One of the most interesting features of Finnish dance halls besides the age group, the music mix of tango, ballads, humppa and rock & roll and the fact that a few of the men seem to need too much courage of the liquid variety is that there are signs like this one here that also give the sexes turns to ask for a dancing partner, so that if the first line is on women look for men, the second men look for women and the third signals the “free-for all”.
At least dancing is something I more or less know how to do, and I already have a good partner ;-).
One of the most interesting phenomenon I’ve found in this northern lands is that in the right conditions (temperature, moisture, air pressure and consistence of the snowfall), snow will behave like sand in the desert. Anybody knows why?
We were in Lapland for holiday last week (pictures here), and it was very interesting to realise how massified has tourism in Lapland has become (even though of course we were going during the high season). Our flight from Helsinki was using one of the big Airbus 340s that are normally servicing Finnair’s intercontinental routes, and the plane was completely full.
Furthermore, on the way back we saw that there are flights to Kittilä arriving from Manchester & London besides Helsinki. That’s welcome news for the economy of those northern regions.
Finally watched this Oscar-winning movie. Set in the slums of Mumbai, the plot is very well built, and the soundtrack and camerawork are just excellent. Even though it has its very tragic moments, it is quite an uplifting movie, unlike Amores Perros & Cidade de Deus.
One of the main disadvantages of living abroad is the sparser contact with one’s own family. In this day and age, of course you can use e-mail, Skype or just plain old long distance phone calls, but there’s nothing like being physically present.
Your family, whether you like it or not, is part of who you are. Enjoy them when you have the chance.
