au Luxembourg - Ikl

International Community
162 nationalities live in Luxembourg...
including 1,000 Finns
162 nationalités cohabitent à Luxembourg,
dont 1.000 Finlandais
Northern
Lights in
Luxembourg
A carpenter, a diplomat, a former Elf and a belly dancing
philosophy teacher -- these local Finnish women shine
with diversity and determination.
Santa Claus may be Finland’s most recognized
character, but today it is the
smart, savvy women of this Nordic
nation who are stepping up to take the reins.
From its first elected female President of
the Republic, Tarja Halonen, to their strong
showing in the Finnish Parliament – today’s
Finnish women are celebrating 100 years of
universal suffrage: Finland was the first country
in Europe to give women the right to vote.
Here in Luxembourg, Riitta Puukka, attaché at
the Finnish Embassy, confirms her country’s
long tradition of social and sexual equality. The
consular staff and assistants, right up to the
Ambassador to Luxembourg Tarja Laitiainen,
are all women (the chauffeur is male).
Sisu and sauna
Carpenter Tanja Jalava
Tanja Jalava, profession menuisier
Photos: Andres Lejona / Conception de l'espace: Pascale Michalski
But it is not only in local offices or the diplomatic
corps that these northern lights shine.
The Finns living in Luxembourg are a resourceful
group. Perhaps coming from a country with
fierce winters of minus 30 degrees and long
months of dim “kaamos” light (which would
just be “dark” to anyone else) these women
have gained contentment in solitude and a
quiet independence. The Finns call it “sisu”,
which roughly translates to strength of character
and just plain pluck and guts. This same
spirit is seen in the fair Finns who now call
Luxembourg home. Tanja Jalava is a certified
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Natural
Diplomat
After twenty-five years in six different
countries, Riitta Puukka is the quintessential
example of the travelling diplomatic
corps. She started at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in 1981 and has packed and
unpacked in a diversity of climates and
cultures from Warsaw to Tripoli. She came
to Luxembourg as Attaché at the Embassy
of Finland by way of the Cyprus sun.
Sitting in her modern office, posture perfect
in a grey suit, Riitta passionately
describes the natural beauty of the Nordic
forests, often referred to as Europe’s last
wilderness. Her personal paradise is the
family’s summer cottage in Oulunjärvi
where she fishes in freshwater lakes
during the long midsummer light. And
what does she miss most about Finland
“Sauna. Sauna. Sauna.”
Diplomate
par essence
Après vingt-cinq ans passés dans six pays
différents, Riitta Puukka représente
l’essence même du corps diplomatique
mobile. Elle a commencé sa carrière au
ministère des Affaires étrangères en 1981 et
a fait et refait ses valises sous une multitude
de latitudes et de cultures, de Varsovie
à Tripoli. Elle est arrivée à Luxembourg en
tant qu’attachée à l’ambassade de Finlande
après un détour sous le soleil chypriote.
Assise dans son bureau moderne, dans une
posture parfaite et un costume gris, Riitta
décrit avec passion la beauté des forêts
scandinaves que l’on qualifie souvent de
dernière frontière sauvage d’Europe.
La résidence d’été familiale à Oulunjärvi
est son petit coin de paradis. Elle y va
pêcher dans les lacs d’eau douce en été.
Et ce qui lui manque le plus «Les saunas,
les saunas… et encore les saunas!»
Attaché for Consular Affaires Riitta Puukka.
Riitta Puukka, attachée aux Affaires consulaires.
carpenter and is continuing a two thousand
year old Finnish tradition: she and her father
build saunas. Custom-made Finnish saunas
with genuine Finnish hardwoods and materials.
“Those pre-fabricated ones don’t last,”says
Tanja, “and they just don’t smell the same.
There is nothing like the smell of real Finnish
wood. It is hard to explain how special it is.”
Tanja and her parents made the successful
transition to Luxembourg from southern
Finland six years ago when her mother accepted
a job at the European Parliament. Her
father founded Nordic Sauna Montage and
hired Tanja as a carpenter after she completed
a two-year training in Finland. “At first, our
clients were only Scandinavian. But the business
has grown by word of mouth. Now we get
calls from every nationality in Luxembourg –
even the Chinese.”
Tanja is a fair, feminine twenty-four year
old whose manner does not indicate she
wields toolboxes and two-by-fours for a living.
She constructed her first house when she was
eight years old. “Just my friends and I gathering
scrap wood from the neighbourhood.” The
Finnish modesty in all things. But she can still
give the exact dimensions: five meters by five
meters. “And it never leaked.”
What is it like being the youngest and the
only female carpenter at the work site Tanja
crosses her legs demurely but her answer is
matter-of-fact: “We do everything equally on the
job.” She gives a small, timid smile and admits,
“I knew I'd made it when the old, experienced
guys would ask me how to do something."
Steamy Tradition
Finland may have grown from a rural economy
to a high-tech trendsetter with the likes
of Nokia as its shining telecommunications
star, but its soul remains firmly planted in the
natural. And nothing is more natural to a Finn
and what they believe to be the steamy source
of their health and vitality than the sauna.
“We would all gather as a family on a weekend
night,” says Tanja and quickly notes, “but
outside the family, the men and women are
always separate. We would never have men
and women sharing a sauna like you have here
in Luxembourg.”
Sauna bathing is part of the Finnish identity.
It is more than just a few minutes of heated
bums and perspiration. To a Finn it is a
tradition, a family gathering or a meditative
solace, a breathing in of steam, or loyly, followed
by a leap into a lake or the nearest
equivalent. Then the whole process starts
again, birch branches whipped against the
skin until the cleansing ritual is complete,
body relaxed, spirits renewed.
The fact that there is a Finnish Sauna
Society to foster the heritage of the national
bath attests to how seriously the tradition is
taken. In its published Recommended Sauna
Procedure it is duly noted: “People under the
influence of alcohol should not go to the sauna,
nor is there any evidence it will help in a hangover.”
Even Tanja, who like most young Finns
enjoys regular bar-hopping with her friends,
agrees. Sweating in a sauna does not help
hangovers. “For that, we go skinny-dipping.”
Apparently one plunge into the icy fresh
Finnish waters after a night of drinking is a
sobering tonic before heading home for the
night. If Luxembourg’s Alzette gives similar
results, she did not admit it.
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Teaching /
Après-Teaching
Katja Torniainen’s apartment is filled
to capacity with her passion for books,
ceramic objects d’art, Turkish folk art, rich
Indian tapestries, and shoes. Lots of shoes.
She has lived in Luxembourg for three
years and teaches Philosophy, History and
the Finnish language to seventy Finnish
students at the European School. Katja
has a mélange of interests and pursuits.
Amongst her collections sits evidence of
her latest endeavour – a shiny accordion.
She may use it to accompany the Finnish
songs she’s been teaching her students.
Or simply for her own pleasure. She is
quiet and focused. Polite, but not chatty.
The necessary things are said, and some
explanations left hanging. Performances
in belly dancing Katja smiles, “Yes, that
is true.”
L’enseignement /
L’Aprèsenseignement
L’appartement de Katja Torniainen reflète
toutes ses passions et est donc rempli
de livres, d’objets d’art populaire turc ou en
céramique, de somptueuses tapisseries
indiennes et de chaussures. Une montagne
de chaussures. Elle vit à Luxembourg depuis
trois ans et enseigne la philosophie, l’histoire
et le finnois à soixante-dix étudiants
finlandais à l’École européenne. Katja a des
centres d’intérêt et des passe-temps variés.
Parmi ses collections, trône le témoignage
de sa dernière passion, un accordéon
flamboyant. Il lui arrive d’y jouer pour
accompagner les chansons finlandaises
qu’elle enseigne à ses élèves. Ou tout simplement
pour son propre plaisir! Elle est
calme et concentrée. Polie, mais pas
bavarde. Elle dit l’essentiel et laisse les
explications en suspens. Êtes-vous une
adepte de la danse du ventre «Oui»,
admet-elle en souriant.
Katja Torniainen has a mélange
of interests and pursuits.
Katja Torniainen a des centres d’intérêt
et des passe-temps variés.
Tanja is content with leaving the vast open
spaces of Finland for the compact, multicultural
city of Luxembourg. “Everything is so close!
In Finland we were so isolated from each other.”
With her carpentry work both accepted and
successful and her family making new roots in
the Grand Duchy, the cultural adaptation
seems complete. If she does have moments of
nostalgia for her Finnish traditions, she can
always escape to the sweet birch of the sauna.
“There is nothing that Finns have been so
unanimous about as their sauna. This unanimity
has remained unbroken for centuries and is
sure to continue as long as children born in
their native land, as long as the invitation still
comes from the porch threshold in the evening
twilight: ‘The sauna is ready.’” Maila Talvio
Deborah Fulton-Anderson
«Aurore boréale»
au Luxembourg
L
e Père Noël peut être le personnage
le plus célèbre de Finlande, mais aujourd’hui
ce sont les femmes de cette nation
nordique qui prennent les rênes!
Depuis Tarja Halonen, la première femme
élue Présidente de la République, à la forte
représentation des femmes au Parlement, les
Finlandaises fêtent aujourd’hui leur 100 ans
d’accession au suffrage universel. La Finlande
fut, en effet, le premier pays à accorder le droit
de vote aux femmes. Au Luxembourg, Riitta
Puukka, l’attachée à l’ambassade finlandaise,
confirme cette longue tradition sociale et paritaire
de son pays puisque tous les employés du
consulat, y compris l’Ambassadeur au Luxembourg,
Tarja Laitiainen, sont des femmes (à
l’exception du chauffeur).
Cette «aurore boréale» brille bien au-delà des
bureaux locaux ou du corps diplomatique. Les
Finlandais du Luxembourg forment une communauté
pleine de ressources. Le fait de venir
d’un pays frappé par des hivers rigoureux à
moins 30 degrés et de longs mois d’obscurité
partielle appelée «kaamos» (que tout un chacun
qualifierait simplement d’«obscurité totale»)
explique sans doute que ces femmes apprécient
la solitude et ont acquis une indépendance
tranquille. Les Finlandais parlent de «sisu», qui
signifie littéralement la force de caractère ou
tout simplement le cran.
Ce même esprit se retrouve chez les Finlandais
qui se sont installés au Luxembourg. C’est le cas
notamment de Tanja Jalava, menuisier diplômé
de son état, la plus jeune et la seule femme de
l’entreprise de construction de son père. Cette
affaire familiale perpétue une tradition finlandaise
vieille de 2.000 ans: son père et elle
construisent des saunas.
Même si la Finlande est passée du statut
d’économie rurale à celui de nation des hautes
technologies, à l’instar de Nokia, le géant des
télécommunications, son âme reste rigoureusement
attachée à la nature. Rien ne semble plus
naturel pour un Finnois que le sauna auquel il
attribue des vertus sur la santé et la vitalité.
Alors que l’affaire familiale continue à prospérer
grâce au bouche à oreille, Tanja apprécie
sa vie dans la ville de Luxembourg, à la fois
petite et multiculturelle. «Tout est à portée de
main!». Si elle éprouve parfois des moments de
nostalgie, elle peut toujours se retirer dans son
sauna en bouleau.
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Curriculum
Vitae: Elf
Making her way down from the Artic
Circle after a stint as a professional Postal
Elf, Jenny Renell is a bright northern
light. She studied International Relations
at the University of Lapland, speaks at
least six languages and has been assisting
at the Embassy of Finland during the
Finnish Presidency of the European
Council. The Elf job Santa’s Village in
Rovaniemi, Artic Circle, has the coveted
Post Office that thousands of tourists visit
to stamp their Christmas Cards. It is also
Jenny’s home town and the official residence
of Santa Claus. Perhaps sharing a
postal code with such a famous Goodwill
Ambassador inspired her career, and Jenny
certainly embodies the spirit. She is cheerfully
diplomatic: “Luxembourg is so international,
so culturally colorful – I don’t
think it’s too hard to find one’s place.”
Profession:
elfe
Venue tout droit du cercle arctique après
avoir été un Elfe postal professionnel,
Jenny Renell est une lumineuse «aurore
boréale». Diplômée en Relations internationales
de l’université de Laponie et
maîtrisant pas moins de six langues, elle
travailla à l’Ambassade de Finlande durant
la présidence finlandaise de l’Union européenne.
Le job d’elfe Le village du Père
Noël à Rovaniemi, dans le cercle arctique
possède un bureau de poste très convoité
qui voit affluer des milliers de visiteurs
à la recherche du précieux tampon sur
leurs cartes de Noël. Mais c’est aussi la
ville natale de Jenny et la résidence officielle
du Père Noël. C’est peut-être le
fait de partager un code postal avec un
Ambassadeur bienfaiteur si éminent qui l’a
guidée dans le choix de sa carrière. Quoi
qu’il en soit, Jenny incarne parfaitement
l’esprit. Elle est joyeusement diplomate:
«Le Luxembourg est un pays si cosmopolite,
si riche culturellement qu’il est facile
d’y trouver sa place».
Former Santa’s Elf in Lapland Jenny Renell.
Jenny Renell, ancien Elfe de Laponie du Père Noël.
Finland Facts
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Embassy of Finland
2, rue Heine, L-1720 Luxembourg
T 495 551, F 49 46 40
sanomat.lux@formin.fi
Finnish-Luxembourg Society
P.B. 1958, L-1019 Luxembourg
finlux@vol.lu
WHERE FINNS MEET:
The Viking
19, rue de Hollerich, L-1741 Luxembourg
T 26 89 76 45
Crossfire
15, rue Dicks, L-1417 Luxembourg
T 49 84 31
info@crossfire.lu
FINNISH CULTURE / CONCERTS
LUXEMBOURG:
Minna Pensola, violin and
Heini Kärkkäinen, piano
09.12.06, 20h, Conservatoire de musique
Finlandia Exposition, Hommage à Sibelius
01.12 - 31.12.06, Abbaye de Neumünster
Chapelle
WHERE FINNS WORK IN LUXEMBOURG:
European Institutions
Banks
Private firms
Independent /Au Pairs
ABOUT FINLAND:
Population 01.07.06: 5.231.372
Capital: Helsinki
Border Countries: Norway, Sweden, Russia
Arctic Circle:
Crosses at Rovaniemi in Lapland
National Holiday:
Independence Day 06 December
GOVERNMENT:
Type: Parlimentary
Chief of State: President Tarja Halonen
Head of Government:
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen
HOW DO YOU SAY
Hello! Hei!
Goodbye! Näkemiin!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Hyvää Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta!
FAMOUS FINNS
Jean Sibelius, composer, Valse triste
and Finlandia
Tove Jansson, writer, creator of The Moomins
Mika Häkkinen, Formula One driver
Karita Mattila, soprano
Lordi, metal band, Eurovision winners
Santa Claus, Artic Circle, Lapland
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