What`s Arctic?

This is my first post in English for all my readers worldwide! I can see from statistics that my Blog is very well read in America as well as in France and Germany. The people who read my Blog in those countries can of course be Finns, who just live abroad, or travel a lot, but i hope that at least some of them are actually citizens of USA, Germany or France. All readers are very important and valuable to me anyway, so thank you so much for reading! And for me, and everybody in Finland this will be a good practise of  English, in case you have forgotten how to speak or read the language. I hope I wont be making much mistakes... So, I was thinking we could go a little bit deeper into Finnish culture and traditions. Everybody knows Santa Claus, Sauna, The Arctic Circle, and Nokia. Butt what else do we have here? What kind of people are Finns? How do we live here? What`s Arctic..? I will be looking at these questions from an Interior kind of view.

Finnish Interior Design

We have few very famous designers, that are known all over the world. I cant tell about all of them, but one of those is an architect Alvar Aalto. A man who designed houses, for example Finlandia house, that is located in Helsinki Töölönlahti, and a whole area Sunila in Kotka Finland. He has also created "Aalto vase" and many other glass art pieces. Alvar Aalto museum is in Jyväskylä Finland. I love everything that he has done! Here are pictures of the man and some of his designes...

Generally the most important export item of Finland has always been wood. We use wood in many ways, it`s sad, that these days people choose Ikea products instead of a handicraft, because a good well made furniture lasts for years, Like they say, from father to a son! Here are some pictures of my Finnish traditional  wood products. The birchbarkbasket i use for napkins, and the trivet is made out of the peaces of wood. These kind of handicrafts are often sold at the sunday market. But the same way that the good old furnitures are going to disappear, so is the skill to make these. Old people still know how to do them, but will they teach that to the young ones, and are they even interested to learn..?

So, what is it like to be a Finn and live in Finland? It takes guts! Most of the year it`s dark and cold in the morning when you wake up. Coffee and fast, then to work. People are also generally not very talkative, or open, so you really have to know someone, before they open up to you. But when you learn to know someone, they are very helpful and friendly. Family is very important, but not as much as it is in Italy for example. I am completely Finnish, but i have relatives in Australia, USA and Sweden. Sometimes i have wished that i would have some other blood in me as well, because i`m so blond, that if i don`t put make up to my eyebrows, they are almost invisible! Here is a picture of a Finnish candy, Sisu, that means the same as guts. It`s like a very strong licorice that freshen your mouth.

Im going to end this article in to the picture of Finnish northern lights that can be seen in Lapland, but also in the south at autumn. It was nice to write in English, i haven`t lost my skills! :)

          Welcome to Finland sometimes!