Nordic Walking

Nordic walking is like skiing without the skis, just using the poles. Compared to traditional walking, the method has many advantages, even though some people might think nordic walkers apparently just have lost their mind.

It is not many years ago when the early adopters started to walk with poles in the summertime, and they were looked at funnily. Quite soon, though, research showed the indisputable benefits of nordic walking, and nowadays there is a bigger risk of being looked at funnily if you're not using poles.

In order for the walking to be effective the pole has to be the right length. The recommended lenght is your own height multiplied by 0.68 and rounded to the nearest 5 cm. For example, if your height is 180 cm the recommended pole height would be 120 cm. (180 x 0.68 = 122.4) When you're standing and holding the poles, your elbow should be at a 90° angle.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

The southern european coffee culture is getting more popular and common also in Finland, bringing all kinds of coffee makers and machines to the consumers. At the same time the traditional coffee making skill is gradually being forgotten. In this episode we will have a look at the different ways of making coffee, including the traditional way.

Finns are one of the biggest coffee consuming nations in the world. The yearly coffee consumption is almost 12 kg, around 26 lbs. It is three times as much as in the USA and more than twice as much as the average consumption in Europe. Thus it is fair to say, that drinking coffee is one of the most favorite hobby in Finland.

Typically Finnish coffee is fairly light roasted, and thus more acidic than darker roasts. Which makes it a heavier burden for stomach. Since kids typically start to drink coffee before school, if they don't get peptic ulcer by the age of 20, their stomach can take almost anything after that.

Japanese Locomotivating

Finns are skillful driving fast cars and speedy roads, but the local tracks don't cater to super fast trains. When desiring traveling the super-express trains, fastest in the world, the tracks lead to Japan.

It is no wonder Finland is often described as the Japan of Nordic countries. For a Finn there is something very pleasant and familiar in Japan for a Finn. Work is valued very high and high quality in everything is strived for. After the trip we are just waiting for the Finnish railway tracks to get to the level a superexpress train would require.

Revisiting Ambient Water Views

Finns are surrounded by water, in seas and lakes. Mostly water has a calming effect, but sometimes it can be a bit scary as well. This aattu.tv special takes us on an ambient journey to Leppävesi lake and Saunalahti bay accompanied by Karoliina Salminen's music.

We participated Metafest - Metacafe’s Short Film Festival 2008 with our aattu.tv special episode from last year. It seemed to fit nicely to the global competition, with no speech and no text, just music and images. Hopefully our submission finds a responsive audience. If you like it, why not vote for it thru the link above.

Dancing Cottage

Pavilion dance might be one of the most common summer hobbies from south to north, but not quite as frequently the dance partner turns out to be a cottage.

After the sabbatical leave the team is back on Finnish Favorite Hobbies with more new episodes! There will be a new episode coming around every three weeks.

On one hand this episode is based on the huge popularity of pavilion dance in Finland during summer time. The other factor is the finnish idiom, sujuu kuin tanssi, flows like a dance, which characterizes tasks that might sound difficult, but prove easy to be carried out after all. This episode combines the summer dance approach with the attitude sujuu kuin tanssi.