Subsistence & Generosity!

As I mentioned on prior blogs my year back packing around the world was an amazing experience not only for the opportunity to expand my horizons and frame of reference of the world around me but also for the wonderful opportunities to experience the array of people and cultures. 

At first traveling by myself was a little scary, particularly after my experience in Thailand at the very start of my adventure, but once I settled down into a rhythm of “the road” I found my groove and really started to enjoy my alone time as well as the opportunities that presented themselves to me over the course of the year.  

A young TW traveling in Scandinavia
circa 1985

I guess in total I spent close to three months exploring Scandinavia using Copenhagen as my home base and primarily traveling by train and ferry all over the region.  Not only are the people friendly (see my prior blog about my experience in Oslo) but also the countryside, cities and terrain exceptionally beautiful and diverse!

I had arrived shortly after lunch into Stockholm on a coldish and late November day.  Not only was there a definite chill in the air but also a flurry or two thrown in for good measure.   I thought I had plenty of time to find suitable “digs” for the night, but my search proved to be fruitless.  

I tramped around all of the youth hostels and many of the two star hotels only to find out there was a Youth Symposium starting the next day in town so beds were extremely limited to say the least…   What to do?  I guess I could splurge and stay at three star hotel – still no luck?   Hhhmmm, now things were starting to look a tad desperate as the sun began to settle on the horizon (yes, it was almost 4:00 pm).

I had a brain wave…I would go down to the port and catch the overnight ferry to Finland, Turku to be precise before making my way to Helsinki, spend a week or two there then on my way back explore Stockholm.  No worries I thought as I headed for the port – I would just sleep on the ship and the next morning I would be in Finland and my problem would be solved!

The car ferry got underway right on time, so I decided to head for the bar to see who was about, just in case I ran into anyone I’d met before (surely not to have a drink??).   Surprisingly this is a very common occurrence (running into people, not me drinking!)  :-)

As I sat at the bar the woman next to me struck up a conversation, Helena explained that she was an interpreter at the Finnish embassy in Stockholm and was going home to for a week to see her parents.   Normally her fiancé would be with her, but as he was Russian he wasn’t particularly popular in her parents household.   It turned out that her father had been a prisoner of war in Russia during WWII and had been through a particularly grueling captivity so he was not a in the least bit keen on her beau.

Helena, Aili (mother) and Eino (father)
on the day of my departure

As we talked (she wanted to practice her English – well that’s what she told me anyway) she enquired about Australia, my family and where I’d traveled so far on my adventure.  The conversation flowed pretty easily and after a few drinks she asked what my travel plans were in Finland.   I came clean and told her that I really didn’t have any plans and that I was visiting Finland for the first time with little real knowledge of what to do or see while there.  

She then suggested that I should come home with her and spend a week with her family and experience the real Finland, she then said with a rye smile – all above board no “hanky panky”.   I smiled and said why not!

That night I slept fitfully wrapped in my sleeping bag on the floor of the ship as it wove its way gracefully between the myriad of islands that dot the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland.  

Next morning there was Helena ready and willing to go, I was now starting to regret accepting her kind offer explaining to her that her parents might be a bit worried about dragging a stranger home to stay for a week.  She quickly dispelled that notion and said that they’d prefer anyone rather her fiancé…yikes I though hoping not to get caught in a family civil war!

After exiting the ship at the port of Turku we quickly found our way to the rail station for the twelve-hour train journey north.   Yes, we were headed way north and in my reckoning relatively close to the Arctic Circle.   After an exhausting day of travel we arrived into the village of Kontiomaki late in the day.   Her parents were there to meet us at the train station, and let’s say they were a little surprised to see that she had a backpacker in tow.

Fortunately Helena had a gift for languages and she became my interpreter for the remainder of my visit.   Her parents had never really been outside there local district (well, except her father as a soldier during the war) and had never met anyone from the “west”.   I suppose in 1985 (prior to the Berlin Wall coming down) I really was pretty exotic in this part of the world…

However it didn’t take long for Helena to begin peppering me with questions from her parents as we walked to their car.   I answered and she translated for the entire 30 min drive. 

Map of Finland - 1985
Note the proximity to the USSR

Helena explained that her family lived on a subsistence farm that meant that they had no electricity or running water or modern amenities.   Have you ever had that feeling where you think – oh shit what have I gotten myself into?   Yep this was one of those moments!

Their house was a log type structure, rugged yet sturdy with a big stone fire place.  Definitely warm and inviting after the long journey. 

The next day Helena asked if I wanted to go into the forest hunting reindeer with her father, sure why not…”when in Rome” became a common phrase I said to myself when faced with these unique situations where I had to go with my gut!    We stealthily wandered the forest for what seemed like hours, but no luck with the reindeer today.  We communicated via sign language and seemed to figure it out as we went.  A pretty amazing experience to be honest – here I was hunting in the wilds of northern Finland with a local…who would have thought it in a million years?

After returning her father proudly showed me his barn that had a number of animals and a rather large ancillary shed where he preserved and bottled his root vegetables during the summer then stored them during the winter.   He also had a big collection of reindeer hides and a stack of antlers from his prior and more successful hunts.   Helena explained that he sold the pelts in town and that that was the only real income her parents had.

Over the course of the week I took the time to observe and immerse myself into the rhythm of the household and idiosyncrasies that went along with it.  Her parents was extremely generous and over the course of the week truly embraced me into their household, evidenced by making a host of traditional dishes for me each meal time and inviting the neighbors over to “show me off” – yes, someone from the west no less!

The most memorable story I have from that week was when the four of us ventured into the forest one afternoon to have a sauna.   Her father had constructed a two-room hut on the edge of a small lake about half a kilometer from the main house and which was set deep into the forest.  Dividing each room was the wood-burning sauna/stove.  Helena explained that the women would have a sauna first, while “you and father had vodka”, then when we were in the sauna they would cook dinner in the other room using the other side of the sauna/stove.   Yes, reindeer sausages, and they were delicious!

Homemade Vodka - we consumed the
version of the one on the right

Lovely I thought a glass of vodka to warm the heart would be brilliant right about now!   So while Helena and her mum disappeared into the other room for their sauna her father reached under the table and brought out a bottle, that looked like a regular vodka bottle but the contents were distinctly “cloudy” to say the least.

The liquid was thick and not as runny as normal alcohol – it was home made potato vodka…yep moonshine by any other name!   He looked me as he filled the shot glasses, raised his glass and said “Kippis” (cheers in Finnish) downing his shot in one gulp.   It would be rude if I didn’t do the same, so here goes nothing - “cheers” and I tossed it back.

Wow, that was strong!   My throat burned raw as the fiery liquid hurtled down into my stomach.  No sooner than my glass was back on the table than he was refilling it…   I was saved after my ninth shot (in about 10 minutes) when Helena and mother emerged from the sauna towels wrapped around their hair and remember thinking how decidedly pink they both looked – a healthy and vital pink if you know what I mean.   She directed us toward the other room as I wobbled unsurely toward the door.  

Helena standing on the deck outside
the sauna.  Note the jetty and her
father lighting the sauna

No sooner than I had entered the sauna than her father had peeled off all his clothes and was standing buck-naked in the center of the room…  I quickly took off my clothing (must have been the vodka) and took a seat in the baking hot room. 

The sweat really began to pour out of me as her father began flagellating his skin with a small birch branch, while at the same time stoking the fire until it was literally white hot.   The heat was now becoming completely unbearable as he poured water onto the grill just to add additional steam…as if it wasn’t hot enough I thought.

The next minute I know her father has flung open the door to the sauna and was racing headlong down the jetty before disappearing into a huge spray of water in the lake.   Now you have to remember that this water is ice cold, I mean ice was beginning to form on the lake surface – ah huh it was that cold. 

I remember pulling the door closed and thinking how crazy he was…the next thing I know its me whose now sprinting down the jetty (yes, buck-naked as well) at full speed before crashing headlong into the ice-cold lake.   For the first couple of seconds it was so invigorating, well until the cold registered then I screamed like a baby!   Sooooooo cold.....get me the hell out of this lake.

How can you repay someone for this type of experience – its simple you just can’t!   However, before I left her family I gave them the only thing I had from Australia that was worth anything – in those days we had $2.00 bills so I gave them one as a memento of my visit.   Her father quickly made a frame for it and mounted it proudly in their kitchen.  

Australian $2.00 bill which was discontinued in 1985, 
replaced with a $2.00 coin

They made me feel like I had given them an enormous gift, and I guess in retrospect we’d both given each other something unique and unexpected and I’d like to think that my $2.00 bill is still on that kitchen wall somewhere deep in the forest of northern Finland even today.  

I still smile when I think about my serendipitous week in Finland - now that was an adventure!