Pihtipudas, Finland

 I haven't yet gone into depth of where I am living so I thought I would do it now in this post. The first thing I noticed about the town, or should I say village was how compact the "center" was. The town sits on one street with surrounding buildings, housing small shops and an alcohol store. There are three grocery stores, a couple of clothing and appliance shops, a library, two churches, two pizza and kebab restaurants, another random restaurant, a sports shop, two banks, a taxi station, two gas stations, a taxidermy museum of fish, a history museum, a hair dresser, small hospital, pharmacy, and a flower shop. I am sure I am leaving out a few more things but that sums up most of the town. There are many forests and lakes surrounding the town and on sunny, rainless days you could walk for hours through the wilderness. However I was warned about being aware of bears and moose while I'm out there. This town is known for two things, 1. the annual yearly javelin throwing contest in the summer and 2. Mounted taxidermic fish. So if anyone is need of a mounted fish, let me know because this town rocks at doing just that! I have yet to the visit the museum but I am bound to go there one of the days that I am living here. Yes this town is small, but there is a lot of beauty in it as well. The forests are bombarded with birch trees, they are the ones with the white trunks. When I see them I am reminded of Ansel Adams and the photo he took of a forest full of white trunked trees. I am constantly trying to get the same effect in my photos as he did but am coming up short a lot of the time. I'm not certain if they are the same kind of trees but they are similar in appearance at least. I went for a long walk the other day when the sun was out. I took my camera with me and took a few shots of the surrounding area and the town itself. Pretty soon the lakes will be frozen over and we will be snowed on (I hope) which will bring more light then dark to this part of the world. Right now the sun has been setting around 4pm and completely dark by 5:30pm. Everyone hates this time of year even the locals, but its the way of life up here and so we push through. Some do it by getting drunk at a local pub, some by walking outside during the day rain or shine in freezing temperatures...to each his own right?                                                                    Lonely Bench              



               Lake next to Pihtipudas
We are traveling to a lot of other volleyball towns and all are similar to the one I am
living in, however I think I might be living in the smallest one of the league. Luckily the girls from the team said to me that I would be more then welcome to come to the city of Jyvascula any time I like to visit. I enjoyed that city a lot so I am sure I will be back there very soon. We have a match this weekend that we are leaving for tomorrow night since it is a good 7 hours away. Saturday night we will be driving straight all the way back to Pihtipudas after the game. Luckily it starts at 5, so we will be getting home around 3 or 4 in the morning....sleeping on the bus is a must then. Good thing its a big bus with a bed in the back. Will be taking this computer with me as well so more things to do on the bus :) Enjoy the pictures!