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!