The Lapland Adventure / Lapin Seikkailu

“Get your motor running / Head out on the highway…

View from the highest point in Levi

A month ago now I returned from talviloma (winter holiday) spent 130km (80 miles) North of the Arctic Circle and higher above sea level than the top of the Näsinneula tower in Tampere. We stayed in a little mökki (cottage) in Sirkka, 2km from the centre of Levi ski resort in Lapland.

We journeyed there by car, a journey of over 1000km. We stopped overnight in Liminka (just south of Oulu) and made a stop at Santa Claus Village on the Arctic Circle just outside Rovaniemi to meet joulupukki (Santa).

The Journey North

Veikkola-Espoo-Lahti-Jyväskylä-Liminka

Remembered thoughts from the journey:

Wow, Espoo really is the most un-lovely place in Finland!

Please let it stay light a bit longer, I love looking at the scenery.

It’s magic watching the sunset and then the light gradually fading from the sky.

Bright lights of Lahti! But boo can’t spot the ski jumping slope from the motorway!

Rallikaupunki! Nice to see you again, Jyväskylä, even if we’re just going around you!

Waking after falling asleep (don’t worry I wasn’t driving!) to see a white arctic hare dart across the road.

Watching lights appear on the horizon in the pitch black and seeming to take ages to get any closer due to the long, straight road.

Crossing the Arctic Circle

Liminka-Oulu-Rovaniemi-Santa Claus Village-Kittilä-Levi

Moi Oulu! One day I will get to spend more time with you!

The smell from the paper mills.

Being charmed by the little wooden houses and barns scattered about the countryside south of Rovaniemi, thinking they must be quite old. Driver turns to me: “Do you know about lappisota [Lapland war, Finland vs. Germany at end of WWII]? Well, the Germans burnt everything here, all of Rovaniemi too. The Lapps joke about the German tourists: ‘don’t let them have the matches!’”

Seeing Rovaniemi for first time with knowledge that all buildings post-war and thinking: yeah, it looks it! The bits you see from the road are ugly!

Being excited to drive through Kittilä thinking: we really are far North now!

Suddenly arriving in Levi and laughing because it was exactly how I imagined it to be with the Alpine style buildings!

Church, Kittilä

Santa Claus Village

Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi

I was given the choice: would I rather go to the Artikum (Museum of Arctic Life) in Rovaniemi or go to Santa Claus Village? Of course I thought it’s got to be more fun to see Santa and I’m on holiday, let’s go for the fun option!

Now,you might think Santa Claus Village sounds like a tourist nightmare but go there on an afternoon in late March and it’s quiet and peaceful! Also, we all agreed, it was very tastefully done, “The Finns don’t do tacky” as my companions commented. I thought what this sort of thing would be like if it was in UK (memories of the infamous New Forest ‘Crapland’ sprung to mind!).

Santa's Post Office

First we visited Santa’s Post Office. It functions as a regular Suomiposti Post Office but the draw is your post gets stamped with a special ‘Arctic Circle’ postmark – very cool! Also they will hold your post and send it out so it arrives for Christmas 2011.

Restaurant / jewellery shop, Santa Claus Village

We had kahvi and muffins in the restaurant and they were delicious. Then it was time to visit Santa. The great thing: the whole experience is totally free. You walk into a room which looks like a set from Doctor Who the idea being you’re inside Korvatunturi Mountain where the Finns say Santa lives (this mountain actually about 300km away to the North East on the Russian border but we’ll ignore geography for now) and inside the mountain is a giant clock controlling the turning of the Earth. Lining the walls are photos of Santa meeting VIPs including Finnish Foreign Minister Alex Stubb, American TV-show host and Finnophile Conan O’Brien and Eurovision winners Lordi.

We had our audience with Santa who spoke both Finnish and English (and a few other languages I expect!) and one of his elves took studio-quality photos of us. On the way out we had the option to buy 5  4′x6′ prints for 30e. There is also a souvenir shop selling Santa Claus Village merchandise (OK, perhaps there was a little tackiness here ). There was no real ‘hard sell’ of the photos so you could have the whole experience for free if you didn’t want a souvenir. As for me my photo now has pride of place in my room next to the reindeer antlers I got given by a reindeer herder in Simo (but that’s another story ).

Cross Country Skiing

My first time on skis! Leminka

After one quick cross country skiing lesson during our stop in Liminka – where the Finnish 3 yr old I was with went racing off down the track and I struggled along! – it was time for my first full day of cross country skiing on a track a few km from Levi. Baby came too in a sled attached by harness to mum / dad and slept for most of the trip!

I took to cross country skiing quickly and although the first slope down onto the frozen lake was a little scary (I let out a girly scream whilst overdoing it with a ski-jumper type crouch to make it down in one piece) I thought I did very well for a first timer and only fell once when going down a slope (falling over doesn’t hurt anyway!).

Lunch stop, Levi style

We took it fairly easy and skied about 2km to a hut where we had pancakes with cloudberry jam then skied back. Getting up hills proved a little challenging for me and I’m sure I looked a mess getting up them but I did it! I was sad to take my skis off, I felt like I could have kept going for hours!

Hard earned pancake

Alpine Skiing

Ready to Ski

Again this was first time ever trying alpine / downhill skiing. The boots took a bit of getting used to – being so tight fitting and painful and hard to walk in! The first thing I learnt was how to stop by ploughing the skis in an ‘A’ shape and then how to turn. Then it was time to grab the button lift and hit the slope. I should confess at this point that I was on the gentlest, easiest slope Levi has to offer but that was enough for me! There were a number of unaccompanied 4, 5 and 6 yr olds taking the lift and skiing down or using the ski cross track next to the slope, they had no fear!

Front Slope, Levi (NOT the one I tried!)

Again I was pleased how well I did and how much I enjoyed it (after initially being quite scared and unsure!) When you get over the fear and get the hang of it it’s a great feeling of speed and freedom – my teacher predicted I’d love the speed and he was right! I’d love to go skiing again but now it will have to wait until next winter! I’d say to anyone else who never got to ski as a child – try it! It’s never too late!

Levitunturi Spa

After all that skiing it was time to relax at Levitunturi Spa right in the centre of Levi. We used the swimming pool complex which was really impressive. I was excited to try the Turkish baths and Birch wood sauna but was a bit disappointed. the Birch wood sauna was very nice with fairy lights  and tree trunks but not hot enough for me! Same with the ‘Turkish bath’ which was just a steam room again not hot enough! I actually enjoyed the big, communal sauna in the changing room more! But I was lucky enough to have them both to myself.

I tried all the different pools including the cold plunge pool at 6 degrees celcius! That was invigorating! I used the hot and cold water troughs which are supposed to improve circulation to your feet – not sure on that! Maybe they did!  I also swam in the outdoor pool surrounded by snow with the air temp about plus 2 degrees. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the highlight of my visit was sitting outside in the hot tub soaking up the sunny and snowy surroundings. It was really one of those ‘I love my life’ moments!

Coming up in Part 2 (to be published asap):

Levi Husky Park

Levi Arctic Horse Race

Icium, Levi

Finland: The First Ten Weeks

I have now been in Finland for 10 weeks. The time has flown by and it still feels quite new and exciting to be here. I certainly don’t feel at all that I’ve ‘had enough’ yet! So, what have I learned in 10 weeks? And what am I still struggling with?…

After 10 weeks I…

Know my way around Kamppi shopping centre in Helsinki. Now, when I get off my bus, I know which escalator for which exit (it’s important to know the exit closest to your destination when it’s minus 20 degrees out there!)

Know how to get Kamppi-Forum-rautatieasema without going outside (again important when it’s sooo cold!) using the City-käytävä (corridor)

Have maybe picked up a bit more Finnish. I certainly feel like I can understand TV/ conversations a bit better than when I first got here but I’m still very bad at speaking Finnish. I will try a few words in shops and bars but I’m still like a rabbit in the headlights if someone turns to me and starts speaking Finnish. “Anteeksi, en puhuu suomea” (“Sorry, I don’t speak Finnish”) is my most over-used phrase.

Am turning Finnglish. My written, and sometimes spoken, English is becoming ‘Finnglish’ i.e. I’m speaking English like a Finn. I’m saying things like “I’m in the bus” rather than “I’m on the bus”, “I’ll call to you” instead of “I’ll call you” and “I hope we see soon” for “I hope we can see each other again soon” – but I think Finnglish is so cute  so I may be doing this a bit on purpose

Have a social life! For the first 4 weeks I saw no one except my employers and their family but now things have really picked up. I’ve had some awesome nights out  and some wild weekends with my friends. So far I’ve been hanging out with people I knew before I moved here. But through them (and their willingness to introduce me around) I have met lots of new people so I’m hopeful I’ll soon have a nice group of Helsinki friends. I am so thankful and happy that I have more of ‘a life’ here now. I am so grateful to my amazing friends especially Anniina, Katja and Kimi and the one who introduced me to all of them, Esko. Although I think it was important for me to go through the weeks of seeing no one and being lonely so that I could realise that even then I still loved Finland and still wanted to be here (when I was lonely I just went out walking and the beauty of everything made me feel better) it is so lovely now to be seeing friends and getting up to mischief with them

I still can’t…

Open the darn milk/juice cartons properly/easily, much to the amusements of my employers.

Get the hang of the mixer taps.  It goes from freezing to scolding and a trickle to a full-bore flood: I can’t get the middle ground.

Walk confidently or run on icy pavements. Finns have no fear and walk normally. I’ve even seen girls trotting happily along in high heels (most probably Russians!). But I still have the fear of falling over and shuffle along like a little old granny. Even with this careful approach I’ve still fallen over 3 times! However, ironically, my only injury sustained so far was from slipping and falling down the stairs at home!

Dance Reggaeton. I have been going to classes at Baila-Baila dance school, Helsinki for 3 weeks and still look like a skinny, white chick who’s way too stiff to do it properly! Obviously ‘learning reggaeton’ is not something every immigrant to Finland has to accomplish (unlike my other points above) but I would definitely suggest going to dance lessons as a good way to socialise or ‘get out there.’ (it’s also a great escape from the winter blues / icy streets). I’ve also been to Salsa class out in Pasila and that’s better for socialising as you dance in pairs. The one I went to was quite ‘ international’ and actually I danced with / spoke to a Romanian guy the most!

I still don’t….

Have a nice Finnish boyfriend. Applications welcome

Helsinki’s Hangover Hideaways / Helsingin Krapula Piilopaikkoja

If you’re doing Finland ‘properly’ chances are you will wake up one (or most) mornings with what the Finns call krapula or, as we know it, a hangover. So let me present a guide to Helsinki’s best hangover hangouts:

To do things the Finnish way the first thing you’ll be needing to start your krapulapäivä (hangover day) is some coffee…

MBar, Lasipalatsi (visited Sunday c. 12.30pm)

Lighting: 7/10 mostly natural light.

Seating: 6/10 mainly tables and chairs but some leather sofas too.

Service: 6/10  finding the sugar for our coffee was a bit difficult, not what you need with a hangover, but v fast service.

Clientele: 9/10 everyone was plugged into a laptop or phone as MBar offers nice fat free wi-fi. A youngish, trendy but v. quiet crowd.

Music: 7/10 some classy jazz.

WCs (‘cus let’s face it you may need to visit) 10/10 big cubicle, awesome graffiti artwork on the walls.

Graffiti art work, WC, MBar

NB scores are based on appealingness to someone with a hangover so i.e. dim lights and quiet = high score

Feeling a bit better? How about some pizza at…

Iguana, Mannerheimentie (visited Saturday c.1pm)

Lighting: 10/10 v dim

Seating: 4/10 no comfy seats and we got last table, it was v busy! Tables too close to each other, too cramped.

Service: 6/10 I didn’t speak to bar staff but pretty efficient and fast

Clientele: 6/10 groups of young friends chatting animatedly, some travelers with bags.

Music: N/A

WCs: 4/10 ladies was downstairs, not so good when you’re feeling wobbly! Again only 1 cubicle but quite nice!

After some shopping time for another coffee (and cake!) at…

Cafe Aalto, Academic Bookshop, Stockmanns, (visited Sunday c. 3pm)

Kahvi ja pulla, Cafe Aalto

Lighting: 6/10 quite bright.

Seating: 5/10 tables for two and long tables, no comfy seating.

Service: 10/10 at table services, complementary glasses of iced water (or maybe the waiter just thought we needed some!)

Clientele: 6/10 older, couples and shoppers.

Music: N/A

WCs N/A (didn’t visit)

Now, after some sightseeing, perhaps a drink at…

Bar No.9, Uudenmaankatu (visited Sunday c.4pm)

Bar No.9

Lighting:7/10 natural light.

Seating: 3/10 place was packed (it’s only small), had to share a table.

Service: 9/10 friendly and fast.

Clientele: 10/10 young, hip, good looking. A foursome turned up with men in tux and girls in ball gowns. Quick turn over of ppl.

Music: 9/10 Johnny Cash.

W/Cs: 6/10 1 big cubicle with some interesting graffiti.

Warning sign, Bar No.9

Time to start the evening at…

Bar Loose, Annankatu (visited Sunday c.7pm)

Lighting: 9/10 nice and dim.

Seating: 7/10 big booths,tables and chairs.

Service: 7/10 friendly.

Clientele: 7/10 rock stars, youngish, a group of girls came in with a cake.

Music: 4/10 really difficult / obscure music quiz.

WCs: 8/10 awesome, rude graffiti, gig posters. Mind the step!

Menu, Bar Loose

And repeat….

(With thanks to my awesome tour guide @reinikainen)

Suomen Sankari (A Finnish Hero)

I will get round to posting about the things I’ve been up to but first…

It’s time to get my (history) geek on…

In Helsinki, next to the pale glass angles of the Kiasma art gallery and the movie-set art deco Post Office building, there is a statue on a plinth of a man on horseback. As the man did not die in battle the horse has all four legs on the ground. Its rider stares off down the busy, car-and-tram-filled street which bares his name. He is Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim and he died 60 years ago today.*

Mannerheim statue, Helsinki, image (c) raitapaitafi

Baron Mannerheim was born in 1867 and led the Finns to war against Russia when he was 72 years old. On the first day of what was to become ‘The Winter War’ he took up the mantle of Commander in Chief of the Finnish Army.

He remained Commander through the Winter War and the Continuation War which followed. In 1944 he became President of Finland. Two years later he resigned due to ill heath (by this time he was 79). He left the house he had rented from the Finnish chocolate magnate Karl Fazer in the Kaivopuisto district of Helsinki (now the Mannerheim Museum) and retired to Switzerland where he died in 1951. His body was brought back to Finland and, buried with full military honours, he now lies in Heitaniemi Cemetary, Helsinki.

Mannerheim Museum, Helsinki. Photo (c) raitapaitafi

Taking on Stalin’s mighty Red Army at an age when most people are tucked up in their rocking chairs is not even the most extraordinary event in Mannerheim’s extraordinary life. Here is a very brief outline of that life:

• Born into the Swedish-Finnish aristocracy Mannerheim never spoke Finnish fluently, regarding it as a ‘barbarous’ language. Alongside Swedish he also spoke Russian, French, German, Polish and English.
• His father went bankrupt and deserted the family when Mannerheim was 13. His mother died the following year.
• He was expelled from the Finnish Cadet Corps after going AWOL. He then crossed to Russia where he attended the tsar’s Cavalry School and won a coveted posting to the elite Chevalier Guards. It seems this service left Mannerheim with a life-long romantic admiration for the tsarist regime.
• He fought with Tsarist Russia against the Japanese rising to the rank of colonel and narrowly escaping death when his horse was shot from under him during a reconnaissance patrol – what of Finland’s fate if Mannerheim had died in this war?
• At the tsar’s request he undertook a two year, 9,000 mile ‘information gathering’ trip across Asia from Turkestan to Peking. He befriended the Dalai Lama and taught him to shoot.
• He led the ‘White’ forces during the Finnish civil war. This is the ‘controversial’ part of Mannerheim’s public career. Leftist historians could probably argue quite successfully that Mannerheim’s conduct during this conflict makes him a villain, not a hero. His sanctioning of the imprisonment of 80,000 red sympathisers (10,000 died in the prison camps) and the execution of around 3,000 defeated ‘Reds’ at Suomenlinna certainly does not sit comfortably with the idea of him being the ultimate ‘Suomen sankarit.’
• He was Regent of Finland during the first two years of Finnish independence from Russian rule (1918-1919)
• He founded the Mannerheim Child Welfare Association and was the Chairman of the Finnish Red Cross.
• Chairman of Finnish Defence Council from 1931
• In 1933, he received the rank of Field Marshall (sotamarsalkka)
• Made ‘Marshall of Finland’ (Suomen marsalkka) on 04.06.1942. This title was specially created for Mannerheim. Thus he is often referred to as ‘Marski’ in Finland.
• He Met with Hitler (June 1942). Hitler bowed, Mannerheim remained at attention.
• Commander in Chief of the Finnish Army 1939-1944.
• President of Finland 1944-1946.

But perhaps by exclaiming over the staggering achievements and strange events of his life we miss the bigger picture. As the historian William R. Trotter puts it:

“Whatever one may think of this or that element of [Mannerheim's] character and career, the independence of Finland is itself his monument; that achievement alone makes him loom as a genuine hero.”

The Finland we know (and love) today perhaps would not exist without this man. So maybe take a moment of your day today to think of ‘Marski’ and give thanks that the old saying came true: “cometh the hour, cometh the man.”

Marski. Photo (c) raitapaitafi

* N.B. Mannerheim’s time of death is recorded as 23.30 Swiss time, 27.01.1951.This would have been 00.30, 28.01.1951 in Finland.

Further reading:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_Emil_Mannerheim – very detailed,interesting entry.

• William R. Trotter’s chapter on Mannerheim in  Trotter,’The Winter War,’ Aurum Press, London, 2003

Terve (Greetings)

Tervetuloa kaikille (welcome all) to my new blog. I was blogging here but since I last contributed to the blogospheare (way back in October!) so much has changed in my life that I thought it appropriate to start afresh.

This blog is for anyone and everyone with an interest in Finland and the UK -> Finland expat experience. It is also for my family and friends so they can keep up with, and feel part of, my new, Finnish life. I will be blogging in English with a sprinkling of Finnish words and phrases mixed in.

Kiitos Ihana Super Sisko (Thanks Lovely Super Sister)

Firstly, a debt of gratitude for the title of this blog goes to Georgia Wells (@susi36) who coined the term “keep it sisu.” This is added onto the end of our messages to each other when we know the other really needs to “man up” or “stay strong.”

Mitä Onko ‘Sisu’? (What is ‘Sisu’?)

Secondly, perhaps I should (attempt to) define what ‘sisu’ is.  Sisu is a Finnish word which is generally translated to mean roughly “guts” or “courage” but it’s slightly different to both those two concepts. I would say it’s a bit like “gritting your teeth” or keeping a “stiff upper lip.” It’s about doggedly, determinedly, almost stubbornly getting your head down and getting it done. If someone shows ‘sisu’ they show strength, dignity, hardiness, resilience. Sisu isn’t a momentary flash of gutsy glory (although it can manifest as this) it’s a character trait, an inate quality within someone.  When I have to try and draw on my inner ‘sisu’ I picture it as a rock of Finnish granite: steady, indestructible and immovable.

Cardiff to Finland

Exactly one month ago (23^rd December 2010) I walked away from my life in Cardiff. It was exciting to leave my job with the well wishes of colleagues, it was sad to leave my friends but I knew that none of them ‘need’ me around, that they are all fairly settled and happy. It was heart breaking to say goodbye but I knew it had to be done. Thinking about the day I left still brings me close to tears but I know it was the right thing to do.

Since the summer of 2008 Finland has been on my mind. After each 2 week summer holiday there I would come back to whichever rented flat I happened to be living in in Cardiff and cry my eyes out. I couldn’t settle into my life. I was always trying to connect with Finland, planning the next trip, counting down the weeks and days. I was living a half-life in Cardiff, Finnish pop music through headphones blocking out Cardiff’s voice, Facebook messages and tweets in Finnish that none of friends could understand. I was under Finland’s spell and I knew I had to do something about it.

So now here I am, I have been here almost four weeks. I’m living /working as an au-pair in the village of Veikkola and hoping to get into Helsinki University this August to read for a Master’s in European Studies. At the moment I’m set on never going back (except to visit of course!). Long-term the dream is my own home here and a great circle of friends to add to the ones back in the UK. I want to settle here. I want my life to be here. Right now I’m settled into my job but still relying heavily on the love and support from family and friends in UK. I haven’t made any friends here yet. My new life has started with a whimper rather than a bang but that’s what ‘sisu’ is all about: you keep at it, you don’t give up, you work for it, your dream starts to come true.

P.S. Finland is so stunningly beautiful to my eyes that this is making up for the ‘homesickness’ (mostly!). I hope this post doesn’t seem too ‘emo.’ / whiny. I’m chasing my dream and that makes me a lucky, grateful person.