¡CAMPEONES DE EUROPA!

Yes! We have lived intense emotions watching every single match and enjoying with the Spanish team like never in our lives. It is a pity that we could not be in Spain for sharing our happiness with our friends and family but it is also a nice experience to live this abroad. Spain was very pupolar en Finland but this is incredible: Finns singing "que vivaaa Españaaaaaaaa" in pubs, we have recieved congratulations from people we did not know...just incredible. The Spanish team has exhibited during the championship all the skills and attitudes from my country and people who live there: persistence, strength, happiness, passion and a special ability to appear, when we want, as a one, united country, andalusians, vasques, castillians, catalans, all together fighting against the enemy, french, germans, russians, italians, as we made already, all together, centuries ago, when Spain had the most incredible and vast empire in world history. If you happen to see the images of the team arriving to Madrid, you would understand what I am writing here. Around 1 million people were celebrating in the "Colón" Square, in front of the football players, the heros, while fighter planes were painting the sky of Madrid with the colours of the Spanish flag...unforgettable moments.

¡SOMOS CAMPEONES DE EUROPAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Last news! It seems that Spain is recieving lots of compliments and even British Newspapers like the Independent is doing so: "Viva España; European Champions in almost everything" is the heading. Inside they claim that the success of Spain in Sports, Cinema and other arts as well as the development of the most advanced social regulations in Europe regarding women, gays and disabled people, makes of Spain an enviable place to live. Thank you in deed. We cannot help it: we are naturally great ;-)

Genographic

That's the name of a project led by National Geographic and carried out by a Spanish University (Pompeu Fabra). The purpose of the project is to study the genetic differences and similarities between groups of people, races, nations, etc. in the world. The Spanish group is the responsible for the study in Western Europe and they found interesting results. In contrast to other continents like Africa or Asia, in Europe there are very little differences between nations. However, there are five groups of people showing a very particular genetic heritage: gypsies, vasques in Spain, Sardinians, Islanders aaaaaaand...Finns!. According to the study, the members of the previously mentioned groups of population, have been breeding amongst themselves for ages due to isolation and almost no inclusion of outside genes occured during all this time. Considering that strong and powerful phenotypes are obtained from mixing very different genotypes (that's a basic theory in genetics: heterosis or the so called "hybrid vigor"), I recommend all Finns to find a foreigner and mix genes with him/her. That's the only way to improve the race. Nazis bastards knew nothing about that, as you can see.

I regret to tell all Finnish girls that my genes are reserved for a Spanish girl but if it comes to help this beautiful country, I can make an exception :-P

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/

In the upper photograph (a beautiful picture, by the way) shows a saami family as they used to live in Nothern Finland. Below you can see the image of two Saami's girls looking shiny, pretty and happy, after tasting Spanish genes.

Wines, Cheeses and Flowers

That was the topic of the 2008 trip organised by the department of Food Technology. We visited a small cheese factory, a family business. The woman made a long speech in Finnish about the cheeses and the factory (I guess) and then we moved to the "wine" factory. I would have liked to know how they produce the so called "leipäjuusto" (bread cheese) but I just did not understand anything. Could have asked but I guess I was too sleepy and lazy to ask anything. The second destination (the "wine place") is supposed to be one of the most famous "wineries" in Finland. Soon you'll see why I include those inverted commas. The "Mustila Winery" was the place and those "wines" made of berries was the product to taste. I think it is always interesting to enjoy new experiences and regarding food, I could try almost anything. Those beverages were ok, something worth to try, different, even special, but they were not wines. It's just not my opinion, it is the definition of wine what makes sense: "Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of grape juice" (Wickipedia ;-). I accept that those beverages were made according to a procedure similar to that of wine, and the result was acceptable. The problem comes when you try to convince people that those beverages can be considered real wines and perform a wine tasting as if we were in California, France or Spain ;-). The woman from the photographs (I believe she's the owner...) tried to do so. It is as if I tried to teach a Finn how to smoke salmon, or skate on ice. It is as if British tried to convince to the world they know how to combine colours when they get dressed, or cook or behave properly at a football match. It is as if Americans tried to give lessons about geography...or human rights. It is as if French tried to prove that they take a shower everyday or if Japanese were proud of their English...something crazy. Anyhow, I wonder how many real wine drinkers have visited that factory and I am sure that must not be very difficult to make her feel embarrased by the evidence that she's much better at hypes and promotion than in tasting wines. But nevermind, we had fun and enjoyed those interesting beverages in a wonderful shiny day in Finland. In the same factory they sell flowers and all kinds of plants. To that regard, during spring and summer time, Finland is number 1.

Mario and Sonia's Birthday 2008 (Spain)

Two Finns in Spain

I wish you remember the good moments for long time...