Thursday, January 15, 2009

Touchdown Helsinki



Hi to Debbie, Janny and Marion down at the beach.
It is all ice hockey and frozen lakes here in Finland. I am staying at the Hostel Stadiom, this is the Olympic stadium built for the 1952 Olympics and I am right in the middle of it. I can see all the fields and tracks right from my window. I am thinking of taking up one of the many sports on offer for the duration of my stay. All the lights are on at the playing fields and they look really beautiful. The lights are not on to make them look beautiful, the lights are on because it gets dark at about 4 in the afternoon. The hostel is amazingly good, huge, really well heated, half empty rooms with tables and chairs and couches in the dorms! It is fresh sheets and plump towels for all who enter. So far my layers comprise: thermal singlet, t-shirt, polar fleece jacket woolen coat, two scaves, stockings, jeans, socks, boots, hat and gloves but I was soon too hot. Sure it is cold, but it is not windy and after dragging my bags from the bus stop I worked up quite a sweat.

The Finnish accent is really funny. I think that the terrible TV show that Charles made me watch where Finnish men think up painful, playful practical jokes to play on each other has influenced my ear. Anytime anyone talks all I can hear is those stupid guy playing jokes with chili sauce or whatever.

I have already asked questions about the educational achievements of Finland and the Finnish seem to think that it is a bit of a myth. The one thing that they all want to stress is that it is mono-cultural and that means education is single track. This means that the seemingly fantastic results are at least an anomoly. Finland is almost mono-racial and was not ever a colonial power, only ever a colony itself. Always the underdogs apparently. They pay high taxes and they pay high prices for everything. Already I have been lectured about how Finland is one of the most expensive countries in the world.

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