a Finnish twist: Sunrises, Snowfall, Serenity....and politics!

Siilinjärvi sunrise...it turned into a beautiful day!

So, as usual this year, I feel like I'm behind on posts...and there's so much to say! It's not that school has been particularly eventful, I just have been filling my very little free time with loads of fun things - plus I have some cultural tidbits....

Going for a walk this morning...it was fanastic!! These trees are behind the lutheran church where the best tobogganing hill in town is and also a groomed stadium loop for skiing

Shortly after Scott left (almost 3 weeks ago), I was lucky enough to spend the weekend sitting on a frozen lake. ahem. Ok...so I was ice fishing, and it was cold and unproductive. But catching fish is not the point right? More important is spending a day outside, with a friend or two and taking in what mother nature has to offer. Well..it sure helps if you catch a fish (we didn't), expecially if it's -15 and horizontally snowing due to the wind. yup...that was day 1. The second day was a definite improvement in terms of the weather...and we actually caught something! ok, so it was just one little perch...but the golden sunlight certainly made it a good day! I feel like ice fishing is a quintessentially Finnish activity...or Canadian for that matter. I'm still not sure what the attraction is to sitting around a hole in the ice and freezing....but then again, I've never caught a fish doing that either.

Ice fishing (pilkkiminen) day 1: -16 blowing snow and darkness....

I've started to play a little hockey on my evenings and weekends which is great because 1) it's free, 2) it's good exercise and 3) it's fun with friends. I am not a hockey player by any stretch of the imagination, I can skate ok (forwards and backwards)...but using a stick and a puck, well, I'm pretty dismal. But that's not the point, so I just keep trying to keep up with the finnish guys who skate circles around me. I did play hockey on the UBC Forestry team in my undergrad, but it was basically a "beer league." People would join the team as an excuse to drink beer afterwards, but our games were so late that the bars were usually closed by the time we finished playing, so we didn't even go for beers. Now, I find myself on the ice with guys who have been serious about the game at one point or another, so it's safe to say that I just can't keep up. But they're really good about keeping me in the game and sometimes I feel like I am the most aggressive player on the ice. ha! Anyways, that came to get me last week when I ended up bonking heads a bit with a friend. Good thing I have a thick skull!! (seriously I do...just ask any family member) We both left with pretty solid lumps on our heads...more specifically my face. The lump is gone now, but I sure have some interesting colours to show for it!

oops...it's the new one-eyed makeup trend...ahem

Other exciting news in Finland is that the Presidential election is going on right now. I'm still not entirely sure how the Finnish political system works, but what I do know is that they have both a President and a Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the head of the party with the most seats in parliament and is responsible for forming the executive cabinet. The President is elected independent of the parliament process and has a fairly large amount of power within the state...the commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defense Forces, veto power on legislation, and conducting most foreign affairs. Each president is elected for a 6-year term and can serve a maximum of 2 terms; the current president, Traja Halonen (with an uncanny resemblance of Conan O'Brien) is at the end of her second term so it is time for the new one. A president must be elected with more than 50% of the vote, so with many candidates, this usually takes 2 rounds to establish. In the first round the top two candidates are selected (unless there is a clear winner), then in the second round it is the top one of 2 that becomes president. Last weekend the first vote took place where the National Coalition Party (Sauli Niinistö) and the Green League (Pekka Haavisto) candidates were selected to continue to the second round. It was expected that Niinistö would easily win (which he did), but it was a bit of a surprise that Haavisto got the second seat in round 2. It's the very first time a Green League candidate has made it this far in the elections...and Haavisto is openly gay. With these two facts, I do not think a generally conservative Finnish society that is rooted in tradition will see him as their next president. However, many supporters are just happy to see the breakthrough to the second round of voting! ...and others are just surprised...

the river is not steaming because the water is warm...it's just that the air is colder

Another finn-ism that I have taken part in last week is attending the Jääkarhut club. This literally translates to "ice bears," but is essentially a polar bear club. You know the New Year's Day polar bear swim? Well...this is similar...it is also known as ice swimming...or jumping in the hole in the ice to swim in the frozen lake. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....brrr. There are beautiful facilities there...shower, change room, heated dock, sauna, aerators to keep the hole open, and lights on the bottom for swimming at night. The systeemi is that you start by paying for admission, getting changed into your swimsuit, taking a quick cold shower, then soaking up the heat of the sauna for as long as you comfortably can. The next step is where things get challenging...leave the sauna into sub zero temperatures, walk down the dock (it may be icy as the heating system doesn't work so well below -15) and then slowly walk down the stairs at the end of the dock to lower yourself into the water!! there's no jumping to get it over with...only the stairs. I can't even describe how it feels!!! It's so cold that it doesn't even feel cold...it's like having a serious sunburn and being stabbed with thousands of tiny ice needles through your skin! You feel truly alive...or foolish and full of regret for ever agreeing to do it. Once you make it down the first staircase and into the water, then you can swim (or jump, or scream, or splash) your way over to the second staircase about 2m away to get yourself out of the water and back into the balmy -15 (or colder!) air. On the 25m walk back up the dock to the sauna, your hair usually becomes a solid block of ice in the minute you are outside. phew! ...and then back into the sauna to regain lost body heat. This can be repeated as often as you would like, but be careful...it's easy to get light-headed and fall over with all your blood rushing to the extremes! If you're really interested in this sort of torture, there is even Winter Swimming Championships that you can participate in...though they seem to spend more time in the water and less time in the sauna. Overall...was it fun? sort of, exciting for sure.....would I do it again? yes, most likely!

Hooray for arctic air! Sunshine, blue skies, and cold. These wepping birch (rauduskoivui, Betula pendula) were coated in ice crystals in our past week of -10 and freezing fog, but now they're brilliant!

In the weather...
After endless -10 and cloudy/snowing/freezing fog, Russia has finally shared it's arctic high-pressure system with us...i.e. it's finally sunny!! This is definitely the most beautiful weather possible (at anytime of year)...snow, cold, blue sky, and low, golden sun! This morning it was a bit chilly (-26), but I went for a long walk down the river to the lake, which was absolutely stunning! It was a bit noisy as the snow was incredibly squeaky, but totally breathtaking! This makes all the clouds and darkness of winter worthwhile....