My Cool Reino Slippers

When I left my job recently, I was touched to discover that my Finnish co-workers had clubbed together to get me a present: a pair of Reino slippers filled with Finnish Fazer milk chocolates.

Now, I understood clearly the significance of Fazerin Sininen, as I could never resist those chocolates when they were in the vicinity. But the Reino slippers? I wasn't leaving to retire, so why?

The Taciturn Finns

The Finns are often portrayed as taciturn, but this has not been my experience: most Finns I know are quite talkative. However, pockets of "taciturness" do remain in Finland, especially amongst older Finns - as illustrated by the following annecdote.

Running Around Aimlessly

This week, a particular viral picture caught my attention. The reason it caught my attention is because it provides a perfect illustration of why Finnish is such a tricky language.

In other words, this single picture is a neat summary of this whole blog, no less.

Flying the Flag for Finland

When I was last in Helsinki, just over a week ago, the Finnish flag was flying from every building in town.

It wasn't in honour of my visit though, even if that would have been a rather nice gesture given that it was my last for quite a while...

Normal Service

It's been nearly a month since the last post to this blog, mostly because it has been a rather eventful month for me workwise. But fret not, for normal service will resume shortly.

 

Alko - A Heroic Institution

What do you call an 80 year old always full of alcohol? Alko.

Yes, the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland celebrated 80 years just last week.

Is New Zealand Better Than Finland?

Gerry Brownlee, the leader of New Zealand's House of Representatives and the centre-right administration's third-ranking minister, caused quite a stir recently when he appeared to insult Finland during a speech.

Such was the uproar, that New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key ended up having to apologise to the Finnish president over the remarks.

Mini-Post: Dutch and Finnish Grammars Compared

While reorganising my book-shelves, I came across a book about Dutch grammar, which I bought back in the days when I lived in The Netherlands. 

High Energy

Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, there was a wave of anti-nuclear sentiments in Finland. The old "Nuclear Power – No Thanks" stickers came out again, and everyone agreed that nuclear energy was a bad thing.

I stood as an observer, not knowing much about Finnish energy generation or consumption (actually, I don't know much at all about energy). But a couple of thoughts came to my mind....