outa

i'm now staying a guesthouse near the centre of Rovaniemi. the interiors and furniture haven't changed since the 1960s, and i must say it's really nice to be staying in a space of my own again. and i've got wireless internet, finally.





now, finally, some photos of my time here in Rovaniemi. in the early half on next week i'll be leaving town and heading further north, more details when things are definite.

my hostesses during the week:


Eeva, textile design student at the Lapin Ylipisto (Univeristy of Lapland), crafty and classy lady...


Anna, studying tourism. professional fun-haver, david lynch movie lover...


and Pia, finishing her art teaching degree. fabulous vintage decor/textile/kitchen collector, excellent breakfast maker

some ways i'd start the day:


breakfast of porridge and cloudberries- the most popular and unique Northern fruit. so lovely...kind of sour, and very high in vitamin c. accompanied here with the requisite coffee in a Moomin mug.


this breakfast by Pia eventually included smoothies, apple slices, black tea, two different kinds of bread, eggs, cream cheese, swiss cheese, and four different types of home-made preserves

around town:




view of the new art department at the Yliopisto. great natural light on the top floor, where the art studios are, with these giant glass pyramids making up most of the roof. imagine all the work you could get done during the midnight sun


students weaving in the loom room


view of the lake behind the university, paper mill smokestack in the distance.


boat waiting for summer


lake cabins also waiting for summer


staircase


the church. 90% of Rovaniemi was burnt by German troops during WWII, so not many original structures are left.


pro patria




the graveyard, however, contains many old markers of Rovaniemi's past residents.



priest's herb garden


waiting for the sunshine


and for the ice to go away

other things i've done but have no photos of:

-visited the Arktikum museum, one of the most important museums about Arctic peoples and environments in the world. it is the site of the Arctic Center, also connected with the University of Lapland, where a lot of crucial research on subjects such as climate change, sustainable tourism and cultural preservation are being conducted. i have to say it's probably one of the most enjoyable museums i've ever visted - the exhibits were not only informative but beautifully well done. if you ever visit Rovaniemi, this is a must!

-the library, designed by Aalvar Alto, is also really great. apparently he also did the layout of the streets of Rovaniemi, based on the shape of reindeer antlers. the main library contains the Lapponica reference library, the Library of Lapland. many of my dream books live here and much of my time in Rovaniemi has been spent here, too.

-got some medium-format film for my Clack camera. i've never done this type of photo stuff, so we'll see how it turns out. as expected however, Rovaniemi is about the only place in a 200km radius (certainly the most northern place in Finland) where one can take care of serious business, like getting film developed, and it still takes a week. hmmm.

more photos of the last two days and updates to come very soon, as soon as i upload them, which for some reason takes over 30 minutes. tonight i'll check out more of the Vappu (Labor Day) celebrations. i forget if the washing of the statue ritual has already taken place, i think it's on monday...

one more thing: i'm finding Finnish quite a difficult language. it's completely unrelated to any of the languages spoken in most of the western world, being of the Finno-Ugric language group, which among others includes Sami, Estonian and Hungarian. i've actually taken to reading the Swedish on packaging labels because it's a breeze to decipher comparitively!

conan hearts finland

i've been Rovaniemi for a week, and will be here for a few more days until the May Day celebrations (which begun yesterday and will last until next Tuesday) are over. i haven't really been able to use my own computer for internetting due to network issues at the university housing, where i've been mostly staying, so i won't be able to post photos for the next few days at least. so, last night i celebrated a little too much with the art students at a party at the railway station, this entry is going to be a little disorganized...

i've been staying most recently with a student studying to be an art teacher, Pia, a Sami-Finnish woman with a Scottish accent and a giant vintage Marimekko collection. she's a great cook and super-chatty. i've been learning a lot about the little details of "Finnish life" and attitudes and so forth. among other things:

-the Finns love Conan O'Brien. he mentions Finland all the time on his show, visited Finland and they even gave him some land on an island near Turku for his very own. this usa today article explains it well:

"Finns are very aware of their image abroad, and when O'Brien poked fun at the small country, he was overwhelmed by cards and mail. Finns started appearing in the New York audience of his NBC show.

The program airs on a Finnish cable channel, with a few days delay, and every time he mentions Finland or Halonen, local media report it prominently.

The president's spokeswoman said Halonen* had wanted to thank O'Brien for making Finland better known, and the two had agreed they "might, indeed, resemble each other*."

*Tarja Hanolen, Finland's female president

-they also have a bit of a reputation for being a somber country, moreso than Sweden on Norway. the other day as i sat in a restaurant, on the regular ol' radio they were playing a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song, "Where the Wild Roses Grow" from the album "Murder Ballads", followed shortly thereafter with Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". great songs, but not exactly light jazz or soft rock

-in every supermarket, kiosk market and mall, one can find slot machines. more specifically, electronic gambling machines. if you've ever been to Las Vegas and observed the machines at the supermarket and 7-11, it's exactly like that, except the money all goes to a government-run charity that funds sports and cultural programs

i'll have to write more later, as i'm off to watch "A Fish Called Wanda" with Pia. moi moi...

Suomi

hey, i'm in Rovaniemi, Finland! according to the town, this is the "official" home of Santa Claus. i'm staying with a lovely textile design student at the University of Lapland, Eeva. Finland so far is...very flat, from what i've seen! lots of lakes and water though. i have to admit, it was a little difficult to leave Sweden after almost three months living there. it felt like the pieces of a mysterious puzzle were just starting to come together as i left. on the last day, i of course left the shopping of fancy souveniers in Jokkmokk till the last minute. i ran to the Sami Duodji (handicraft) gallery/boutique, looking to buy a silver necklace or ring if i could find one. i looked at a few things but none were quite right, so in frustration i said, "maybe i'll just have to come back to Jokkmokk and do this later..." to which the clerk immediately replied "hey, that's what this means! you're meant to come back here! don't worry about it". i caugh a ride to Luleå 15 minutes later with the father of Jon Mihkkal, a guy from Jokkmokk who was to be my host for the next few days (see below). i've been extremely lucky on this trip so far, almost everyone i've met has been not only very generous with their time and hospitality, but also truly interesting and inspiring. the world is starting to seem so small, and time quite short as well...6 months from now in my mind feels like it's almost not enough time to do everything i want to do. we shall see. ok, so here are some snaps of my first day in Romanievi, but first a few shots of my last days in Sweden - for now.

Jokkmokk


a lovely accordion belonging to HG Wikström, Hilke's host father and local musician. he is from Overtornea, on the border of Sweden and Finland, and played me lots of sad Finnish folk songs to get me psyched for my trip!


HG and Lena playing. Hilke taught me how to do the polka and Lena taught us some sort of folk dance the Swedish hippie folk kids invented in the 60s.


Lena Lindberg-Wikström


the day before i left i attended a fundraiser for the choir the Lindberg-Wikströms belong to. at the end of the performance, they sang some Swedish birthday songs for Jokkmokk's newest citizen, a little girl whose parents are from Ecuador.


I don't think I posted a photo of this before, but this is Salem Free Church, the Mennonite Church I lived above for 2 months taken on the day I left.

Luleå


Jon Mihkkal Inga, from Jokkmokk/Kiruna and roundabout mutual acquaintance. he is studying physics at the university in Luleå.


we went to the thrifstore (photo by Jon Mihkkal, a.k.a. an actual photographer)


and an iron ore smelting factory (with a restaurant directly in front)


got excited over this amazing Vision deck he had hanging around the apartment


he found it at a sports store in Jokkmokk under a bunch of stuff!


the most flawless home-made latte/expresso/coffee-drink i have ever had


he gave me this vintage AFGA "Clack" box camera from Germany


and i gave him this hat i found with the Cadillac logo on it

i'll let jon mihkkal sum up his amazingness in his own words: "i want to move to Scotland to a stone house by myself, raise some sheep, and start my own space program."

Rovaniemi

for some reason today i only mostly took photos of the graffiti in the underpasses all around where i'm staying. i went to the public library, designed by Alvar Alto, and spent a long time in their Laponica collections reading cool books, but i didn't take any photos of that yet. i'll be back. i also went to the Marimekko store, and that swap meet (got a few small things). anyway, here's some drawings people did in some tunnels in Rovaniemi.


"survival city"


"shlit: the beer that runs uphill"


"skate or die"


"do a one man whole train"


"school sux"

tomorrow i'm going to be staying somewhere new, with a researcher at the arctic center here. hopefully on saturday i will also attend a handicraft fair, where people from all over Lappi will be selling handmade things for kind of cheap. after that there is a party the art students from the University of Lappland are having at the train station with the theme of a "50's Midsummer"...hopefully i won't be too shy to go. it'd be a shame, seeing as i have the perfect vintage dress for just such an occasion that i bought in... Jokkmokk!

little saturday

hej! sorry for the infrequency of my updates these days. the påsk/easter holidays have thrown the schedules of this little town off as everyone headed into the mountains to their cabins for the holiday. the kids have all this week off school, as well as some days the week before that. the sami kids will soon have 3 more weeks off so that they can accompany their families and reindeer into the mountains for calf markings and such. the spring holiday for me kicked off with my attendance to the first party i've been invited to since i moved here. it was at the new home of 22 year-old vidar sergeström, in a giant old house he recently purchased upon his return from travels in new zealand. here are some snaps from that - i cannot emphasize how good it felt to hang out with other people my age...


elina kuhmeneu


hilke hagedorn - german exchange student and good friend of mine here


ivan from greenland and viktor sergeström


?




cousins sigrid and ivan sergeström




except for the few days i've spend in two southern cities - stockholm and luleå- it's been almost a three months since my feet have touched bare concrete. that is, concrete not covered in inches of ice or layer upon layer of snow. it feels good to run and stroll and not have to watch each step so carefully. the melting is lovely right now, as the ground is still frozen and the seas of mud have yet to give way. the long, long days have also snuck up on us, here in Jokkmokk, for now, the sun does not completely set until at least 11pm. the streetlights have been turned off for good now, as the sun rises at 3:30 or 4am. very soon there will be 24 hours of daylight...i hope i will adapt to this quickly, because i haven't slept well in nights/days because of the lack of darkness. and this isn't even the true midnight sun! this week i leave for Finland, to Romanievi, and then Inari, and soon, into Norway. my time in Jokkmokk has been so varied and full, though riding out the arctic winter in a small town of 3,000 may not sound like it could have much to offer. on the contrary, i've come to know in small ways the spirit of the people and a town ( a home) that i know i wouldn't have been able to grasp had i not given myself the time and patience to do so. i've learned that i have the ability to cope with loneliness in many different forms. the loneliness of language, of looking differently, of simply being a stranger in a place where near-familial friendships often go back three or more generations. observing the bonds that can be built in a place that many people in the south see as a nowhere with little to offer has been a humbling experience.
in order to prepare for my move to Finland, inspired by my pal Erin, i've begun to read the Finnish epic poem the Kalevala (thank you Project Gutenberg). in a word - incredible.

Golden friend, and dearest brother,
Brother dear of mine in childhood,
Come and sing with me the stories,
Come and chant with me the legends,
Legends of the times forgotten,
Since we now are here together,
Come together from our roamings.
Seldom do we come for singing,
Seldom to the one, the other,
O'er this cold and cruel country,
O'er the poor soil of the Northland.

back from the big city, pt. 2

here are some photos from the past few weeks that may or may not truly illustrate my goings on. the first ones are of an amazing day i spent with hilke and her host family, the lindberg-wikströms, at their cabin outside of jokkmokk.




lots of roasting stuff over a fire involved


hilke enjoying chocolate and sausage


i cross-country skiied for the first time!


drinking coffee with cabin neighbors across the lake we skiied to



lounging on reindeer skins in the snow, which, by the way, is one of the most relaxing things ever.


fun times!

these photos are of a protestant confirmation ceremony i attended at the big church here. different, of course, as a good amount of the people there were dressed in their nice sami clothes. afterwards i ate reindeer sandwiches and coffee with barbro, joachim and daniel åström's mom (joachim had been confirmed that day) and she invited me over later for waffles with cloudberry jam. awsome!


confirmed youngsters


waffles right off of the griddle


daniel demonstrating the perfect waffle

unfortunately, i forgot about daylight savings and couldn't hang out for very long...good thing i didn't miss my train.


murjek train station by night


th south of sweden the next morning. all the snow is gone, and everything is starting to look green and lovely


early morning passengers

and now, here are a few photos from stockholm!



hanging out on the harbor with elisabet, her pal and julian. afterwards, elisabet invited us over to her apartment and we made dinner and hung out some more. she also came over for cake and wine for my birthday!


a swan friend joins us


hanging out in gamla stan


bridges


the epic and mysterious city hall


stockholm street styles. everyone here was so stylish i felt a little like a toadstool. also, i was amazed at the number of young parents we saw everywhere. it seemed that everyone 25+ had at least a kid or two, but still managed to remain stylish and hip as ever


julian and i enjoying a dan graham piece at the moderna museet


scoping out the nikki de saint phalle sculpture garden


me on the day i got my swedish residency permit. the reason i needed this is so that i can stay in the schengen area longer. as a u.s. citizen, one can stay for three months maximum without a visa or a residence permit, but after that, in order to visit any of the schengen countries - norway, finland, iceland, denmark, etc - a residence permit is required. i went into the migration service offices, waited a few hours, and was able to get my permit the same day!

well, now i'm off to the ajtte library to renew a book and then head home to bed to try to get rid of this cold. my head feels crazy and i'm a little out of it, so i'll have to post more photos/thoughts later if i've forgotten any (likely). hej do!