Still learning

Ok, I’ve been in Finland for over 2 years; I should more or less know all the quirky things about the culture, right? Wrong. I came across this article the other day on an unusual Finnish practice. Finland is the only country in the world to broadcast news in Latin. Yeah, the dead language of the Roman Empire. I don’t really understand the motivation behind this, besides simple eccentricity, but apparently quite a few people listen to it. Somewhat humorously, more people subscribe to the EU presidency newsletter (Finland is currently heading the EU for those who don’t know) in Latin than in French. I had no idea that an appreciable number of people outside of academia could understand Latin. What use does such a skill have besides translating ancient texts and understanding word origins? At least in Finland, you can also be informed about current events.

Speaking of current events…only two weeks until the elections in the states. Polls suggest that Democrats may re-take both houses of Congress. Woohoo! This is absolutely unprecedented (historians correct me) given that the American economy is pretty strong, i.e. the party in power usually stays in power during good economic times. Maybe my country is finally turning a political corner. On the other hand, I read somewhere that the ruling party is often kicked out during mid-term (non-presidential) elections, regardless of the prevailing economic/political situation. To me, this suggests that people are never truly satisfied with their government, which makes sense to my cynical mind. People are rarely happy with their situation; they always want something better. Then again, maybe I’m over-generalizing…