Finland

Just call your local Post Office they will ask the weight and give you an answer. If you are unsure of the correct weight, take it to the Post Office and they will weigh the letter and answer all your questions.

There aren't any "big cities" in Finland. Helsinki (the capital city) is the largest town with the population of 585290, although the surrounding towns Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen are considered a part of the capital city area. The population of this area altogether is around 1,3 million.

The same way weather affects in every other country. Now we are all quite happy because of the warm weather of spring changing to summer, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the hot days of summer spent on lakes or by the ocean, the first snow is always a happy day and the sunny days of January, February and March make the snow sparkle by the way you need to see for yourself. Then there are those days when the sky is pouring and mud is all you can see or the few dark days at the end of December when the sun comes out only for couple of hours a day. That's really not as bad as it sounds and it's all paid back in the Midsummer when the sun stays on the sky for few weeks straight.

Russia and Sweden

Actually only Sweden shares a common border with Finland and Norway.

Finns don't use that actual phrase, but well, in Finnish it's "Tarkoitat minulle maailmaa". Other phrases for that meaning are for example "Olet koko elämäni" (= You are my whole life) and "Merkitset minulle todella paljon" (= You mean a lot to me).

There are 35 over 100 kilometres long rivers in Finland. The five longest ones are Kemijoki (Kemi River, 593 km), Iijoki (Ii River, 330km), Ounasjoki (Ounas River, 298km), Kitinen (278 km) and Muonionjoki (Muonio's River, 230km).

The other 30 rivers, in order from the longest one to the shortest one, are called Luiro, Kymijoki, Tornionjoki, Simojoki, Ivalojoki, Kiiminkijoki, Pyhäjoki, Perhonjoki, Tenojoki, Siikajoki, Kokemäenjoki, Raudanjoki, Lapuanjoki, Porvoonjoki, Kalajoki, Kyrönjoki, Livojoki, Siuruanjoki, Loimijoki, Karvianjoki, Vaskojoki, Oulujoki, Oulankajoki, Nuorittajoki, Kiehimänjoki, Paimionjoki, Vantaanjoki, Lieksanjoki, Tenniöjoki and Vuoksi.

The suoman lippu (Finland flag) has a white background with blue Nordic cross on it. The white symbolizes the snow covering the country during winter. The blue colour of the cross symbolizes the numerous lakes of the country and the sky.

Yes, Finland is an excellent country! And here are some reasons why:

- It is the SECOND least corruptable country in the world! (tied with Denmark) [source: Transparency International's CPI 2011 List]

- It is the 22nd most developed nation (tied with Taiwan) which is still a part of the Very High category that goes up to number 47. [source: UN's HDI 2011 List]

- It has the 22nd highest median income in the world [source: International Monetary Fund's 2011 List]

- It has the 36th largest GDP in the world

- It has the 111th fastest GDP growth rate, which is considerably high for the Western World at this time [source: International Monetary Fund's 2010 List; latest list]

- It is tied with Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, and Cuba for the best education ranking, number 1 in the world. [Source: UN's Education Index 2007 list; latest year]

- It is tied with Estonia and Canada for the 15th highest average IQ [source: Wikipedia's IQ and Global Inequality article]

Finland is a country that can boast about its natural resources, specially its ample forest areas. That's why the government had implemented measures for the conservation of trees species and to prevent deforestation, because Finland's main source of energy is still wood. Other important resources of the country are cooper, lead, zinc, gold and silver, all of them are essential for their economy.

A finnish spitz is about 20 inches at the shoulder.

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland AND Iceland are known as the Nordic countries

Norway, Sweden and Denmark are known as Scandinavia

Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland don't have a collective name.

In December 6th, 1917.

At latitudes greater than 66.5622° north (the Arctic Circle), during the summer, when the Earth's axis is tilted toward the sun, there are nights where the sun never goes below the horizon. In northern Finland, this lasts for several weeks around the summer solstice. This is a popular time for tourists to visit Finland, as this is also the season when the weather is mildest and there are special tours, particularly to Rovaniemi, a city exactly on the Arctic Circle in the province of Lapland.

Some famous people from Finland are:

Jean Sibelius, composer

Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, chemist, The Nobel price in 1945

Frans Eemil Sillanpää, writer, The Nobel price in 1939

Martti Ahtisaari, The president of the republic 1994-2000, The Nobel Peace Price in 2008

Mika Häkkinen, Formula 1 driver, WC 1998 and 1999

Kimi Räikkönen, Formula 1 driver, WC 2007

Jari Kurri, NHL, 5 Stanley cups Edmonton Oilers

Teemu Selanne NHL 1 Stanley cup, The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

Sami Hyypiä, FC Liverpool 1999-

Jari Litmanen, FC Ajax 1992-1999

Kalle Palander, alpine ski racer, WC in slalom 1999

Tanja Poutiainen alpine ski racer

Tommi Mäkinen, 4 World Rally championships

Juha Kankkunen, 4 world Rally championships

Marcus Grönholm 2 World Rally championships

Finland

There is evidence that Finnish and Hungarian (as well as Estonian) are somehow distantly related. They are all Uralic languages and are said to have developed near the Ural Mountains. However, some scientists place Uralic language development much more south east, closer to Indo-Europe. Magyar (the true name from Hungarian), Finnish and Estonian also share similarities with certain Asian languages, by being 'agglutinating languages' this means that they form very large word phrases using a combination of suffixes and/or prefixes. Japanese, certain Native American languages and Filipino (along with other languages of the Philippines) are also agglutinative. Which gives even more evidence to the Uralic language development being closer to Indo-Europe lines.

Finland has few must-see things, first of all, Korvatunturi, the place where finns believe Santa Claus lives. Then Linnanmäki, an amusment park in the capital of Finland, Helsinki. Then, Finlands tallest building, Näsineula, in the amusment park of Särkänniemi, Tampere. And finnallt, one of the worlds oldest zoos, Korkeasaari, also in Helsinki.

A Finn.

The most common Finnish eye colours are blue and brown, so yes.

Dial ## * Your area code ** # the number you are trying to reach

The address of the Minnesota Finnish American Historical Society is: 206 South Broadway 107, New York Mills, MN 56567

According to Finnish Wikipedia, Finland's most notable trading partners are Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, USA, Russia and China.