We've created a monster!
Recently we’ve enjoyed Restaurant Day (Ravintolapäivä), Cleaning Day (Siivouspäivä), and a bit before I arrived there was Sauna Day (strangely called Sauna Day even in the Finnish). Upcoming is Helsinki day (Helsinki-päivä). By now, I should very much hope you’ve figured out the Finnish word for day.
I’m not sure if it’s a special time of year for special kinds of days, or if they are happening all the time. But I do know that so far these days have brought us delight and a sense of community. It reminds me a bit of voting. You know that basically everyone else, at some point in the day, will be doing the same activity as you. But it's less emotionally fraught than voting. And more fun. And less sausage-sizzly.
I think Sauna Day is pretty self explanatory. I am a little disappointed but mostly relieved that I missed this chance to feel overwhelmed by questions of if/when/where/how to get naked. Also, at the time of sauna day, the sea was still frozen, making it a pretty intense introduction to authentic sauna practice. While I love our saunas at home, I am still on the hunt for a suitable local to guide me through the public sauna process and my attending anxieties.
I’ve mentioned Ravintolapäivä in my ice hockey post, so for now, I’ll just leave you with this photo of our food selections from the day.
Now to my favourite thus far: cleaning day! Doesn’t that title just scream ‘fun!' to you?! Ok, so it’s basically like a city-wide garage sale. Closet contents get spread around the footpaths and parks, while the recycling centre and Op shops set up skips at collection points take whatever’s left over at the end of the day.
I was glad I’d written a list in preparation for Siivouspäivä. At first we saw a couple of stands around the supermarket, but as we ascended the hill to the Bear Park collection point, the selection became overwhelming. In some places, there was barely room to walk without stepping on wares.
Nick picked up a case of bottles for home-brew and some good tips on brew shops from the seller. I managed to find some fur-lined boots for all of 3 euro. But after our two rounds of the neighbourhood, our real success was in the pots and plants department.
Although, we then faced the problem of the lack of soil to home our plants in. So we took off to buy soil and plants for our excess pots. In particular, we agonised over which plant would be most suitable for our biggest pot. This is a big deal! Possibly we are looking at a lifetime commitment! To compensate for our lack of in plant-parenting skills, we approach our purchasing decisions with a great deal of zeal and sincerity.
We settled on the monster: Monstera deliciosa. I've googled how big they grow. The answer is: huuuuuge! We have created a monster.
