Thursday, June 02, 2005
Oulu Farewell
Hi Everyone,
It’s early Thursday morning in our last week in Oulu. As I sit in the living room watching a seagull fly toward the sea and waiting for Henry our neighborhood hedgehog to trundle by on his daily rounds, I’m aware of how much we’ll miss our life here.
Last Thursday before they left for Stockholm, Jared and Alison joined us for a farewell outing planned by Roy’s Oulu University colleagues. We traveled by van to Kierikki, an archeological site on Ii river about 30 kilometers from Oulu, where researchers have found evidence of a colony over 5000 years old. A beautiful visitors’ center has been built on the site using Finnish log construction in which the logs are nested tightly so there is no need for chinking. At the dig, after the artifacts were excavated, a Stone Age village was constructed, and guides in dressed in leather and animal pelts explain how the inhabitants lived.
The first order of business when we arrived was a toast of champagne, a gift for Roy of a beautiful book with images of Northern Finland, and tearful hugs all around.
Then we spent the day learning if we could survive in the Stone Age. The guides divided us into the Seal tribe and the Deer tribe (led by Roy, naturally), and we competed in trap construction, splitting firewood with sharpened stones, boiling water with rocks heated in the fire, fashioning slate jewelry by “drilling” holes in it with quartz, “hunting” with bows and arrows, and cooking venison over the open fire. Great fun! The Deer tribe won, although the all-female Seal tribe I was on served the venison with more style (and taste) by using juniper berries as a rub for the meat, and garnishing the birch bark “plates” with sprigs of pine and lingon berries.
Sunday we had dinner with Marja-Liisa and Markku at their home. I took some Colorado Columbine that I had started from seed for their garden, and learned another interesting Finn Fact. Marja-Liisa told me she couldn’t thank me directly for the flowers (or in this case, the flowers-to-be) because it is considered bad luck. I’m sure if we lived here for a decade, we’d still be learning the fascinating quirks and customs of this country! After a delicious meal, we walked to Rauni and Pekka’s house for dessert. Rauni had 5 different desserts for us to try, after which the men retired to the porch with a bottle of cognac, and Marja-Liisa, Rauni, and I had a great chat. It was my turn for a gift at Rauni’s when she presented me with one of her handmade crewelwork pillows – a real treasure!
I spent Tuesday afternoon with Eija. Her home is set in the woods, and the 24 homeowners share a lovely common area and gardens of perennials that are just beginning to enjoy the long days of sunshine. We talked dolls, and life, and dolls again, until I finally had to tear myself away to come home and pack some more.
Wednesday Rauni and Pekka took us to Turkansaari Island, a trading center dating back to the 15th century. The church built in 1694 and many farm and logging industry buildings from the 18th and 19th century form an open air museum there where demonstrations of tar making, salmon fishing, and log floating take place every summer. We wandered the grounds visiting the classic log and clapboard buildings, and finding picture perfect settings everywhere we looked. What a wonderful way to end our time in Oulu, and what great company we had!
Now we are packing furiously, and Marja-Liisa and I will meet one last time at the Central Market after she gets off work on Friday so she can help me tell my “reindeer man” who speaks not a word of English that I do not want my smoked reindeer sliced this time, but to leave it whole so I can bring it back to the States.
What an adventure this has been! I’ll miss the crystalline snow, the breathtaking cold, our walks to the sea, and of course, the “Blue Moments” that never failed to fill me with awe.
I’ll miss the Finnish way of life. I’ve learned that Simplicity can encompass everything from architectural line and functional beauty to sharing what we have and how we treat our environment and our neighbors. The Finnish way of life is Simple in its most profound and refined sense.
Most of all, I’ll miss my good friends – Irja, whose parting gift to me was a wonderful new tool for dollmaking; Rauni, whose joy for living is contagious and whose doll costuming and miniatures creation is outstanding; Toini, who taught me needle-felting, and honored me last week in the doll maker’s newsletter she edits with a long article and colored photos of my dolls; Eija, whose gentle spirit and elegant, pure designs seem to epitomize Finnish creative style; and of course Marja-Liisa, who enriched my experience here more than any other single person, and whose beautiful art inspires me to try harder at my own.
Roy asked me recently if I had any “I wish I had’s” about our time here. There is only one. I wish I had learned the language. The longer I was here, the more I wanted to participate fully in the community, to understand the local newscasts, to read events posters, to engage our neighbors. Learning Finnish would have helped me accomplish that.
But I’ll go home very satisfied with our Finland adventure. Marja-Liisa and Markku will visit at the end of June, and I’ll add a P.S. to our blog then.
Finally, I want to thank all of you for taking part in this adventure with us. You’ve encouraged me to do more research and see things more vividly that I would have on my own. You all have made my life richer, and I’m grateful.
I’ll leave you with some favorite pictures of Oulu, the marketplace, and the beautiful park in city centre, with thanks to Jared and Alison for contributing some of the photos in both the St. Petersburg entry and this one.
See you in the States!
Sarah
It’s early Thursday morning in our last week in Oulu. As I sit in the living room watching a seagull fly toward the sea and waiting for Henry our neighborhood hedgehog to trundle by on his daily rounds, I’m aware of how much we’ll miss our life here.
Last Thursday before they left for Stockholm, Jared and Alison joined us for a farewell outing planned by Roy’s Oulu University colleagues. We traveled by van to Kierikki, an archeological site on Ii river about 30 kilometers from Oulu, where researchers have found evidence of a colony over 5000 years old. A beautiful visitors’ center has been built on the site using Finnish log construction in which the logs are nested tightly so there is no need for chinking. At the dig, after the artifacts were excavated, a Stone Age village was constructed, and guides in dressed in leather and animal pelts explain how the inhabitants lived.
The first order of business when we arrived was a toast of champagne, a gift for Roy of a beautiful book with images of Northern Finland, and tearful hugs all around.
Then we spent the day learning if we could survive in the Stone Age. The guides divided us into the Seal tribe and the Deer tribe (led by Roy, naturally), and we competed in trap construction, splitting firewood with sharpened stones, boiling water with rocks heated in the fire, fashioning slate jewelry by “drilling” holes in it with quartz, “hunting” with bows and arrows, and cooking venison over the open fire. Great fun! The Deer tribe won, although the all-female Seal tribe I was on served the venison with more style (and taste) by using juniper berries as a rub for the meat, and garnishing the birch bark “plates” with sprigs of pine and lingon berries.
Sunday we had dinner with Marja-Liisa and Markku at their home. I took some Colorado Columbine that I had started from seed for their garden, and learned another interesting Finn Fact. Marja-Liisa told me she couldn’t thank me directly for the flowers (or in this case, the flowers-to-be) because it is considered bad luck. I’m sure if we lived here for a decade, we’d still be learning the fascinating quirks and customs of this country! After a delicious meal, we walked to Rauni and Pekka’s house for dessert. Rauni had 5 different desserts for us to try, after which the men retired to the porch with a bottle of cognac, and Marja-Liisa, Rauni, and I had a great chat. It was my turn for a gift at Rauni’s when she presented me with one of her handmade crewelwork pillows – a real treasure!
I spent Tuesday afternoon with Eija. Her home is set in the woods, and the 24 homeowners share a lovely common area and gardens of perennials that are just beginning to enjoy the long days of sunshine. We talked dolls, and life, and dolls again, until I finally had to tear myself away to come home and pack some more.
Wednesday Rauni and Pekka took us to Turkansaari Island, a trading center dating back to the 15th century. The church built in 1694 and many farm and logging industry buildings from the 18th and 19th century form an open air museum there where demonstrations of tar making, salmon fishing, and log floating take place every summer. We wandered the grounds visiting the classic log and clapboard buildings, and finding picture perfect settings everywhere we looked. What a wonderful way to end our time in Oulu, and what great company we had!
Now we are packing furiously, and Marja-Liisa and I will meet one last time at the Central Market after she gets off work on Friday so she can help me tell my “reindeer man” who speaks not a word of English that I do not want my smoked reindeer sliced this time, but to leave it whole so I can bring it back to the States.
What an adventure this has been! I’ll miss the crystalline snow, the breathtaking cold, our walks to the sea, and of course, the “Blue Moments” that never failed to fill me with awe.
I’ll miss the Finnish way of life. I’ve learned that Simplicity can encompass everything from architectural line and functional beauty to sharing what we have and how we treat our environment and our neighbors. The Finnish way of life is Simple in its most profound and refined sense.
Most of all, I’ll miss my good friends – Irja, whose parting gift to me was a wonderful new tool for dollmaking; Rauni, whose joy for living is contagious and whose doll costuming and miniatures creation is outstanding; Toini, who taught me needle-felting, and honored me last week in the doll maker’s newsletter she edits with a long article and colored photos of my dolls; Eija, whose gentle spirit and elegant, pure designs seem to epitomize Finnish creative style; and of course Marja-Liisa, who enriched my experience here more than any other single person, and whose beautiful art inspires me to try harder at my own.
Roy asked me recently if I had any “I wish I had’s” about our time here. There is only one. I wish I had learned the language. The longer I was here, the more I wanted to participate fully in the community, to understand the local newscasts, to read events posters, to engage our neighbors. Learning Finnish would have helped me accomplish that.
But I’ll go home very satisfied with our Finland adventure. Marja-Liisa and Markku will visit at the end of June, and I’ll add a P.S. to our blog then.
Finally, I want to thank all of you for taking part in this adventure with us. You’ve encouraged me to do more research and see things more vividly that I would have on my own. You all have made my life richer, and I’m grateful.
I’ll leave you with some favorite pictures of Oulu, the marketplace, and the beautiful park in city centre, with thanks to Jared and Alison for contributing some of the photos in both the St. Petersburg entry and this one.
See you in the States!
Sarah
