finland

I featured Finland on one of my blogs. Kinda got infatuated reading about the Sami indigenous people and how they're fighting to save their culture.

And then when I saw what these indigenous people looked like, my head about exploded.

I've never felt more part of a mixing pot or salad bowl or some weird macadam wall where some of the stones have been crushing some of the other stones for centuries. This is a culture thing, Tuomas, so I'm not trying to rag you or anything. I'm just not used to seeing oppressed indigenous people who are not only very white, but look pretty much the same (to me) as the rest of the damn country.

what did you expect them to look like?

I know, right? Maybe like the Inuvit? No, there's no landbridge or close vicinity to Asia. I just never thought about it too much.

Feel free to make me an embroidered pillow with that last sentence stenciled across it. I'll keep it in the den.

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1750/lappish2pi5.jpg

x-p
When I was in Turku a few years ago I did notice about every third man was named Matti.

when i was toying with the idea of minoring in Swedish in college, i had a professor try real hard to talk me in to a semester-long study abroad program that was basically a 400 mile reindeer herding trip, led by Sami educators

What's a nice place to stay in Helsinki for the last week of November?

Do you mean like hotels? I've lived in Helsinki all my life, so I've never stayed at a hotel in here... Maybe some ILXors who've visited Helsinki can recommend something?

In general, if you prefer to hang out in an area with loads of nightlife and cultural activity,the Kallio district is pretty cool, it's full of artists and punk rockers and other bohemian types. It's kinda like the Williamsburg of Helsinki. (And like with Williamsburg, it's been accused of being a hipster den, which I guess it is, but if you want to get into "alternative" Helsinki, there's no other area like it.)

If Kallio sounds like something you'd enjoy, I guess I could recommend this hotel for you. It's in the district of Hakaniemi, which is right next to Kallio, but it's also within a walking distance of the city center. So you could walk both to the pubs and clubs in Kallio and the museums and historical cites of the center. There's also a tram and metro stop right next to the hotel. But I haven't stayed at the actual hotel, so I've no idea what it's like. It's part of a large hotel chain, so it shouldn't be too shabby at least.

Thanks for the tip. Will definitely be spending some time in Kallio then. Found a much cheaper hotel that still looks nice with a kitchenette a bit further south next to Katajanokan puisto tram stop.

If I'm going to be there for over a month, what's the recommendation on buying a phone sim card? Will largely be in remote/regional areas, but I presume there are some decent plans, I mean, I have to drive through the town of Nokia.

Damn, going to miss out on restaurant day!

http://www.restaurantday.org/en

So...

What must I check out in Helsinki? What can I do without seeing? Is the zoo any good?

Would like to post more thoughts on this amazing place when I have time, but what's with people who wouldn't look at you during the week getting absolutely paralytic on the weekend, pissing everywhere and unable to walk. The two extremes are incredible. Also caught the ferry from Tallinn, big lols at bulging suitcases full of spirits and trolleys with crates and crates of beer wielded by virtually everyone.

See you if you're out tonight, Tuomas!

http://i.imgur.com/stpZV75.gif

I got most of this, but can someone (Tuomas?) provide a full translation? Specifically, what is so funny about the two machine guns and who is the woman before the last Kekkonen?

Erm, this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuWvAvCcnts

The first machine gun is a Finnish design, famous for being used by the Finnish troops during WWII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomi_KP/-318

As for the other gun, no idea.

The woman became famous for being involved in a sex scandal that lead to the resignation of the then-foreign minister in 2008. After that she became a fixture of tabloids and gossip mags, and is often called "the most useless celebrity" in Finland:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanna_Tukiainen

Tuomas did you celebrate Saint Urho's Day?

What's that?

Lol

I googled it, apparently it's something invented and celebrated by Finnish-Americans? So it's not really known in here. The majority of Finns are Lutherans, saints in general are not a part of Finnish mainstream culture in any way.

http://www.hs.fi/blogi/kuolemantanssi/a1305994842242

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finland_still_the_happiest_country_in_the_world_says_un_report/10698146

Finland has it all

both my boys are asking re getting a finnish passport.
lucky buggers.

ooops, posted too soon.
part 2 …

the problem was that I had never informed the relevant finnish authorities of the death of bh, so the lads are unable to get processed until she has been registered as dead.
currently in the process of that, and then will start the ball rolling re getting them dual nationalities.
amazingly though bh had clearly informed finland of the lads existence, as they have their details on record, which makes things easier by all accounts.

How old are your boys? As you may know, unfortunately we have mandatory military service (or civil service, if you don't wanna go to the army, obviously I chose that) that you're supposed to between ages 18 and 30, if you're a citizen and live here permanently. Though there are ways to avoid it, especially with a dual citizenship.

16 and 22.
we checked, and there are exemptions for non-nationals.
that's why BH and me never went through with the process years ago when they were born as there weren't any such assurances re national service, but the embassy advised all would be ok for them now.
pretty sure they wont be moving to Finland to live permanently, just means they have the EU FOM status, and the option to move there if they decide to later in life.

Impressed..

The government of Finland https://t.co/yOH9po5x7o pic.twitter.com/F6KlxMsppw

— Spanish Art Restorer (@lib_crusher) November 14, 2020

That's not the whole government though, that's the the prime minister and three other ministers, all whom are leaders of the parties in the government (from left to right: Left Alliance, Centre Party, Social Democrats, Green Party). Also, people like to share that shot instead of another one taken at the same time, which includes the leader of fifth party in the goverment (the Swedish Party), who's also a woman, presumably because she's middle-aged and not in her thirties:

https://d1ddzfo1d7bgrb.cloudfront.net/aamulehti/f1e2e414-2133-592d-a394-c3706bdc1c37-800x_.jpg

Also also, that image is from last year, and since then the leader of the Centre Party has changed, here's a more recent image of the five party leaders:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhVFabsXcAELRtV.jpg

👍👍👍

I love Finland. Were it not for the stupid rona I’d have visited again in May and would be going again to Lapland in February. Another year hopefully.

Finland has a Swedish Party?

Not dogging you all. Just wondering why we can't have a Swedish Party too.

The area now known as Finland was a part of Sweden for centuries, so there's a notable Swedish-speaking minority here, something like 5 % of the population.

Sibelius was Swede-Finn?

Only 5%?

Is there a Finland Party in Russia?

Yeah. The area of Finland was kind of a backwater in the Swedish empire, so not that many people moved here from Sweden proper, and when Russia conquered the area from Sweden in the 19th century, presumably some of them moved back.

(xpost)

And Sibelius was a Swedish-speaking Finn, yeah. As was Tove Jansson, the creator of the Moomins.

I know I could just go look this up, but are the Swedish Party in favour of returning Finland to Sweden? Or a party specifically pushing policies representing Swedish Finns? Or is it just a name left over from history?

The second one, my friend lives on the east coast and they learn Swedish there and have a decent number of Swedish speakers (as you’d expect given proximity).

Finnish universities have special chairs for Swedish-speaking professors who can ensure a sufficient number of courses in Swedish. It amounts to affirmative action for the Swedish-speaking community.

In reverse Swedes seem to have been a whole lot less appreciative of Finns, though most of my knowledge of historic Swedish-Finnish relations come from reading and reading about Strindberg, which is not as ideal as he hated everyone.

Yeah, that's true. Because the area of Finland was colonised by Sweden, the Swedish-speaking minority that lived here were largely landowners, aristocrats, administrators and other members of upper classes, and they retained much of their wealth and power throughout the Russian rule and all the way to 20th century and the era of Finnish independence. Because of this, they were able to negotiate very good minority rights and benefits for themselves, right down to Swedish being the second official language of Finland. The Swedish Party is mostly dedicated to ensuing those rights and benefits continue to exist. The Finnish-speaking minority in Sweden, in contrast, is largely working-class people and their descendants who moved to Sweden for work, and their official rights and benefits aren't half as good as what the Swedish-speakers have here.