Post #10: Kebab

One word, Kebab!  Kebab is the best food in the whole wide world!  Kebab is not a "Finnish" food but it is all over the country and Europe for that matter.  I was first introduced to kebab when I went to France with my parents when I was seventeen.  I was instantly in love and was very sad to leave because there would be no more kebab.  Well fast forward nearly 3 years to when I got my call to Finland!  Fortunately I knew enough about Finland to know that it was in northern Europe and the first thing I needed to know was whether or not they had kebab.  Gratefully they did!  The kebab in Finland is a little different than that which I had in France, but it is just as delectable.  The kebab shops in Finland are mostly run by Turks.  Kebab is usually made up of a mixture of lamb and beef.  It comes on a big skewer which is rotated next to a heat source.  The meet slowly browns and when it is ready it is shaved off of the skewer.  Here is a picture to help with the visual.  It is then served in many different ways.  I have two favorite ways to eat kebab.  The first is rullakebab which is kebab with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and sauce rolled up in flat bread.  The second is kebabranskallisilla, which is kebab on top of French fries smothered in the special kebab sauce and some salad on the side.  You can also order pizza at most kebab shops, though it is not like the pizza that you are thinking about.  The pizza there is huge, but has very thin crust.  All in all if you are looking for some amazing food you cant go wrong with kebab.  And if you don't believe me you can go try some yourself at the King Kebab which is located in the Prove Town Center mall food court. Their rullakebab goes under the alias of shwarma but is pretty close to the real thing,  And you can see for yourself how the meet is cooked.  Please go and check it out!  You will not be disappointed!

Post #9: Joulupukki/Santa Claus

Today I wanted to talk about where Santa Claus lives, and if you guessed that he lives in Finland you would be right!  Santa lives above the Arctic Circle just outside of a city called Rovaniemi.  Santa Claus lives in his own village where people can go year round to visit him.  People come from all over the world to see him.  While I was on a mission in Finland I had the opportunity to go and see it myself.  There were a ton of reindeer and elves there.  When you go you also get the opportunity to go in and visit Santa and tell him what you want for Christmas.  Santa knows many languages; he can speak Finnish, Swedish, Russian, German, English, and Dutch just to name a few.  I am sure that it is a very high paying job to be a multilingual Santa Claus.  When we went we gave a present to Santa instead of expecting one from him.  We gave him a signed Book of Mormon.  It was a lot of fun.  So the next time someone says that Santa lives in the North Pole, just remember that what they mean to say is he lives in northern Finland.  Thanks for reading!

Post #8: Kävelykepit/Walking Sticks

Today I wanted to write shortly about walking sticks.  I told you that I would tell you how much Finns love their walking sticks in a later post, and this is that later post.  Walking Sticks are everywhere in Finland.  Finns love to get out and to exercise and usually take a daily walk, when they do so it is quite common to see them with walking sticks. They are most popular among the elderly, but you will find all ages using them.  Usually when I think of walking sticks I either think of a cane or I think of a big long wooden staff that a wizard would carry.  These are not the walking sticks I am speaking of.  Finnish walking sticks otherwise known as "kävelykepit" look very much like ski poles.  Their benefits of course help you to walk and offer stability but they also force you to work out your upper body as you go for your walk.  Walking sticks are used in all seasons in all weather.  Some have little rubber boots on the bottom and others have metal spikes, this helps you for the different types of terrains or weather you may be out in.  We were often told to go get a pair because we were always outside walking from place to place.  As I was thinking about how important walking sticks are to Finns I couldn't help but parallel that to how we need to be using our spiritual walking sticks daily.  The two spiritual "walking sticks" which we should be using daily are prayer and scripture study.  Both are essential for our spiritual health and wellbeing.  It is easy to forget to use our spiritual walking sticks daily.  When we forget to use them it is as if we are going outside on a walk in negative degree weather were water from a previous rain has just frozen all over the ground.  It can also be as though we brought our walking sticks with us but we choose not to use them.  Without our spiked walking sticks the chances of us slipping, falling, and getting hurt increase drastically.  When we do not read our scriptures or pray to our Heavenly Father we increase our chances of doing the exact same thing but on a spiritual level, and sometimes the fall really hurts.  Luckily our Father in Heaven has not sent us out to walk alone.  He has sent His son Jesus Christ to be our walking buddy.  Christ is always there willing to help pick us back up.  He always has an extra pair of walking sticks which he is willing to give to us if we will just accept them.  I have a firm belief that when we use spiritual walking sticks diligently and make them an essential part of our lives we will always have a better stroll.  Have you used your walking sticks today?

Post #7: Talvi/Winter

 

Because it was 70 degrees today, and it’s FEBRUARY, I thought that it would be very fitting to right about a real winter a.k.a. Finnish winter.  Finland has very long winters.  It is common to have snow fall and stick to the ground in October and have that snow last until the next March.  Of course it can start earlier and last longer the further north you get.  The snow there is awesome!  They get so much that the roads are not plowed all the way off, they are just cleared to the point that you won't get stuck while driving on them.  It is also law to switch your tires to snow tires in October.  The snow tires that most people buy have metal spikes in them so they handle better on the ice.  I remember time when my companion and I pulled our car up to the front of our apartment and switched the tires in between lessons so we would not get a ticket.  It was a lot of fun!

Finnish winters are also very cold!  It is common especially in January and February for the temperature to be under zero degrees Fahrenheit.  It is important that you learn how to layer for those winter months. It is not just the temperature that makes Finland cold, it is also the humidity.  When it is cold and humid the cold literally seems to seep into your bones.  I found that it was best to always keep moving.  I also felt like we would get to places faster on our bikes in the winter than we did in the summer because we would be pedaling harder in order to stay warm.  There are some pluses to Finnish winters as well.  It is usually during the winter months that you will see the Northern Lights.  I will talk about my experience with them in a later blog post.  It is also one of the prettiest times in Finland.  Snow covers everything and because it gets so cold it crystallizes and makes everything glitter.  It’s also cool that it gets so cold that the condensation from your breath will collect on your eyelashes and will freeze making you look like Jack Frost.  Even though it is cold outside you will still see Finns going about as usual.  I am pretty sure that this is due to the fact that Finns will take they babies out on frequent walks even in the negative degree weather.  That way as the baby grows it will already be well acclimated and be ready for life as a Finn.  Finns are so well equipped for winter that it led them to win the Winter War against Russia.  I will also do a blog post about this later because it is really quite miraculous.  The winter is really something that defines Finland.  And for a missionary in Finland the saying holds true that, "Many are cold, but few are frozen."  I love the Finnish winter, and given the opportunity I would go and enjoy it right now.  It is something to look forward to not to loath.  As I spoke with Finns about winter I found that the colder it gets the happier they are.  I think there is something that can be learned from that type of attitude, and I will leave you to interpret it as you will.

Post #6: Kulttuuri/Culture

Howdy!  Today I want to talk about the culture in Finland.  Finns are very quiet and peaceful people.  The crime rate in Finland is among the lowest in the world.  It is Finnish culture to be honest and honor the law.  Headline news in Helsinki quite often consisted of something very minor such as a fountain that had bubbles poured into it and became foamy.  This is a huge contrast compared to the headlines we see here in the states. There was an experiment done in Finland not long ago where ten wallets were placed on the ground as if they had been dropped and lost throughout a city to see how honest the people really were.  Out of the ten wallets missing nine were returned to the police station in a short period of time.  I find that to be amazing.  I don’t think we would get that same result if we were to do that same test here in Provo.  It was always fun to walk down the street and see that the gloves and hats that people had dropped were hanging in trees near the spot where they were found so when the owner came looking for them they would be easily spotted.  Finns are also a very quiet people.  While living in Finland we would talk to people on the bus about Jesus Christ and what they thought of him.  It was a lot of fun because usually the bus was so quite that even though you me be talking to only one person the whole bus would listen in on the conversation.  We also went bowling once and it was quite the culture shock for me.  Here in America bowling allies are loud places where you almost have to yell for your friends to hear what you say.  In Finland no one talks.  You can literally here every pin fall and then silence.  It was quite the experience and also a lot of fun.  After two years in this quiet country I almost died when I got home.  I hadn’t seen my family in over 2 years.  So when I got off the plane and headed to the exit of the airport it was again a huge culture shock to have everyone who was there to greet me shout and cheer.  At least I knew I was home.  Finns also like to keep to themselves.  In their culture it is very important that you call before you go to visit someone.  We found that out the hard way many times.  Finns are slow to become friends.  But once a friendship is made it will last a lifetime.  I love the culture of Finland!  And I am sure that if you have a chance to visit you will too!