Lapland

Petteri Punakuono (FINNISH)
(to the tune of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer")

Muistat Tuhkimon, Lumikin, Ruususen varmaan
ja Punahilkan ja sudenkin harmaan,
mutta poro tää sulta usein unhohon jää.

Petteri Punakuono oli poro nimeltään,
ollut ei loiste huono Petterimme nenänpään.
Haukkuivat toiset illoin majakaksi pilkaten.
Tuosta vain saikin silloin joulupukki aattehen:
Aattoilta pitkä on, taival valoton.
Petteri vois nenässään valon tuoda pimeään!

Petteri siitä asti pulkkaa pukin kiskoen
johtaa sen riemuisasti luokse lasten kilttien.

Literal English translation:

You remember Cinderella, Snow White and
Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding hood, and the big bad wolf,
but this reindeer is often forgotten.

Petteri Rednose was the name of the reindeer.
It hadn't a bad glare from the tip of our Petteri's nose.
At evenings others disparged him mocking as a lighthouse,
But from that Santa Claus got an idea.
The evening light is long, the sky is out of light.
Petteri in his nose can bring light to the darkness.

From that time on Petteri has pulled
Santa's sleigh leading it cheerfully
To nice children all around.

MONDAY

Up at 7. We meet at St. Luke's Chapel, in the parking lot of the Faculty of Education on campus. We should have left at 8:00, but ended up leaving around 8:15 because our professor couldn't get a taxi.

3 hours on bus. Arrival in Rovaniemi, 11:15 at the Santa Claus visit. We met Santa, which was really neat. He spoke to all 23 of us in our home languages (of which there were 6). I got my picture taken with Joulupukki (Santa) as well as a photo done with some of the UNCG kids.

Lunch at the University of Lapland at 12:00. Then a 3.5 hour drive to the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory in Inari, recceiving a lecture on Nordic environment (for most of us this was old news, since we went on the excursion to the Oulanka Research Station).

Then to the cottages of Vasatokka in Inari. The cottages could house 8, but there were only 5 guys, including me, in our cottage. It has a kitchen, upstairs bedrooms, a fireplace, and a television. It was right on a huge iced-over lake. It was myself, Lee (UNCG), Frank (Germany), Emanuel (Germany), and Martin (Austria). We would be here for two nights, cooking pasta, telling foul jokes, learning German/English from each other and, unfortunately, witnessing a violent...well, let's say...flatulence tournament. The one-person (not me) Team America took the gold. Both nights.

TUESDAY

Up to make breakfast and on the bus around 9:00. We reach the Siida museum at 10:00. In the museum, we got a basic education on the lives and environment of the Saami people, the indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia (they would be the focus of our trip).

Then we were off to the Saami radio station in Inari, where we met a man who appeared in a Saami film we had seen in class. We had a great time talking with the head of the radio/television station, which provided an 8-hour daily broadcast entirely in the Northern Saami language (there are 4 predominant Saami languages in Finland).

We made our lunch back at Vasatokka in the cottage, then were off to the Paadar farm.

This would be the greatest experience I have had so far on my trip to Finland and will not likely be topped.

We met a Saami man whose family ran the Paadar reindeer farm. We were able to mingle with dozens of reindeer, feed them, take photos with them, and learn about how their are raised and their various uses (sledding, meat, skins, bone). Then we went to the kotta (a large hut with a central fire-pit). It has tables all around the edge of the kotta, where we sat and were served tea, coffee, and home-made biscuits. We drank from these wonderful, hand-carved wooden cups that are very popular and useful in Lapland.

Next, we stopped at the Paltto atelier in Lemmenjoki, where we got a lesson in felt and leather art-making from a lovely woman named Kaija. Her craft work has appeared in art galleries and museums around the world. Her work is exemplary and we loved seeing it.

Back to Vasatokka for some Russian vodka, more fulgar jokes, and some good sleep.

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast in Vasatokka, then departing for Norway.

(I should note that Norway, while being on the Western side of Sweden, which is on the Western side of Finland, actually borders Finland on the North, as it stretches all the way over to the tip-top).

We arrive at the Saami Artist Center in Karasjok at around 10:00, where we got a preview of a new exhibition of native Saami artwork. After lunch, we visited the Saami Parliament building in Karasjok, where the Saami parlaiment meet and come to decisions which will later be brought to the Norwegian government for consideration.

At 2:30, we left for Alta. It has been dark for an hour, as Norwegian time is one hour earlier than Finnish. Once in Alta, we stayed at Alta River Camping, where the same 5 of us stayed in a much smaller cabin. We cooked pasta.

Let me explain the pasta. This is basically all we ate at night. Meals consisted of 15-minute stops at small grocery shops to raid them of anything cheap and edible, usually dry spaghetti and cheap sauce. Always enough for 6. We only had 5, but Lee eats for two. At least.

We were invited by the international students group at a Norwegian university to have dinner and drinks with them at a local bar. We had a great time singing, dancing, and playing games. Then back to the cabin.

THURSDAY

An apple for breakfast, from the large bag of apples I bought from a grocery shop.

We got a lecture on the Kvens of Norway at the Alta Högskolen i Finnmark, a Norwegian university. A few slept through it with their eyes closed. The rest of us slept through it with our eyes open.

We stopped at the Arctic Ocean where several people jumped in for a swim. They all lasted less than 30 seconds. That is understandable.

We then left for Kautokeino to the Saami University, where we learned about Saami higher education and some about Yoik music.

Next, to Juhl's Silversmith, where we saw some amazing pieces of jewelry and various other interesting pieces from around Lapland. Then we left for Hetta, to a bed and breakfast.

Thanksgiving dinner was cooked while I played the piano. Vegetables, imported Stove Top stuffing, chicken, etc. We ate and played an interesting game called "Never Have I Ever." For example, Dustin says "Never have I ever gone in the Arctic Ocean" and Hunter, Julie, Val, Gary, Wade, and Tye take a drink of beer to signify that they had, indeed, done that.

Sauna and a long chat with Vulnavia and Frank in our room, this time with the same group of guys, without Lee. He roomed elsewhere.

FRIDAY

Breakfast at Hetta, which I slept through. This would prove a problem later in the day. Next to the Fell Lapland Nature Center, which wasn't exactly open. We saw a short film and then went on a two-hour hike up a mountain in two feet of snow. It was beautiful but exhausting. I took a picture of the sun peeking through the clouds over the moutains from the mountaintop. I will probably use that for the International Programs study abroad photo-contest at UNCG.

Now for the trip back down into Finland and down to Oulu. Lunch is obtained around 4:00 in the afternoon (remember what I said about skipping breakfast?), long after it is dark. We watch a few more films (we watched films on the long trips: Napoleon Dynamite, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Monty Python's Meaning of Life, Lost in Translation, Screaming Men, Some Like it Hot). We arrived in Oulu in 8:00 pm. I got some good sleep, waking up very late on Saturday in time to go to the Kummi family Christmas party.

Please check out tons of photos at:

Dustin's PhotoBucket!

NOTE: When looking at the PhotoBucket, it is best to click on the first photo and then use the arrows to scroll through the pictures, so you can see them in their full size and read the descriptions.

All for now. Will update again soon.

d