Finlandia Update

So, the last week has been a true week of travel. No internet, no cell phones (that part felt like home), and no big city life. First part of the week our group was holed up at a hotel in Hamelina. Fun time (I guess), as we happened to catch the infamous ´vappu´ (May 1st) celebration we had heard so much about from the Finns. Turns out (despite the name), the holiday actually begins on the last day of April. No one works that day, and the city (with the exception of the bars) shuts down early. Our guide for the days (daze) was none other than a Brazillian transplant named Lewis. Long story short, he ended up in Finland by following some dane who apparently was a great pastry baker....I may not be translating that perfectly as my Finnish has yet to become ´fluent´, but none the less..... We hit the town and unintentionally ended up in some odd karokee bar(s). Turns out Finnish lads don´t dance much, and we all know that Jeffrey does. You can figure out the rest. Next morning, it was time to meet for morning brunch (which consisted of champagne and nothing really at all to eat) for some good ole Finnish folk song singing. The town mayor was there as well as some other (apparently) important people, all of whom were wearing these white sailor hats with tassles that resembled victorian era curtain ties. It´s a good look really. Anyways, we started getting grilled about American folk songs and being asked to sing a couple.....the only one I could think of was Óld MacDonald´. So there we sat, with the better part of the Finnish parliment making animal noises. Add that to the already long list of ´things I should leave off my resume´.

Moving on, our group moved to a new location outside the rural city of Laukaa. We spent a few nights at the equivelent of a summer camp retreat on (of course) a lake shore. The place was grand! The sunsets were amazing. We had our own cottage.....row boat.... hiking trails.....and of course sauna. It was some much needed r&r!! We all took in some sun with the weather being exceptional for our entire time there. Record highs of around 24 degrees C. Who knew I would be wearing shorts and a t-shirt in Finland while wishing I had my flip flops? Our stay at the summer camp ended with a special treat. A traditional smoke sauna at a summer resort that a gentleman and his wife run as a hunting, fishing, sauna, ice fishing, eating, naked lake swimming, four wheeler rodeo, logging, camp. While smoke sauna is always a special treat, this one was even more so. The lumber jack looking lad who owns the place went ahead and prepared a special peat moss skin exfoliation rub for us. The men went first as the sauna was too hot for the ladies. After grabbing our thinly cut birch planks to sit on (CHECK FOR SPLINTERS) we went in for our initial warm up. A few minutes later it was time to hit the icy cold lake for a quick dip. Then it was time to lather up in peat. After the group was good and covered it was time to grab our planks and head back in. 20 minutes was the time goal with constant water throwing on the blazzing hot stones. We were being urged to take in water cups with us as we were going to be losing some serious fluids. As the steam engulfed us the peat turned to a gooey liquid that slowy melted off our bodies and piled onto the sauna floor making the whole place look like an unkept feed lot. 20 minutes later it was time to wash off in the lake. Add that whole experience to the already long list of ´things you never planned on doing with your pants off´.

Other experiences or notes from the week:

- We took part in some cryogenic therapy at a rhematory arthritis facility. The chamber is chilled down to -110C (-166F). It´s so cold that your breath freezes into little snow flakes when you exhale. You can only safely stay in there for 2 minutes at a time. Side note, I did this less than 2 hours after my morning sauna. If the sauna was roughly 80C (176F), that´s one hell of a temperature inversion. Felt great though.

- A rest room is not the same as a bathroom. A rest room is truly a room where people can rest. They have them in all the schools. They have a small cot in them and the school nurse checks on them while they sleep.

- Kids in Finland speak better english than anyone south of the mason dixon.