Saturday, May 29, 2010

Meanwhile, in Finland..

Being known as a Finn living in the US, sometimes people send me pointers to things Finnish.

Now, this weekend is obviously the Eurovision song contest (you all knew that, right?). And I expect Finland to do as well as it usually does ("Finland, nul point" - it's a national tradition!), and you can spend up to several minutes on youtube transfixed by the glory, or just start from the official home page.

But before that glorious tradition had time to take off, Tim Elliott sent me this gem of Finnish culture seen from the outside: the sauna championships.

What can I say? We have a sauna in our house. Even if we don't use it all that often, it's a Finnish thing.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

A Pig Lover's Oath

I honor and love
Every pig that I see
For maybe one day
That pig will love me.

Our friendship with pigs
will always last
It doesn't matter
Whether it's slow or fast.

If we continue to hug
Every pig we can
Our love will grow
As large as this land.

So I promise to help
Every pig in defeat
For if it weren't for pigs
There would be no bacon to eat.

What can I say? Daniela (my middle one) is a real poet. It scans a bit oddly, but I think that falls solidly under the heading of "artistic".