Lost Post 3: Pesis

Pesäpallo: From Kesä10 - lost postcards

What is the national sport of Finland?

First thoughts go to ice hockey, followed shortly by jääpallo (ice hockey with a ball), mäkihyppy (ski jumping), and rally driving (although maybe that's just a mode of transport to the match).

But apparently some claim it is pesäpallo or pesis. Well maybe in the summer. If you live in what Konna disparagingly refers to as 'middle-finland' - Helsinki doesn't even have a pesäpallo stadium these days...

Lost Post 2: veden varaan

Veden Varaan was the no.1 platinum album by PMMP (2009)

Still waiting for a review from Breaking More Waves though...

 
It seems to me that the Finns have the same wary relationship to water (vesi, vetä, veden) and damp in the home as the Brits do to electricity (sähkö) - treat as a potential hazard (varaa).

In Britain we have fuses on everything, ring mains, plugs the size of a brick, and are (apparently) terrified of the thought of light switches without pull cords in our bathrooms, let alone power sockets or appliances - or at least the people who wrote our regulations were. Meanwhile we Brits seem to accept a bit of damp in our walls and when was the last time anyone in UK switched the water off to their washing machine or dishwasher between uses? And do we put our washing machine in our bathroom (with a power socket next to the shower) with a fully 'wet' i.e. tiled and drained floor just in case there is an overflow? Or on a special plastic tray for the same purpose? Back Suomessa while you can't wire a switch to a two pin plug and know which pole will be live or neutral, every kitchen sink in Finland has an extra tap or two for the washing appliances.

things you should and shouldn't know

I've just discovered (while idly skimming through my Sitemeter stats) that our little unfocused blog has been picked up by 'this is FINLAND' published by the Finland Promotion Board as one of just five blogs (so far anyway) of 'recommended' reading on Finland, along with our fellow ex-pat architect Lewism. So heipa if you have just arrived in confusion from there. One of the others is the Finnish foreign minister's blog... which isn't so surprising once you see who produces the site. Nice Aalto vase inspired logo too.

I wonder if we come under the 'things you shouldn't know' category the site's strap line mentions?

Toinen Koe

via kaupunkiliikenne.net: No, not a tram where you take exams (although the red pub tram does sell beer!)

If you have wondering why there has been a bit less hölynpöly recently then you probably need to get a life and get out more often... however one of us has been revising for his level two FFF (Finnish for foreigners) koe (test) which took place this afternoon. I get the results tomorrow, but I have a feeling it will not be as good as the last one. Just hoping to pass. Ho-hum.

Minun täytyy oppiskella joka päivä oppia lisää suomea, mutta minun ei tarvitse tehdä kotitehtevät tänä viikonloppuna.

Anyway level three starts next Monday, so back to reverse consonant gradation, and who knows what else then. 

But this week I also have to deal with a bit of Finnish bureaucracy and officially register my presence since it has been three months now; so through a great piece of 'Finnish logic' as an EU citizen I don't need permission, but I am supposed to register, with supporting documentation and details to show why I am here, which sounds suspiciously similar to the list of things required for non-EU citizens to get permission ... and being Finland this is done at the police station. Lovely. Now I understand those 'police state' jokes...