Rockin' in the Free World...

Hey, gang.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the 11th annual Air Guitar World Championship. 17 air guitarists from different countries competed to win a brand new electric guitar and amp, as well as a horendous amount of international acclaim from nerds the world across.





The event was covered by Czech news and you can follow this link to see a brief clip from last night's hilarious show:

Czech News Story

A nerdy guy from Asia took the grand prize, beating out competitors from Australia, Italy, Czech Republic, United States, and elsewhere.

I went to the sauna for the first time today. The nudity is not what bothered me. Fully naked with other people--no problem. What bothered me was the heat. Upwards of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. You all shower (today it was men & women's day together) and go into the sauna. You stay in for 10 minutes. Then you take a cold shower and lounge around drinking and talking for about 20 minutes. Then you take another shower and repeat the process two more times. It all takes about 1 hr. 30 mins. It was a lot of fun, once I got used to the heat.

I'm told that in Oulanka (where I'm traveling on Monday and will be until Friday, near the Russian border) they sauna and then run outside naked and jump into the ice cold river. Yikes! (We'll have to see about THAT.)

I found out today that:

1) The unpleasantly sweet milk I've been drinking is sweet because "Hyla" doesn'ty mean "Skim." It, in fact, means "Lactose-Free." That's why it is sweet and that is why I don't like it.

2) The unpleasantly thick raspberry juice I've been drinking is thick because "Keitto" doesn't mean "Juice." It, in fact, means soup--soup with a potato starch base. It's meant to be either served chilled in a bowl or even heated in a pot first. This is why it is thick and this si why I don't like it.

I couldn't buy wine at 6pm because that is when everything closes. I could not order a pizza at 10pm because they stop delivering at 9pm. Everything closes by 6 and most things aren't open on Sunday at all. It's so unlike Raleigh, where almost everything is open most of the time and some things 24 hours.

Anyway, off to bed. I'll be reporting back to you next weekend with stories and photos from the Oulanka Research Station where I'll be joining my Nordic Nature & Environment class on a nature expedition.

Hei hei!

PS - check out this link for photos:
Dustin's PhotoBucket