My Holiday in Finland, briefly
A few observations as I near the midpoint of my trip in Finland:
1. I have flown to Finland 5 times in my life, and my luggage has been lost or screwed up on 3 of those occasions. This was the first time it happened in the middle of a freezing-butt cold stretch in Winter.
2. This is the first time I have returned to Finland since my mission where I have not been asked to speak in church. I am very grateful for this.
3. Sauna is even better than I remember.
4. Cigarette smoke stench on old people in Finland is different than cigarette stench on old people in the US. It has a slightly more stale and bitter twist to it, but less overpowering. I remember noticing this 10 years ago, but had forgotten.
6. Finland is beautiful when there is a fresh blanket of snow on the ground in the midst of the winter darkness that otherwise seems so all-encompassing and impenetrable.
7. There are several things that make a trip to Finland completely worth it–even when it’s been below freezing every minute of my time here: Valio’s Banana yogurt, watching children sing the Tip-Tap Tip-Tap song before Santa Claus comes, candlelit cemeteries on Christmas, and Budapests.
More to come…
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I just walked five miles in Oulu. It’s negative seven Celcius degrees, which means about 19 F.
The wind was about 25 mph, and when you have a wind alley between high buildings, it can be much, much more, so the wind chill was pretty bad. I just know my mouth was numb for a half hour after that, and as I walked briskly, I got sort of warm, but my knees were exposed under my parka, and they still hurt, because they haven’t warmed properly. I don’t have the best circulation in my legs…
And I want to point out, that I was offered a ride, but for my health I have to exercise, and I figured that would be a nice walk. Well, I’ll survive.
I served my mission in England, and it was quite different.
If you served in Turku, Rauma or Oulu, I might know a bunch of the people, having lived in different places along the western coast. I also have some relatives around.
Anywho, it seems that you like Finland to some extent, if you have flown back here several times since you mission? BTW, I hope it wasn’t Finnair that lost your luggage? If it was, at least don’t mention it to a Finn.
It’s the patriotic duty of a Finn to get offended, if you blame Finnair for losing your luggage.
Hope you have a good visit.
Cheers,
–velska
Velska,
although I do love Finland, the primary reason I have returned so frequently is that my wife is Finnish.
Also, yes–it was a Finnair flight, though I suspect British Airways is the culprit here.
So you’re carrying a big part of Finland with you in the form of your wife. I mean big from your point of view, not perhaps Finland’s.
You were here as a missionary 10 years ago?
Yeah, I was a missionary there ’99-’01.
At least you have warmth to come home to. For our Christmas, we travelled from cold Idaho to cold Salt Lake. I’m wishing I were in Glendale today . . .
P.S. Missionary in ’99-’01? Man, I feel old. (Missionary — not Finland — in ’91-’93.)
Once I read your recollection that cigarette smoke “over there” has a slightly more stale and bitter twist to it, but less overpowering, my nose was immediately filled with the smell. I served in England and it was exactly the same smell. Another observation is that a lot of people rolled their own cigarettes in England and for the first few months, I was sure everyone doing so was smoking marijuana joints.
When a regular flip-top box of Marlboros are something like, my memory suggests, 6 euros (almost US$9), a lot of people find it much more economical to smoke the do-it-yourself way. Also, it has some cultural cachet among youngsters, since only (ex-)cons used to roll their own. And that fact that you can’t tell an “innocent” tobacco joint from a hashish/maryjane joint.