Posts by
How to make a foreign city your own
Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted in LexioPhiles and is reposted under permission from both LexioPhiles and the author. The original article may be found here. These days it is not uncommon to take a one, two or even a three-month vacation to go about and explore the world. It’s just you and your [...]
Naked people of the North
Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted in LexioPhiles and is reposted under permission from both LexioPhiles and the author. The original article may be found here. Admit it, your level of curiosity increased enormously once you registered the word naked in the headline. The inspiration for writing about this theme arose from [...]
Gardening the Urban
Imagine a cosy cottage with an apple tree or two standing on the yard providing a welcome shade from the hot summer sun, talking to your neighbours about the development of this year’s strawberry crop, then go inside and cook those delicious home-grown new potatoes to go with the smoked salmon – after which you [...]
A Beloved Child Has Many Names
Laskiainen is by far the most underrated festival in Finland. Few remember when it is celebrated, and even fewer actually celebrate it. The only way it differs from a regular Tuesday is that school cafeterias and workplace canteens serve pea soup already on Tuesday instead of the traditional Thursday, and that the usual dry pulla-pastry [...] [...]
Gender Equality Hindered by Rape Gap
Finland prides itself on always occupying the top ranks in gender equality comparisons – prides on having a female president and a former Prime Minister, prides on having been the first country in Europe to give women the right to vote. Certainly we are in the promised country for women? Well, there is a ‘but’. [...]
Naughty Christmas party (The case of ...
Pre-Christmas office parties have a certain reputation here in Finland. Booze plays the leading role; it is very efficient in untying the ties. During the season tabloid newspapers offer provoking stories: ’Workplace Christmas parties: how to avoid a fight with your boss’, or ’Find out if your partner cheated on you at his/her Christmas party [...]
Challenge: Restaurant Day
A slight growling in my stomach. It’s Saturday and we’re standing in front of an apartment building in Munkkisaari at 10.30am, wondering if something would happen. Then, it does: the head of a young man pops out of a second floor apartment. “Do you have a restaurant up there” I ask hesitantly. “Of course we [...]
Everyone Deserves A Story
Travelling by tram has been one of the little joys in my everyday life. Even though I could catch one of the 105 buses that stop in front of my house, I usually end up waiting a bit longer for the tram just to get the experience. It has much of the same charm as [...]
