Terve, ystävä!
Groggy Finland is slowly waking up from her restful wintry slumber, throwing back her thick comforter of snow, remembering how nice social interactions are, and I am doing the same. This letter to you not only marks my own early springtime unfurling, but it also reflects the growing number of people on Helsinki’s slushy and warming streets, the general spine straightening, the eye catching, the subtle flirting, the louder conversations, and the reemergence of the unhurried stroll. Mind you, all this “spring talk” is based on a temperature soar to 0 degrees celsius, which just occurred three days ago. I’m willing to read this as a sign of shifting seasons though, especially since the sun has suddenly and miraculously become warming when it rests upon you, rather than just showing up in thin bursts of colorful cheer.
It’s been an incredible and long winter and I have a renewed respect and reverence for nature. During several distinctly memorable moments of feeling extreme cold, I wondered if I would survive my journey home without loosing some kind of …appendage. I have marveled at how nose hairs can freeze instantaneously. I have lost myself in the wonderment of what severe cold does to the shape of snowflakes. I have agonized over the dilemma of how to dress in the morning when I anticipate being outside in -20 degree weather but also have to use public transport, which is climatically balmy and tropical. Fleeting glimpses of delicate sun rays during the dark time of solstice have inspired me to stop in my tracks and do a few sun salutations at the edge of the walking path. I have seen, I think, the most comical and sensational outerwear for dogs on the planet.
And Goshva has arrived! The Finnish Posti Service registers everyone staying in the country for more than three months. They think Josh’s name is Goshva and now I think so too (it sounds particularly nice when you draw out the o-s-h-a part). We are happily exploring this new city together, adjusting to sharing a living space that is approximately one eighth the size of our previous studio, plunging our steaming bodies into ice holes after emerging from saunas, dancing in town, discussing the curiosities of most recently viewed art performance pieces, having extreme Nordic snow adventures (such as being pulled on skis behind galloping horses), having eyebrow raising Nordic snow adventures (such as playing “ruler of the enormous snow pile” which involves pushing one another off the enormous snow piles in downtown walking thoroughfares), and having tame Nordic snow adventures (such as watching snow build up outside our cozy apartment). We have been making lots of food for ourselves and for friends, and I feel myself reuniting with the familiar sensation that home is where I’m eager to return to after a long day at work when Josh is there. It is wonderful to have my wonderful friend living here in Finland with me!
Life has certainly been active in the three months since I’ve written, though I’ve felt less inclined to contemplate novelties in mass emails because my days are characterized more by routine and I’m developing a more personal relationship with Finland. Memorable experiences from wintertime include how this country literally lit up with candles and enthusiasm during the holidays. I shuffled into tiny wooden candlelit churches with Finnish friends to listen to beautiful choral music while packed like sardines in the pews. Sonja, a friend, invited me to accompany her to her tiny village in the countryside where we customarily visited deceased family members at the cemetery and placed candles by graves, which gleamed in the “blue hour” before dark along with thousands of other candles by thousands of other graves. We ate root vegetable casseroles, drank port by the fire and sipped on coffee all day long. The whole family took long saunas every day together and people paired off in various couples to spend quality time together in that special place where ultimate quality time is had. It was nurturing and joyful to be with such a caring family in a beautiful old farmhouse in the middle of an expansive winter over the holidays.
Helsinki is a lovely city and it’s charm isn’t flaunted or exaggerated, though a pulsing artistic and creative scene certainly exists here. Helsinki moments that wholly engage me are when I walk to the tip of the city and witness people scattered about the strange white desert of frozen bay, making pilgrimages to the southern sun. It’s also kind of fascinating to watch little wrinkled elderly ladies with fur hats and stiff fingers expertly navigating complex banking machines with impressive technological efficiency. I love my weekly visit to the public swimming hall where I can sit still and invisibly in the cloudy steam room where water drips and rolls off of me along with the beautiful vowels of hushed Finnish that drip and roll off of me as well. In the same public hall but in the sauna this time, I’ve gotten to sit with a group of young women as they prepared their friend for her wedding the next day, rubbing her with salt and honey and laughing with the surrounding women who were able to join them in this loving and traditional experience.
My work is equally captivating and challenging. Just thinking about the young women who have shared such personal stories of struggle and strength with me during interviews makes my heart swell. I’m well into my interview process for the project and I learn so much from each person’s narrated experiences. Interviews last for two hours and each person volunteers for three sessions, so while I’m absolutely swimming in data and transcribing it makes me crazy, I feel like I have a fairly good sense of context and more of a holistic understanding of the people who participate. I’ve been invited as a visiting scholar at Väestöliitto, which means that brilliant people and researchers are around me and I can pop into their offices and say things like “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” and they help me. Having an office and workspace gives me structure and it is inspiring to be around people who are invested in their work and who speak passionately about the subjects they research. Josh and I recently returned from Pori where I was gave a lecture to master’s in social work students about the development of sexuality, and we had a really nice time in one of my favorite places in Finland with some of my favorite friends.
And now, my sweetheart Goshva and I need to remove ourselves from this little flat and put ourselves on a plane to Istanbul. We, I, miss you all at home and think of you very often. This is an enriching and unique life adventure but I also frequently reflect on what an adventure it is to be amongst friends and community, to make the music, to grow the vegetables, to know others and to be known, and to stay. Much love to all of you in this time of springy unfurling, and be well!
Love Alicia
Check out the photos:
Uutta Vuotta (New Year): picasaweb.google.com/vialicia/UuttaVuotta
Hyvää Joulu (Happy Holidays): picasaweb.google.com/vialicia/HyvaaJuolua
Barely There Solstice: picasaweb.google.com/vialicia/BarelyThereNordicSolstice
It’s been an incredible and long winter and I have a renewed respect and reverence for nature. During several distinctly memorable moments of feeling extreme cold, I wondered if I would survive my journey home without loosing some kind of …appendage. I have marveled at how nose hairs can freeze instantaneously. I have lost myself in the wonderment of what severe cold does to the shape of snowflakes. I have agonized over the dilemma of how to dress in the morning when I anticipate being outside in -20 degree weather but also have to use public transport, which is climatically balmy and tropical. Fleeting glimpses of delicate sun rays during the dark time of solstice have inspired me to stop in my tracks and do a few sun salutations at the edge of the walking path. I have seen, I think, the most comical and sensational outerwear for dogs on the planet.
And Goshva has arrived! The Finnish Posti Service registers everyone staying in the country for more than three months. They think Josh’s name is Goshva and now I think so too (it sounds particularly nice when you draw out the o-s-h-a part). We are happily exploring this new city together, adjusting to sharing a living space that is approximately one eighth the size of our previous studio, plunging our steaming bodies into ice holes after emerging from saunas, dancing in town, discussing the curiosities of most recently viewed art performance pieces, having extreme Nordic snow adventures (such as being pulled on skis behind galloping horses), having eyebrow raising Nordic snow adventures (such as playing “ruler of the enormous snow pile” which involves pushing one another off the enormous snow piles in downtown walking thoroughfares), and having tame Nordic snow adventures (such as watching snow build up outside our cozy apartment). We have been making lots of food for ourselves and for friends, and I feel myself reuniting with the familiar sensation that home is where I’m eager to return to after a long day at work when Josh is there. It is wonderful to have my wonderful friend living here in Finland with me!
Life has certainly been active in the three months since I’ve written, though I’ve felt less inclined to contemplate novelties in mass emails because my days are characterized more by routine and I’m developing a more personal relationship with Finland. Memorable experiences from wintertime include how this country literally lit up with candles and enthusiasm during the holidays. I shuffled into tiny wooden candlelit churches with Finnish friends to listen to beautiful choral music while packed like sardines in the pews. Sonja, a friend, invited me to accompany her to her tiny village in the countryside where we customarily visited deceased family members at the cemetery and placed candles by graves, which gleamed in the “blue hour” before dark along with thousands of other candles by thousands of other graves. We ate root vegetable casseroles, drank port by the fire and sipped on coffee all day long. The whole family took long saunas every day together and people paired off in various couples to spend quality time together in that special place where ultimate quality time is had. It was nurturing and joyful to be with such a caring family in a beautiful old farmhouse in the middle of an expansive winter over the holidays.
Helsinki is a lovely city and it’s charm isn’t flaunted or exaggerated, though a pulsing artistic and creative scene certainly exists here. Helsinki moments that wholly engage me are when I walk to the tip of the city and witness people scattered about the strange white desert of frozen bay, making pilgrimages to the southern sun. It’s also kind of fascinating to watch little wrinkled elderly ladies with fur hats and stiff fingers expertly navigating complex banking machines with impressive technological efficiency. I love my weekly visit to the public swimming hall where I can sit still and invisibly in the cloudy steam room where water drips and rolls off of me along with the beautiful vowels of hushed Finnish that drip and roll off of me as well. In the same public hall but in the sauna this time, I’ve gotten to sit with a group of young women as they prepared their friend for her wedding the next day, rubbing her with salt and honey and laughing with the surrounding women who were able to join them in this loving and traditional experience.
My work is equally captivating and challenging. Just thinking about the young women who have shared such personal stories of struggle and strength with me during interviews makes my heart swell. I’m well into my interview process for the project and I learn so much from each person’s narrated experiences. Interviews last for two hours and each person volunteers for three sessions, so while I’m absolutely swimming in data and transcribing it makes me crazy, I feel like I have a fairly good sense of context and more of a holistic understanding of the people who participate. I’ve been invited as a visiting scholar at Väestöliitto, which means that brilliant people and researchers are around me and I can pop into their offices and say things like “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” and they help me. Having an office and workspace gives me structure and it is inspiring to be around people who are invested in their work and who speak passionately about the subjects they research. Josh and I recently returned from Pori where I was gave a lecture to master’s in social work students about the development of sexuality, and we had a really nice time in one of my favorite places in Finland with some of my favorite friends.
And now, my sweetheart Goshva and I need to remove ourselves from this little flat and put ourselves on a plane to Istanbul. We, I, miss you all at home and think of you very often. This is an enriching and unique life adventure but I also frequently reflect on what an adventure it is to be amongst friends and community, to make the music, to grow the vegetables, to know others and to be known, and to stay. Much love to all of you in this time of springy unfurling, and be well!
Love Alicia
Check out the photos:
Uutta Vuotta (New Year): picasaweb.google.com/vialicia/UuttaVuotta
Hyvää Joulu (Happy Holidays): picasaweb.google.com/vialicia/HyvaaJuolua
Barely There Solstice: picasaweb.google.com/vialicia/BarelyThereNordicSolstice