Mustamakkara

Yup. I'm thinking the same thing you are. 

It looks like a turd. 

And I ate it. You have visual confirmation. 

It's native to Tampere, where my host dad Timo is from. 

Root Beer

Yes, the soda. The most venerable soft-drink in the American palette. 

And most Finns have never heard of it. Such a shame. 

There are two stores that sell a boatload (near literally) of American imports: 

Behnford's, a small kiosky little shop near Helsinki's main shopping area (also the "dangerous part", such a hoot) 

Verkkokaupa, literally translated as web-store, but it is a physical shop near where the cruise ships dock. It is a technology store, but also sells really cheap soda in bulk, as well "artisanal sodas" by the bottle, and rather cheap as well- cheaper than if I bought a simply a coke from any other store. Actually, thinking about it, cheaper than back home too. 

So anyways, I was at Verkkokaupa with my friend Antton last night, and I saw the Rootbeer and Cream Soda- let's face it, there was no way I wasn't going buy some soda. The Cream Soda of course was delicious- pure sugarwater. But the Rootbeer I saved for my host family, so they could try it. My friend Antton bought some Rootbeer as well, and went crazy with it: 

My host family had a different reaction: Aapo thought it was decent (enough to drink most if it), Timo had had it before, and Tommi thought it tasted like cough syrup. 

Helsinki at Night, Wintertime

Klaukkalan Keskus

Itsenäisyyspäivää ja Tanssi

So, two topics to discuss here today: Finnish Independence Day, and Finnish prom. 

Finnish Independence Day is a very somber event, which is used as a day to commemorate the soldiers who died in the various wars against the Russians/USSR. No barbecues, drinking later in the evening, not starting at noon. The primary event of the evening is watching the President's Ball- effectively three hours of the President and his wife shaking the hands of foreign dignitaries, Finnish celebrities, and some politicians. That is followed by the 1954, 3 hour long movie "The Unknown Soldier", about the Finnish campaigns in WW2 against the Russians. As you can see, the dynamic is rather different in Finland when they celebrate independence. 

Finnish Prom is rather different from American prom, in many ways. I shall list them: 1) girls ask guys, as there are more girls in Finnish schools than boys; 2) you dance traditional/formal dances that are choreographed beforehand; 3) there are no romantic interests involved whatsoever- all of this is a practical arrangement. So no crappy 80's/90's movie moments in Finland. 

The girl who asked me had already asked at least one guy (who already had a partner) and then ambushed me as I was going home, about a week before the dance lessons started. Exchange students are the last resort apparently. 

Lapland

The Swedish border

In Sweden

Pictorial evidence that there is nothing in Sweden (a joke, of course). 

Tänään minä mennen Lappin

I hope my Finnish was correct there. Translated, to my knowledge, it means "today I go to Lapland". 

That statement is at least true. I leave from Hyvinkä at 21:30, and then have a 14 hour straight north to Muonio, on the Swedish border. And inside the Arctic Circle. 

I have not been told what we will be doing other than the forced rental of either cross country skis or downhill. Due to certain childhood experiences, I chose cross country skis. 

In other news, this week was exam week. And what a week it was. I started by going to school an hour early in confusion (rough weekend). So of course, I waited that entire hour, and preceded to take my Finnish history course. At least I can write in English for that exam. I'm hoping for an 8/10, but my last two exams surprised me (9/10, 10/10) so perhaps there is hope for better. 

The next morning was my German exam. And that was a doozy. Why? It was in Finnish. I skipped two sections because, while I ubderstood the words, I could not understand what the instructions were. The listening comprehension was a breeze, as my English speaking brain is hard wired for Germanic languages. But the written... Let's just say I'm glad I had my Finnish/English dictionary with me, though often it didn't help. Maybe 6/10? My present host family, the Kiiso family, used to live in Germany, so if I can't say something in Finnish, I can say it in German. And that helps. 

Back home, I always thought I was "cool" because I took French (arguably harder than Spanish) and did well in the class. Well- in Finland, knowing three languages is about the basic, as opposed to in the US, where people speak English, and can uselessly conjugate Spanish verbs every now and then. All Finns at least know Finnish and enough (Finnish) Swedish to get by. Then, in the East, many know Russian, in the South, English is spoken fluently, and in the West, Swedish is the mother tongue. Not to mention that Finns of my generation can speak at least one other language, generally French, Spanish, or German, if not all three. And they can speak it well, inthe context of comprehension, my pronunciation is better only with French. With German, I still have whatever accent I was taught at age ten. 

Maybe you'll hear from me on Wednesday? Maybe I'll be asleep- I get back at four in the morning (considered night time for Finns, as the earliest a Finn will get up is seven, even if work is at eight). 

Potentially what Lapland may look like. Well, minus the mountains- the old joke is that the retreating Germans blew them up in 1945.