Summer holiday

Traveling and living outside of the U.S. has made me aware of the top American stereotype: our lack of vacation time. Inevitably, it is a topic that comes up in conversations with strangers in pubs and with new acquaintances. 

     "In the US, you have no holiday time, right?"
     "Well, not 'none', it depends on your job."
     "But even though you have vacation time, you don't use it, right? Is it true that employers will pay you to not take the vacation time?"
     "Many people are very driven and don't want to take their vacation. And, yeah, some jobs will give you a bigger paycheck in exchange for your vacation time."
     "How awful! I could never live there!"

In Finland, the majority of workers are entitled to 30 working days of holiday from the start. Due to their social welfare system, workers keep this minimum and it continues to grow the longer they work, no matter how many times they may change jobs. Astounding. Even more astounding, as a worker in Finland, I was also entitled to this glut of vacation time. I even felt a little bit guilty! If I felt so guilty about it, who would notice that I didn't take all 30 days? As it turns out, everyone at work. It seems that the gossip wasn't about who was abusing the vacation time, but who wasn't taking full advantage. When I returned from my summer vacation (15 days, mind you!), I was greeted with,

     "What are you doing here? We were afraid you wouldn't want to take all of your holiday."
     "Thank you, it's nice to be back. By the way, I did take time over the winter holidays, too!"

What did I do with my 15 days? We had friends from college as well as my parents visiting for most of the time and we tried to get to as many of these spots as possible. We also spent a few days in Denmark with my parents. Until next time, below are a few highlights of the trip. Hope you have some holiday time this summer!

Kronborg Castle, Helsingør

H.C. Andersen's House, Odense

Typical large Danish roses, Odense

Old Windmill, Børglum Kloster

Fiskefrikadellar with rugbrød, pickled onions, lingonberries, and Danish butter, Sakgen

Ships rounding the northern tip of Denmark, Gren, Skagen

Trip to the dentist

In Finland, healthcare is socialized and heavily subsidized by tax money. The system is organized by municipality, and so to see a doctor, you contact your municipal health station to schedule an appointment based on the urgency of your condition. Need a check-up to refill a prescription that will expire in the month? You can get an appointment within that time. Sick and need some antibiotics? They will see you sooner. 

The system works similarly for dental care, however, the wait is much longer. In the only disdain that I have seen toward the Finnish government, my coworkers think that these long delays for dental care are due to the government restricting the number of dentists that are trained, when clearly there is a need for more dentists and the schools are capable of handling more trainees. You are guaranteed a check-up within 6 months of your initial call. In my case, I called at the end of April and received a letter at the beginning of June stating that a time had been reserved for me in early July and I was to call to confirm or reschedule the appointment. The letter also stated that I would be penalized €33.90 (about $40) if I was a no-show. I wonder if this fee is enough motivation for patients to remember their appointments?

Anyway, I went to the dentist and was struck by what I found in the waiting room: a price list for the services. Not only that, the prices were unbelievably low! Lunch out in Finland will cost you more than many of these services. Sorry for the quality of the picture, I was trying to be discreet.

The dentist inspected my teeth in a 10-15 minute appointment and recommended that I see an oral hygienist to have my teeth cleaned. Here is my only complaint: this requires another appointment at a separate location, which to me is tedious. In the US, a dental appointment includes a cleaning, which is very convenient. 

If all of this is unsuitable to your needs, there are private dental clinics. You can get an appointment much sooner, however, I hear that the prices are much much higher than the municipal dentist. In addition, if you have tooth pain and you contact your municipal dental clinic, they will arrange an appointment for you at a private clinic if they cannot find an appointment at a nearby municipal clinic in a reasonable amount of time. In these cases, you will be billed the municipal fees. However, you cannot lie about a tooth ailment in order to secure a check-up: the phone operator asks which tooth is causing you discomfort and the dentist will only inspect this tooth rather than performing an entire exam.

The scheduling system does not earn my praise, but the transparency in charges certainly does. As I have learned in my time here, things are different and differences aren't always bad. In fact, it is through differences that we learn.

Month of Visitors

July brings about our busiest guest month yet. And while we have been tourists in our own city, having visitors means that we get to discover new things and revisit old favorites. Though you may think that summer is the best time to visit Finland, there really is no bad time to book a trip to Finland. We have had guests in November, March, June and now July. However, July is the month in which most Finns retreat to their countryside cottage, so be sure to check whether your points of interest are closed up for the month. No matter what time of year you visit, here is a non-exhaustive list of the highlights of things to do in and around Helsinki:

Outdoors:
Helsinki Cathedral: the large white Lutheran Cathedral
Senate Square: the large square in front of Helsinki Cathedral which usually has some sort of festival
Uspenski Cathedral: the Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Harbor Market: for a taste of local Finnish foods and handicrafts, but beware of the seagulls, they are skilled at hovering and diving for the food in your hands!
Esplanade: for upscale shopping or people-watching

Drinks at Torni for a view of the city from the highest downtown floor: the 14th!
Experience Finnish design at Marimekko & Iittala
Church in the Rock to view miles of copper in the ceiling and a church in a nearly outdoor setting
Olympic Tower for another view of the city
Coffee and pulla at Regatta

Cross-country skiing
Suomenlinna, the island fortress
Seurasaari, the outdoor 'living history' museum


Indoors:
National Museum of Finland
Natural History Museum
Ateneum art museum
Kiasma modern art museum, free admission the first Friday night of each month
Helsinki City Museums: 7 museums, all for free!


Day trips:
Tallinn
Turku
Porvoo


Another great resource for hidden gems in the city are on this map my brother-in-law found. The site has other European cities, too, and would be very worth a look.

Hope you enjoy your trip to Helsinki!