Clear Finnish

We have been out of Finland for 2 weeks and I am ashamed that I have not studied Finnish on American soil. Chris is wandering around with Hyvin Menee tucked under his arm and I am lucky to catch a glimpse of the New York Times.

Here is my new plan for the continuation of my Finnish studies: Selkouutiset! Clear news. You can go to the YLE areena web site and do a site search for selkouutiset. On the computer you can hear a five minute news clip. With all the stops and starts and replays the five minutes takes about fifteen minutes but you do hear the news!

This morning I learned that the new prime minister of Finland is a woman, Mari Kiviniemi. The President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, has moved to Naantali for the summer. And the Egyptian grandmother is in hiding. I listened to this news in Finnish with Chris' help.

The Egyptian grandmother has been in the news for a while. She has been living in Finland with her son and his family, but does not have a residence permit.

Immigration is sure to be a hotly contested topic in Finland in the next election. It is a hot topic here.

I have a new Finnish friend here in the Concord area. I met Päivi on FaceBook and we had marvelously American meal at the Barley House. For our blind date Päivi wore a green striped Marimekko shirt and I wore a baseball hat that said Suomi. We recognized each other immediately.

The pie pictured above was my entry in the initial pie baking contest of the summer. I included cardamom in the crust and the strawberry+rhubarb filling. It was wonderful, but not a hit with the 10 year old judges.