Kiitos

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Markus Stocker, Recommended 1 | Recommend

The single most important reason why I consider living abroad interesting is because living and working abroad is more, at least to me. It is even more the more intimate your relationships with locals grow. It is when being for a few days among a dozen people who share a language you don’t isn’t an insurmountable barrier of exclusion but a unique opportunity to experience world diversity and an expression of inclusion. It is when you cycle over the chords of a song in yet another new language to accompany someone’s voice and endless passion for music as, voiceless yourself, you can only whisper your sense of belonging and declare the song our. It is when you relax your assumptions and discover sauna at 2:30am to be a perfect shower and alternative to relieve your skin of an itchy two dozen mosquito stings. It is when you are told by experience how to prepare a traditional Rosvopaisti with the enthusiasm and dedication the time-consuming outdoor dish “robber’s roast” demands. (*) It is when you are left with the word kiitos.

(*) “Time-consuming outdoor dish, where a whole lamb or a large roast of mutton, lamb, pork, bear, etc, is slowly roasted buried in a hole in the ground. The meat is first left to marinate and tightly wrapped in a thick layer of wetted baking parchment and/or kitchen towels, newspapers and aluminium foil. A hole from about half to one metre deep is dug in the ground, preferably in sandy clay soil, and lined with bricks or stones. A large fire is burnt down in the hole for several hours, and the meat parcel is placed on the hot coals and embers. The meat is covered with some of the hot coals and soil and left to cook for several hours until done.” (Source: Glossary of Finnish Dishes, Nordic Recipe Archive.)

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Comments

One Response to “Kiitos”

  1. Summer Suomalaisittain : Markus Stocker
    September 7th, 2010 @ 12:19 am

    [...] outdoor activities on land and water, from hiking, biking, kayaking, open fire grilling–and more exotic forms thereof–to naked swimming, with the Finnish guarantee of the unwritten rule that no one is [...]

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