Outlandish

Having been born in Finland I am one of the few lucky ones on this planet who has had the best sort of starting blocks for life. Today my country celebrates its 99 th year of complete and unquestionable Independence so I think it’s time to note some basic points about this extraordinary country. The truth is that if I had been born in some other country, whatever other country, my life would have been very much different, and probably not in a positive way. Finland has belonged under great kingdoms and empires but still the Finns have always held on to their own language, own culture, and their own way-of-life. And because of that my country has been able to rise from the ashes of the crumbling Russian Empire, civil war, two World Wars and multiple recessions. It is a big country with a very small population, but still it has been able to keep its independence for this long and will probably continue to do so no matter what the future brings.     Finla...

Estonia has actually two Independence Days. The first one was on 24th February, when they celebrate the Independence Declaration made in 1918. After the Second World War, though, they were occupied by the Soviet Union and the country was forced into communism. In 1991 when the Soviet Union was crumbling, Estonia declared itself independent again while the Soviet tanks roamed the countryside trying to stifle all hope of becoming independent again and soldiers were trying to take over the TV tower to shut down all communication channels (which obviously was much easier back then). But despite all Soviet soldiers' efforts Estonians stood their ground and on Saturday 20th August they celebrated their 25th year of Independence.  Estonians are quite patriotic, especially when I compare them to their brother nation, Finland. They take their independence seriously and Tallinn was filled with all sorts of concerts and markets and Estonian flags. In Finland people just...

Ladies and gentlemen... I HAZ INTERNET !! Oh, don't you ever take such simple things for granted as having a functioning internet connection! But now the planets are all back in their correct places and I can start really living here in Tallinn. Little by little I get my life in order here. I got the local ID card and thus was also eligible for an internet connection in this country where  e v e r y t h i n g is done online; bills, voting, apothecary recipes, signatures(!!), everything. I have also located the main furniture stores in a country that hosts not a single Ikea. So when I finally have enough money (maybe in 2023) I can start to furnish this wonderful flat hard core.  I have had and will have friends visiting me every weekend, which has been an absolute blessing for me and a curse to my wallet. And when my parents finally come I will get the final piece missing from my bed. Darlings, bed and internet, home is not a home without those two things, ...

Estonia, a country I didn't know much more about than that everything there is cheaper than in   Finland. By now I've learnt such interesting things as the fact that Estonia has two Independence Days. First in 1918 when Germans lost the First World War and second after the Soviet Union had been demolished in 1991. Tallinn has been an unknown center of some pretty major historical events, such as the sailing competitions in the Moscow Olympics in 1980. For this occasion the communists built one of the ugliest things my eyes have ever had to endure, Linnahall. It used to be a concert hall on which you can climb and look around the harbour and the sea. The idea is so lovely that I cannot comprehend how they could fuck it up with such an abominable structure. The view's nice though. Another highlight for Tallinn was in 2011 when it shared the status of the European Capital of Culture with the almighty city of Turku. How splendid! But my favourite thing about Tal...

It's December so I am "allowed" to spread open my suitcase and start filling it with shoes and clothes for the Christmas holidays in Finland. Three weeks is a relatively long time for having only one suitcase but this time the biggest challenge is that I should fill it with things that I can leave home when I fly back after Christmas. There's no point to drag, for example, summer clothes and shoes from here to Tallinn when I won't be needing them for at least six months. 1st of December is also the holy day when everyone gets to finally open the first doors on their Advent calendars. I remember how difficult it was as a child to wait for December to dawn on when we knew in which closet the calendars were standing and waiting. I also remember one time when the first of December came and it turned out that my brother had already emptied the entire calendar of all chocolates. Why he had then closed the doors again and left the empty calendar in the close...

Finland has been an independent republic since 1917. Yesterday it celebrated its 97th birthday. I don't think I could appreciate independence as much as I do if I hadn't lived abroad. Also the fact that right next to us there is a country with very little civilization, no human rights and no freedom of any kind helps to appreciate the things that might normally be taken for granted. For about 600 years Finland belonged under Swedish rule. Because of Sweden we have the Western culture and civilization that prevails in the country these days. But since we have been stubborn from the beginning of time we never succumbed to the Swedish language. We had our own and it was there to stay. Swedish is still an official language in Finland but few people away from the seaside speak it. After Swedes came the Russians. But instead of forcing Finland under their rule we got autonomy: we were able to keep our language, laws and religion. The one thing they screwed up though: becaus...