99!
So Damn Safe – People even leave their €1000+ Bugaboo strollers outside WITH the baby inside, because apparently the cold air is good for babies and can often help them sleep. But more importantly, people don’t fear their children getting kidnapped. I couldn’t even walk home alone from school, which was only a few blocks away. Here you see elementary school kids on public transportation alone, it’s wild! Oh wait, I guess that’s the opposite of wild.
Public Transportation – Speaking of public transportation, there is no need to have a car in Helsinki. The public transportation here consists of trams, subways (called the Metro here), and busses. It costs €60/month for an unlimited pass, which my work paid for. So basically my transportation costs are €0, except the occasional Uber, taxi, or electric scooter. In LA with a car payment, gas, auto insurance, and tons of Ubers whenever I was having drinks, I’m sure I easily spent $1000/month just on transportation alone!
5 Weeks of Holiday (vacation) – It’s the law to get five weeks of vacation in Finland, no matter what company you work for. In California, an employer is not required to provide paid-time-off under California vacation law, although most companies provide at least 2 weeks as a job benefit. 2 weeks sounds like a joke to me now. No wonder Americans are so stressed and get burnt out easily.
Work Life Balance & Benefits – The generous vacation speaks to this, but in addition, I don’t often see Finns work overtime. At the company I worked for, they paid for my cell phone which can be used for personal use as well, but it wasn’t mandatory to answer any work related emails or calls outside of work hours. Most companies also provide a lunch card, where they cover 25% of your lunch (up to €10.50) which encourages employees to go out for lunch, especially with colleagues. Lastly, most companies also provide a sports and culture benefit of up to €400/year, which can be used for gym memberships, movie tickets, concerts, etc. So far I’ve used mine for an annual museum pass (€60), rock climbing, and pilates classes.
People are Smart – Everyone knows at least two languages. And the water cooler talk here is rarely about TV, the latest fashion trends, or celebrity gossip. Instead they’re about things like the “Third Industrial Revolution”. Sometimes I feel like Finns are more in tune with what’s going on politically in the US than the average American.
The Library is Cool – Finland is the most literate country in the world and publishes more books per capita than any other country, except Iceland. On average, every Finn buys 4 books and borrows a dozen from the library each year. So, yup it’s definitely cool to read and hang out at the library. I’ve started reading way more and have read about 1-2 books per month since I moved here. Also, how could you not want to hang out at Oodi, our central library? Besides the beautiful architecture of the building, this library holds concerts, has music studios and instruments that you can book, an urban workshop for the DIYers like me (soldering station, laser cutter, and sewing machines included) and even digital gaming rooms. It was also voted as 2019 World’s Best New Library.
Nature & Foraging – Finland has a concept called ‘Everyman’s right’. It allows everyone to roam freely in nature, eat, and pick berries and mushrooms anywhere in forests. Our fridge always has a supply of homemade berry juice, berry jelly, frozen berries & chanterelle mushrooms from Kimmo’s family forest. Also, you can camp out overnight in a tent, vehicle, or boat, as long as this causes no damage or disturbance to the landowner.
Island Hopping – I love that Finland is like one big forest surrounded by the Baltic Sea. Our apartment is along a canal, and I walk Rambo by the ocean every day. There’s something so calming about just staring into the waters and feeling that ocean breeze. Finland has over 180,000 lakes and almost as many islands! I can take a 10 minute ferry or cross a bridge and be on a new island. There’s even a Dog Island for Rambo and a Zoo on an island. It’s such a nice way to get out of the city, hike in a forest, have a picnic, and even go foraging!

Strollers with babies inside left outside in freezing temps

Top 5 Favorite Finnish Home Things

Magic Cupboard – In every kitchen, there’s a specific drying cupboard above the sink where you put clean dishes to dry. The water drops down to the sink. Ok so it’s not magical but it’s freaking genius!
Sauna – If you didn’t know, Finns invented the sauna, so it’s a big part of the culture here. We have one in our bathroom. Until I came to Finland, I always thought a sauna was basically an electrically heated wooden room. I was wrong! A real sauna should have stones (heated by a wood fire or electrically) that you throw water on to create steam. The more water you throw on the stones, the more steamy and intense it gets. I was on the fence about it at first, but now we have “Sauna Sundays” at home. There are so many benefits to the sauna. It helps you recover from an intense workout, flush out toxins, relieve stress, and get a good night’s sleep.
Butt Washers – Ok, they’re not called that, I made that up. I’m actually not sure what they’re really called, but I love them, and Americans need them! No more using baby wipes or wetting toilet paper, only so they can rip into shreds in your butt as you wipe.
Heating – Every time I step into our apartment, it always seems to be the perfect temperature, except on the rare occasion it gets really hot, because we don’t have AC, like most homes in Finland. Over 90% of Finnish apartments are connected to a district heating network, which is part of the rental agreement as a fixed cost. District heating supplies heat from a combined heat and power (CHP) plant directly to buildings through a network of pipes carrying hot water. This means the buildings do not need to generate their own heat on site. With CHP, Helsinki saves so much energy compared with separate property-specific heating produced by condensing electricity that it would heat up to 500,000 detached homes each year.
Own Blankets – I’m a little on the fence about this one because I love snuggling and playing footsies. But… not fighting over the blanket, not waking up to the blanket being pulled off of you, and Kimmo’s favorite, being able to wrap yourself like a burrito, are reasons why this one made the list.

Finnish Things I’m still Getting Used to

Light (too much & too little) – During the longest summer nights, the sun doesn’t go down until almost midnight. But during the winter, there might only be a couple hours of daylight. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is definitely a thing here, so I’m loading up on Vitamin D pills and having coffee in front of my happy (aka SAD) light. If you’ve never heard of one, these therapy lamps mimic sunlight to enhance mood, energy, sleep, and focus – but without the UV rays
No tipping – Since I’ve worked in the food service business, it has always been ingrained in me to tip. In Finland, and most of Europe, it’s not customary to tip, unless you get exceptional service, and even then it’s not required.
How small it is – Although Helsinki is the capital and biggest city in Finland, it’s still pretty small. The population is about 630k (LA is 4 million) so even though I only know a handful of people here, I still run into people all the time. To give you some context, the day I moved here, I ran into 2 people I knew during the train and tram ride from the airport to the apartment. And at that time I knew like 10 people! Back home in LA, I could meet someone, and never see them again for the rest of my life.
The language – Like I mentioned earlier, everything is written in Finnish. The second official language of the country is actually Swedish. So most signs are in Finnish and Swedish, which doesn’t help me either way. I started taking a Finnish course twice a week, and boy is it hard. Besides the words being ridiculously long, and there being a hundred different ways to say something, I find it confusing that there is no intonation. The language sounds pretty monotone, since your tone should always go down at the end of a sentence, even if it’s a question or has an exclamation point at the end. You can imagine how hard this is for an animated speaker like myself.
No small talk – Finns don’t like small talk and I actually appreciate this. Meetings tend to start and end on time since you don’t spend the first 10 minutes small talking. And if you ask a Finn how they are, be careful because they might actually tell you.

My current fall & winter morning routine with a happy light, vitamin D pills, and my Finnish language course textbook.

So that’s what I’ve learned during my first six months living here. I’m not sure I agree that Finland is the happiest country in the world (more about Finns in a future post) but it probably has the highest quality of life. Stay tuned for the next six months…

October 29, 2019 15 comments

Helsinki

Midsummer in Finland

by Audrey July 1, 2019

written by Audrey

Midsummer, or summer solstice as Americans might know it, is celebrated by the Northern European countries to mark the longest day of the year. In Finland, the sun never fully sets that day and that Friday is considered a holiday so double awesomeness to have a 3 day weekend to fully enjoy it.

Summer Party

The week leading into Midsummer, I had my company summer party. I’ve worked for several companies in California, and we only ever had a Christmas party, so I was pretty stoked that in Helsinki, it’s pretty typical to have both a summer and winter holiday party. I asked Kimmo what the summer parties were like, and he said lots of drinking and most likely offsite activities that eventually lead to after parties. Well, he wasn’t kidding. We started the party at 10:00am and took a bus out to the middle of nowhere to do paintballing, bubble football, and inflatable sumo wrestling. Oh and did I mention beer was available immediately?

If you know me, I’m not much of a competitive sports person, but I did partake in one activity…

After the sweaty activities, the party bus took us to another venue, where a sauna, dinner, DJ, and surf simulation (think mechanical bull riding) awaited. Then as if that wasn’t enough, for those who wanted to keep partying until the morning, we had some tables reserved at Butcher’s Bar for more drinks and dancing. I’m totally down with this summer party tradition as it allowed me to talk to all the co-workers I normally don’t get to interact with and see them in a really relaxed, and informal setting. I definitely think the company party culture is much looser in Helsinki, at least at the company I work at. I dig it. Oh and if you want to see some footage from the party, my co-worker made this rad drone video.

Sauna Boat

Another pre-midsummer activity we did was renting out a sauna boat with friends. The sauna culture is already something pretty new to me, so throw that on a boat, now I’m really a fish out of water. The boat came with a captain, so no driving was required. It was pretty darn fun, but I was too much of a wussy to jump into the cold lake for a swim. The sauna was a bit smaller than we all expected, but we managed to squeeze 5 girls inside, and then the guys went after us.

Summer Cottage

For the actual Midsummer holiday, most Finns head out to their summer cottage, so if you happen to be a tourist in Helsinki during this time, you’ll probably notice the city is dead, and tons of things are closed. Luckily for us, Kimmo’s family cottage is only about an hour away from Helsinki. A lot of the Finns I’ve met in Helsinki, have to drive way further out.

Our midsummer activities included grilling (with veggies picked straight from the garden), reading, laying out in the sun, a sauna, a hot tub, and a whole lot of doing nothing, which in my opinion was the best part. There’s definitely something wonderful to being out in nature, disconnected from the city. One thing that tripped me out was how the hot tub worked. Kimmo’s Dad brought out a water pump that used water from the lake behind the cottage to fill the tub, and then we had to burn wood logs to heat it up.

When the summer first started arriving, it was weird to me how late the sun would set (I’m talking like 11pm), but I really grew to love it. Although, you do need some heavy duty blackout curtains for sleeping. The long days makes me feel like my weeknights don’t end after getting off work, and I love that. With my imminent first winter coming, the days will be opposite (almost no sun), so I’m just embracing all that summer has to offer. Here’s what I mean about the sun not setting… this is what it looked like outside the cottage around 2am. So dreamy!

Also, apparently there’s a horror movie called Midsommar that just came out. Let’s see if there’s any correlation…

July 1, 2019 0 comment

Helsinki Life

Introducing the Finn

by Kimmo May 9, 2019

written by Kimmo

Hello I’m Kimmo

Yes that’s me standing all naturally on top of a rooftop. And that’s Helsinki in the background. You might have recognised it from the iconic white church. No? Well there’s probably many other things you don’t know about the city. I will try to be your local guide and voice in this blog as we show Audrey the best things in Helsinki. Oh and Finland. We have a pretty peculiar little country. Let’s see how our LA girl finds things here. This should be fun!

Culture shock expected

Little did I know what kind of an adventure I was jumping into when I wandered off on my own at Burning Man. Almost three years later and we’re still enjoying the ride and ready to start a new chapter in our lives here in Helsinki.

I’ve tried to prepare Audrey for the culture shock she’s going to experience here, well in advanced. After our first year together, I even got her the book 101 Very Finnish Problems which was written by a British expat. It’s actually a fairly accurate description of our culture, except that NO, you don’t have to go to a sauna naked with my family! If you’re interested in some witty insights from Finland you should give it a read.

Books, wine, and..

I thought I’d also share something personal about myself so you can get to know me too. I tend to start obsessing about things when I get into something. It was Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for a decade. For the past few years it has been books and wine. Oh and the latest thing is… chess. Yes chess. Nerd alert!

May 9, 2019 3 comments

Helsinki Los Angeles Travel

How to Bring Your Pet to Europe

by Audrey April 29, 2019

written by Audrey

So, when I first decided to move to Finland, the first thing that came to mind was, how am I going to bring my Rambo with me? Let me start with, this is no easy task! So I thought I’d share the process and some tips.

Steps to bring your pet to Europe

Get IATA approved container for travel – I bought this SportsPet crate from Amazon along with this crate pad. (Make sure you follow the IATA instructions for taking measurements, if in doubt, get the bigger size!)
ISO Compliant Microchip
Rabies Vaccination & 21 Day Waiting Period – Make sure to bring original copies of vaccination certificates
Get an EU Health Certificate up to 10 days prior to arriving in Europe by USDA accredited veterinarian. The vet can provide this for you but make sure they fill out the one for the correct country. Mine filled out one for Portugal instead of Finland, so when I went to get it endorsed by the USDA, they noticed it was for the wrong country so I had to go back to my vet and get the correct one filled out.
Get EU Health Certificate endorsed by local APHIS (USDA) – Because of the tight schedule, if there’s not one near you, you’ll most likely need to mail it overnight and provide an overnight return envelope to get it back
Tapeworm Treatment 1-5 Days Prior – This is only for Finland, Malta, Norway, and Ireland. Any vet (doesn’t have to be USDA accredited) can provide this treatment which can be added to the EU health certificate after it is endorsed by APHIS USDA.

More Information: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-travel/by-country/eu/eu-echinococcus/pet-travel-echinococcus-treatments

Additional European Commission Requirements

Just when I thought I had all the requirements down, I found out that Finland’s Food Authority (their equivalent of our USDA) had a few additional steps. Below are the additional requirements for importing an animal (dog, cat, ferret) from USA to EU (Finland specifically) that I obtained from the Finnish Food Authority. Note that the requirements are different if you are shipping your pet on a separate flight outside of 5 days within your own flight. By the way, if you email them at [email protected], they’ll respond quickly and are super helpful! Funny story, gmail labels that email as “Ruoka Lentoasema”, so I started with “Hi Ruoka”. I had copied Kimmo on the email and found out that translates to “Food Airport”, so I basically said “Hi Food”. Kimmo got a kick out of that, and I’m sure the rep did too!

Owner’s declaration on the non-commercial nature of the movement – Here’s the form
Border inspection in the first EU-country the animal enters EU territory.
- Here are contact details for the traveller’s border crossings: https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/pet-movement/eu-legislation/non-commercial-non-eu/tpe_en
- In Finland the border inspection of pet animals is done by customs. Take the red line at customs and show your pet and the required documents to the customs officer
They also recommend that you repeat the Tapeworm medication within 28 days of your arrival in Finland.

More Information: https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/pet-movement/eu-legislation/non-commercial-non-eu_en

Flight

Normally it costs 300 euros to bring your pet on board Finnair. In order for your pet to ride in the cabin the total weight of the pet and container cannot exceed 17 lbs (8 kg). If your pet is over that weight, then they go into an air-conditioned area of the hold of the aircraft. The hold area is basically a separate part of the baggage cargo that is air-conditioned, with no light, and personnel. Finnair only takes 1 pet per flight for this and keep in mind if your animal is in distress, there is no way to know. This can be dangerous for short-nosed breeds as they often have trouble breathing. If your pup is over a certain weight, or you won’t be on the same flight, then you’ll need to ship the dog via Cargo service, rather than a standard flight.

Rambo is my ESA animal, and in this case he is treated as a service dog who can remain in the cabin with me, without a pet carrier. There is also no fee for service animals, so the €300 cost does not apply here. Finnair recently started doing direct flights from LAX to Helsinki, which helped tremendously because LAX has pet relief stations. My vet recommended I give Rambo a Benadryl before the flight, which helped him sleep through most of the 10 hour flight. Finnair also gave me a row to myself since it was not a full flight, which gave Rambo more room to lay across the floor. Although Helsinki airport does not have a pet relief station, it is a smaller airport, and the customs check for Rambo’s paperwork was quick and easy, so as soon as we got outside of the airport, he was able to go potty outside. All in all it was a very smooth process.

More Finnair Pet Policy Info: https://www.finnair.com/ru/gb/information-services/baggage/pets/flying-with-pet

Important links

April 29, 2019 5 comments

Helsinki Life Los Angeles

Woke Up In Helsinki

by Rambo April 21, 2019

written by Rambo

Introducing Rambo

Hey dudes and dudettes, my name is Rambo. For the last 10 years, I’ve been the main man in my Mom’s life, but a couple years ago, another dude finally swept her off her feet. And I really dig him but it bummed me out that he could never stay for very long. But that’s finally changing!

My first plane ride

Took my first plane ride ever. Not sure why we weren’t in first class, but I’ll let that one slide, Mom. Finnair was cool enough to give us our own row so I got to sprawl out on the floor and Mom gave me some sleeping pills (aka Benadryl) so I pretty much knocked out the entire time and when I woke up, we were in another continent! I’ve never even left the state of California. When we arrived, boy was I happy to see my dude, Kimmo, I think I even peed a little. He hasn’t been home in a couple months, but now we’ll never have to be apart again. Ok, that sounded sappy, but he gives me the best walks and doesn’t know how to say “NO”.

Expat needs homies and recommendations

So, I guess I live in Helsinki now. My paws really don’t dig snow, so I’m going to need to find some good snow boots, maybe even a dope puffer jacket. If any of you fellow dawgs got any recommendations, that would be totally sweet! I’m going to need the 411 on all the good dog parks and where to get my grub and wardrobe at. Are there any Facebook groups out there for expat dogs or dating apps? It might finally be time for me to settle down and stop sleeping in my Mom’s room (ok fine, I still sleep in her bed).

My LA life

Anyway, I’ll be scouring Helsinki for all the best dog spots so watch out for my reviews and takes on the city. For my homies back in LA, I miss you and I’ll keep you posted about the bitches here in case you want to come visit. You know I make the best wingman. For my new Finnish dawgs, I’ll give you a peek into my life in LA as well in case you’re curious. Later for now bros!

Me and Mom taking a stroll in our new neighborhood, Jätkäsaari. I was still a bit jetlagged.

April 21, 2019 2 comments

Helsinki

How to Get a Residence Permit in Finland

by Audrey March 26, 2019

written by Audrey

Job Market in Finland

Before I go into how to get a residence permit (work visa/permit) in Finland, I thought I’d give a little glimpse into the job market in Finland. I can’t speak to all job types, but for marketing, communications, and business jobs, I found that most of them require you to speak Finnish. This makes sense since most of the marketing and collateral will be done in the local language. That really narrowed down my options, as I couldn’t really work for any local companies, and had to move my search to international companies that had market focus outside of Finland and did business in English.

I was lucky enough to find one of the few international tech companies that was from Helsinki. Because they were focused on selling on a global level, English was the official language of the company and all of their marketing. At international companies, having English as your native language, was definitely an advantage. I also got lucky that this company does several trade shows in the U.S., which allows me to travel back home every now and then.

Once I got the job offer, I just needed a written contract from the company to apply for my first Finland residence permit. I’m not sure what the process is for other companies, but for this job, I was in charge of taking care of my application, which meant I had to pay for the application fee out of my own pocket and submit the application on my own. My company was very helpful though and gave me all the information I needed to fill out the application. It’s a pretty straight-forward process, and the Finnish Immigration website is very informative and helpful. They even have a chat feature if you have any questions.

Types of Residence Permit Applications for Working in Finland

1 Month Processing Time (350 EUR)

These are the residence permits that you can get in about 1 month.

Specialist – This permit is if you’re a specialist, consultant, teacher or belong to the top or middle management of a company. Your gross income must be about EUR 3,000 per month.
EU Blue Card – This is what I got. I didn’t even know this was an option until HR told me. The best thing about this type of residence permit, is that it allows you to move to a 2nd European Member State. Kimmo and I have thought about living in other cities in Europe, so this made the most sense. One thing to note about this permit, is that you need to have a gross income of at least 4,732 EUR per month.
Other Types: Internship, Researcher, Season Work, Religious Community or a Non-Profit Association

Over 1 Month Processing Time (350-400 EUR)

Employed Person (TTOL) – Must have a signed contract and (1-4 months processing time)
Entrepreneur – You must have a profitable business and you’ll need to enter your business in the Trade Register maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (6-10 months processing time)
Start Up Entrepreneur – You’ll need a positive statement from Business Finland and secure means of support of 1,000 EUR/month for living costs (2-5 months processing time)
Volunteer – Your volunteer work must be arranged through an organization that runs volunteer programs (Maailmanvaihto ry – ICYE Finland). Max volunteer time is 18 months (2 month processing time)

There are several other types of residence permits available, but those are the main ones. For the full list go to: https://migri.fi/en/working-in-finland/applications

What You’ll Need for the Application

I can’t speak for the other applications, but for the EU Blue Card, here’s what I needed for the Online Application:

Employment Contract – Must state your job description, salary, and start date
Proof of Higher Education Degree – I submitted my college transcripts and diploma
Copy of Passport

After you fill out the application online, you’ll need to prove your identity. Luckily there is a local Finnish General Consulate in Los Angeles that I was able to go to. Here, I had to bring:

Passport
Employment Contract
Passport Photo adhering to these guidelines. By the way, this is different than the standard US passport photo, so places like CVS, Walgreens, and UPS can’t take these photos. Every country has different requirements, so make sure you check if the photo place can do passport photos for Finland. I went to Santa Monica Camera where the owner happened to have a Finnish wife and 2 children who have dual citizenship, so he was very familiar with the requirements, and even gave me tips on the Finnish Consulate in LA. What are the odds? Oh and one more thing, you must have a “neutral face” which means you can’t smile in the photo. That was so hard for me! And now my photo looks like a mugshot.
Official Copy of Higher Education Degree – I brought official college transcripts
Prepaid Self-Addressed Envelope – This is so they can mail you the decision documents and your residence permit card.

The process was so quick for me. I went to the Consulate on a Tuesday to prove my identity, and got a decision via email by Thursday! I must have been one of the few applications in the queue. Guess there aren’t tons of people stampeding to move to Finland… yet! My residence permit card came about 2 weeks after that. I’m ready for you Helsinki!

March 26, 2019 0 comment

Helsinki Life Los Angeles

LA Moves to Helsinki

by Audrey March 20, 2019

written by Audrey

Okay maybe not all of Los Angeles is moving to Helsinki, but at least this girl who was born in LA and lived there her entire life is, along with her pup, Rambo. My name is Audrey by the way. To my Americans reading this, without looking at a map, do you know where Finland is? Did you know that Finland is part of Europe? No? Well neither did I!

The land of Helsinki, Finland

Let me start by giving you some context into the size of Finland. Land wise, the country of Finland is 338,145 sq km which is about the size of California (403,882 sq km). California though, has a massive population of 39.5 million within that land. Finland’s entire population is 5.5 million, not much bigger than Los Angeles, which has about 4 million people. Helsinki, which is the capital and where I’m moving to, has about 600,000. Last year there were 250,000 people just at Coachella. So what I’m saying is, there’s tons of available land in Finland, come on over!

I’ve always dreamed of living in Europe, but this wasn’t exactly what I imagined. So, why would I move to a country I’ve barely heard of?

The story begins at Burning Man

Well back in 2016, I met a Finn at Burning Man. At first it started off as rendezvous in different countries. One great thing about cross-continental long distance relationships is that you get to have dates all around the world. Somewhere along the way though it became serious, so we both started looking for jobs in each other’s countries. During one of Kimmo’s visits to LA back in February 2019, I got a job offer from a tech company in Helsinki. The stars aligned for us that week and that’s why I’m packing up and heading to the North Pole… I mean Finland.

Introducing LAxHEL

This blog is going to be about my journey moving to Finland and the fascinating differences between living in LA and Helsinki. You’ll probably also occasionally hear from Kimmo, and my French Bulldog, Rambo, who is making the move with me. We hear a lot about what it’s like living in major cities like London, Paris, and Rome, but you rarely hear much about Helsinki… maybe except for the occasional article that Finland is the happiest country in the world and Trump saying they don’t have forest fires like California because they rake their leaves. Yup that’s our President, which also makes it a good time to leave the U.S.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to record my experiences and give the world a glimpse into Helsinki from an outsider perspective, as well as give Finns an insider look into LA. I’d also love for this blog to be interactive and collaborative. That means I’ll welcome any tips from Finns and for my LA people to keep me updated on all things Los Angeles. So let’s find out if Finland really is the happiest country in the world. I sure hope it is!

March 20, 2019 4 comments