Today [5]

Joan I sure hope the guy can get your heating situation fixed so you'll be warm again..
I know about the cold here .. was only 42º for our high.. burrr..that's cold for the south.
Surely he can drain out the air causing the lock up..try to keep warm.. don't want you sick from exposure.

Today, Monday the 6th of December 2010 my warmly beloved and greatly missed Finland celebrates her 93rd birthday. The indepence day is to us Finns very important, reminding us how close it came to lose our freedom. Two times, both in 1917 and 1939-45. The text below is an immigrants sentimental rant, you can stop reading now if that kind of stuff disturbs you.

Finland never was a sovereign country, per se. We were a part of Kingdom of Sweden until Sweden lost us to Russian Csar in 1809, in what is today called as Finnish War. Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy in impearilistic Russian Empire. From those days we still are officially a bilingual country, Swedish language having an official status beside Finnish. When Lenin was causing major disturbance in Russia, the Csar had so much other things in his mind the Finnish nationalists decided the time was right to declare Finland independent. Surprisingly, Lenin won in St. Petersburg but he too had so much other things to worry he accidentally accepted the Finnish declaration of independence, as one of the first of his foreign policy decicions after the revolution. So, the independent and sovereign Republic of Finland was born on 6th of December 1917.

Living next to the Great Bear was not easy, especially considering Finland has almost thousand kilometers border with Russia. When World War II began, we had basically no alternatives; we allied with nazi Germany. Luckily our government very soon realized that whatever happens, we have to change our allies. The rest of the war we faught a comical war; allied with West, against nazis, but at the same time fighting against Soviet Union. As such, Finland is the only country that fought most of the war against nazis and (one of) allied forces. Reason is clear, Stalin could not accept that a west country had it's border only 50 kilometers from Leningrad. He demanded the eastern part of Finland as a buffer zone.

The war ended, we lost about 10% of our soil. We had to give Karelia and Petsamo, the eastern parts of our country to Stalin, to keep him on the "right side of the border". But: in the WWII, there were only three capital cities of war participating countries never occupied by the enemy: London, Moscow and our Helsinki. Finland was the first country (and quite a long time the only one) who paid the war compensations to the last penny. Finland is the only country bordering Soviet Union who could keep the western, capitalistic system and didn't fall under the Soviet umbrella after the war.

Both my grandfathers fought against both Germans and Russians. I'm proud of our independence and my granfathers' part in that. We are only 5.3 million people, a half of that of New York City or Berlin. We are not very well known, normally people know only Nokia, Linus Torvalds, Jean Sibelius and some ice-hockey players or rally and Formula 1 drivers. What people seem not to know is that since 50's, Finnish troops have been an essential part of almost every UN peace keeping operation, or that our former president's have had an essential role when negotiating peace in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Namibia, Sumatra (former region of Indonesia) and other parts of this globe of ours.

Don't misunderstand me: I love my German wife and family very much and have chosen to live an immigrants life here, rather than in my Finland. I love my life and my home. It is my own choice, based on my bottomless love to my beautiful wife Angelika. My home is where Angie is, no question of that. But as in every home in Finland, or in every Finnish home abroad, tonight at exactly 6PM I light those traditional blue and white candles by every window at home. To remember how close it was some 60+ years ago, to thank the fathers of my mother and father for fighting for my, my childrens and my grandchildrens freedom, to show how proud I am when I can say "I am a Finn!", and to remember home is not a place, it is a state of mind. My home is hear in Germany, but part of my heart can not and will not forget my origins.

Kari



Jean Sibelius: Finlandia Hymn:

Tews said:

Today I ended my lovenox therapy ... Life is good!

Well, I hope it worked!

The Howling Wolves said:

Tews said:

Today I ended my lovenox therapy ... Life is good!

After the Lovenox course when do you and how often do you have to go back for lab work?
It's important to keep eye on diet, blood pressure, and platelet count.
Glad to see you ending Lovenox Therapy.
Wife is headed for 2nd IV Tysabri Infusion this Friday.
So far I have seen no improvement

I hope you get a Christmas miracle.

Joan Archer said:

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll have the system back working later tomorrow.

Thanks for the little bit of history, Kari......I salute you, my Finnish friend!

Kari said:

Today, Monday the 6th of December 2010 my warmly beloved and greatly missed Finland celebrates her 93rd birthday. The indepence day is to us Finns very important, reminding us how close it came to lose our freedom. Two times, both in 1917 and 1939-45. The text below is an immigrants sentimental rant, you can stop reading now if that kind of stuff disturbs you.

Finland never was a sovereign country, per se. We were a part of Kingdom of Sweden until Sweden lost us to Russian Csar in 1809, in what is today called as Finnish War. Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy in impearilistic Russian Empire. From those days we still are officially a bilingual country, Swedish language having an official status beside Finnish. When Lenin was causing major disturbance in Russia, the Csar had so much other things in his mind the Finnish nationalists decided the time was right to declare Finland independent. Surprisingly, Lenin won in St. Petersburg but he too had so much other things to worry he accidentally accepted the Finnish declaration of independence, as one of the first of his foreign policy decicions after the revolution. So, the independent and sovereign Republic of Finland was born on 6th of December 1917.

Living next to the Great Bear was not easy, especially considering Finland has almost thousand kilometers border with Russia. When World War II began, we had basically no alternatives; we allied with nazi Germany. Luckily our government very soon realized that whatever happens, we have to change our allies. The rest of the war we faught a comical war; allied with West, against nazis, but at the same time fighting against Soviet Union. As such, Finland is the only country that fought most of the war against nazis and (one of) allied forces. Reason is clear, Stalin could not accept that a west country had it's border only 50 kilometers from Leningrad. He demanded the eastern part of Finland as a buffer zone.

The war ended, we lost about 10% of our soil. We had to give Karelia and Petsamo, the eastern parts of our country to Stalin, to keep him on the "right side of the border". But: in the WWII, there were only three capital cities of war participating countries never occupied by the enemy: London, Moscow and our Helsinki. Finland was the first country (and quite a long time the only one) who paid the war compensations to the last penny. Finland is the only country bordering Soviet Union who could keep the western, capitalistic system and didn't fall under the Soviet umbrella after the war.

Both my grandfathers fought against both Germans and Russians. I'm proud of our independence and my granfathers' part in that. We are only 5.3 million people, a half of that of New York City or Berlin. We are not very well known, normally people know only Nokia, Linus Torvalds, Jean Sibelius and some ice-hockey players or rally and Formula 1 drivers. What people seem not to know is that since 50's, Finnish troops have been an essential part of almost every UN peace keeping operation, or that our former president's have had an essential role when negotiating peace in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Namibia, Sumatra (former region of Indonesia) and other parts of this globe of ours.

Don't misunderstand me: I love my German wife and family very much and have chosen to live an immigrants life here, rather than in my Finland. I love my life and my home. It is my own choice, based on my bottomless love to my beautiful wife Angelika. My home is where Angie is, no question of that. But as in every home in Finland, or in every Finnish home abroad, tonight at exactly 6PM I light those traditional blue and white candles by every window at home. To remember how close it was some 60+ years ago, to thank the fathers of my mother and father, to show how proud I am when I can say "I am a Finn!", and to remember home is not a place, it is a state of mind. My home is hear in Germany, but part of my heart can not and will not forget my origins.

Kari



Jean Sibelius: Finlandia Hymn:

Hi Kari, Happy Independence Day. Your post was very informative. I love reading about world wars n stuffs. :)

Good morning Kari and Dinesh (morning here anyway)

I'm with Dinesh.
Nice history lesson Kari.

Mike

Thanks, Dinesh. As a history and geography freak, I'm also interested in your young country's history. Loved to read the story of Saleem Sinai, born on the night you got independence, in Salman Rushdie's excellent book the Midnight's Children. Been there a couple of times, seen the speed of the development last 20 years.

For you, Dinesh, here's Angie in India. Picture taken on our last trip there together, August of 2006. Location is somewhere near Uttar Pradesh. I'm the photographer, in picture our driver and guide with Angie (Angie on the right ):



Kari

P.S. Sorry geeks, a bit sentimental today. Anyway, life is good! Mac OSX sux!

Happy Independence Day Kari!!

PS... I hope you tip a glass of your favorite adult beverage to the occasion!!