this time last week, I was in Sodankylä, 125 km north of the polar circle. i was staying for some days with an elderly man named Vesa Suomalainen, a psychologist by profession. he owns an old school dormitory about 1.5. kilometers outside the center where he occasionally rents out very inexpensive rooms. he is also an artist, who has shown his work in Helsinki and other places, and his and his friends' work decorate the many halls and rooms. before this, i'd been staying with a Canadian ex-patriate named Philippe, whose fascinating life I cannot begin to approach faithfully in full description, but I should try, before the details begin to fade away.
Philippe, 32 years old, has lived in Finland for ten years, since he bought his first house in Lapland when he was 22. he was born in Quebec, learning archery, rabbit-trapping, and general outdoor know-how from his parents. By the age of 15 he was working for government contractors with satellites and computers. some of his direct work currently resides in the International Space Station. before he bought his second house 30 km south of Sodankylä - and settled down to work on a company he founded with two other people, he spent two years handling sled dogs for a local guy here until he established his roots. the company he founded in the past few years specializes in weather and medical imaging, and counts nations such as China and India as clients of this technology that they invented and internationally patented. apparently, the type of science he uses only 90 other people in the world know how to do, and among many others, a current project is developing an imaging machine so small it will give MRI quality scans in an ambulance. when he's not working with ridiculously complex math, Philippe spends time volunteering at the local theatre companying doing lighting, learning (and performing) dance with a teacher in town who attended the Royal London Academy of Dance, acting in films by local filmmakers, and generally helping his friends out with anything from changing snow tires to helping them move . Of course, much time is spent working on his old wooden house he is renovating completely from the ground up. he has what could be described as a full service auto shop in his barn, and 3 Toyota Land Cruisers, 2 of which he restored himself. one of his goals for the next ten years is to be able to use his 4 hectares of land (approx. 9 acres - this also includes both banks of a river) outside of town for more self-sufficent food production and to grow firewood for heating needs - not a task to be underestimated in a difficult climate like Lapland's.
...wow.
anyway, on Tuesday i hitchhiked about 100 km back to Rovaniemi to hang out more with Olli and all his rad friends, inlcuding the guys from that band Orkestar Business Class. i think i have been able so far to meet many of the most interesting people in Lapland. anyway, there's so much to tell: the weird fact that most of the people I have met are librarians, including Olli, Jaakko, Olli's father, brother, mother and mother's boyfriend, who all work either in in the Rovaniemi library or the Arctic Center research library. I also met the head of the music library, whose wife also happens to be the curator at the Regional Museum of Lapland at the Arktikum. we are going to watch the ice hockey match between Russia and Finland in an hour and a half at their house. i just also want to talk about the fact that i was fortunate in being able to catch a rare performance by Tuomari Nurmio ("Judge Nurmio") here, one of the most wonderfully weird Finnish musicians ever (see old photo of him below). he is now almost 60, but has been described as the Tom Waits of Finland and has been well loved by many since he began performing at the age of 19 with a country band. anyway, i'm off to eat some food and then head to town to the ice hockey match with Olli. more on this whole week later....
Tuomari Nurmio - Lasten mehuhetki - Härmärock '81
ps. Karelian rice pies are amazing
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self-sufficient food production in Lapland? AMAZING
Can you believe I am going to be in Sweden in less than three weeks? I can't! I'm still down for meeting in Bodø if you are, let me know! It'd be around June 5, unless you're "allowed" to venture south for a couple days in which case you should come to Göteborg and go swimming in the archipelago and sunbathing on the all-women's nude beach and hang out with my dear friend Janette and her newborn and two fun blond Swedish kids and amazing whippet!
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