The evening of our first full day together, Sirkku indicated it was time for the sauna. She led me into the corridor of the sauna and said "Take off all your clothes." Feeling a bit modest, I asked if I could go in with a swimsuit, to which she flatly replied "no". When in Finland, do as the Finns do, so I stripped down, trying to casually drape arms and hands over parts of myself all whilst pretending not to. Sirkku, always polite, pretended not to notice and led me into the sauna she and Vellu had built themselves. A very large thermometer on the wall indicated it was 70 C and Sirkku asked me if I was comfortable. I indicated bravely that I was, and she proceeded to toss ladle upon ladle of water upon the hot rocks being heated by the wooden stove until I could no longer see her due to the steam. When the air cleared a bit, the thermometer was up to 80 and I was gasping for air as Sirkku grinned. "Follow me" she said, and I stumbled out of the sauna only to discover that she was leading me outdoors into the snow. Sirkku handed me a bottle labeled UpCider, a popular Finnish drink tasting like carbonated apple cider, with a relatively low alcohol content of about 4%. The cold air and cold drink were so very welcoming for about 90 seconds until I began to shiver and long for the heat. We went back inside and repeated the entire exercise two more times, never letting go of the bottle of UpCider which alternatively steamed and condensed depending upon the micro-environment it was in. The sauna session ended with a cool shower and utter exhaustion. I felt like a well cooked noodle, completely relaxed but with a heartrate of at least 90.

Every night, Sirkku made the sauna a little bit hotter and had me stay in a bit longer. Each snow session lasted longer, until we were up to about 5 minutes outdoors. The last night, the much needed UpCider was missing, and Sirkku flashed an evil grin, and indicated that I ought to find the UpCider, which she had cleverly buried in a snowbank earlier. The crisp snow burned the bottom of my feet as I furiously dug through the snow looking for the brown bottles. I grabbed the towel from Sirkku to stand upon as I searched, tossing all the discarded snow upon her as she tried to dodge it. Determined and eventually victorious, I emerged with both UpCiders but by this time even Sirkku had ventured to the warmth indoors. I momentarily felt as though I could live and survive in Sodankyla.

(Upon returning to Bodrum, both Jasmine and I wanted to continue the tradition of the sauna, but are unable to build one because we are renters. Instead, we dragged our gas heater into the bathroom, lit it to full capacity and opened the window for oxygen. While we don't have snow to run around in, we still seem to be getting a light steam clean.)

Sirkku has a self-professed aversion to cooking. I took some favorite Indian recipes and spices along to Finland with the intention of relieving her of some cooking duties. Twice I overtook her kitchen to attempt tempting creations, but neglected to bring my mini chopper and garlic press. Vellu tried to find a mortar and pestle for me, but the kids had used the pestle as a microphone for karaoke. I tried a hammer, a rolling pin and finally stomping on the spices and garlic, but was unable to get quite the desired texture. Yet all, children included, politely tried everything I made. Vellu cooked several evenings, including a delicious salmon soup and a reindeer roast.

One night, having drifted off to sleep in a deep post-sauna slumber, I was startled to be awakened by Vellu knocking on the door. "You must get up" he said, and I flurried to my feet, still weak from sauna. "The Northern Lights are visible tonight and you must see them." We ventured outside onto the balcony, adjacent to the drying reindeer carcass being slowly cured by the wind. Indeed, a warm green glow in the sky of the ice cold night, slowly shifting star by star like a thick liquid in the sky, was none other than the famous Northern Lights, relatively rare even this far north. But the night had been cold enough and due to increased solar activity this year, I was lucky indeed to witness this special event, though I could not remain outside for more than three minutes

If it seems as though Yazzie is missing from the picture, it's because she just somehow melded into Finnish life. Vellu took all the children skiing or sledding every day and gave them a bath nightly. Language didn't seem to be a barrier for her, and she partook in skits, costume dress ups, swimming, ballet and painting sessions with the other kids. The sauna has no minimum age for Finns, so snow and steam were part of the daily ritual for the kids too.

One morning Vellu announced that we would go ice fishing. He enlisted all the children to start digging for the snowmobile, buried deeply somewhere in the front yard. Once uncovered, he produced what looked like a 2 meter long drill bit and proceeded to pack up the sled, hitching it to the snowmobile. Four kids, Sirkku and I piled into the sled, eskimo style, with a box of firewood, some sausages and some worm bait. Vellu took us to a clearing in the pine forest, which turned out to be a lake frozen over with ice. He manually drilled through the ice, producing a 4 inch hole until water came spurting up from the dark depths below, and gave us each a line with a worm to see who could catch something. Meanwhile he made a fire for warmth and began to cook the sausages. It became too cold to sit still after about half an hour, so we left the fishing lines and started to find reasons to move. Vellu indicated it was probably still too cold for the fish to be active, and indeed, none of us caught anything.

Another night, Sirkku suggested that we drive into Sodankyla to see the nightlife at the pub. After the evening sauna, we dressed in sweaters and woolen pants and a neighbor drove us into town. Sodankyla's single pub is a warm and cozy restaurant with middle aged women as bartenders. The music was Finnish folk music and most people were dancing variations of folk dances. It wasn't long before we were asked to dance, and I attempted to follow as best I could, before realizing that my partner wasn't Finnish but French. Christoph (Risto, as Sirkku called him in Finnish) was from Paris, working for Peugeot testing their new cars upon the stark road conditions of Lappland. So was Sirkku's dance partner, and we soon discovered that both men were returning on the same flight to Zurich as I was. Risto offered to pick me up early Friday morning to reach Rovaniemi in time and to save Sirkku and Vellu the long trip to the airport. I graciously accepted.

The morning of our departure, I was waiting at the predetermined time of 7 a.m. allowing us two hours to drive 140 kilometers to reach our 9:15 a.m. flight. But by 7:30 a.m. Risto had still not arrived at the house. Wondering whether he was lost or whether the agreement had merely been bar talk, I began to make alternate plans (like extending my stay), but at 7:35 caught sight of a new red Peugeot on the road. Waving furiously we were able to hail Risto who had been equally worried about finding the house. A cautious but very capable driver, Risto managed to drive the icy roads to Rovaniemi in time to board the aircraft at 9:13 a.m., and it departed three minutes later. (It is required by law that all cars driving in Lappland be equipped with special studded snow tires, but speeds are kept very low.)

I spent the day with Risto and his friend (name escapes me - Pierre? Phillippe? Pavlov?) in Helsinki and Zurich, celebrating his 33rd birthday and awaiting connecting flights. Risto has recently been transferred from France to Brasil to oversee testing procedures for Peugeot cars built there, and was well versed with French cars and tried to little avail to explain the hydraulics of the Citroen to me.

After parting with Risto, Jasmine and I returned to Istanbul and to Bodrum. We think very fondly of our week in Lappland, and of our hardy, healthy, warm-hearted, friends who embrace solitude, silence and cleanliness with an aversion to superfluous small talk, just as their clean vast world is free of the clutter of the 21st century.