Next week EndorphinGirl™ and Jack Steel have some Nordic travels. During these travels, EndorphinGirl™‘s endorphin-like-state may be suspended due to a reaction to subzero temperatures in Finland! We know what the cold weather
does to an EndorphinGirl™ – narcolepsy. So EndorphinGirl™ must keep active. Perhaps there will be snowshoe escapes among other adventures! And did someone say Finland? Yes Finland. 
 

EndorphinGirl™ first visited Finland in the summer of 1990 and has visited every year since.  Finland in 1990 was a very different place.  And despite all the changes going on in
history and in Finland back then (i.e. Banking crisis, recession or more like a depression, the fall of the Soviet Union which impacted their exporting and economy further), in an endorphin-like way, EndorphinGirl™ simply was mesmerized more by the beauty and culture of Finland on that visit and since.

Helsinki, an old charming European city, with the electric trams active then and still now as a means of transportation was really intriguing. EndorphinGirl™ was also taken by the very sophisticated automated banking system already in place back then. She remembers a friend using a bank card to pay for things like food!  A bank card to pay for food? That was
really foreign then – no pun intended!  Another stark memory was TV with only 2 available channels.  No cable at all! Okay maybe this is a digression, but it was memorable!

Getting back on point – EndorphinGirl™ entered Helsinki for the first time on the overnight Silja Line ‘ferry’ (comparable to an ocean liner) from Stockholm, Sweden. Before venturing out to the countryside she had an opportunity to walk, walk, and walk some more around the city. This was very helpful for her endorphin-needs. What was less helpful was all that sunshine in Finland, the land of the midnight sun.  Clearly Finns need a lot of endorphin-activity particularly in the summer.  With all that sunlight which turns into sun-light-at-night it is otherwise hard to discipline yourself to go to sleep.  That’s what dark blinds were invented for.  To make fake night-times! But frankly for this ‘Helsinki-by-sun-night’ walking tour, the prominent ongoing sunshine was mostly appreciated. 

Personally, however, EndorphinGirl™ found the overall
constant sunlight vexing, and had more of a preference for the Finnish winters if truth be known. At least in winter, the night times are dark. Well frankly so is the rest of the day, but it is somehow easier to ‘guarantee’ sleep in winter. This may sound counterintuitive for an EndorphinGirl™, but she needs to sleep too. 

Sticking with the ‘light-dark’ theme, ten years after her first visit to Helsinki, EndorphinGirl™ moved there to live for 2
years. She recalls that every May as the sun started to stay out longer, she found herself staying awake later in to the evening. Like the proverbial Eveready bunny, she kept going, going, going. Without fail though, every May in her over-endorphined-state, she would succumb to a week-long cold; she simply did not get enough sleep.  Counterintuitive or not, dark blinds and even being EndorphinGirl™ did not help!  [Note: she never got sick during the Finnish winters!!]



Anyway, perhaps after her next return from Finland this winter EndorphinGirl™ may have a different perspective about Finnish winters and seasons overall? Stay tuned for a blog report on that and whether the Finns truly are all-season-endorphin-needs-people!  

On this first visit to Finland in 1990, she had the chance to travel by train to the central part of Finland.  Three of the most prevalent things she noticed were the abundance of trees (mostly pine), the abundance of lakes, and worth one more mention the abundance of sun.

In addition to the ‘land of the midnight sun’, Finland is known as the land of trees and lakes. It is said to have 187,888 lakes larger than 5 Ares.  The water in these lakes never really gets warm because of the long cold winters?  Yet Finns are very adept at swimming in cold waters!  EndorphinGirl™ remembers many a time swimming in a cold Finnish lake having 'fins to the left of her and fins to the right'!!! Hmm now was it Finns or fins?

The total volume of timber in Finnish forests is 2,189 million cubic meters. That number just doesn’t compute fully.  Simply put this translates to a lot of trees!  These trees only grow during the growing season, which in Finland is about 80 days long.  Last year, the daily growth was over one million cubic meters or an annual growth total of 104 million cubic meters.  Crazy, huh!  Overabundance or not, it makes Finland absolutely beautiful winter or summer!.  Clearly pulp and paper is a big industry as is salmon fishing in the Yemen. 
Oh wait that’s a movie title, scratch that, rather salmon fishing in Finland!

Upon the upcoming visit to Finland, EndorphinGirl™ and Jack Steel will enter and depart via plane and not ferry, at least thats the plan.  While in 1990 EndorphinGirl™ entered Helsinki by ferry, she left Helsinki by plane.  The airport then was much smaller than it is today.  Memory recalls it consisting of
only two small buildings, one runway? with no duty-free shopping!  Stay tuned for a blog about the stark changes to the airport – “Vantaa/Helsinki airport then and now”!  Well maybe not!

If you have stuck with today’s blog thus far, thanks because this week there has been a little bit of ‘bloggers block’ going on.  EndorphinGirl™ feels today’s blog is not entirely flowing as wished.  So it is probably time to sign off, but before doing so – she will share some key facts (factoids?) that everyone may want to know about Finland.  Perhaps these are a personal preference and so be it.  Some of these facts (factoids? – you decide) will tie into endorphin-ness and some won’t but some of these are simply too thought-provoking not to share.

1. There are somewhere on the order of 1.8 million saunas in Finland. A sauna can be found in every home and mostly every office. As a big fan of the sauna,
   EndorphinGirl™ chuckles when reflecting back on her first sauna experience in Finland. She was expected to go in the sauna nude - with other people. Well that is part of the culture – in Finland when you go to the sauna, you go nude - even if other people will be there with you.  BUT suffice it to say this first Finnish sauna experience included a fully suited (i.e., bathing suit) EndorphinGirl™. While her compatriots were all nude, EndorphinGirl™ recalls not making eye contact with anyone or any body part - but that changed as time moved on. Just saying!
2. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland in the 1970s.  Rumor has it because Donald did not wear pants and was not married to Daisy. Well it was the 70s. While it sounds like a good tale this is an urban legend. Truth be told, the story was related to the fitness and economic side of things at the time – kids were slacking on exercise, reading too much? and there a production  cost side to the issue. So ban comics? – go figure!  Never mind, there really is a better explanation and if you want to know more, EndorphinGirl™ is sending you to explore on your own – here’s the link - http://www.helium.com/items/97613-why-donald-duck-comics-were-banned. [’Brain spurt’ – i.e., opposite of a ‘brain freeze’ - EndorphinKids have a collection of these Finnish Donald Duck comics stored in a top shelf closet, okay really who cares, it’s just the brain   ‘spurting’]
3. Finland is the first country to allow women to vote. 
   Simply just a very cool fact!
4. Finland is the only country in the world that broad-casts in Latin. This is for all the bloggees who took those HS Latin classes – you see it really was worth it, now plan your trip to Finland.
5. Finland has the largest total population of coffee drinkers in the world. It took Starbucks way too long to figure this out. It’s only been in the past yearish  Starbucks is opening up cafes. BUT, somehow they don't fit!  It takes away from the beauty of Helsinki and the stamina of the strong Finnish coffee!
6. Tarja Halonen was president of Finland for 12 years! 
   EndorphinGirl™ met Tarja Halonen and it wasn’t in Finland.  Two years ago she was at the 100th centennial
   celebration of the American-Scandinavian Foundation in New York. Tarja and dignitaries from the other
   Scandinavian countries attended along with Jack Steel and EndorphiGirl™!  (Without naming them the dignitaries included the King & Queen or relevant representative of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.) At the ballroom in a Manhattan hotel, with several 100+ people, the dignitaries sat in a make-shift dais in the center of the room. Security was very Scandinavian (i.e., trustworthy almost to a fault) at the event, despite all the dignitaries. Nudged by Jack Steel to go say hello to Tarja Halonen, in her sassy manner, EndorphinGirl™ found a chance to slip past the ‘security’ to meet Ms. President of Finland. Upon meeting Ms. President, EndorphinGirl™ burbled out a few things in broken Finnish, mentioned her children were half Finnish, and spent 5 minutes excessively talking with Tarja who was super gracious. Security never even flinched!
7. Finland is a (the?) design center of Europe. 
   Who doesn’t love Marimekko, Iittala and Juhani Palmu. EndorphinGirl™’s daughter worked for Marimekko in New York, has some glassware designed by Iittala and met Juhani Palmu . . . just saying. Her happenstance
   meeting with Juhani Palmu yielded a purchase of an expensive-but-got-a-really-good-deal oil painting and two prints, all autographed!  While the meeting with Juhani Palmu may be another blog, check out some of his art work if you like http://www.juhanipalmu.com/en/juhani_palmu/home
8. Finland is the country that started ‘wife-carrying-world-championships’. EndorphinGirl™ can’t even begin to explain this one, so won’t even try; and about now she believes some bloggees are laughing about this, for reasons it doesn’t matter to go into. (Hahahha, EndrophinGirl™ is laughing out loud too!). If you do want to know more, here’s a link to what Wikipedia says - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_carrying
9. Reindeer meat is a popular meat to eat in Finland. 
   In fact EndorphinGirl™’s offspring like it.  It certainly must come from their Finnish side of the family because NO bribe or monetary incentive will ever entice EndorphinGirl™ to eat Rudolf.  Ever, never, never, ever! Ever! Got that?

That’s all EndorphinGirl™ has got for this blog, stay tuned for some Finnish updates in a week’s time, where there may be
mention of Hei Di, among some other Finnish compatriots?  It is quite likely EndorphinGirl™ won’t be blogging again until Tuesday, February 5^th!  Until then, keep on endorphing.

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This week’s EndorphinGirl™ images section includes a request. Cast your vote in the ‘guest’ comments section for the shape you like for EndorphinGirl™’s logo. In a very decisive moment, she already decided the colors, but feel free to comment on those as well.  As the Finnish say, kiitos!.