Fun Finnish Facts

FFF #1: Finland is called Suomi in Finnish

I finally arrived (after a debacle I would rather not explain) in Helsinki at 5:30pm on Saturday, stepped out of customs, welcomed by Mika's smiling face. Yay. First we went on a driving tour of the capital - only 500 000 people. We passed the bustling square, Hakaniementon; the architecturally superior train station; the Finlandia building; the opera house; and Parliament house as we navigated the one way streets of the city. After that we began on our way to Mika's home town of Ahtari, a 4 hour drive north of Helsinki.

FFF #7: Finnish is said to be the second most difficult language in the world. E.g Each word has 14 unique suffixes which alter its meaning.

We watched the sunset over the sunset over the Ouluvesi Lake before heading to Mika's, via the main street of Ahtari, which was absolutely deserted because everyone was watching the Sweden vs Finland ice hockey match. We were welcomed home by a yummy Finnish dinner with the family, I tried karjalanpiirakka (a kind of rice porridge in pastry smothered with egg and butter) which definitely gets the thumbs up. I was also introduced to the bird and cat and Remu and Laku the dogs.

FFF #10: You must have your headlights on all the time, daytime, night time, summer, winter...

After dinner Raija and I hit the sauna, at about 80*C , then jumped in to Ahtari Lake, at about 2*C, then back into the sauna, and then the lake. It was awesome. It makes you feel so so so good and gives you the BEST nights sleep.

FFF #3: When going in the lake after the sauna you must go in 20m, otherwise you have to stay in the water longer to ensure that your body cools down enough.

Sunday began nice and slowly with a walk with the dogs in the forest surrounding Mika's house and around the lake. Then I had a coffee before getting impatient and waking up Mika. First stop was the family restaurant - Lounasportaat. After a feed, we went to Ahtari zoo to see the snow leopards, bears, wolves, moose and a whole other array of Finnish animals.

FFF #9: There is compulsary 1 year military service in Finland which everyone hates. Regardless, if Russia invaded, they would take over in two days.

Then we went to the Mesikammen, the underground hotel before we went to hang out with Mika's floor-ball playing friends at his school. The afternoon was just just spent chilling with the Finnish boys who came back to Mika's for a sauna session. That night we had another family dinner before watching some Finnish TV and heading to bed. 

FFF #2: You cannot buy packaged cake mixes in Finland.

On Monday we left early to go to Hollola, Lahti to get our business-man on. After selling a big haul of jumpers, jackets and pants, we set off to Tampere, touring the gas stations of Finland. We arrived in Tampere and went to the observation tower to see some beautiful views. Then Mika dropped me off at the airport for my flight home via Stockholm. 

FFF #4: You pull the toilet to flush.

All in all it was a pretty fun weekend : ) Thanks Mika.