was it really only one weekend?
Oct. 11th, 2010 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kareinaOn Friday mom and I flew to Finland. We left my apartment at 08:00, flew to Helsinki, and changed planes for the flight to Oulu, which is near the mid-point (north to south) of the country. We were met there by my mother's second cousin, who had driven the seven hours north from the Helsinki area just to pick us up. He took us the 100 km south to the home of one of his aunts, where we stayed for the weekend. We arrived at their house at 20:00, so not quite 12 hours of travel, given the one-hour time change.
A number of other relatives were there, and they greeted us with "a light snack", which consisted of karjalan piirakka, complete with the egg-butter accompaniment, and thin pancakes with strawberry topping. Since my sister (who did her high school exchange in Finland, had told me that I had to try the karjalan piirakka while I was there, it was delightful to be served them as soon as we arrived. The evening was spent getting to know the small group (~8) and trying to learn their names. Mom had the advantage there, as she'd met some of them back in 2002 when she visited some of them in Sweden (many Fins moved to Sweden in the 1960's looking for work, a number of our cousins included--a few of them have returned to Finland in the past few years).
Saturday morning I went for a walk with one of the cousins--there is a lovely trail that starts near their house which is a lighted ski-trail in the winter, but is still a hiking trail just now. Then we joined the more extended family at the Tyyskä house. In the old days in Finland it was the houses which were named, and families took their names from the house. The original house is no longer there, but the replacement, built in the 1950's is still there, still occupied by family, and still in good shape. There were around 30 of us there for a noon meal, which was mostly yummy baked goods. The older folk didn't speak much English, but there were enough from the younger generations who did who were happy to translate.
The differences in the generations are amusing--my mother's grandfather was the eldest child in his family, and the people we met on this trip are descended from a couple of his younger siblings, who stayed in Finland when he moved to the US. Because of the difference in ages between those siblings, combined with differences of when they choose to have their children the "aunts and uncles" we met this trip are all the same age as my mother, but their children, who are the same number of generations removed from the common ancestor as my mother, are mostly younger than I am.
While at the old family home they took us to see the old "smoke sauna" they still have, and compared it with the more modern stove sauna, and the even more modern electric sauna. The "smoke sauna has no stove pipe--the fire is built in a large box, which has rocks on top, and the smoke works its way out between the rocks. As a result the walls are black with soot, and the room smells quite smoky. I don't think I'd care to use that one! The next sauna has a wood stove, with a stove pipe, so the smoke goes away, and the walls are nice, clean, bare wood. That stove also is covered with rocks, which retain the heat and help heat the room. It is necessary to replace the rocks every few years as they loose their heat capacity with repeated use. The electric sauna is more convenient, but all agreed that it wasn't as nice.
After the lunch party broke up we were taken to see the house where my mother's father had been born. His parents moved to the US twice. Once before he was born; his elder brother was born in the US. Then they returned to Finland for a few years, and my grandfather was born there. Then, when he was two years old they returned to the States, this time for good. One of the older uncles says that he can recall his parents getting letters from mom's grandfather when he was young. However, mom has no memory of her grandfather ever mentioning family in Finland, so she was rather surprised when a Finnish cousin (living in Sweden at the time) contacted her to see if they were related (he'd been given her address by the son of mom's brother, who still has the surname Tyyskä, since my cousin didn't have a copy of the family tree, but knew that my mother did).
We returned to the house at which we were staying on time for the evening meal, at 16:00. Can I tell you how very pleased I was to be visiting people who like their meals on the same schedule my body wants them? So many people in other places think that the evening meal should be hours later than that, but I need my food early! Many of the people who had been to the afternoon gathering made it for dinner too, and a few others who hadn't been able to attend the afternoon as well. It was a delightful evening full of good food, good company, and good music. After most people went home they warmed up the sauna, and we took turns enjoying that relaxation (their sauna is inside the house, and rather small--two at a time is actually a very reasonable number for that sauna, though I would have prefered more company).
Sunday morning we had time for more visiting with our hosts and the other family who had been spending the most time with us before we had to return to the airport for the flights home. Even though it was such a short visit both mom and I felt amazingly welcomed, and like we fit in and belonged. I want to meet my cousins Carola and Carina, who still live in Sweden--their mother says I not only resemble them, but have some of the same gestures and patterns of movement. We were all sad when it was time to leave, and tears were shed from more than one eye. I'm so glad we went, and I look forward to keeping in touch with these delightful, kind, generous people.
Most of the photos are on mom's camera, and we don't have the cable to get them off of that, so sharing them will have to wait till she returns to the US next week...
Needless to say, I made no progress on my uni work while there (though I did remember to read my 1000 words a day each day--I'm up to 277 days in a row this time--that is 70% of the days that have happened since starting my post-doc, and 25% of the days since I decided to start reading 1000 words of geologic literature a day). Today I managed to make some progress on my speech for an upcoming talk, and made a new MgO tube for the next experiment I will run. I've got about an hour left available this evening for work before I need to head home--it is important that I be on day shift next week, so I will start this week, and see if I can keep to the schedule.
A number of other relatives were there, and they greeted us with "a light snack", which consisted of karjalan piirakka, complete with the egg-butter accompaniment, and thin pancakes with strawberry topping. Since my sister (who did her high school exchange in Finland, had told me that I had to try the karjalan piirakka while I was there, it was delightful to be served them as soon as we arrived. The evening was spent getting to know the small group (~8) and trying to learn their names. Mom had the advantage there, as she'd met some of them back in 2002 when she visited some of them in Sweden (many Fins moved to Sweden in the 1960's looking for work, a number of our cousins included--a few of them have returned to Finland in the past few years).
Saturday morning I went for a walk with one of the cousins--there is a lovely trail that starts near their house which is a lighted ski-trail in the winter, but is still a hiking trail just now. Then we joined the more extended family at the Tyyskä house. In the old days in Finland it was the houses which were named, and families took their names from the house. The original house is no longer there, but the replacement, built in the 1950's is still there, still occupied by family, and still in good shape. There were around 30 of us there for a noon meal, which was mostly yummy baked goods. The older folk didn't speak much English, but there were enough from the younger generations who did who were happy to translate.
The differences in the generations are amusing--my mother's grandfather was the eldest child in his family, and the people we met on this trip are descended from a couple of his younger siblings, who stayed in Finland when he moved to the US. Because of the difference in ages between those siblings, combined with differences of when they choose to have their children the "aunts and uncles" we met this trip are all the same age as my mother, but their children, who are the same number of generations removed from the common ancestor as my mother, are mostly younger than I am.
While at the old family home they took us to see the old "smoke sauna" they still have, and compared it with the more modern stove sauna, and the even more modern electric sauna. The "smoke sauna has no stove pipe--the fire is built in a large box, which has rocks on top, and the smoke works its way out between the rocks. As a result the walls are black with soot, and the room smells quite smoky. I don't think I'd care to use that one! The next sauna has a wood stove, with a stove pipe, so the smoke goes away, and the walls are nice, clean, bare wood. That stove also is covered with rocks, which retain the heat and help heat the room. It is necessary to replace the rocks every few years as they loose their heat capacity with repeated use. The electric sauna is more convenient, but all agreed that it wasn't as nice.
After the lunch party broke up we were taken to see the house where my mother's father had been born. His parents moved to the US twice. Once before he was born; his elder brother was born in the US. Then they returned to Finland for a few years, and my grandfather was born there. Then, when he was two years old they returned to the States, this time for good. One of the older uncles says that he can recall his parents getting letters from mom's grandfather when he was young. However, mom has no memory of her grandfather ever mentioning family in Finland, so she was rather surprised when a Finnish cousin (living in Sweden at the time) contacted her to see if they were related (he'd been given her address by the son of mom's brother, who still has the surname Tyyskä, since my cousin didn't have a copy of the family tree, but knew that my mother did).
We returned to the house at which we were staying on time for the evening meal, at 16:00. Can I tell you how very pleased I was to be visiting people who like their meals on the same schedule my body wants them? So many people in other places think that the evening meal should be hours later than that, but I need my food early! Many of the people who had been to the afternoon gathering made it for dinner too, and a few others who hadn't been able to attend the afternoon as well. It was a delightful evening full of good food, good company, and good music. After most people went home they warmed up the sauna, and we took turns enjoying that relaxation (their sauna is inside the house, and rather small--two at a time is actually a very reasonable number for that sauna, though I would have prefered more company).
Sunday morning we had time for more visiting with our hosts and the other family who had been spending the most time with us before we had to return to the airport for the flights home. Even though it was such a short visit both mom and I felt amazingly welcomed, and like we fit in and belonged. I want to meet my cousins Carola and Carina, who still live in Sweden--their mother says I not only resemble them, but have some of the same gestures and patterns of movement. We were all sad when it was time to leave, and tears were shed from more than one eye. I'm so glad we went, and I look forward to keeping in touch with these delightful, kind, generous people.
Most of the photos are on mom's camera, and we don't have the cable to get them off of that, so sharing them will have to wait till she returns to the US next week...
Needless to say, I made no progress on my uni work while there (though I did remember to read my 1000 words a day each day--I'm up to 277 days in a row this time--that is 70% of the days that have happened since starting my post-doc, and 25% of the days since I decided to start reading 1000 words of geologic literature a day). Today I managed to make some progress on my speech for an upcoming talk, and made a new MgO tube for the next experiment I will run. I've got about an hour left available this evening for work before I need to head home--it is important that I be on day shift next week, so I will start this week, and see if I can keep to the schedule.
