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Published: January 31st 2009
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Hahaha, don't worry, I'm not at home yet!
Somehow I just got the urgent feeling, that while being here I still do want to share with you some pictures and show some places very close and special to me about my home country. Finland may have many faces, interesting contrasts, such as the four seasons, different landscapes and glorious variation on the themes of forest and water, where the comforts of modern life are never far away. It is indeed my home country which has affected me to the most.
It's a bit sad I realized that I, in fact don't own so many pictures from there, which is an old story though. I see those places and things almost every day, so why to take a picture? For this I should make an effort when going back there.
While being here people are most asking questions like " Is it true you have the midnight sun? Is Santa-Claus really coming from Finland? Do you have polar bears? (yep, they are really asking that) and of course many more questions including the most common one; Where is it?
Northern lights many people have never even heard about, not to
Pirttijärvi
Springtime 2008. First time the lake was free from the ices after the winter mention about the long winter nights and the different cultural heritages of the Eastern and Western parts of the country.
Almost every day I face something new and odd here which is so different than I'm used to. I'm all the time comparing the things, nevertheless not in a bad way. I have come into the conclusion that these things are not so easy to compare after all, they are just different, many times there is no better or worse way to do the things, just different ways and different people. I also feel I have already learnt a lot.
When speaking about nature I guess I have take it more for granted and obvious, the Finnish nature I mean, we have always had lot of forests, lakes, fresh air and clean atmosphere. Just here I have realized that our environment is something really special and precious and needs a lot of protection. Of course I have already known these things, but here in Singapore they really do an effort towards the nature to keep it clean an so. This thing I have been thinking a lot in these days, as well as other differences.
Couple words
about funny things and events which we have in Finland. For example we have wife carrying world championships each summer in Sonkajärvi. Unfortunately I haven't had a change to see it in real, although it is becoming more and more popular nowadays. Even some of my friends have been visited there. We are ice-cream eating people who can eat ton's of that delicious thing. I honestly ate more ice-cream, also in wintertime when being in Finland than now here! Moreover we also have ice swimming events and Finnish Sauna world championships held annually. I'm really proud of these weird things, events and festivals so typical to Finland and believe me there is many more than just this!
In the beginning here in Singapore I was confused when we faced the fact that Singaporeans go barefoot inside their homes; shoes should be taken off at the front door during visits. Not more I'm not questioning it, quite clever actually. The teachers also told us that the buildings in Singapore cannot be higher than 280 metres. There are actually presently three buildings of that height: OUB Centre, UOB Plaza and Republic Plaza, and let's NOT even speak about durian.. "Smells like hell
but tastes like heaven" were not exactly so in my case..
I will post an entry focusing more these differences and my observations later, but here are some pictures from middle of the Finland, some from the capital and some from other areas. All in all, Finland is not just snowing, raining and cold. No, there is many more things to discover and get involved <3
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