Tough few days in Seinajoki

Preparing to chow down

Hard to believe my two oldest can each polish off their own pizza

Pizza hut has nothing on Sofram's Ravintola

Bon appetit

I have spent the past few days contemplating a trip to the hospital due to pain in my leg. I have had pain reminiscent of the discomfort I felt with the blood clots that I endured over the past 16 months. Things started to seem out of sorts for me after we returned from our Lapland trip about 10 days ago. I went to the emergency room today and spent more than 3 hours waiting for a 5 minute consultation with a doctor. After a brief examination and measurement of my leg, he said that it was within 90% certainty that I have no additional clotting. I pressed him about getting an ultrasound because my symptoms and type of pain so closely resemble what I experienced with the clots I had this past year. He informed me that he was a busy man and the only doctor on staff in the hospital, so it was out the door for me. I did get a prescription for some Plavix, so I left the hospital and dished out a hundred bucks for some medication. The Plavix should help to thin my blood, but I am going to seek out an ultrasound if my condition doesn't improve soon. Needless to say, it has been a stressful week with this going on. I am just hoping that I can hang on to finish out my remaining month in Finland.
Wednesday night was our usual pizza and sauna night. We have dinner at a pizza place across the street called Sofram Ravintola. It is my new favorite pizza place. Finnish pizza is excellent for the most part, but Sofram is absolutely incredible. The crust is thin and has great texture. The pizza is on the table about 6-7 minutes after we place our order. The ingredients are fresh and the sauce is mild, but full of flavor. The kids enjoy this weekly ritual as well. This will surely be one of the things we miss about life here in Seinajoki.

Lights out.

5 People

There are only 4 pictures on this post, but I will be adding some more tomorrow. Therefore, I will digress to another topic. My thought or question for today is-- If you could sit down and have dinner with any 5 persons, other than relatives or friends, who have either passed on or are still alive today, who would they be? Here are my 5.

1. Jesus--- I had to put Jesus first because of my faith. I would have many questions for him about life in general and ask for his help in leading me through the rest of my life.

The rest of mine aren't in any particular order.

2. Tony Dungy-- Former coach of the Indianapolis Colts and a great role model and human being-- I had the chance to meet Coach Dungy when he was playing for the Steelers and I was a young kid following him around at training camp. I would like to gain some wisdom from his experiences and hear about his coaching philosophies first hand.

3. Ernest Hemingway-- Ernest lived the romantic and adventurous life as he traveled extensively and was very curious about people and different cultures. I have read many of his novels and his writing draws me in. I would love to listen to his stories while sitting at a European cafe in the middle of quaint little village somewhere in Italy.

4. Oprah Winfrey-- I have always been impressed by her ability to relate to and connect with so many people. She uses much of her wealth and influence to help people who are less fortunate, which I find very inspiring. She also encourages people to go after their dreams and we need more encouragers like that in the world today.

5. Robin Williams-- After all these serious conversations, I figured having a good laugh would be good for the soul too. Robin can be crude at times, but his improvisational skills are captivating. I find it hard not to laugh even when he isn't saying anything. (except for his days as Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy--- Nanu Nanu!!) Some of you are too young or maybe even too old to remember this.

If you read the blog and you have a person or two who comes to mind in your top 5, then certainly drop me a line and let me know. Or for that matter, send me all 5 names and why they make your list. I am interested to know.

Well, that is nearly all to report for today. One other bit of news is that I got my first Finnish haircut today. I haven't had a haircut in 4-5 months, so I was long overdue. The one negative to report from the past week is that my leg is acting up again. I am having complications and pain from the blood clots that resulted from my achilles tendon rupture last year. I went on the long road trip to Lapland last week and I think that is the problem. It is possible that a few of my clots have returned. I was supposed to be on the bus for our 7 hour trip (each way) to eastern Finland this upcoming weekend when we travel to take on the Knights. Instead, I will be taking a train so that I can get up and walk around a bit to relieve some of the pain. In the meantime, I am walking a lot to promote circulation and eating lots of garlic to thin my blood. Hopefully, things will improve with my this situation over the next few days.

Here is a shot of the kids playing at the home of Timo and his family. Timo is on our management board here with the Crocodiles Football Team. He was very gracious to invite us over for some snacks and family fun. We had a nice time and our kids really hit it off with their new Finnish friends.

What an interesting name for a town. I think II is pronounced Eeee. When I saw this a few other humorous town names came to mind. In the states, we have our share of strange place names. I used to live in one for a few years called Hunker, Pennsylvania. Yikes!! In Maryland there is Accident, Crappo, and Boring. There is also a town called Athol , Massachusetts. My favorite town name is located in my home state and all Pennsylvanians should know this one. In Pennsylvania, we have Intercourse.

Here I am feeding some reindeer in Lapland--- pre haircut

No comment

Lights out.

Quest for the 50/50 club

One of my main motivations for going overseas to coach was to see more of Europe and experience it from a perspective of living here rather than just staying for a few weeks on a vacation and then going back home. The experience has been very enriching for me and my family and we are surely blessed to have had this time here together in Finland. I miss home and our family and friends back in the states, but this experience has surely changed our lives in a profound way. I hope to continue traveling and teaching my children the importance of opening their minds up to other cultures and new experiences. On top of this, I am on a mission to be a part of the 50/50 club. It is a goal of mine to visit the 5o U.S. states and 50 foreign countries in my lifetime. I visited all 50 U.S. states by the time I was 28, and now I am working on countries. I have visited over 30 countries to date including 5 of the 7 continents and numerous other islands and territories. I still have about 20 countries left to visit, so there will be many more miles to conquer before I am through. Estalita has also visited all 50 states with me and she is only a few countries behind me. I look forward to many more travels with her and the kids.
I have included some pics from the game last Saturday in Tampere, Finland as well as a few from my round of golf at the Green Zone Course. This course lies on the border between Sweden and Finland. The first few holes are in Finland, but on the 3rd hole you hit the ball from a tee in Finland to a fairway in Sweden. If you hook the ball badly on a drive, it will stay in Finland. If you slice it badly it will end up in a cove in Sweden. Most of the rest of the course is like this. There are certain holes that are entirely in one country, but then others like the 6th where both countries come into play. On the 6th hole, you tee off on the par 3 from Sweden and the front half of the green is also in Sweden. However, the back half of the green lies in Finland. Are you confused yet? Anyway, playing this course was a lot of fun. There was a ton of water on the course, and I managed to find it on several occasions. One other interesting aspect to this course is that you can literally play here 24 hours a day in the summer because of the midnight sun. This also means that you can play the front nine late at night and complete the 9th hole just before the new day starts. Assuming that it is around midnight, you could proceed to hole number 10 and literally jump back into yesterday as you hit the ball from Finland into Sweden where they are one hour behind!!

Getting the bus loaded up for the road trip to Tampere

A short break to stretch the legs and skip some stones

Pre-game stretch--- I won't say what our tight end Riku is doing in this picture--- Ok, I will. He was recruited by our 3 year old Kaylin to change the diaper on her doll.

The Crocs take the field

Kodie snuck onto the bench late in the game for some game strategy talk

The weather changed multiple times during the game and we were prepared

Cost of meal 33 euros or about $45 U.S. --- Celebrating post-game victory with family PRICELESS

Has anybody spotted SpongeBob?

Heading to the park with baby in tow

One course--- Two countries

Hole # 3-- Tee box in Finland and Fairways in Sweden

Water is in the way on #3 as you look towards Sweden

Kamryn took this shot of me on # 1

Picture of our sauna at our log cabin in Lapland last week

Full English Breakfast compliments of my favorite middle linebacker from the UK-- Dale Powell and his mom (mum)
His mom sent the bacon along with his girlfriend who is visiting Finland--- English bacon is our favorite and this was a great surprise
The full menu included fried eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato, toast, bacon, and of course the best sauce in the monarchy-- HP Sauce
The only thing missing from the menu is a cup of tea and some bangers (that means sausages for all us Yankees)
Lights out.

More activities in Lapland

Giving out some reindeer food--- How can you resist this face?

Word travels fast

Most impressive rack of the day

Having a rest

Grazing on the ski slopes in Luosto, Finland

No worries

View to the side of our cabin

Took this shot around 1:30 am outside our cabin--- this is about as dark as it gets this time of year in the Arctic Circle

One of the lakes near our cabin where we went hiking

A little tic-tac-toe in the mountains

Trying my hand at some fishing--- 3 good bites, but 0 fish landed in 30 minutes

My evening meal at Scandic--- chicken with goat cheese, basil, tomatoes, and a pesto sauce--- One of the best dinners I have had in Finland

Estalita's dinner--- Baked salmon with rosemary potatoes and vegetables

Chowing down

Getting checked in at our cabin--- The kids loved this place--- Huge bunkbeds, rustic interior, fireplace, and our own personal sauna

Inside the cabin

Biggest bunk beds I've ever seen

Serene landscape of Lapland

I thought I would include another installment of pictures from our trip to Lapland last weekend. Things were fairly quiet for us in Seinajoki this week, but the activity level has picked up now that there is another festival going on in the city. This festival involves some rally car racing and some rock music entertainment into the wee hours of the night, or should I say early morning. Seinajoki has many festivals during the summer that draw thousands of people to this area. Some festivals that have already come and gone during our time here this summer include the Harley Davidson rally, Tango festival, midsummer celebrations, the heavy metal Provinsi rock concerts (which draw about 75,000 strong), a large Christian revival/festival, and probably a few more that I am leaving out.
We traveled to Tampere ( a city of about 250,000) to take on the Saints on Saturday afternoon. The game was a physical contest that ended in a 47-14 Crocodiles victory. The team played well again and managed to put 30 points up on the board by halftime. We seem to be clicking on all cylinders right now and our team is getting better each week. As I said before, this was a physical game and a few of our guys got injured. The Saints run the option, so there are a lot of collisions due to the nature of this scheme. Option attacks are hard to prepare for and a bit tricky to defend. I appreciate the discipline and structure of this type of offense, but I don't think I will be rushing out to coach this type of football any time soon. Anyway, I just want to say great job Crocs and lets stay hungry and motivated to keep getting better each week.

Lights out.

Way Up North

World War II- German cemetery near Rovaniemi

Book listing the German soldiers who died in this region of Lapland during World War II

View looking out from the memorial/cemetery towards the lake

Remembering those who died during the war

My hike out to the cemetery was through a deeply forested area

Santa Claus Village-- Rovaniemi, Finland

Straddling the line that marks the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi

The official line

Building where we met Santa and location of his office

A little Christmas spirit in July

On the drive to the north country

Kodie was amazed at the size of this chocolate bar we found at a candy store in Sweden

Stately hotel in Haparanda, Sweden--- a town along the Finland/Sweden border

Swedish shopping landmark in Haparanda

This past weekend we loaded up the car and took off for the northern region of Finland. Our time in Finland is starting to wind down, so we decided to get this trip in before going back to the states. We spent the first night in Rovaniemi, which is the town that marks the start of the Arctic Circle territory. Rovaniemi is also the official home of Santa Claus, so we paid him a visit during our stay in this unique part of Finland. Rovaniemi lies in a region of the country known as Lapland, which is characterized by thick forests, vast meadows, abundant wildlife, and beautiful lakes and rivers. I would describe it as a place where you would go to hear yourself think. The rugged landscape typifies the type of individual who calls this sort of place home. We had a limited amount of time for our visit and the drive to our final destination was about 8 hours from Seinajoki, so we crammed a lot of activities into our stay. We all agreed that Lapland is definitely worth the effort it takes to get there. Here are some pics from our journey.

Lights out.