The "Olympics" of Daily Life, Part II

Okay, here's another installment of the friendly competition between Finland and the US. (I had planned to finish it before the Olympics ended, but with the baby and traveling to the UK, I couldn't get to it until now...) It looks like people are enjoying this section because I've received a bunch of comments about the entries. Keep it up because it's great to hear everyone else's perspective on the topics...

Plastic storage bags: US, GOLD; Finland, BRONZE

It's funny that something so simple could be so different across continents. Apparently, people in the US use self-sealing plastic storage bags (i.e. Ziploc) a lot, whereas most people in Finland still use the "old school" kind with twist ties. In fact, it's hard to even find a zipper storage bag in the stores here! The very largest stores sell the largest size, but I've yet to find the sandwich size. Very strange!

Flavored sparkling water: Finland, GOLD; US, BRONZE

I've thoroughly enjoyed the flavored sparkling water here. In the US, the range of flavors is limited (comparatively speaking), and often they are sweetened, too. In Finland, there is a huge range of interesting, unsweetened, lightly flavored waters so I'm really enjoying trying them. They're much healthier than soda but still taste more interesting than plain water. To give you an idea, here are some of the tasty flavors I've tried so far: blueberry, grapefruit-cranberry, pear, and black currant!

House numbers: Finland, GOLD; US, BRONZE

Another seemingly trivial item but a useful one. In the US, people put metal house numbers next to their doors, or sometimes they're painted on the curb. In either case, they are often hard to see, especially when trying to find them in the dark. I thought of this tonight when coming home from a friends' place in a taxi. As the taxi neared our place, Matt was pointing out which one was ours. It was then that I realized that the house numbers here are actually on little lights that are attached to the walls of the buildings. So they are easy to see because they are lit up- how ingenious!

"Swiss" cheese: Finland, GOLD; US, BRONZE

You probably have to be a cheese lover to properly appreciate this one. While Swiss-style cheeses are not the most interesting cheeses available, a good one can be quite good. The ones here, especially the aged ones, are really tasty and much better than any I've had in the US. I wonder why??

Allergy labeling: Finland, GOLD; US, N/A

Products in the US do sometimes carry a generic warning like "May contain traces of nuts," but they don't have the extensive information that nearly all products in Finland have. For instance, foods are usually labeled to show which are low lactose or lactose free, gluten free, vegetarian, etc. even on restaurant menus! Household products are labeled to show which are approved by the national allergy association for people with chemical allergies. It's really quite cool!

Toaster ovens: US, GOLD; Finland, N/A

Can you believe that one cannot find a toaster oven in Finland? Standard toasters weren't even that popular until a few years ago, but it seems that the benefits of toaster ovens remain a mystery here... We have found some mini ovens, but they're pretty rudimentary and don't have an actual toast function. Instead, you have to put it on a bake setting and remember to watch it- hah, right! I miss my Cuisinart combination toaster/oven/convection oven!!!