Man kan inte annat än småle åt den naiva glansbild de målar upp av Finland.
Four Israeli
investors were searching for some peace and tranquility - so they bought
an island in the Scandinavian country for only 450,000 euros, and plan
on building an Israeli colony there, for other nature lovers like them.
"There's something very
predictable about Finland. This is a welfare state with an average wage
of 3,500 euros a month and low-level wages for executives. There aren’t a
lot of surprises here. You know that at the end of March - beginning of
April, the geese arrive, just like in the story of Nils Holgersson, six
weeks later the chicks hatch, in September the wagtails come – and they
always do. Based on the weather you know exactly when the cafés would
open along the beach or the lake, a walking distance away from your
house, and could set your clock based on when the ferry from Stockholm
arrives. Real tranquility. Your daily routine is also very clear and
unchanging, so much so that when a Finnish person encounters something
out of the ordinary, he could respond with aggression. Into this entire
equation, Israeli investors are coming, and the Finnish people don't
quite know what to make of that..."
"If you're living in the middle of the woods, you are against any outsider coming to your familiar surroundings," the mayor explains. "But I really love Israel, and the investment in the island is the best compliment I could get as a mayor."
... When we get to the
sleepy town at the edge of Finland, which only comes to life once a year
for an international opera festival, we are met with the mayor, a nice
elderly lady. "I've heard about Israel and about Jews, and I love and
appreciate them a lot," she announces, and then gets down to business:
"We have a luxury hotel, designed like a haunted castle, on a private
beach owned by an elderly lady from Berlin. She heard about you and
she's willing to sell only to Israelis, if you are interested of
course."
On the way to the beach, the mayor tells us that the area is filled with wild bears, and that there's a good chance to encounter one while taking out the trash. Bear meat is a delicacy in local restaurants, she adds, and reveals that "the hunting season begins soon, and people from all over the world will come here to hunt bears." She too has a license to hunt bears, in case you were wondering.
The municipal beach is massive, and there are red cabins and three sauna houses on it. "There's a 100 dunam here that we'd be happy to sell you," the mayor says while pulling out a berry picking comb – an instrument that is as strange as its name. It is a giant comb attached to a bowl, which is used to gather the sweet fruit growing at every corner. She fills up a whole bucket of berries from the nearest bush..."
Inga kommentarer:
Skicka en kommentar