On 21/05/2011 I went with my host mum and host uncle to the Rääntiö a part of the Ulko-Tammio group of islands located:
one of Finland's closest islands to the Russian boarder. We went on a birdwatching tour as this is the time of year when all the birds are migrating back North now it isn't winter anymore.
And just as a quick footnote: Birdwatching doesn't involve dressing up like Hector from Monarch of the Glen (brilliant show by the way) and sittting with binoculars in a campflague hut, well not this one anyway. It was a boat trip to an island where you just get set free to explore and do what you want, there is also lots of birds but they were only 1/3 of the attraction for the trip, the island was so beautiful and I am very thankful to my host mum and uncle for giving me the opportunity to go with them.
Hector [in front] from Monarch of the Glen so those that haven't seen the show get the reference :)
Swedish fortress (completely covering a small island about 20 mins from the harbour) from during the war between Sweden and Russia (The Great Northern war)
I took a gazillion photos during the day so I hope you are a firm believer in 'a picture is worth a thousand words' because I am using these photos instead of words to show you the beauty of Finnish nature.
First you see a plain piece of spinal chord but now I tell you it looks like a pig/animal and you wont be able to not see it! (it's from the side and it is facing left, the 2 bits at the bottom are feet and the top right is its back/tail depending on what animal you see. Do you see it?)
A Finnish beach :P
A professional
SNOW! its supposed to be mid-Spring but it is still hanging in there
our boat
There is still evidence of the war on this island
Canon from during the war
Thought I'd give some evidence to prove the sign
So you can't really tell, but this is a hot spring just sitting on the edge of a cliff with steam skimming the top all the time.
another bit of snow still clinging on for dear life
So it turns out the sun actually exists in Finland! This fact may surprise some people especially if they've lived there for 4 months from January.
Everything changes when the sun comes out. They include:
everything getting greener - as seen in the previous post
you see more people around town
people smile and are generally friendlier - someone I didn't know smiled and said 'moi' (hi) to me in the street and I was in shock for the rest of the day (slight exaggeration - 3/4 of the day max haha)
Finns 'come out of hibernation' - throughout the winter most Finns are generally home bodies unless they are participating in winter sports, but once the sun comes out Finland becomes a hive of activity, people asking if you would like to go to certain events (there is actually events to go to :P) and generally a lot more social. I guess when you only have sunny weather for a limited amount of months each year you seize every second of it.
The thing that shocked me the most was when it was 15 degrees everyone started wearing shorts and singlets! I felt like the olny sane person still in jeans and a light jumper but then the insane one because I was the only person dressed like that (newsflash - 15 degrees is a cold day in winter in Australia!)
Also Maddi and I were feeling more creative (maybe influenced by the sunshine) and drew some Australia inspired beautiful (*cough cough*) drawings
You cant really see it that well but there is kangaroos and koalas (Blinky Bill to be precise), harbour bridge, opera house, beach with surf board, euchalyptus tree, Vegemite, cork hat, Uluru, 'Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!' and most importantly: A BIG SPIDER! haha
Also a very beautiful blackboard artwork - and we left it there for the next class... forgetting we had health in that room next after lunch so everyone walked in looked at the board then looked at us then smiled/tried not to laugh. Of course we didnt claim ownership just said someone had very good in artistic inspiration hehe
During free periods at school everyone used to just sit inside in silence or talking quietly but now everyone is outside, sitting in the sun, laughing, playing basketball etc - The school came alive :D When Maddi and I had breaks at the same time we would go for a walk down the street then when our break was 1/2 over we'd turn around and come back, or we'd go to the park just down the road and sit on the swings or on the grass.
So the snow is now completely melted. Everything looks so very different! The following are photos taken in the woods near my host family house whilst walking 2 of the 3 dogs (vilma, the blonde and Venla, the black and tan, they are Hovawarts, there are none in Australia). The snow has only just melted so everything is in a very dull stage before everything starts blooming for this Spring.
Finland first won the ice hockey international competition since 1995, it was also the last time Finland won, that means there had been 16 year drought in the ice hockey department. Several times it seemed rain was on the horizon (don't know why I'm using a metaphor but hey, let's work with it) with Finland getting to the finals but always turned out to be just 'coastal stuff,' 'it'll burn off' 'nothin' in it' (to qoute my Dad on the topic of false alarms in the rain department) and it always seemed to be against Sweden in those finals.
Now enough dwelling on the past, my ice hockey watching carreer started on 6th May 2011, Finland v. Germany, not only was it a close game the entire time but at full time the scores was 0-0, now this meant another 20 minutes would be played in order for someone to score...no one did so then it goes to one on one with one player v. the goalie, where the selected player (Mikko Koivu for Finland) gets three chances to score a goal, the turns alternating between the teams (so one team then the other then back again etc until the 3 goes have gone for both teams) then there was a tie so this continued, until finally Finland won 5-4!! (nail biting stuff! I almost couldn't watch at the end)
Showing the last 13 mintues of the game, may get boring at some points so dont have to watch it all but have a quick skip through if your interested :)
Finland v. I can't remember.. - went to sudden death again, Finland won!
Finland v Russia - the awkward moment when Finland wins and a Russian guy at school had been saying that day 'no way Finland will win tonight, Russia is the best no one beats them, Finland will cry after how badly they lose etc' had to rub it in a bit the next day :P
Finland v. Norway - Finland won 4-1 another nail biter
Goal highlights (goals and near misses)
Finland v. Russia (again) - a very close game with nobody scoring until Russia did but then Finland picked up their game because they have proved they can beat this team (the Russian team... yeah kinda scary, those guys are huge!!! and the red uniform makes them look even more threatening) and once we got a goal ahead of them they got really angry and acting rashly (also getting agressive at one pont there was 3 players off) intead of using strategy anymore...and the goalie also gets extremely confused when Mikael Granlund goes scoring unbelievable goals like this one:
Aaaand winning this game means GRAND FINALS HERE WE COME!!!! ...versing Sweden but I wasn't worried :P
Finland v. Sweden International Ice hockey World Championship Grand Final - I estimate 95-100% of Finns were in front of a television this night! Things were looking down when Sweden scored the first goal of the game (at this point my host dad threw his hands up in the air and went to bed despite my saying 'its too soon for us to have lost, I have a good feeling!) but Finlandcame back fighting and ended up winning 6-1!!! according to one of my friends the next morning was 'National Hangover Day' haha and needless to say my host dad was quite heartbroken for missing the rest of the game. I am so glad I was in Finland for this, there was a massive celebration in Helsinki which was televised,and the general atmosphere everywhere was buzzing, really hard to explain but it was amazing :D
Video of goals from the game - love how excited Finnish commentators get when we score!
The team arrive back in Finland (see some of Helsinki if your interested :P one of the main streets in Helsinki, beautiful arcitecture and on your left Stockmann the Department store of Finland :P)
And here are some very popular songs in Finland at the moment:
Poju - Poika (saunoo)
poika means 'boy/son' which is the nickname for the ice hockey trophy and the songs main point is that 'our son is now in sauna, lets sing and shout and drink champagne because our son has come home' and is generally an awesome song.
And my personal favourite:
Ihanaa Leijonat Ihanaa - I love this because it takes the commentary from the 1995 world championship game Finland won and remixes it into a song (same commentator as the 2011 game as well - Antero Mertaranta, set a world record or something for words per minute in commentating - just a little fun fact for you) Ihanaa means amazing/wonderful/great/beatiful and Leijonat means Lions (Finnish team)
part of the celebration in Helsinki (same song as above)
The Video that sums it all up:
And I'd like to take this opportunity to say 'I told you so!' to those that I said 'I know (not hope or feel or wish but know) that this year Finland will win the ice hockey again!' I'm like that octopus from the soccer world series haha!
And I'd like to thank Australia for not being a part of the International Ice Hockey World Championships so I can not feel guilty for being Suomi Leijonat's (Finland Lion's) #1 fan!!!
