Icy Picnics and Dancing Finns

Last Saturday was my birthday and, despite it being close to 0 degrees out, it was the first year where it didn't rain on my birthday! I had suggested previously that if it was nice weather out that we should go for a picnic by the lake. Nice weather being a relative term, we decided that not raining counted and set to planning a small picnic. Unfortunately, my birthday happened to fall on All Saint's Day. This is kind of like the Finnish version of Halloween except that it is nothing like a North American Halloween at all. It is the time of year when Finnish people remember their loved ones and relatives that have passed away. They usually go down to the cemetery and light a candle in their memory, so the cemeteries on these evenings are absolutely beautiful all lit up with candles!

But back to the picnic... All Saint's Day is a national holiday, so all the shops are closed. I biked around looking for a place that was open in order to stock up on picnic supplies and all I could find was a gas station. So I bought some suffeli puffi (a corn puff covered in chocolate whose name has been making me and the other Canadian laugh every time we see it) and decided to see what I had in my fridge. I was able to through together a couscous salad, along with a block of cheese and some crackers for my contribution to the picnic. Everyone met at my house by about 3:30 with their meager supplies and we walked down to the lake.

...by which point the sun had already set. So there we stood. In the dark. Torn between trying to eat our gas station food and leftovers with mittens on or frozen fingers. And toasting with pink champagne to just how ridiculous the idea of a November picnic in Finland was. It was the best picnic I have had in a long time!

After giving up on the picnic and warming up at my house with hot tea and cake, we split up. Some people went home and I went with some others to see the candles in the cemetery. Then we went to get all dressed up because, conveniently enough, there happened to be a salsa party on my birthday as well. What are the chances that there would be a salsa party in Joensuu that happened to fall on my birthday? I had to jump at the opportunity! So, I finished off my birthday dancing the night away with my friends and practicing my newly learned bachata. Yes, the bachata. The hip dislocating dance that I have spent the last seven years making fun of with my friend. I have learned it and, to be honest, I think it's growing on me. It's quite fun to dance to even if it looks a little silly to observers.

Speaking of dancing, I have also recently started taking a Finnish folk dancing class. Well...it's an exercise class that incorporates steps from Finnish folk dancing. But it's tons of fun! It reminds me a little of Scottish country dancing, thought it's definitely unique in it's own way. I have only been to one class so far, as I was too busy to go last Sunday, but I'll have to write more about it once I am more familiar with the style.

I have also recently learned that Finns are very fond of the tango. They even have a festival in the summer where everyone goes to tango in the streets! Every time I think I have these Finns figured out, they surprise me with a random fact like this. They're a very oxymoronic peoples!