I've fallen behind on the emails. Here is something to whet the appetite. The phonetics for this following email is YOU-honn-ASS
The Monday I got back from Nice we had a game against the defending league champions the Porvoo Butchers. I got to bed at a decent time the night before so I wasn't in bad shape for the game, but regardless of my best efforts we still lost the game 48-42 in double overtime. The Butchers seem to have a well-put-together organization with athletes and a time of good size, speed and depth. At least the best I've seen in Finland. I played offensive tackle and defensive end the entire game and through the overtimes and was well-worn out after the game. The feelings remind me of that feeling after a hard-fought high school game, (like the one where we beat Southeast and Coach Hennessy my senior year, or the Ohio State game in Columbia my sophmore year at NCSU) when you've spent every last bit of strength and left it all out on the field.
The week following the game was a short week all across Finland. Juhannus is Finland's biggest holiday. It is a pagan based midsummer festival renamed for St. John the Baptist and takes place during the longest weekend of the year and the summer solstice nearest June 21st. All Finns flee Helsinki for their midsummer cottages a couple hours outside of the city. I spent the Wednesday-Sunday in Joutsa, small town outside of Jyvaskla, three hours north of Helsinki.
Note on population of Finland: The entire country of Finland is home to only 5.3 million people in about 130,000 square miles of land. To put this in perspective, North Carolina is home to over 8 million people in about 54,000 square miles. So for those of you at home who think North Carolina is spread out and empty, its population density is over 4 times that of Finland. (165 to 40 people per square mile, respectively.) So when you leave Helsinki and head north into the Lake district you really are leaving much of known civilization. The country is extremely empty and undeveloped outside of the southern coast.
I rode up north with the offensive line coach Hiski to the cottage, whose owners were friends with a few guys on the team that were all headed up to the same cottage. After nearly three hours, a stop at the grocer's, and the all-important government ran Alko store (guess what they sell) we pull off the highway (two-lane road) onto a dirt track that revealed itself suddenly from the wilderness.
Note on terrain: The terrain of the region is gently rolling rocky hills, populated with boulders, mosses, sparse underbrush and forests of tightly-packed, thin, identical, evergreen trees. Maybe I expected ancient untouched hardwood forests, but I was later told that one of Finland top exports was these harvested forests, which are systematically chopped down and replanted every so often. Another thing I that was cool was you would be see huge round boulders spread out irradically and sitting in the middle of these forests, I later found out these boulders were dropped by the massive glaciers that once covered Finland and were left as the glaciers melted and retreated north.
The cottage was about two miles back down the dirt track and as we pulled up I saw 3-4 small log-cabin style cottages perched right upon the lake. The main cottage that housed the kitchen, a large living/dining/bedroom area, the deck, and most importantly the sauna was close to the water and seemed to built upon a giant stone shelf that extended into the water, and created a moss covered stone beach. Another cottage was dedicated to two large bedrooms, another was the outhouse, (which was nicer then most of the real bathrooms I'd been inside of here), and the last was and a covered picnicing/grilling rise. 14 people shared these accommadations so it was a bit of squeeze but a few couples brought tents and another group slept in an RV so it wasn't too packed at bedtime.
The remainder of the week/weekend was pretty much dedicated to drinking alcohol all day long, grilling assorted meats, and running back and forth from the sauna to the lake naked as a jaybird. (These people have no shame, but I'll spare you the details.)
Note on alcohol: My entire family probably thinks I am an alcohol with how much I reference drinking in these emails, but I really am not overstating it. I was an Division-I college athlete that did plenty of drinking during those five years, and I've worked at a popular bar in Raleigh for the past two, so I've been around the stuff a lot. But I am serious when I say the Finnish culture seems to revolve around getting oppourtunities to drink, and that it even overwhelms me.
The longest day/shortest night of the year was the Friday night/ Saturday, and the sunset just below the tree line at about 12:30 in the morning and stayed there for about 40 minutes and the began to rise again. These couple of weeks before and since the 21st of June you never truly get the experience of night, just extended twilight, ...like someone cut the night out and pasted together dusk and dawn. It really was a beautiful scene though. The was only a few other houses around the lake, and combination of natural beauty and aesthetic purity was breath-taking. The serene lake scenery and unusual sun patterns made remarkable partners. Although by this point I wasn't trying to keep up with the Finns in the drinking area and not sleeping areas, I definetly had a great time, and decided to take it easy the rest of weekend no matter how much ridicule I received.
We headed back to Helsinki on Sunday and I can now say I've swam naked in lake in the middle of Finnish wilderness (it was June and still painfully cold, especially after a steaming sauna), and but part of the Finnish mid-summer celebration of life, ... and by life up course I mean absinthe, Minttu, Fisu, cider, warm beers, and marinated pork sausage.
The week after Juhannus we played our cross-town rival the Helsinki Wolverines. They also have three Americans, a left tackle, QB, and running back.
The game was again closer then it should have been. I feel like I am just repeating myself but the offensive was closer to unstoppable, and the defensive was again having trouble against the run. I think the Wolverines had over 300 yds rushing, but we still pulled it out 57-54. Yes, I did play a lot of defense but I play weak-side DE and they ran the RB to the strength in their formation so it was hard to make much of an impact in that area.
To be honest I am a little home sick, pathetic I know, but I hope you are well and miss you.
John
Monday, July 21, 2008
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