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Living Comenius_my week in Paris by Eddy

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Finnish Nature

In Finland is four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn.

The changeover to winter weather in Finland takes place fairly quickly in November and December. Winds blowing from the north bring cold air from the Arctic Ocean. In Lapland the weather is wintry in November. In fact in northern Finland in general and in parts of eastern Finland, too, the ground is usually already covered in snow in November. Southern and southwestern parts of the country get a permanent snow cover in December. Winter is the longest season in Finland. According to climatic definition, when the average daily temperature remains below zero, it is winter. Winter weather in the southwestern archipelago, when the sea is ice-free, lasts about three months (December-February) and in northern Lapland more than six months, from mid-October to the end of April. In Lapland’s glistening snow in March – April sunshine can raise the temperature from 15 degrees below zero in the morning to above zero later in the day. In clear weather the sun gives off a maximum of 20 degrees of heat. Winter weather arrives first in the north. In Lapland the tops of the high hills, or fells, generally receive their first coating of snow at the end of August or in September. A permanent snow cover settles on northern and central Lapland on average after mid-October.

Spring:

The months of late winter and spring are March, April and part of May. Springtime is characterized by light winds, clear weather and sunshine during the daytime. In spring, snow and the ice on lakes and on the sea melt. In the south lakes and rivers lose their ice cover at the end of April, while in the north this occurs during May. In spring the temperature varies greatly between night and day as the sun brings warmth during the daylight hours. On a clear night the temperature often falls below zero. In spring there is little rainfall in Finland because the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere is dry after the cold winter. That is why it is often clear and sunny in spring. Although rainfall amounts are generally quite small, snow may fall persistently. In the spring the winds are much lighter than in winter.

Summer:

The climate is becoming warmer all over the world, including Finland, where in the 2000s summers have often been warmer than usual. In Finland, days when the highest temperature is above 25 degrees Celsius are recorded as hot days. Some increase in summer rainfall is also expected. The summer rains accumulate from numerous showers. Hot and record-dry summers or comfortably warm summers with heavy rainfall have been experienced in Finland for more than ten years. In summer, even after a chilly night, the temperature in the morning rises to between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius, and the weather warms quickly towards the afternoon. From the Midsummer festival (around June 24) to mid-August afternoon temperatures are typically between 20 and 23 degrees, and in Lapland, too, they are often about 20 degrees. Sometimes in summer tropically warm humid air reaches Finland from the southeast or south, raising the daytime temperature to close on 30 degrees or more. There is relatively little rain in Finland in early summer. Summer precipitation in normally in the form of brief rain or thunder showers. Very few summer days are cloudy or rainy all day long. At the beginning of summer it is very sunny on the coast because the sea breeze from the cool sea keeps the rain clouds inland in the afternoon. Only towards evening can they move from inland towards the coast as the wind weakens. Many coastal towns advertise themselves as being the sunniest places in Finland in the summer, which, according to the sunshine statistics, holds true compared with localities inland. The sun shines most at sea in the southwestern archipelago and on the coast. The average number of hours of sunshine on the coast in May and June is more than 300, whilst inland the figure is slightly lower. In the middle of summer (July-August) enormous thunderclouds can develop in Finland, almost like in the tropics. Flashes of lightning are frequent and heavy rain is also part of the picture.

Autumn:

In Finland summer weather fades into autumn as August comes to an end. In Lapland autumn weather starts at the end of August, with the advent of the first real frosty nights. In Lapland the period of colourful autumn foliage begins, lasting a few weeks and steadily moving southwards. In southern Finland, especially on the coast, summer temperatures linger until mid-September. There are a few days of summer warmth at the beginning of September. In September, too, the first snow usually falls in the north, but soon melts away. The autumn equinox, when day and night are of equal length all over the world, occurs on September 21. Thereafter, the days become shorter every day until Christmas. By November the change to normal time has been made and the daylight keeps getting shorter. November is also the time of winter storms. Precipitation may start as snow, but the further south it moves the more likely it is to fall as rain.

Made by Jenni

Finnish cousine

These are some our traditional foods from Finland. Nowadays we eat these foods around the year (except mämmi and sima). But before we ate them in certain days like May Day.

Karelian pasty a.k.a Karjalanpiirakka has rye crust and rice porrige or potato filling. And the traditional way to eat that is with eggbutter. Karelian pasties are from Karelia but nowadays every finns eat that. We have annually Karelian pasty baking competition in the summer events for example in Rääkkylä.

Flatbread a.k.a Rieska is really thin bread, which is made barley flour, mushed potatoes, little bit salt and water. It can also have wheat flour. There are difference of the flatbread in several part of Finland. Somewhere it can be thicker than in Alavieska. For example, in Nivala it is chunkier and we think that the thin flatbread is better than thick.

Mead a.k.a Sima is weet,orange and it also can has little bit alcohol. It include water, sugar, lemon and raisins, which tell when the mead is ready to enjoy. Finns do that at home, because it’s cheaper and very easy. You can also buy it from shops.

Munkki is deep-fried sweet bun coated in sugar. It can be filled with jam.

We eat munkki and mead at May Day. And we have a parties!!!

Potato. In Finland we eat potatoes almost every day. It can be mashed potatoes, oven potatoes, potato wedges… All finns  eat potatoes. We seed potatoes because it`s more cheaper than buy in shops, but we can buy them around the year from shops. New potatoes are really delicious and we eat them with the butter and dill.

Crisp bread is hard, dry bread which is made from rye flours. We eat them at school with butter. But in home we can also use cheese with the crisp bread. And in Finland we have a myth, that in prison you can only eat crisp bread without butter and drink water.

Sautéd reindeer is well known traditional food from Lapland. It’s made from steak or the back of the reindeer. reindeer meat is dark and low-fat. It’s usually seasoned with salt and pepper. Sautéd reindeer is traditionally served with smashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.

Mämmi is traditional finnish easter treat. It’s made from rye flour, water, malt and seasoned with orange peel, then baked in the oven. It may look quite off-putting, but it tastes sweet. Some people serve it with cream and sugar.

Rye bread is something unique in Finland. Rye bread is sour bread primarily made of rye but there is usually also added wheat or sometimes potato. Traditional rye bread is big, round and thick, but there is also different kind of rye breads like rye loaf for example

© Aappo Jutila, Karoliina Hannula ja Mirjami Oja

               FACTS  ABOUT  FINLAND

      People

• Population: 5.3 million, 15.7 inhabitants per km2 (40.2 per square mile)
• Life expectancy: Men 76 years, women 83 years
• Languages: Official languages are Finnish (spoken by 91%) and Swedish (5.4%). Sámi is the mother tongue of about 1,700 people, members of the indigenous Sámi people of northern Lapland
• Religion: 80.7% Lutheran and about 1.1% Orthodox. In practice society is fairly secularized

        State & Government

• Independence: Declared on December 6, 1917. Previously a grand duchy in the Russian empire for 108 years, and a part of Sweden for 600 years before that
• Form of government: Parliamentary democracy
• Parliament: 200 members in one chamber, elected every 4 years in a direct vote
• Cabinet: Multiparty coalition cabinet. The current Cabinet is run by Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi 
• Head of State: President of the Republic, elected every 6 years, two-term maximum. Currently Ms Tarja Halonen, first elected in 2000
• International cooperation: Member of United Nations since 1955 and European Union since 1995

        Geography & Climate

• Area: 338,424 km² (131,985 square miles), the fifth-largest country in Western Europe
• Greatest length from north to south: 1,160 km (720 miles)
• Greatest width rom east to west: 540 km (335 mi)
• Capital: Helsinki (1.25 million inhabitants in metropolitan area)
• Climate: Great contrasts – cold winters and fairly warm summers

        Society & Economy

• Key features: High standard of education, social security and healthcare, all financed by the state
• GDP per capita: 34,769 euros
• Main exports: Electrotechnical goods, metal products, machinery, transport equipment, wood and paper products, chemicals
• Main imports: Raw materials, investment goods, energy, consumer goods (for example cars and textiles)
• Currency unit: Euro                                                                                           

       

Finnish forest habitat consists mainly of forests, drained swamps and lakes, as well as people's farming areas and urban nature. Different types of forest exploitation in protected areas tlands. These, as well as many production forests within areas used for relaxing with your family.                                

     

Janette ja Pirkko                                                                                                                

Customs and manners

Greeting:

When greeting, the parties shake hands and make eye contact. Handshakes are brief and firm, and involve no supporting gestures. Finns can kiss as well as the next nation, but they rarely do so when greeting. Hand-kissinq is rare. Friens and acquaintances may hug, when meeting and kisses on the check are no entierely unknow. Men very rarely kiss each other greetind, and never on the mouth in the manner of our eastem neighbour.

 

Eating and drinking:

Finnish cuisine has western European, Scandinavian and Russian elements.Breakfasr can be quite substantial. Lunch is usually eaten between 11.00 and 13.00. Evening meals at home are eaten around 17.00-18.00. Meny restaurant stop serving food about 45 minutes before they actually close, so it is worthwhile checking the serving times when booking a table. Finns drink coffee anywhere and everywhere. More coffee per person is drunk in Finland than anywhere else in the world. Alcohol comspumtion varies somewhat, according to socio-economic differences and, to some extent, by region.

The sauna:

Having a sauna us something completely natural to Finns. In Finland, both men and women bathe in the sauna, but never together except withing the family. There are no mixed puplic saunas in Finland. In a sauna people are normally naked. The sauna is no place for anyone in a hurry. When the bathing is over, it is customary to continue the occasion with conversation, drinks and perhaps a light meal. A guest’s comments on the sauna experience will be listened to with interest, after all, this is a subject that Finns never tire of talking about.

Religion:

Most Finns belong to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church while a fraction of them belong to the Orthodox Church. The number of immigrants in Finland is growing, and increasing contacts with other religions in recent years have increased the Finns knowledge if them, allthough rhere is still much to be desired in their tolerance for people with different religions and cultures. 

   

Languages:

A Finn’s mother tongue is either Finnish, Swedish(5.6% of the population are Swedish speakers) or Saami (some 8,000 native speakers). Finnish belongs to the small Finno-Ugrian language group; outside Finland it is understood (and to some extent spoken) in Estonia. And in Sweden, too, Finnish is spoken among the large number of Finnish immigrants. Finns take care of their linguistic communication by maintaining a wide range of foreign languages in the school curriculum.                                 

English is widely spoken in Finland and in the business community some companies use it as their house language. German is no longer widely taught but many Finns in their 50s or older learned it as their first foreign language at school. French, Spanish and Russian have grown in popularity both in schools and among adult learners.

Visiting:

A growing interest in cooking and wines has led to an increase in entertaining in the home. A foreign visitor need have no qualms about being invited into someone's home; he can expect a fairly relaxed and informal atmosphere, and sending or bringing a bunch of flowers or a bottle of wine for the hosts will be appreciated. A greater cultural challenge for the visitor is accepting an invitation to one of the innumerable summer dwellings that dot the seashores and lakeshores of Finland. One in four Finns owns a summer cabin, and for many, it is regarded as a second home. Sociologists like to explain that the summer dwelling is a tie that Finns maintain to their rural past; and it is true that many Finns transform into surprisingly competent fishermen, gardeners, farmers, carpenters or foresters when they withdraw to their summer homes. A guest is not expected to take part in this role-play, at least not actively. On the other hand, he is expected to submit without complaint to the sometimes primitive conditions at the summer residence, since not all of them have electricity, running water, a flushing toilet or other urban amenities Many families consider that even a TV set is incompatible with genuine summer cabin life.

Names and titles:

When introducing themselves, Finns will say their forename followed by their surname. Women who use both their maiden name and their husband's surname will state them in that order. Although Finns are conscious and proud of any official titles they may have, they rarely mention these when introducing themselves. In contrast, they do expect to be addressed by their title in professional and official contexts: Doctor Virtanen, Managing Director Savolainen, etc. Foreigners, however, are not expected to follow this practice, with the exception of the titles "doctor" and "professor" if these are known to the speaker. Otherwise, foreigners can safely address Finns using the English practice of calling them Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Sir or Madam, as appropriate.

 Although the use of the familiar sinä is common, using first names requires a closer relationship. It is relatively easy to get onto first-name terms with a Finn, especially if it is evident that the parties will continue to meet regularly for business or pleasure. However, it is felt appropriate that the use of first names is specifically and mutually agreed upon. The use of first names is always proposed by the older or more senior person to the junior, or, in the case of equals, by the woman to the man; the agreement is enacted by shaking hands, making eye contact, with each party saying their first name aloud, and nodding the head. Raising a toast with schnapps, wine or champagne lends a festive air to the occasion.

Tiping:

Tipping has never fitted very comfortably into the Finnish way of life. This may have originally been due to the traditions of a religion which emphasized frugality; today, the rather blunt reason for not tipping is that the price paid includes any unusual instances of service or politeness i.e. the view taken is that "service is included". Tipping does nevertheless exist in Finland, and you can feel safe that while nobody will object to being tipped, very few will mind not being tipped.                                                                                           

As a rule, service is included in restaurant bills. However, an extra service charge is often added to bills which are to be paid by a customers' employers. Those who pay for their own meals and in cash often choose to round the bill up to the nearest convenient figure. This does not require any complicated arithmetic from the customer, as no one cares whether the tip really is 10-15% of the total bill.

Tipping at hotels is fairly rare. If you know that you have caused extra inconvenience for the room cleaner, it would be regarded as an appropriate to leave a tip. Receptionists should be tipped only by long-term guests at the hotel. Like their colleagues across the world, Finnish hotel porters will be glad to be tipped the price of a small beer. It is also OK to leave a few coins on the bar for the bar staff. Taxi drivers do not expect to get a tip, but customers often pay the nearest rounded up figure to the actual fare.

Time and the seasons:

Although seasons occur everywhere, in Finland they mark the progress of the year with striking conspicuousness. Extending far beyond the Arctic Circle, Finland enjoys such extremes of temperature and daylight that it would not be too far-fetched to say that there are two cultures in Finland: one dominated by the almost perpetual daylight of the summer sun and surprisingly high temperatures, and the other characterized by mercilessly cold winters and Arctic gloom that only briefly gives way to twilight during the day.                                                                          Even though summer comes every year, it is considered so important that virtually the entire country 'shuts down' for the five or six weeks that follow Midsummer, which falls in late June. After Midsummer, Finns move en masse to their vacation homes in the countryside and those who do not spend their time out of doors, in street cafés and bars, in parks and on beaches, being social and feeling positive. It is easy for a visitor to observe that in summer Finns are especially proud and happy to be Finns and to live in Finland, and encouraging these feelings is welcome.                                                                                                 With the advent of winter, Finns close down their summer dwellings, store their boats in dry dock, put snow tyres on their cars, stash their golf gear in the basement and check their skis. Whereas the rural ancestors of today's Finns whiled away the long winter days in making and repairing tools for summer, their descendants labour in offices to make their country an increasingly efficient and modern high-tech marvel.

Festivals:

Finns like celebrations and Finland's calendar of official festivals is not very different from that of other European countries. One major difference is that the Protestant Lutheran calendar does not accommodate all the feast days of Catholic tradition.

December 6 is Independence Day, an occasion marked with solemn ceremonial observances. It is a day for remembering those who fell in the wars to protect Finland's independence, which was achieved in1917. In the evening, the President of the Republic hosts a reception for some 2,000 guests - including the diplomatic corps accredited to Finland - and watching this reception on TV has evolved into a favourite pastime for the entire nation. Visitors may find it strange that Finns have calm and serious festivities on occasions that would be boisterous and joyful in continental Europe.

In wintertime, Shrove Tuesday is just about the only festive occasion where public merrymaking can be observed, though even this is not even a pale reflection of the carnivals held in more southerly lands. Logically enough, the most flamboyant annual parties in Finland occur at a warmer time of year. May Day, internationally a festival day for workers and students, can with justification be described as a northern version of Mardi Gras, and Midsummer - the 'night of no night' - is an occasion for uninhibited rejoicing, as for most Finns it marks the beginning of summer holidays and a move to the summer dwelling in the countryside.

 Moona Alila, Anni Heikkilä ja Saija Jokela