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!