Finland. Its a place with things to do.

Beat that birch

So there seems to be a bunch of things that you have to do while you're in Finland and I'm happy to say that over my two trips here I think I've done almost all of them.

1. Sauna. You think sauna is all about towels and a gentle relaxing time right? Well, you're kinda right. The saunas we have back home are nowhere near hot enough. Here its considered cold if its anywhere under 90 degrees Celsius which is a bit different to the 70 degree ones back home. So firstly its god damn hot. Secondly, unlike at home, its a naked fest for all concerned and those caught waring pants are often scorned for such behavior. Then theres the masochistic acts that are often done together with sauna. Namely vihta and snow diving. Snow diving is pretty self explanatory, you run from the sauna to the snow and jump in. Naked. Its great, trust me. Vihta is a bunch of birch branches tied together that you use whip your self and generally cover the sauna in leaves. Its great, trust me.

Easily more interesting than reindeer

2. See a reindeer. Yeah, its an animal that lives here. They're pretty swell but I prefer squirrels.

3. See santa. Yeah he lives here apparently. I met him one time.

4. Get drunk on vodka. Honestly actual vodka is hard to get here because a) they tax alcohol a lot here and b) they have really high standards when it comes to vodka. Absolute is treated as rubbish here. But yeah, I've done it.

5. Walk over a frozen river/lake. It gets cold enough here that in mid winter, when the ice is thick enough, they open up pathways across the frozen river to foot traffic and snow mobiles to use. Its a pretty odd experience when you're casually walking over the middle of one of the biggest rivers in Finland. I'm usually scared that it'll break and I'll sink to a watery grave.

6. Swim in afore mentioned river/lake. Some person thought it would be a good idea to cut a hole in the ice and swim in the freezing water underneath. Lord knows why, that shit's cold yo. When I do it, the second I get in the water I wonder what the hell I'm doing.

The lights above the neighbor's house

7. Northern lights. This is actually something worth seeing. Tonight I was enchanted by the dancing green and red lights in the sky over the apartments I live in. I didn't even notice that it was about -15 even though I was only wearing my gym clothes. I recommend seeing them to anyone. Its like watching the dreams of a whimsical child spill across the sky.

And thus concludes my list of things that most people think you should do here. Yup.

Happy friend day to all

I don't like Valentine's day. And not for the usual reasons that people have like single people being jealous of happy couples and the like. My beef is with the notion that you have to have a special day to show someone how much you love them. What the dicks is up with that? If you love someone you should make sure they know it all the time, not one day a year cooked up to sell cards loosely based on the story of a saint.

Friends together are strong

Enter The Finnish translation of Valentine's day: Ystavanpaiva. Literally translated it means "Friend Day". Now to be honest I have no idea what Finn's do on friend day as I have spent most of it locked in my flat avoiding reading a design research book and listening to Immortal and generally not talking to people at all. BUT what I would like to think this day is about up this neck o' the woods (do woods have necks?) is a celebration of friendship, something most seem to take for granted that doesn't seem to be celebrated unless you're really drunk. Friendship is great. I like it, you like it. Lets celebrate it. Grab a friend, grab a mutually shared interest and celebrate the fact that you enjoy being around certain people more than others.

Most of my dear friends aren't in this country, but I sure wish they were. Happy friend day friends.

I walked on a river today

The river is so frozen now its safe to walk over to the uni on it. I did that today. Yup.