Category: Finland Files

Divorcing Finland – intro

I once witnessed a Finnish friend literally not hear a word of what I was saying when I switched to Finnish even though I was standing right next to her. Her brain simply didn’t allow for the fact that I was addressing her in Finnish, when we had spoken English all this time and sometimes French when she wanted to practice. It was an interesting experience, and definitely opened my eyes to similar reactions around me.

Beneath the Surface of Sauna, Salmiakki and Santa – intro

Like a celebrity, countries are excellent at putting out an image to the world of how they want to be seen. There’s the brazenly rugged terrain or the soft rolling hills, or the vibrant metropolis. No matter how a country decides to brand itself, there is always an element of truth, wishful thinking, a lie…

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The Po’boy as Metaphor for Finnish Society

But this was no Bono and the Corrs cover of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s Summer Wine, this was essentially Summer Wind, something that maybe sounded similar to the untrained ear, but had no bearing in any way, shape or form on the original. Or as someone close to my heart – who would never utter a bad word against someone unless they absolutely had to – put it, “Jesus no! This is a toast. A toast with meat and some greens.”