FINLAND THROUGH MY MEMORY’S MIND’S EYE

            I have been to Finland with my Finnish wife Mari 29 times. Sometimes I reminisce about those days without looking anything up and this is what I come up with. My first trip brought us from Sweden to Turku on the Western coast of Suomi (Finland’s name for itself). I saw the statue of Paavo Nurmi the most famous Finnish track star, among many, of all time. He not only won many Olympic titles (especially in 1929) but he once or twice ran two very long-distance races the same day.

            Mari’s brother met us and drove us about a hundred miles to their home village of Topeno, a very small village with two stop signs. The Sorri farmhouse was surrounded by many fields and a small river. The farmhouse was centered among several barns and garages and sat about 100 yards back from the road. Mari’s mother had prepared a wonderful meal and the brothers Mikko and Sakari, with his wife Helena, spent the evening asking me many questions about myself and my life. Since we had never met, they were very curious about this older guy who had married their “little sister”.

            The Sorri home was very simple, but tastefully furnished with comfortable but stylish items. I learned that there had been a world-famous architect named Eliel Saarinen who had designed the famous Arch in St. Louis and Alvar Aalto a world-renowned glass sculptor and architect. The next day we went to see the latter’s work in a nearby studio-museum. The next day we went to the nearby store run by the Mikkola family. I had been trying to learn some Finnish, which is very different from other European languages, and as we were trying to choose some item from the shelf, I offered brashly my opinion: “Tama on parempi” (this is better). I was as stunned as Mari’s mother and Mrs. Mikkola by my simple effort. Almost no foreigner tries to speak Finnish in front of native speakers. I scored some serious points that very first day.

            As the days went bye Mikko drove us around the countryside so I could get a feel for the landscape and people and so that Mari could enjoy feeling at home once again. We visited the nearbye village of Loppi where the larger grocery stores, church and library were. Most of the items in the grocery were familiar, but there were a few items that I did not recognize. There were quite a few vegetables that I was not familiar with. Next door was a pharmacy which displayed many newspapers and magazines, all, of course, in Finnish. In most ways things in this village seemed much like those in America, except they were obviously cleaner and well kept.

I guess general cleanliness was one of the first things I noticed and admired about the Finnish public places and private homes. Also, when we rode the bus, I soon realized that after the usual greetings of “Paivaa” were exchanged, everyone sat in complete silence as we rode along. I tried to start up a conversation with a few folks, both on this my first trip and later on, but in general folks were very shy, especially in front of an obvious, over-talkative, foreigner. Later on, when I tried to start up a conversation, especially in cities, I would often find a person who spoke perfect English and was eager to converse.

     A couple of days later we went to the nearbye city of Hameenlinna, which is the Province Seat and whose name acknowledged the castle around which it had been built centuries before. It was a bustling city with a town square built around the main church square. After we shopped in a very modern supermarket we stopped in the town square for a couple of hot dogs (“hotdoggie”) and “munkki’s”, wonderful sugarcoated doughnuts. On the way home I was amazed by the many and spacious farmlands that seemed to spread out forever in every direction. Later on, I would be introduced to the beautiful woodlands that surrounded the Sorri farm. 

            While in Hamenlinna we stopped at a very fine bookstore where I bought a couple of books about Finland and one about basketball, which now in recent years has become one of the national sports because a Finnish fellow named Lauri Markkanen has become something of a sensation in the American NBA. Books are a bit more expensive in Finland because so many have been imported.  Mari also showed me the house that she and her brothers had lived in while they went to high school. Their mom, Ulla, had bought a house right downtown from which they could walk to school. The farm was about an hour’s drive from this city and would have been an impractical place for them to try to go to high school.        

A week or two later we made our visit to Helsinki the Capitol city of Finland. I might interject here that in Finnish all words begin with the emphasis on the first syllable, so it’s pronounced Helsinki. It was and is a very beautiful, seaside port with multiple designer stores, like Marimekko. Outdoor restaurants and sidewalk cafes in park-like atmosphere give Helsinki a cosmopolitan feel. Later on, I was able to make several visits to the University right there just off the main square. I went to see the Philosophy department, which is quite well-known around the world, and bought a New York newspaper. There also was wonderful large bookstore named Suomalainen. We also went to see the stadium where they held the 1952 Olympic Games. One of my boyhood heroes, Bob Mathias, won the Decathlon there. I was a big track and field fan, and this visit meant a lot to me.

The first big event shortly after we arrived was a large family wedding at a nearbye church. Many families and friends attended, almost none of whom were in the immediate family, so I did not have many folks to chat with. Also, all the guests were, needlessly, too embarrassed about their English to speak with me. One of the family members, a fellow, sang at the wedding and his voice was exceptionally beautiful. Afterwards during the refreshment time I was able to speak with some folks and it went well. Thankfully, they all spoke perfect English. This event, like all formal events, including funerals, was basically very quiet and proper. I was not really comfortable in such an environment, but I do not think anyone noticed.

Actually, I did embarrass myself a couple of times around the family home. Once while we were eating, I saw a fly sitting on the curtain, and I tried to flip it off surreptitiously. Unfortunately, instead, the fly landed “plop” in my mother-in-law Ulla’s soup. On another occasion Ulla was making coffee, a kind of Finnish ritual, and asked me: “Coffee Jerry?” Not ever having been a big coffee drinker, I replied: “No thanks”. Ulla turned to me and asked, “Why not?” I seem to have upset the normal routine by not participating in the regular mid-morning coffee ritual. The tables got turned when Ulla washed my Levis without either one of us having emptied out the pockets and the washing destroyed my checkbook which was in the back pocket. Luckily, it was easy to call the friends staying in our place asking them to send a new one from my desk.

Another big event for me was the river boat tour around the county region stopping at various points of cultural and historic interest. We stopped often to see old mills and farmhouses, as well as churches and farmers’ markets. The boat ride was itself for me a perfect introduction to the Finnish way of life and values. The whole trip was a treat provided by Ulla so I would get a solid understanding of and feel for Finnish culture and its peoples. The name of the tour was “Onnimanni” and it means “Happy Boy”. It sure felt that way to me.

Well, clearly my introductory time in Suomi-land was a very happy and informative one. That summer was a particularly wet one, but we were able to get the hay collected and stacked on special poles all around the fields, which was a lot of hard work. I jumped into the creek/river that runs through the farm to cool off several times a day. That summer we also hoed sugar beets and later in the summer brought in the hay from three separate fields. Finally, along the way I managed to mow the lawn of the yard pretty much every week. That year we stayed until mid-August before coming back to the States.

Over the summer we occasionally went to the movies when we could find one that was in English. I went once with Mikko to a showing of a Finnish film called “Unknown Soldier” about the Finnish war to protect itself against yet another Russian invasion. It was all in Finnish, but I got the gist of its horror and sadness. Before we left for home, Mari and I took a three-day tourist trip to Leningrad in Russia. The train ride was only a four hour one and it provided a real introduction to the farming character of the towns and villages along the way. At the Border the soldiers came aboard to check our passports and baggage.

It seems we turned out to be something of a specialty, since usually only Finnish people travel on these tourist trips. The officer in charge wanted to go through all of my baggage, as well as my pockets since I was an American tourist.  We Yanks did not come bye that often and the guards were not only suspicious but curious. All went well until we got off the train and went to the final gate into Leningrad proper. The fellow at the gate had some trouble reading the various markings from previous trips I had made and stopped me for a special private questioning session. Again, since they hardly ever got Americans on this train, I think it was largely a chance for the guards to show their stuff.

Over the summer I got to know Mari’ brothers rather well, especially Mikko who ran the farm. He had a degree from NYU and was very fluent in English. We had fun working together and exchanging stories. He was/is a very bright fellow with a solid sense of humor. We told each other stories and exchanged jokes while we drove or carried various purchases from the stores to his pickup. He and his wife Merja have come to the States to visit us, and one summer later on we travelled together to Estonia to enjoy its beaches. Their daughter Elina and son Risto were born in years yet to come.

Well, the fact of the matter is that I have visited Finland 29 times over the past forty years. Most years it was only for a month at a time. After about ten years I began to wish I could do something different, and perhaps helpful, for the family and/or the country instead of just “vacationing”. We had brought a special college student group to Finland for a month-long summer study session. We even took them to Leningrad, which was a bit tricky, but everything actually went very smoothly. A couple of adult friends went with us, and we even got to visit the “Arctic Circle”. Fortunately, it was in the summer!!

Well, back to my desire to do something substantive in/for Finland. One day I realized that Finnish basketball was very much on the rise and since I had played serious basketball almost all of my life, perhaps I could make a contribution with basketball. Mari’s Mom thought it was a fine idea, signaling me both thumbs up! So, I offered myself to the Loppi physical education Director as a basketball coach of children. She thought it was a fine idea and set us up in a small, old gym across from the grade school for the following summer. So, Mari and I brought two basketball goals, complete with backboards, with us from the US to Loppi and set them up in the old gym. It was tricky since they did not have brackets already to hang on.

We advertised in the local paper about a “Koripallo” (basketball) class to be held twice a week for all ages of kids. The first year we attracted about 12 kids of varying ages, 6 to 15. Four of them were from the same family, the Salomaa family, three girls and one boy, all of whom were already pretty good at the game. We had a lot of fun and learned that the Salomaa’s actually already played for teams in leagues in Helsinki. Eventually the youngest girl of these, Henna actually ended up playing for the women’s National Team and then professionally in Germany. So, our big experiment was off to a good if small start. 

We were so pleasantly surprised that by the next summer the town had built a brand-new gym, complete with a full-sized court, multiple baskets, and locker-rooms. Right from the first we had about 50 younger kids, including several girls, and about 15 high school aged kids, several of whom already played on some sort of organized teams. So, we had two different groups for at least an hour’s time. I devised several warm-up routines for the younger kids and used my very limited Finnish to instruct them. Most of these kids never knew that I did not really speak Finnish because I was able to put together drills, etc. with my minimal vocabulary.

The older kids knew English very well and so I could only introduce some specialized basketball terms as we went through our drills and practice games. We all had a wonderful time in these two-week “Koripallo Camps” and the word soon spread that these would take place every summer. I was in my sixties during those years, so it was a bit tough to keep up sometimes. I tried to be involved in the drills, but it was hard work. Kids were always at the forefront of the drills and in the half-court scrimmages. The object was to teach as many fundamental skills in a simple way. The Salomaa kids were a great help in demonstrating techniques. I had my most fun helping the youngest kids, about 5 to 7, with the skills. I held them up toward the basket so they could shoot the ball into the basket.

Believe it or not, I ran this basketball camp for over ten years, and one of the young boys took it over for I do not know how many years after I retired. We became good friends with the Salomaa family and visited them whenever we re-visited Finland. I felt so grateful for having found something I could contribute to my “second home” since it had given me so much. When we first left the old, smaller gym we took the backboards and baskets home and installed one above the Sorri garage door so anyone who might like could toss up a shot when passing bye. Actually, more than once I saw Mari’s mom toss a couple of shots up to the hoop.

It’s been a good number of years now since we have visited Finland, and I miss it a lot. I have trouble getting around now, with a roller-walker being necessary, so winter visits would be out of the question. Even summer travel by airplane would be pushing things a lot, especially for Mari. I have seen Finland’s pride and joy, Lauri Markkanen play once or twice and like to think I had a small part in pushing the Finnish basketball parade along. Even Henna Salomaa is married and with children and no longer plays Koripallo. She was very helpful in demonstrating various fakes and passes to the other kids in our sessions together.                

While in Finland Mari and I made several journeys to “Northern Parts”, one during the dead of Winter. We went to Rovaniemi at the Artic Circle to see Santa Clause’s origin. In Lapland, it was about 50 below and you could see frost on everything and even in the air. We ate reindeer in a restaurant, and I bought a beautiful stylish extra-long “sweater” made of wool designed to look like traditional Lapp clothes. On another trip during the summer, we went to Mari’s brother’s log cabin and watched reindeer walk along the road. On yet another, we visited a swimming resort and had fun jumping off the diving tower.

One of the highpoints of my visits to Finland involved the opportunity to teach a class at the University. A former student friend was then working on the Philosophy Faculty, and he arranged for me to teach a special topics Winter Term course in Wittgenstein’s work. I had about 20 students from various departments and was, as usual, expected to speak English. In this connection I also renewed a friendship with a Finnish former philosophy colleague Jaakko Hintikka and his American wife Merle Province. I don’t think my class went over exceptionally well. Nonetheless, it was a great honor for me and one that I really enjoyed. The Finns have long been at the forefront of analytic philosophy.

On our final trip to Finland, we went with heavy hearts because it was to attend Mari’s Mother’s funeral. Ulla had become a special friend of mine through the years. In addition to sharing our Christian faith with each other, we had fun working on Finnish crossword puzzles together. Even though they were of course in Finnish, they always included some sort of religious or American culture aspects that we could work on together. Ulla had brought me into the Sorri family and made me feel welcome. She was a quiet, but solid person who always put others before herself. And she had a very fine sense of humor.