The National Museum of Finland | Museovirasto

09.08.10 – And yet, another museum. Believe it or not, I didn’t want this blog to turn into a sightseeing extravaganza but so be it. Hopefully I’ll get to a point where it’s less museums and more interesting musings like the wild nightlife, steamy saunas and Scandi women. For now, let me introduce The National Museum of Finland ;)

Follow Finland’s history from the Stone Age to present time. I was wowed the minute I walked in the door because the museums entrance hall has a beautiful frescoes about the Kalevala, Finland’s book and epic poems compiling Finnish folklore. Weapons, jewelry, coins, medals, costumes, bones, furniture, portraits, you name it, it’s there, all beautifully presented also.

I think the one impression which really stuck with me was the stone age period. Some of the tools, like hammers and axes, looked like no other stone age tools I’ve seen before in other museums. From the very beginning, it seems like the Finns have developed their own sense of design.

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Dreams, Good and Bad

09.08.10 – During times of change, like now, I usually have the most vivid dreams. The type where you wake up, eyes wide, not wanting it to end or feeling like you need to write things down so you never forget the feeling. I guess it’s because your mind is bubbling over with all sorts of thoughts and ideas that the conscious mind doesn’t seem to have time to process.

I had one of “those” dreams this morning. I won’t go into the details because it’s not important, well to me it is but not necessarily something to share publicly. What I would like to share is the feeling I had after the dream. I realized after this particular dream it doesn’t matter to me whether they are good or bad. I didn’t feel I was afraid of this bad dream but I could accept it for what it is.

I guess it helped me understand my state of mind better than when I’m awake. Being new to Finland and going through a major life change like relocating, I feel my brain is being bombarded by new ideas and experiences. So many it’s hard to keep up with. While I’m awake, it’s much easier to weed out the unpleasant and focus on the fun. My dreams are just trying to keep things in balance ;)

I saw a beautiful documentary last night, Miesten Vuoro (Steam of Life), about Finnish men and sauna. Finnish men are traditionally tough and quiet but in sauna, it’s a place for them to open and up and share with their friends or to contemplate to themselves, without the pressure of feeling judged. Some of the men were moved to tears when they told their stories and it seemed to me that the sauna experience for them was almost like visiting a holy church or somewhere they could give their confession. Sauna seemed like a place where they could hit their “reset” button and start over. It didn’t matter what they were experiencing, happy or sad, melancholy or goofy, it was all good, a place to sweat out what they can’t sweat out elsewhere.

I felt the same way about my dreams when I woke up, a place for me to process thoughts I can’t elsewhere.

What do you think?

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