The Journey to Finland

Twelve hours.  That's how long I slept  last night.  I think my body hasn't fully adjusted to the time difference that I found myself  feeling sleepy at 5pm for two days.  The time difference between Finland and the Philippines is +5 hours.  I feel better now so I guess my internal clock has adjusted.

The Erasmus Student Network organized the "Ultimate Sauna Experience" yesterday but I decided to skip it because I got tired from walking the whole day.  It would have been a wonderful way to end the day but unfortunately, I would have to walk back home as I haven't bought a bike yet.  I walked a total of 16428 steps according to my pedometer.  My flat is about 3km from the university and it took me about 30 minutes to cover the distance.

Tervetuloa Jyväskylään

Welcome to Jyväskylä, my "home" for the next two years.

Jyväskylä (JYV) is the capital city of Central Finland and is located 270 kilometers north of Helsinki.  I embedded the map below to show you how I got here.  Google couldn't calculate the distance so the map just showed the travel points.  From Davao, I flew to Manila, then to Hong Kong, Helsinki, and finally Jyväskylä.  Total flight minus layovers would have been 15+ hours.  2 hours to Manila, 2 hours to Hong Kong, 10.5 hours to Helsinki, then 45 minutes to JYV.


View Larger Map

I have taken photos using my itouch since yesterday but because I don't have wifi connection, I am not able to upload the photos through itouch.  Hopefully soon I will be able to share with you the beauty of this place.

I've been here for three days already but haven't done any major cooking yet.  I do have a small and nice kitchen so for sure, more food posts will come soon.

For now...

näkemiin

Practice with awareness

My teacher Paul has a new practice guide to the primary series.

Check it out from Ashtanga.com

Namaste.

The Heart Sutra

Homage to the perfection of wisdom, the Lovely! the Holy! Avalokita, the Holy Lord and Bodhisattva, was moving in the deep course of the wisdom which has gone beyond.


He looked down from on high, he beheld but five heaps, and he saw that in their own-being they were empty.


Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form.


Emptiness does not differ from form.  Form does not differ from emptiness.  Whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.


Here, O Sariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness.  They are not produced or stopped, not defiled or immaculate, not deficient or complete.


Therefore, O Sariputra, in emptiness there is no form nor feeling, nor perception, nor impulse, nor consciousness. 


All those who appear as Buddhas in the three periods of time fully awake to the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment because they have relied on the perfection of wisdom.


Therefore one should know the prajnaparamita as the great spell, the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth-for what could go wrong?


By the prajnaparamita has this spell been delivered, it runs like this:


Gone! Gone! Gone beyond! Gone altogether beyond! O what an awakening, all-hail!

Kimchi Bokumbop

아주 맛있었어요. (a-ju ma-si-sseo-sseo-yo).

It was delicious!

(The image is not mine.) 

Kimchi fried rice is my standard order when I eat at the Japanese-Korean stall in the UP Shopping Center.  It's one of the places in the campus which is vegetarian-friendly.

To be vegetarian in the Philippines can simplify one's life because usually you only have very few choices if you eat out.  If you cook your own food, you have to be creative otherwise you'll end up getting sick of what you eat.

I had dinner with two UP Filipiniana alumni friends and one commented that being vegetarian is boring.  I begged to disagree of course.  We were in the produce section of the supermarket when he said that.

"Look at all these vegetables," I said while pointing to all the fresh produce.  I get excited whenever I'm in Hong Kong because of the abundance of fresh vegetables and the wide variety of seasonings available in the market.  Unfortunately, one week is the longest time that I've stayed here so buying big bottles of vegetarian stir fry and chilli-garlic sauces is unwise.