The Finn Family Moominblog 1

Currently Ash is visiting so I haven't had much time to write on this here thing. But I will scribble something here while he is off watching a dance class. We shall see how far I get.

Quite a while ago now I managed to make it all the way to Finland. That is the furthest North I've ever been! I've spent so much time in planes recently I barely noticed the actual plane flight, just the normal upsetting amounts of sitting around. The 2 hour wait at Riga airport was somewhat trying, although I won't hold that against Latvia too much, that would be horribly unfair. The most disappointing thing about the trip was that for the flight to Finland we got a second jet plane. I had noticed that often on flights to the smaller airports in Finland you get to go on a propellor plane, which for obvious reasons is super cool. Propellors make it a real adventure!

Luckily, I didn't let the propellor based disappointment get me down too much (even though propellor based disappointment is one of the worst kinds of disappointment!)and we were soon coming in to land at Tampere airport. Gazing out the window of the plane my first impression of Finland was seeing the tiny lights of the outlying houses, separated by large amounts of blackness. A big contrast to flying in to any of the 'London' airports! After strolling off the plane (the times when I don't get passport checked are still strange for me) I soon located Mirva and her friend Matti, who took us back to the flat he shares with his wife Anneli. Perhaps I should be using the silly phonetic finnish pronounciation that occurs in my phrasebook(thanks Jacques!!), but it might give the wrong impression of the language.

I spent a while being british and embarassed at being offered hospitality by anyone (oh, food! Goodness, for me?! Well, you didn't have to. No no, I don't want to take too much! Nonesense, I'm quite full thank you...) then we went to bed, to arise at 6am (my 5am) the next morning for the long drive to the summer house. I'm not sure that many British people would drive 5 hours for a weekend stay anywhere, but this does not appear to phase Finnish people. I would attribute this to the fact that instead of having to negotiate a packed M25 and M6 they just have to drive on gently winding roads through the snowy forests. This was my first look at Finnish scenery, and it was enough to see that Finland has one broad theme. Gone are the sharp changes in views between towns and cities, forests, moors, meadows and cornfields. Instead, everything was ariations on a theme, a foresty, laky, incredibly snowy theme. And while the countryside is technically very flat on average it actually undulates a fair amount, meaning you don't get that weird agoraphobic feeling of space that can sometimes be felt when driving around dead-flat Norfolk. In fact, the low hills and the trees (birches and pines) make it quite hard to appreciate the sheer scale of the landscape. It's all very well knowing it's trees and snow and lakes from here for another 300km, but without being able to see it, it is hard to keep in your head.

The summer house was amazing when we arrived. It was truly a house, just another one of the low lying building covered in snow we had been seeing huddled around lakes for most of the drive, but this one we got to live in! The snow was still about 2 feet thick in the garden, and perenially excitable dog Selma wasted no time in diving in and demonstrating this to us. Because finnish people can't bear to be doing nothing, we immediately set about clearing the snow from the drive and path to the sauna and fetching wood and water for it. To aid me in this task I obtained a pair of snowshoes! Sadly they don't actually look like tennis rackets, they are a little smaller than that, but they did work surprisingly well, even on the damp, weak early spring snow. The photos don't quite show this, although you can sometimes see from the relative depth of my feet compared to that of the dog.

Two more of Mirva's friends arrived, so after the obligatory semi comic 'I've heard a lot about you' introductions we (well they) prepared an ancient finnish traditional meal, tortilla wraps. The legend goes that finnish explorers brought this dish to mexico hundreds of years before its discovery by the rest of the European powers. Few people today know of its secet origins!

That evening it was necessary for me to take part in probably the most important activity in Finland, the sauna. I was slightly apprehensive as a sauna combines the englishman's triple dislikes of public nakedness, extreme heat and extreme cold. I must admit, it did take me a while to get used to the idea. As I am a beginner the wood stove wasn't even that hot, the thermometer on the wall showing just over 60 degrees C. I spent most of my first try in the sauna thinking 'well this is rather hot' and slightly unconvined of any relaxing properties. My skepticism did not reduce when we then went outside completely naked to roll in the snow! Actually,the sauna is so warm that I think your whole body temperature must increase, as it really didn't feel that bad. I expected it to feel colder, like when you step out of a hot shower, but it wasn't quite like that at all. You could stand in the night air for quite a while with no discomfort. It is more a psychological thing I suppose, your brain is not sure if the whole snow thing is a good idea. Afterwards I went in another 2 or three times, punctuated by more time outside in the cold, but no more leaps into the snow. Having that behind me I was able to relax a bit more and perhaps start to see some of the benefits. All in all, I would say that while I do not think I will be having daily saunas any time soon, I think they could grow on me. I certainly slept very well that night!

Before sleeping I was able to consume a quatity of delicious pancakes. Because even normal fruit is considered unhealthy in Finland due to its loss of vitamins during transport (tell that to the South African apples you just bought at Sainsburys...) and because there are simply lots around, there was a delicious ray of various preserved berries/jam. You'd think it was some kind of cliche that couldn't actually be right, but I definitely noticed an increased berry based importance. Then again, I suppose the reason we aren't rolling in berries happily all year is their price and if they were cheaper, we would eat them just as much.

Hmm well I think that's enough paragraphs for now, I shall go away and ponder how to be more brief next time! As usual the shocking amount of photos I took are over here. Please don't feel you have to look at them at once, or all of them at all!

Yours sincerely, Tomppa (my finnish name which I may have spelt wrong)