Signs of Spring

Spring weather has been here for about the last month. Since Helsinki is on the water, we have weather that is relatively stable and predictable. The 65-degree days have me singing a rather unfortunate tune from The Producers. Can you guess what it is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K08akOt2kuo

My coworkers a) aren't paying attention to my soft singing at the bench, b) have confirmed their suspicions that I am a strange American, or c) happen to know the song and that I didn't make it up myself. Not quite sure which is the correct answer yet, but in the meantime, I've begun to be more vigilant about singing whatever tune pops into my head.

No matter whose springtime it is, the Finns prepare for this season, too. The three major must-dos are washing windows, beating the carpets, and putting the boat in the water. 

1) Windows. Deciding when to wash the windows is a big undertaking. One must decide the optimal time to enjoy all of that sun and to avoid washing them a second time. After the winter weather is gone, the city comes through and picks up all of the pea gravel it has laid down and then brushes the streets, kicking up a lot of dust. Unfortunately, it is unknown as to when the city will come down your street. This was the subject of several days' morning coffee a few weeks ago.

2) Carpets. All of the apartment buildings here have this metal structure in the courtyard. It is unusual-looking, and we tried to guess it's purpose. A bench? Something for bikes? Something for skis? Our list of guesses was pretty short. As time went on, my curiosity faded. 

Then one night while sitting on our deck, we heard this sound that was reminiscent of a shotgun being fired, but repeated with a steady frequency. Upon inspection from the safety of our windowed-deck, we saw a woman using one of these stands, beating the dust out of a rug. Just toss your rug over the top bar and take out any agression you may have. There is a dedicated paddle for this purpose, which was apparently very common in the days before vacuum cleaners. Wall-to-wall carpeting in Finnish apartments and houses is very rare, and so people generally have several area rugs in their homes, explaining why every apartment building has one of these specialized stands.

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

3) Boats. Finland has 1250 km (780 miles) of coastline and within it nearly 190,000 lakes, thus boating is a very popular pastime. The Baltic Sea surrounds Finland and it is calm enough that it freezes solid in the winter, depending on the year, this happens in late December and lasts through March. In preparation, people remove their personal boats and store them in dry-dock for the winter. This year, as the winter wore on into April, I knew it couldn't last much longer when the ice near the shores thawed and a large crane arrived to begin hoisting the boats into the water.

Spring is here to stay, I am certain. Here are a few pictures of other sights I've seen:

 

Religious Re-education

I was raised in a Christian household and went through the standard Lutheran education: Sunday School, First Communion, Confirmation, and even taught Sunday School myself. I learned the stories and verses, prayers and significant church celebrations. However, these things have begun to fade from my mind as my habits regarding church attendance changed when I went to college and graduate school.

I have recently found myself learning the church celebrations again, but not out of personal motivation. It is a hungry stomach that motivates me. Since moving to Finland and living as the Finns do: carlessly. This means walking 1/4 mile daily to the grocery store and buying what you need for the day and perhaps next morning's breakfast and lunch. Most of the time, this works out, and it's not too much of a burden if you forget a key ingredient for supper. Finland has a small, rather homogenous population: 5 million and 90% Lutheran. Despite this, very few of these 4.5 million people are actually practicing their religion, much like the trend in the rest of Europe. However, they have a penchant for public holidays and on public holidays, the flags are flying and nearly everything is closed, suljettu (side note: this law only applies to stores larger than a specified square meter area). This is very different from the US where you will find stores open every day of the year save for a few hours on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I find this change refreshing: everyone gets a chance to have a day off and hang out with friends and family. How many of you or your friends have to shrug off Fourth of July plans because of work? The shops also close for Mother's and Father's Days, all of Easter, and other church holidays such as Ascension Day.

As I was saying, this is a refreshing change, except for when I've become so accustomed to going to the store everyday and buying very little in advance, and have neglected to check the religious calendar. Today is Pentecost, and I've entirely forgotten and it never crossed my mind that stores would be closed on Pentecost. My first hint that something was amiss this morning were the flying Finnish flags.

After some head scratching: in support of yesterday's Hockey World Championship Tournament loss to bitter rival Sweden? in honor of today's Hanami Japanese cherry tree celebration in our nearby park? we consulted the internet and learned that it was Pentecost. Pentecost! What American would imagine? My internet search also revealed the old wive's tale about Pentecost that if you don't have a date by today, you will be without a date all summer long. 

As I walked to the small square meter shop next to us for some milk, it came to my attention that I was not the only one caught off guard by Pentecost: the 4-car parking lot which is never used was full and there was a line of cars down the street waiting for spots. Rest assured, we will not starve as we have the essentials: milk, bread, eggs, bananas, cereal, and last night's left-overs. I was looking forward to my trip to the store today to check out the seasonal produce and to pick up something springy and light for my week's lunches. You see, I have come to enjoy frequent trips to the store as it encourages us to use everything we buy and it doesn't require thinking of meals for the entire week. We will live, I will remember my church occasions, and better yet I will consult the Finnish calendar of public holidays!

Expats Blog

Hey all! You can now find my blog on www.expatsblog.com under the Finland section. You can find blogs written by people living in almost every country you can think of. It's a great resource if you are visiting a country, or if you are moving to a different country! There's also a little bit about me there: http://www.expatsblog.com/articles/1547/from-iowa-to-helsinki-finland-expat-interview-leah.

Another word for May Day...

...is Vappu (VAHP-poo). Finland joins the rest of Europe and celebrates May 1st as a national holiday. It is a flag day and a day when all of the shops are closed. May Day in Finland is a day to celebrate students while in most of the rest of Europe it is a day for workers, somewhat akin to Labor Day in the US. However, rather than grilling out, workers use their day off to protest or hold demonstrations, which I think were quite lively in countries like Greece and Spain this year. In Finland, there are some organizations which still hold demonstrations, but I understand that in Finland this is more out of tradition than in protest.

Back to the main event: Vappu in Helsinki. For those of you familiar with the Iowa State University tradition of VEISHEA, it reminded me of that celebration crossed with tailgating. Except that the entire country has the day off to take part. The party starts on April 30th, or Vappu Eve, at the fountain near the Harbor Market. The population of Helsinki crams into this small space to watch cleaning of the fountain (it had been off for the winter) and the placing of a student hat on the statue of the woman in the middle. Below is a photo of the fountain in the fall as we did not attend this hat-donning event. 

As the hat is placed, I hear that there is a choral popping of sparkling wine corks. Shortly after, the entire mass migrates the two blocks to the steps of the Lutheran Cathedral to enjoy their wine and maybe some snacks that they have brought. Again, this is a photo from the fall as I am told that the steps were crawling with people. The celebration goes long into the night. This is not difficult since the sun now sets close to 9:30!

The merry-making continues on May Day. There is no program of events, but anyone who knows anything knows that the place to be is Kaivopuisto, perhaps the largest park in Helsinki, located close to the city center. It is tradition to take a picnic and to spend the entire day in the park. The picnic also has very traditional food: warm potato salad, a specific kind of donut (munkki) called tippaleipä, and hot dogs. The May Day donut... what is a holiday in Finland without a dedicated pastry? This is essentially a small funnel cake but it is cooked a bit longer so that it is more crispy than soft. All of this is washed down with the May Day drink, sima. Sima is a homemade, sparkling lemonade. Different recipes that I've heard range from 2 days to a week to make this effervescent beverage. It consists of a lot of water, white and brown sugar, freshly squeezed lemon juice, a pink of yeast, and raisins -- the raisins aren't for consumption, they let you know that the sima is done by floating to the top, clever! Both tippaleipä and sima are available in the stores, but after sampling both, they are far better if they are homemade.

The attire for this celebration is also specific. If you have a student hat, wear it! In Finland when you graduate from high school, you receive a cap made of white velvet with a black patent leather bill. These hats were seen on people of all ages and seemingly whether or not they were going to the big picnic or not.

There are roughly half a million people living in Helsinki, and I think on May 1, we saw them all. The weather was beautiful and there were no excuses for not being outside. We joined some friends for the fun on Kaivopuisto and though we only stayed for a few hours, it was clear that many other of our other 499,990 friends were there for the entire day. There were sofas, radios, grills, and other comforts of home, even portable saunas. And if you needed just about anything, there was a tent selling it. 

It was a fun and relaxing day. The weather was perfect and the party was a great way to welcome spring!