Life in Finland

Tampere

2010-02-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago, I took a train to Tampere for a few days of good food, friends and SAUNA. Tampere is a beautiful city. These are pictures of where we stayed (The Aarnio Home - about 15km outside the city) and the sauna by the lake. And yes, I jumped into the Avanto ("hole in the ice") again!

Speciation Workshop - England

2010-02-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

January 10-16 we had our latest research meeting at Losehill Hall in The Peak District, Derbyshire, England. The taxi ride from the airport was a bit scary, due to the fact that they had received more snow and had colder temperatures than they had experienced in decades. But it didn't stop us from enjoying an afternoon walk to the top of the hill!
I listened to some interesting talks, gave a presentation, met some great folks and had some good meetings about my research plans.

Home for Christmas

2010-01-07T05:17:00.000-08:00

Home is where the heart is. After a month with my girls (all three of them!), we have a new energy. Rejuvinated and re-motivated, we are ready to press on. Lillian and Edith are both getting on beautifully and Janee has been strong, coping with the changes in our lives and managing to take care of two happy, healthy whippersnappers.

Both girls got a violin for Christmas from Daddy, and the scarf that Janee made me has already come in handy. This morning, on the way to work here in Finland, the temperature was -25C (-13F). I walked in with frozen beard, mustache, collar and scarf, although my neck stayed warm.

Here are some recent pics of the girls - growing like weeds (beautiful, strong weeds with rosey little cheeks)...

Updates coming soon...

CHEERS

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T04:55:00.000-08:00

Here they are: Our little witch and "titty tat" (as Edie says)...

Gone Fishin', er, Sort Of

2009-10-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I went fishing.

Or rather, I went with a friend to Lake Päijänne to check his gill nets.

Arto has ten of them. They are each 60 meters long and rest on the bottom of the lake. Some nets we set were 30 meters deep.

Here's the concept:

poor little guys.

Lake Paijanne is huge, and it's great seeing what kind of things find their way into those nets.

Most of the fish that were caught were what Arto called "bream" - they were more like a drum or a carp. We probably caught 30 of them. Arto only kept one. A big one. He said occasionally when he goes to market, there's a guy from Thailand or Vietnam or somewhere who will buy it. He just cleans them and sells them whole, per kilo, to a local food market.

His target species are pikeperch (like a walleye or saugeye, "kuha" in Finnish), burbot (a freshwater gadiform, catfish/cod-like), perch ("ahven" in finnish), whitefish, and muikku. If you stay in Finland long, you will know about muikku.

The fish:

whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus)

smelt (Coregonus pallasii) (I recommend clicking on this one)

This one was stuck in the net and when Arto put tossed it to me he said, "They smell like cucumbers..."
So I put it up to my nose and sure enough, it smelled (smelt!) like a cucumber. Odd.

Pikeperch (Sanders sp.)

Burbot (Lota lota) (very neat fish)

(little pikeperch)

By the end of the day, the cooler was full of big pikeperch.

Arto gave me five fish and said I earned it.

Muikku (Coregonus albula)
Muikku are a tasty little fish that you can buy in centrum, grilled and mixed with vegetables, during festivals or busy Saturday nights. The ones you get from the grills are usually the size of small sardines. The one we caught was pretty big; I ended up pan-frying it in oil with some onions and cayenne pepper.

The fish at the top here is a perch (Perca fluviatilis). This was a good-sized one and it was delicious. The pikeperch was also really good. I don't know which one was better. I baked the perch and pikeperch in foil.

mmm...muikku...

Things and Stuff

2009-09-26T05:17:00.000-07:00

On the road I've been walking.

2009-08-31T11:52:00.001-07:00

I've been out and about for the past couple of weeks. It started with a train ride from Jyväskylä to Helsinki to catch a 10:00 flight to London, then on to Edinburgh, Scotland. From Edinburgh I would take the train north to St. Andrews, where I had a room in the University's New Hall accommodations. The coffee was horrible, but the whiskey and company were delightful. The St. Andrews Castle has been standing in some way, shape or form in the same place for nearly 800 years and has an amazing history, according to Wikipedia:
"Scottish Protestants were increasingly viewed as dangerous turncoats who sided with the English. In 1546 David Beaton imprisoned the Protestant preacher George Wishart (1513-1546) in the castle’s Sea Tower and had him burnt at the stake in front of the castle walls on March 1. Today, brick lettering with his initials marks the spot where he died. In May of that same year, Wishart's friends conspired against the cardinal. On May 26 they gained entry to the castle by disguising themselves as masons when some building work was in progress. After overcoming the garrison, they murdered Cardinal Beaton and hung his body from his window on the front of the castle. Following this murder, the Protestants took refuge in the castle and formed the first Protestant congregation in Scotland. A long siege was ordered by the Scottish Regent, Earl of Arran. In November of 1546 a mine was begun by the attackers which was successfully counter-mined by the defenders. Both the mine and counter-mine cut through solid rock. They were rediscovered in 1879 and remain open to the public today."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Andrews_Castle
The castle sort of descended into the coastline and the sand below it has all types of goodies - beach glass, shells, and smooth, sand-polished minerals. At night you can even see Scottish youth burning wheelbarrow tires in one of the many caves in the cliffs. That is like, so, totally not environmentally cool. St. Andrews was nice though.
After a week of network meetings and listening to some great talks, it was time to leave Fife. I had a little time to kill on Sunday so I caught a ride with my friend Dan to his place in Aberdeen. Aberdeen was a grey place. Oil town. But I took a long walk and saw seals swimming amongst the oil tankers in the harbor. He swam as I walked and we noticed each other. The air was crisp and cool, the gardens were full of flowers, and the birds were everywhere. The grass was cool and green and I took some photographs. Can you spot the seal? Dan fixed me a steak dinner and I caught the 9:30 train to Edinburgh. I got there at around midnight and basically barhopped until I could catch the shuttle to the airport at 5:00am. I managed to play a song at an open mic night at a bar next to a youth hostel. I followed the act of a creationist highlander in a leather Lucky Strike jacket (he sang Redemption Song, by Bob Marley, which I thoroughly enjoyed). The plane would leave at 10:00am, bound for Torino. Italy was beautiful. I attended the 2009 ESEB (European Society for Evolutionary Biology) Congress at the Politecnico in the middle of Turin, as basically an understudy of the Commissioning Editor of Biology at Oxford University Press. Ian was a great friend - generous and helpful. We had a fine time, had dinners with editors and publishers, and I was able to take time out when I needed to attend some important talks on various aspects of evolutionary biology, speciation in particular.
After the Congress was over, we spent one night in the old beautiful town of Bergamo, near Milan, whose ancient grounds became a Roman Municipality in 49 BC. Atilla and the Huns destroyed the ancient city of Bergomum in the 5th Century. The old city walls still stand, surrounding the "high" town, or Città Alta. We walked up into the old town, over and along the walls, through the narrow streets where plague had wiped out much of the city's population in the 1630s.
Back in Jyväskylä it is nice to be home. No rest though. I've began work on my second manuscript and have plenty of food on my plate. Time to start putting it away... Cheers and Love

The Finnish Summer

2009-08-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

This place is really beautiful in the summer. At least this summer it is. Last summer was unusually cold and wet, but this year it has been sunny and mild. I think it got up to around 85 one day a few weeks ago.

Rather than write a thousand words for each picture here, I think I'll let them speak for themselves. The yellow fields are rapeseed (Brassica rapa) and the lake you see is called Tuomiojarvi, or "lake of judgement". I don't think any of us are strangers to that!

A three hour tour...

2009-08-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

Recently, with a group of colleagues and friends, I had an opportunity to go by boat through a narrow corridor that connects Jyväsjärvi, the central lake here in Jyväskylä, to Päijanne, the longest and deepest lake in all of Finland, just to the south.

The boat was called "Rhea" and had a very nice (and damn pricey!) restaurant on the lower deck.

LILLIAN, THIS PINK PICTURE IS FOR YOU! ;)

So we left the dock at about 7:30 for a three hour tour.

This thing was really something. The green floor was eerily comforting and everyone was sitting and enjoying the sun, which would not set until around 11:00 or so. So I went to the bar and got a Karjala, a beer that I think is just sweet enough to give it a uniqueness that other beers here generally lack.

There was a band set up - a girl and a guy playing a mix of traditional Finnish rock and folk, along with some trance/dance music. The music was interesting and the sights along Paijanne were too.

In our group: Tiina, Mikka, Laura, Ville, Hannele, Pekka, Jukka, Jenni... and a few others whose names escape me.

After tootling around Päijanne and the islands therein, we made our way back to Jyväsjärvi at around 10:30, just in time to see the sun beaming off of the clouds and the apartment buildings in Lutakko, a neighborhood on the lake near the city centre.

2009-07-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

I went on a bike ride. The weather was great. I saw a hot air balloon and I sat by the lake and watched a momma and baby mallard duck feed near the shoreline. The duckling was having fun...

The duckling reminded me of another bird. A swift. There are some resident swifts in our little village. They spend their afternoons, when the weather is nice, flying through our neighborhood. The other day I was watching them fly outside my balcony; they were whizzing and soaring, changing directions constantly, diving here or there - they were being creative. And I couldn't help but think that they were really enjoying themselves. They were having fun. For what reason other than fun would a bird, flying by itself, shoot straight up into the air, screaming as he goes, only to turn a few sharp corners, and glide back down spinning and swirling? And they do it all afternoon, especially on nice days. It's a show... better than anything I've seen off Broadway (except for maybe Stomp).

Then I got distracted by a man made bird, inside of which was a man who was clearly having fun as well. Luckily, I turned the camera off before the tiny man and his tiny flying machine ran into my neighbor's balcony railing... the sound track is Jason Molina.

Soccer in Finland

2009-07-20T04:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE-DZwiLwf4

Below is a link to the team (BET) I just joined here in Jyväskylä. All of our games are played near Jyväskylä - within about 20 kilometers - and everything looks legit.

http://www.manageapp.com/bet/

Things Right Now...

2009-07-13T08:19:00.001-07:00

Things right now are....

Green

Brown

And Black and White.

Mewstly...

My Trip to Colorado

2009-06-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Gothic, CO and the surrounding areas, where we collected flies for our research. Here are some pictures of some of the things that I saw.

A Few Pics

2009-05-17T04:22:00.001-07:00

Harju.....Mäki-Matti festival.....Mother's Day in the woods......The sandbox......and around the house.............

Pictures: Finland and The Netherlands

2009-04-26T13:51:00.001-07:00

So..... it's been a while, I know.

Since the last entry, I experienced ice-hole swimming in a forest lake and had a network workshop in Groningen (The Netherlands). And yes, they do have Koffie shops there.

This is the Konnevesi research station about 100km from Jyvaskyla. After the sauna, before the Kota, a few of us jumped in the ice-hole (avanto) at the end of the dock. It's an amazing experience motivated by the fact that there is a hot sauna waiting for you when you get out.

This is a Kota. It's a small, poorly insulated structure where people grill sausages and sing songs until the wee hours of the morning. If you're not near the fire, you're not warm.

These are pictures from Haren, near the biology building at the University of Groningen - finally a taste of spring.

More to come.
Bye for now.
Jackson

Sunnuntai Afternoon

2009-03-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

Foreign Clouds

2009-03-23T00:33:00.001-07:00

I'm finally getting over my cold, so yesterday I went on a bike ride to a nearby lake to take some photographs. The sun had been shining all day, but just as I began to settle in, ready to take some pictures (and I knew this would happen, which is why I broke the sound barrier getting there) it disappeared behind scattered clouds, hiding from me for the rest of the day. Still beautiful though, and not too cold. It hovered right around 35ºF for most of the afternoon.

To be alone under foreign clouds, with a frozen, snowpacked lake in front of me and a robe of birch trees at my back was solemn and peaceful, and is quickly becoming a favorite past time of mine. Just sitting. Just being.

This time of year is beautiful, the sun shines more and more, yet the snow is still here. I sure do miss the Arkansas springtime though.

Below are some photographs of our EvoGen research group here at the University: Maaria, Me, Anneli, Hannele, Laura, Tiina, and Venera. (And if there are any males out there looking for a graduate position in Evolutionary Genetics, let me recommend the University of Jyväskylä!)

Actually, we are a good group and they are all very kind, hard working and great company. I feel absolutely privileged.

Tell Arkansas "hi" for me.

Cheers,
Jackson

The Beavis Effect

2009-03-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

Today I learned about the "Beavis effect". The Beavis effect is a statistical phenomenon in biology that refers to the overestimation of the effect size of QTL (quantitative trait loci) as a result of small sample sizes in QTL studies. QTL studies attempt to link phenotypic variation in an organism with genotypic variation... in other words, which genes (or gene regions) are responsible for certain traits in lving things. Human height, for instance, has been shown through these types of studies to be influenced by two loci (gene regions) - 9q22 on the 9th chromosome and Xq24 on the human X chromosome. Interestingly, the gene "ROR2" is located within that 9q22 locus and is responsible for growth plate development. (Liu, Y et al., Human Genetics, 2006)

I may be carrying out a QTL analysis in my own research, so I should be sure to use large sample sizes to avoid the Beavis effect.

Word to your moms.

(jackson)

Mina olen Jyväskylästa.

2009-03-08T03:38:00.000-07:00

So Janee' and the girls are spending some time back in Arkansas. Yes, it's true; they left last Monday and will come back at the end of April. We decided that the timing is right and that it's best for the girls and for momma too (and if momma ain't happy....)

We have been unable to get Lillian into school here, which means the girls spend most days milling around the apartment; there's only so much time one can spend outside here. It's often too cold to stay out for very long and the NintendoDS and coloring books can only go so far. Furthermore, no school time for Lillian during the day means no personal (alone) time for Janee' (if you don't have kids yet, this will make sense to you when you do).

It's not been an issue for me; I spend 9 to 5 at the University and I'm usually quite busy feeding flies or extracting DNA, but I could imagine things might get a little stagnant around here for my lovely wife. If you have not yet spent 24 hours with Lillian and Edith (or 2 months straight, for that matter) you should give it a try and see how much gusto you have left when it's over... they suck the life right out of you! I think the Grammy or Mimi can attest to that!

I'm happy that the girls will be able to enjoy some warm Arkansas spring air, the Kings River, the cabin, and the grandparents, great-grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Lily can finish her spring soccer season with her little team, and perhaps get back into school for a bit. By the time they all return, it will be late April and the weather should be warming up around here. Although I miss my girls, I'm taking this time to focus on work and think about things - I'm trying to enjoy the solitude, although it's been a bit strange - just not what I'm used to. It is nice, though, to be able to sit down in a quiet room in the afternoon, in your home, and read for an hour. I had forgotten what that felt like.

Time like this is always good in the long run, and Janee' and I always grow from spending time apart from one another. I believe time apart may be the key to a lasting relationship (my grandmother told me that). And did I mention that we have Skype? It's quite nice that I can see the girls everyday... I mean, it's not like I'm on Jupiter or anything.

This week it got up to 10 celcius on our balcony (that's 50 degrees F). It has been hovering around 0 celcius (32 F) the whole week, so much of the snow is melting during the day and refreezing at night, making my bike ride to work hazardous and arduous.

I got a guitar a couple of weeks ago, since I have a gig coming up at the end of the month. I bought a Washburn acoustic and I love it. Definitely helps to pass the time around here, now that I am without little bodies and little voices bouncing off the walls.

Last night I went to a live Jazz bar called Poppari. The group "Jazzliitto" was really good - all Finnish. They have been playing together for about 2 years and their two sets were excellent. After the group was done, the sax and trumpet players stayed on to play while a DJ spun records. I had never actually been to a jazz bar, so it was a great experience all around.

Everywhere I go, I talk about music with folks. They tell me what they like and I tell them what I like. We usually end up exchanging band or musician names on paper and I always look forward to looking them up when I get home. Usually, they are heavy metal bands with humdrum sounds and mundane lyrics. I have heard some good stuff though; last night, Jazzliitto was good.

I've got all the girls in my research group - I am the only "male", as they like to say - listening to Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and some contemporary stuff like Band of Horses and MGMT. Ah, music.

Well, the sun is shining today with few clouds to get in the way. After lunch, which will consist of potatoes, macaroni, and a couple of lihapiirakka kottpirogat, I think a sauna is in order, and maybe a walk to the grocery store. And guess what - I can buy beer on Sunday. A sauna without a beer just wouldn't be right.
Below is a taste of Jazzliitto.

Tervesin!

Jackson

Kortepohja Village

2009-02-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

This morning we awoke to a rising sun creating the most beautiful bluish orange sky - not one cloud today. The sun illuminated every room in our flat. Lily and I sat outside on the back deck and bathed in the rays. Albeit cold, we soaked it up.

We have been in our new place (Kortepohja) for two weeks now and we feel at home here. This space is much different than our last and it fits us perfectly! 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms, breakfast area, kitchen, back porch, large picture windows, and laundry lines - we have ample space with great energy flow.

We arrived last Tuesday thinking we were going to open the door to a furnished flat but it was quite the contrary. We entered a completely vacant space - no beds, no dishes, no towels, no shower curtain... At this point nothing is too shocking anymore, so we rolled with our new findings pretty smoothly. We slept the first night on our thermarests and in sleeping bags (thanks to Jackson for packing those) and woke up the next morning ready to go to work.

We found beds, 3 tables, and some chairs in a storage room in one of the neighboring buildings. The room was packed full of basically free furniture for tenants. The beds are very comfortable, the chairs not at all, and the tables serve their purpose. They are definitely suiting our needs as we get settled.

We have found a handful of great flea markets (kirrputori's) in town. All the thrift shops here are called flea markets and function just as the flea markets do in the states - people buy booths and sell their things. Even the Salvation Army here is a flea market! We have bought many items from the kirrputorri's - dishes, silverware, pots and pans, cooking utensils, sheets, and curtains and we've bought some new things as well - a few rugs, some bath towels, and the best damn coffee maker I have ever owned.

We were gifted a beautiful kitchen table and chairs from our friends Milla and Nathan who live two floors down and we bought a cozy brown leather couch from a woman who not only delivered it to our building, but brought along another stud who helped Jackson lift it up four flights of stairs! This couch fits perfectly in our living area and we are so very thankful to finally have a comfortable place to sit our bum. It also has a hideaway bed for those of you who will be visiting us in the future!

Piece by piece we are turning this house into our home and I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of our nesting.

Yesterday we suited up and headed for the ski slopes. We had a morning of fun sledding on a kid-packed hill beside the downhill ski slope. Edith is really taking to the snow - sledding with smiles, climbing the slick inclines with ease and then sliding down on her bottom, back and belly. We managed to go almost the entire time without any injuries although there were a lot of close calls - kids were coming in from every direction. At the very end, Lily was catapulted off of her sled and took a good nose dive in the snow. She cried but shook it off very well. With this, we decided to call it a day. We walked to the restaurant at the base of the slopes and ate grilled hamburgers, two big baskets of fries, and coke - my first in months. Coke is so expensive in the grocery store that I have yet to justify buying it. A one liter is close to $4! While we enjoyed our meal, a band played some music. I felt like we were on vacation, surely not living in this town... ski slopes?! It was great fun and on our walk back home, huge perfect snowflakes fell from the sky.

On Sunday, Milla and I took a trip to the local "K Supermarket" at the corner of our neighborhood. We went up and down every isle and she explained all the items that I had questions about. She is Finnish, born and raised in northern Finland, and has already taught me about many traditions of Finnish cooking and eating. I bought a few new items that I am excited to report: Koskenlaskija Kylmasavuporo is a cream cheese spread made of smoked reindeer and we eat it on thin rectangular rye crackers called Hapankorppuja Surskorpor. Pinaatti-Ohukaiset Spenatplatter is a small, rather thin, finnish pancake made with spinach. We have been enjoying these in the morning with a slice of cheese on top. Traditionally, the Finns eat these with berries on top of the cheese. It is not the season for berries but when they are ready to pick, I will certainly have a freezer full. Lihapiirakka Kottpirog, which we ate tonight, is something similar to a "slider" (for all you northerners). It looks like a dinner roll, with a bready outside but meat and rice on the inside. The smell of these things warming in the oven is so sweet. The bread is fried and smells of a doughnut - certainly not healthy but very, very tasty. Tonight, Jackson and I stuffed these with avocado and stark mustard. Mmm.

I have posted pictures of all these treats so you can enjoy a visual. Based on the words, you can see why I have had a difficult time understanding this language. I have also posted a picture of organic rye bread - Palokan Perinneleipurit. Notice the two labels on either side of the name. On the right is the word Luomu, which means "organic" in Finnish. On the left is the word Hyvaa Suonesta which means "grown in Finland". I am finding a decent selection of organic food here although there is not a significant taste difference between organic and non-organic like there is in the states. As most of you know, the farming standards are more restrictive here in Europe under the EU than in the US. The local produce is obviously scarce right now because of the season but I am finding a lot of grains that are local. I hear that in summer, the selection of local produce at the town square market is abundant.

Milla and Nathan have two daughters, Sofia, 6, and Helena, 3. Lillian and Sofia play together everyday and I am elated that she finally has found a good friend! Lillian keeps saying, "Sofia, you are my best friend in Finland." It is one of the cutest things I have ever heard. Milla has helped me learn of so much in this town from schools for Lillian to flea markets to local activities for stay at home moms. Her help has been invaluable to me. Although this town is English speaking friendly, it does help to have good working knowledge of Finnish. I am slowly learning my way around and picking up words here and there. Little Edith already says, "hei hei," which is "bye" in Finnish. Lillian knows a handful of words and picks up more daily with the help of little bilingual Sofia. It's wonderful to watch Lillian pick up on the subtle things of this new language like the different tones and pitches.

Signing off for now.
I hope all of you are well.
Sending love,
Janee

Birthday Cake, Birthday Lake

2009-02-06T22:55:00.001-08:00

Two birthdays and about 5km later, we have finally moved into our new place. We will likely be at this new (older) apartment for the rest of our time in Jyväskylä.

We love it...

It's maybe 90 meters to Lillian's school, the grocery store selection is extensive and inviting, and there are two pizza joints next door - one of which has a very nice pool table. It's a student villiage, so there are lots of internationals, people are friendly, and there are plenty of families and english speakers.

Less than a kilometer away there is a downhill skiing area. Most Finns cross country ski, but we look forward to going downhill! There is also a horse race track nearby. The "jockeys" ride in a big-wheeled chariot behind the horse and people bet on horses just like in Kentucky. They do this year round - even in the snow. Definitely worth exploring. We've got some great snow powdered trees across the way. Our 4th floor balcony is perfect.

Now with my new bicycle, the Purple Dragon, trips into town are easier and more enjoyable. We plan to get Janee a bike in the spring with a pull cart for the kiddos. It's amazing how few people walk or ride their bikes in the states. I'm still trying to figure it out. I guess a lack of infrastructure plays a large part... and maybe laziness?

Cheers, Regards, Love, and in the words of John Stewart, here's your moment of Zen:

Jackson

"So, what the hell are you doing in Finland?"

2009-01-26T07:50:00.000-08:00

On the relative eve of such an amazing time in our history as the 200th anniversary of the births of both Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln (two of my favorite people, born on the same day - February 12, 1809 - mind you) and in light of my own birthday (February 2nd - mark your calendars!) AND the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama, who may do wonders for Science in America, I felt it fitting to talk about evolution.

Yes, for the two of you who may be sincerely interested, I thought I would give a brief description of what it is that has brought me (us) to Scandanavia - my research.

I have begun my research in Evolutionary Genetics with the goal of getting a PhD in 3 short, busy years. I was selected along with eight other early stage researchers (ESRs) from across Europe and Asia under a Marie Curie grant, funded by the EU, to study the process of speciation. I am the only American in the group.

http://speciation.group.shef.ac.uk/itn/

Speciation is the process by which new species are formed. Typically, it involves some sort of barrier to gene flow - usually a geographical one - that allows two or more populations of a single species to diverge genetically as they evolve in habitats that differ ecologically. Different local ecologies means different selective pressures ("natural selection") and, thus, different local adaptations for each group. For instance, one population may be exposed to different predators, temperatures, or host plants (as is often the case in insects) than the other. This means that the two populations will evolve and adapt to the specific challenges they face.

You can also think about the African ancestor to modern humans, separated from other similar populations (which would become our ape relatives) by ecology (i.e., "apes" in the forest, "humans" on the savannah) or by sheer distance, as the human predecessors began to move out of Africa an inhabit every (expletive!) inch of the globe. (I read recently that the population size of our ancestors before leaving Africa was a mere 5,000 strong.)

Along with adaptation by natural selection, different mutations accumulate and genetic drift progresses in a different fashion in each population. With enough time - usually millions of years - substantial genetic differences build up until, at some point, the two populations are so far different from one another that they can no longer interbreed; this is the prerequisite for species formation and existence, according to the biological species concept, or BSC. The BSC defines a species as a group of interbreeding individuals which are fertile among themselves, but not with any other groups. (What about lions and tigers, right?)

Whereas my Master's work was on two desert Drosophila species, my work in Finland will focus on the boreal "fruit fly", Drosophila montana. This species has adapted to live in the cold of the northern latitudes and can be found near the arctic circle, close to 66ºN latitude, where temperatures can dip down to -50ºC. That's -58ºF - pretty amazing for an insect! It's range extends across the northern hemisphere throughout Europe, Asia, and North America and it is generally associated with water - beaver dams in particular. Populations in our lab include flies from Finland, Canada, and high elevation sites in Colorado.

These flies overwinter as adults. This means the few short months of warmth that they experience are vital to their survival. During the warmest parts of the year, adult flies emerge from "hibernation" (called "diapause" in insects) and look for mates. Mating season is short, typically only a few weeks, and the rest of the warm season is time enough for the larvae (maggots, you might call them) to feed, grow, form a pupal case, and emerge as winged adults. There is usually only one generation per year, which means the newly emerged adult flies that survive to see the onset of winter must go dormant and wait until the following spring to find a mate.

In the first phase of my research, I will be looking to see if sexual isolation has arisen between populations from Oulanka, Finland (in the north) and those from Vancouver, BC. In other words, are these populations in the early stages of speciation? I will run mating trials where mature, adult flies of each population will be allowed to choose between their own and foreign members of the opposite sex. If mating is non-random (in other words, if they choose their own type over members of the other populations) then it is an indication that they are indeed diverging and possibly becoming new species. The small amount of work that has been done already in our lab suggests that they are not sexually isolated, however, all mating trials performed up to this point have been "no-choice" by design. In other words females (who generally do the choosing in Drosophilids) are confined with either a similar or a foreign male, and then scored as to whether copulation (mating) occurs.

So a guy walks into a bar...and there's only one girl there. (Who do YOU think he'll choose?)

I should start my experiments within the next month or so and I am looking forward to the work. I will also do some genetic work with microsatellites to determine if female flies who have been multiply inseminated can "choose" whose sperm they use to produce offspring, and whether there is a connection between chromosomal inversions and sexual isolation (I can see your hand wafting over your head now).

One great thing about this study is that it will include fieldwork. As I learned at the University of Arkansas under the direction of Dave Stahle climbing ancient bald cypress in the swamps of south Arkansas and Bill Etges in the Sonoran desert collecting flies for my Master's work, fieldwork is one of my favorite things. Now, instead of going into pristine, undisturbed landscapes in search of old-growth trees and cactophilic fruit flies, I'll be going into pristine, undisturbed landscapes in the warm boreal spring in search of beaver dams and Drosophila montana, although I'm sure I'll pay plenty of attention to the trees too...

Onward,

Jackson

Here Comes the Sun

2009-01-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

I've been told by a number of Finns that the winter can be depressing (really?). Apparently, when spring comes and the days get longer, people's moods noticeably change. Yesterday (Saturday) there was not a cloud in the sky. This was perfect, since we had plans to walk about 6 km across town to the home of one of my professors, so that our girls could play. Emily has two daughters: Evy, 5 and Lily, 3. The kids laughed and played and Janee and I got some actual human interaction and a taste of culture. Dr. Knott, who is a professor/researcher at the University, is originally from Alabama. She has been in Jyvaskyla for 8 years. By her accent now, one would think she was Finnish. Her drawl is long gone. She married a Finn, Ilare (pronounced like "Hillary" without the "H"), and has a beautiful home and family. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and I made out with 12 CDs from their collection which inlcluded 4 Wilco CDs, Liz Phair, Rusted Root, and a Mexican band called "Ozomatli", among others. We took a break at McDonald's near Seppala to get some food and warmth on the way and had a great day in the sun, although the shadows remain long.

Then today, during Edith's nap (about noon) Lillian and I went exploring (consequently, Janee got some well deserved "alone" time). About 1/2 km from our apartment is a trail leading of into the forest, mostly conifer and birch. The trail runs through the "wilderness" adjacent to the University and University apartments. Huge moss covered boulders, clearings under the pines and glistening frozen streams typify the the woods here. We walked for maybe 45 minutes, eventually arriving at the front door of my department at the University. We used the restroom, had some blueberry tea and Lily drew me some Tyrannosaurs for my office wall. On the way back home, we walked across the lake, where the Sunday crowd was out and about, ice skating and enjoying the day.

The days are growing noticeably longer, although it has been cold. We've had highs between -1 and -10 celcius for the past week or so. Yesterday morning it was -21 degrees Celcius! If the wind stays down, the days are definitely bearable, even enjoyable (and the sun doesn't hurt either).

Tervesin,

jackson

A Taste of Nostaglia

2009-01-14T23:55:00.001-08:00

Frugality has been a way of life for us for what seems like forever. There is good and bad in the practice as the impulses to run and buy a half case of delicious beer are, unfortunately, kept to a minimum. At least this way of life has allowed us not to clutter our surroundings with all too many unnecessary things.

When we arrived in Finland, we found out that Jackson will not get paid until the end of the month - ouch! So we had to make our travel allowance not only stretch through our initial journey here, but carry us until the last week in January - food and all. This was such a funny thing for us to digest. Here we are, moving half way around the globe in efforts to not only secure our future financially by continuing Jackson's education, but to live a reasonably more lavish daily life (oh, and the living abroad experience is not too bad either). Not three days into our trip we find that we are yet still floating in the same boat that we thought we had abandoned. Isn't this how it works. Lesson learned. But darn it, we WILL be enjoying the luxuries of eating out and vacationing once Jackson begins getting a regular pay check. We are ready!

So our trips to the grocery store are with one thing in mind - economics. What can we buy that will satiate us and not break our wallet? I am happy to say that our creativity in making meals has been above par. The food we have enjoyed has been absolutely delicious! I am certain a part of that has to do with how much exercise we are getting daily. I told a friend of mine the other day, feeding the family lately is like feeding a pack of hungry wolves! Seems every time I turn around, Lillian is saying, "Momma, I'm hungry." You always love hearing those words from your child. When they eat and eat well, it gives a mom such a deep feeling of satisfaction. But I tell you, I am growing tired of my seemingly constant presence in the kitchen.

This entry is dedicated to my mom. I have realized that the meals we have been eating for the past few weeks are meals that I enjoyed as a small lady when my parents were living under conditions that forced them to fix food that was inexpensive yet healthy and appealing to Jess and I. Mom, our breakfast rice with milk, butter, and sugar has been yummy! We don't have cinnamon so I can't make us the cinnamon toast that you used to make but we are still enjoying the rice with toast, buttered and jellied. The egg sandwiches on toasted bread with ketchup is a favorite of ours, especially for Lily and I. Cornflakes with bananas and honey takes me right back to our kitchen table, sitting with you in the morning. Grilled cheese and canned pears for lunch. Homemade macaroni and cheese. Boiled eggs. Butter and honey sandwiches. I have decided that all we need now to make this a complete childhood experience for me is Coco-Wheats! I would just melt.

We are all healthy and happy. Today is colder than it has been the past four or five days. It has been warmer here than it has been in Arkansas, believe it or not! The snow has all melted away and the city is looking gray. This place looks a lot prettier with white covering its surface. I ran into a friend of ours, Mikko, yesterday. He said that he hates this warm weather and is ready for the snow to come back. I think all the Finns are wishing the same thing - the colder and whiter, the better.

I took the girls to the public library yesterday. Lillian and I both got our very own library cards. Lily got to sign hers on the back which was a highlight of my day. I am sure that thing will be in my wallet until I am an octogenarian. So great. We spent about an hour in the children's section, managed to find the small selection of books and music in English, looked at all the wonderful art and photographs they have from around the world, and then checked out about 15 books. I let Lillian go a bit crazy. After all, overindulgence at the library has never been discouraged! Last night Jackson read her, "The Book about Moomin, Mymble, and Little My," by Tove Jansson, the late, well known Finnish author and artist.

Today our place gets cleaned and momma is happy. I have never had a cleaning service; this is a first for me (a complimentary service from the university). Clean toilet, clean shower, clean floors(!), clean bedsheets, with no effort on my part. I think I can get used to this.

I am taking the girls to a coffee shop up the road while the ladies are here. We will be warm, enjoy a pastry, and come home to a clean house. Ahhh.

Sending love to all of you.
We miss you so.
Janee

You Only Live Once

2009-01-13T07:54:00.000-08:00

So this entry is a bit dated - I wrote it nearly two weeks ago - but I think it sums up our trip quite nicely.

:) jackson

If you really want to test a marriage, try traveling to Finland. Go to Jyvaskyla with your dear wife (or husband) and two little girls, 5 and 1 ½ years old. Be sure to have your first flight out of Tulsa to Chicago canceled so you get rerouted through Denver and miss your flight from Chicago to Copenhagen so you are forced to spend the night at the Wyndham O'Hare in Chicago. Then wake up early to get your tickets reissued so that you are switched to Lufthansa (a great airline I should add) and go through Frankfurt, Germany on the way to Helsinki. Be sure to check in an exorbitant amount of baggage and carry the maximum number of carry-on bags possible – one of which should be packed so tightly that you are asked to rearrange your things to decrease its size before you board one of your flights. Also, get separated at the Helsinki airport so that your wife (or husband) has to be paged and sought by an airport employee in order to let her (or him) know that she will need to bring both girls and all carry-ons to the baggage claim area by her- (him) self, since her (his) partner accidentally passed the point of no return into the baggage claim while the rest of his (her) party was asleep at an empty terminal gate. (I simply wanted to locate baggage claim while the girls caught up on some much needed sleep). Pay 60 Euros for a private car, since your baggage is so colossal, and oh, and when leaving Helsinki for Jyvaskyla, find out at the last minute that you are only able to travel by train with luggage that you yourself can carry on. Then go pay 475 Euros for a VW Crafter (a transport van seemingly the size of a small school bus) so that you can arrive in Jyvaskyla one day later than your arrangements had suggested. Did I mention jet lag? There is an eight hour difference between here and home.

As I sigh now and fight off sleep, I sit drinking a premium Estonian lager overlooking the lake that will be the centerpiece of our new home for the next three years of our lives. After all of the traveling, bickering, kids’ crying, and money spent…. it has all been worth it.

I met some colleagues once we made it into town, Laura and Tiina, who provide me with the apartment keys to our temporary flat is on the fifth floor of a clean complex and has large picture windows and a spacious balcony. All the girls are asleep. An unknown blue haze covers this beautifully lit cityscape. Parts of the lake are frozen over, since it’s only December 30th, but by mid-January, the surface will be covered with ice-skaters and other cold connoisseurs.

We have our health, our happiness (usually), and our love for one another. I don’t think it gets any better than this. You only live once, and I want to make my one time a good one. Janee has been testy at times, Lillian has been a trooper, and Edith has remained surprisingly happy and uplifting for the entire trip. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Ice Skates

2009-01-12T04:54:00.000-08:00

I took Lillian ice skating after the city had cleared a huge path in the snow on the lake. I loaded her on the sled, new ice skates on feet, and I pulled her across the lake to the clear ice. The evening was gorgeous-a waxing moon, almost full, white snow and black ice.
Lillian did a great job, fell many times, but continued to get right back up on her feet and press on. After a while she discovered that it was much easier to skate in the snow. It was still slick yet gave her a little more grip than the cleared ice. While we were out there, a little boy, no older than 3, got on the ice with his dad. He was pretty good. Kids around here skate so young. I guess Edith will be learning before we know it!

I also documented the girls' shower time here in the flat. I have yet to see a bathtub in Finland-only showers with detachable heads. Lily and Edie are very much missing their bath experience-for those of you who know how much they love a good bath! I am missing it as well. It was always a nice time for me to relax. Now, shower time gets old too quickly and the mess on the floor after wards is really fun to clean up daily. Let's just say we trek water throughout the house. At least the few kitchen utensils that are now being used for bath toys are prolonging their fun in the shower. As soon as we visit home, I know these girls will be in the tub for hours!

The pictures of the girls on the swings and slide were taken right outside our building. There are playgrounds everywhere. On this particular day a fresh layer of snow was just laid the night before so we were making clear paths of new footsteps. Lily's favorite part was eating the snow.

Bye for now,
Janee

The First Snow Day

2009-01-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Today, all day long, huge beautiful flakes fell from the sky. We stayed in doors for the morning. Got a little stir crazy by afternoon so decided to take a walk. We bundled up, which of course includes a complimentary fit from Edith (she just loves her bulky winter wear). We walked to some hills near the part of town we will be moving to at the beginning of February- about 3 km away from where we are living now.

Lillian doesn't know what to do with all of this snow! She eats it, throws it, body slides on it, rolls in it, tries to catch falling flakes in her mouth. We sled down a couple of big hills. Lily, surprisingly and bravely, hops on the sled and zips her way down the first hill without hesitation. The look of her eyes as she goes down these hills is indescribable. We must capture it on film for all to see. She loves it. On our way home we got to see some antique shops that we will be touring once we get settled into our new place to find some good cozy home items. I am very excited about nesting here.

I took my first big trip to the grocery store yesterday. My was it interesting. I went in, iPod in ears, and ended up having to turn the music off to concentrate on all the labels. I thought I was a good at multitasking until this point. The cheese section alone, which is one of the first things you encounter after walking through the doors, is shocking to say the least. It took me a good few minutes to find the cheddar, which I didn't really even want but it was all I could recognize. The excursion was exhausting yet exhilarating. I branched out on a couple of items, one being the salmon we cooked tonight which was delicious. I think each time I go to the store I am going to have to purchase at least one item that I don't know about so I can get a complete Finnish experience. Otherwise I feel I would just be buying the same old stuff.

I have posted a picture of some breakfast items that we have been enjoying. Notice the Rice Krispies in the background- a little taste of home. The coffee here is quite different. It is growing on me. The fruit spread you see in the picture is absolutely delicious!

We ended the day with a yummy meal of salmon, mashed potatoes, eggs and tomatoes, mixed vegetables, and bread. Lily kept saying how this was the best meal she had ever eaten and how we should literally eat this for every dinner from now until we leave. That makes a momma feel good!

Love to you all...
Janee

Alko

2009-01-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

In Finland, you can buy beer at the "Siwa" grocery stores, but in order to get alcohol (whiskey, vodka, etc.) you have to go to an "Alko" store. We finally found one yesterday. The price for a fifth of Jack Daniels is about 32 euros (40 bucks or so) but Finnish Vodka (viina) is fairly cheap. I bought a 0.7 L bottle of Suomi (Finnish for "Finland") for about 12 euros. We are working on "finnishing" it now.

The snow is falling hard outside; I've never seen snowflakes so big. There are snowdrifts on our balcony. Today was a Finnish holiday celebrating the end of Christmas time, so most stores are closed and people are generally out enjoying the day. We walked into town and sledded down some hills with the girls on an old worn-out sled that we found on the lake. Lily will be a pro soon.

Every day is an adventure.

Oh, and if you haven't heard "This" - by Brian Eno - you should go ahead and do that. (Thanks Caroline...)

Signing off..... jackson

Reindeer With Red Onions

2009-01-04T06:48:00.001-08:00

This afternoon, we had a lovely, traditional Finnish lunch at the Hoikkala residence. The snow fell heavy outside the windows and the menu went something like this:

Reindeer with red onions
Grilled salmon
Fresh cucumber, pineapple, spinach, tomato, and red bell peppers
Wild berry sauce
White mashed potatoes

This was followed by a dessert of raspberry cream "stuff" and coffee and cookies to finish it off - by far the best meal we've had since Christmas in Arkansas. I never thought I would say "could you pass the reindeer please?" Lillian decided quickly that eating Rudolph would not be appropriate. I must say it was delicious!

We learned some Finnish, talked maps and education, and fed their 70 year-old Russian tortoise "Arkiisk" ("Archie") lettuce and bell peppers by hand. The Hoikkalas are convinced that Archie has KGB ties, as he spent 15 or so years in Estonia under a different name.

Things have changed, but basically they stay the same....

:) jackson

The Lake

2009-01-03T23:10:00.000-08:00

We stay busy around here, at least when the sun is out!

Next orders of business: ice skates, sleds, and more hot chocolate...

First Days

2009-01-02T22:53:00.000-08:00

Wow.

Well, the first few days here have been tough. Not only am I busy with paperwork, bank accounts, Finnish ID numbers, and student issues, but the jet lag has been extreme. And with the sun shining only from about 10:00 to 4:00, it's been tough getting adjusted. On the upside, this place is beautiful. There are about 85,000 people in Jyvaskyla proper and we are now in an apartment that is about a 10 or 15 minute walk from both my host University (http://www.jyu.fi) and the city center. Between us and the city center, there is a large lake that is now frozen, so we simply walk across the ice. Yesterday, a thin layer of snow covered the ice and it feels like walking on clouds. To be on such a huge frozen body of water really is surreal. The girls are adjusting slowly, but all in all, our days have been quite satisfying and exciting. There is no written English in stores, etc. but generally, one can find an English-speaker for help in most situations. People are very reserved, but friendly when they become engaged in conversation.

Lillian and I walked down to the lake before the snow came and slid around on the ice for about an hour. She is having a ball in this winter wonderland. And Edith is growing by leaps and bounds. To spend so much time with her has been great for all of us; it's something that doesn't happen so much back home. We are all growing in lots of ways!

I will likely start working on my dissertation work within a month or so, but my advisor, Dr. Anneli Hoikkala, a Finn, has assured me that there is no rush at this point and the most important things to do are to jump through all the necessary, complicated hoops and to enjoy my family and this place. Tomorrow, she will pick us up around noon to take us to her home, where she and her husband will prepare us lunch.

Life is, of course, much different here than back home. We have our BBC news on TV, so we stay connected, but the excessive commercial advertising is mysteriously lacking - something I don't mind a bit. Bike and walking trails connect every part of the city. People don't lock their bikes up here either. We plan to buy bikes as soon as possible and will likely move across town soon so our rent will be lower and Lily will be closer to a good school. The ski slopes will be minutes away.

This first installment on the first blog I've ever made is introductory, but I will continue writing, even if only occasionally, exploring life here and keeping you up to speed with the lives of these Jenningses.

Tervesin (Regards),

Jackson