Peace, Love, Löyly

Peace, Love, Löyly

I have enjoyed being a part of the growing interest in sauna here in the US, in particular Minnesota since returning from studying at the University of Tampere in January 2012. I somehow took it on as my personal mission to operate as a volunteer Ambassador of Finnish culture and that includes sauna, of course. My first sauna experience was in a community sauna at Salolampi Finnish Language Village in Bemidji, MN. To say that that experience was transformative is lacking the true intensity of the life-altering moment I first experienced löyly (that is steam produced in the sauna - and only the sauna - otherwise it is höyry for the non-sauna steam that gets produced in other contexts like cooking or powering of old-timey trains).

Thrifting in Finland

Thrifting in Finland

One of my favorite activities to do while living in Finland was to go shopping at thrift stores. I nearly always found something exciting to get and as my family quickly figured out when they came to visit and pick me up, I was pretty successful at finding many good teaching items, home decorations, books/DVDs, and clothing items, many of which I did not want to leave behind in Finland. Good thing they brought nearly empty suitcases!

Soup season - keittokausi

Soup season - keittokausi

Fall has barely started and it is already offering perfect conditions for soup. I would not have even considered making soup even a few days ago and I also may not want to be making any this weekend - it is supposed to get to 80°F (~27°C) here in Minneapolis. Today, however, my mind has been flooded with all kinds of soups to look forward to as the weather turns and stays cold. When I lived in Finland, the soups I remember having went beyond the often sited Lohikeitto (Salmon Soup) and Hernekeitto (Pea Soup). At the University of Oulu and University of Tampere, the student cafeteria often served a wide range of soups including the aforementioned Finnish staples, as well as varieties like carrot, carrot ginger, spinach, potato, beef stew, hotdog soup, even berry and mixed fruit varieties.

Salolampi Work Weekend

Salolampi Work Weekend

Have you heard of Salolampi yet? Salolampi is a Finnish language camp that offers programming for all ages and stages of learners. It is located in Bemidji, Minnesota USA. It is part of Concordia Language Villages, which operates villages for 15 different languages (including English!).

It is where I started my infatuation with Finland, the cultures and the languages. You might call it a Finnfatuation. I first started attending as a 10 year old and fell in love immediately. To read more about that and my personal journey with the Finnish language and culture, check out this blog post.