As luck would have it, though, something I really hate happened. It started snowing. In April. This always happens. Spring will be here, the ground free of snow and ice and the sun will start to feel warm for the first time in months. And then it snows. “Takatalvi,” we call it. The ugliest word in the Finnish language, one that doesn’t exist in any other language. It describes that feeling when you’ve just changed the tires on your car from studded winter tires to wonderful flat summer tires, only to realize you’ll now have to change them back or take the bus to work. It describes how you’re sitting on your knees in front of your closet, trying to find those winter boots you chucked in there just a couple of days ago, thinking you wouldn’t need them until next winter. It describes how you wake up in the morning, smiling at the thought of the approaching summer, only to look out the window and see a sparkling sea of white.
I hate takatalvi.
This post is a part of the 30 Days of Photographs II challenge. Please visit the rest of the participants for more fantastic photos: MikeWJ, Nicky and Mike, Mo, Meleah, John, aka nonamedufus, Bryan, aka Unfinished Person, Mariann, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A., 00dozo, Cheryl, Kristen and Katherine. *
Well then. I'm delighted to have learned a new (my only) Finnish word. And I hate takatalvi too, there is NOTHING worse. Unless I you are camped outside I guess, having just watched somebody change their tires. I imagine that might be quite pleasurable.
ReplyDeleteOh come on! You don't really expect us to believe there's ever a time of the year when there's no snow in Finland, right? :-)
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean about not thinking ahead. I did the exact same thing. Except I only prepared up to day 4. 'Cause I'm an idiot.
We didn't have much of it here this past winter, but I agree I hate it too...although I think you might be living in the wrong country to hate it.
ReplyDeleteIn my part of the world it doesn't snow past February but I can relate to the feeling that spring has finally arrived and BAM you're hit with cold weather. It's crummy. Also, I just hate snow period. Luckily, it almost never ever snows here.
ReplyDeleteI live in stupid Alabama...where we get maybe four flakes a year and they close down everything before we even get any because people can't even handle driving in the rain; snow, forget it.
ReplyDeleteWould it be too terrible if I said I'd love to see a little takatalvi here?
You should give us 30 Days of Finnish Words.
ReplyDeleteWe have days like that here both in spring and fall. In spring we get hit with one more frost or snow that no one is expecting and in fall we get a heat wave (they call it "Indian Summer") after a short period of cool weather.
We just had the driest March on record. No snow at all, even though it's supposed to be our snowiest month of the year. Temperatures have been in the 70s and 80s, approaching 90 (that's like a billion in Celcius), and everything's on fire.
ReplyDeleteI guess what I'm trying to tell you here is that, yes, I'm also really behind on this photo challenge, and deepy regret becoming a "participant," because I go to bed every night and wake up every morning with a feeling of takatalvi in my cold, cold heart.
If that happened to me after being teased with such nice springlike weather, I'd declare a personal "snow day" and just stay at home, lounge around in my pajamas and watch t.v. or play on the computer all day. Takatalvi be damned!
ReplyDeleteAs for having to finally struggle in this challenge, don't feel bad - I take that back - please do and join the club. Heh, heh. I've put feeling bad about being late behind me now because, well, it's a Bahamian ting.;-)
I'm pretty sure that "Takatalvi" is pronounced "total fucking bullshit".
ReplyDeleteBut, Ziva, look at the bright side! That certainly looks like a "Spring Snow", doesn't it. I mean, it's light outside and everything.
ReplyDeleteYou say takatalvi, we say aw shit. Same difference. Seriously, you were laughing at us? I'm starting to see a whole other side of you, Ziva.
ReplyDeleteI am so jealous. I wish we had at least ONE good snow storm, blizzard style over here in NJ. I was ripped off this winter.
ReplyDeleteRing. Ring. Spring is calling and needs directions to Finland.
ReplyDeleteSheesh.
Want to know more Finnish words? Or maybe Swedish? I know a ton of them and I'm willing to share.
ReplyDeleteWe're all idiots for doing this in the first place, Nicky. ;) And no, I knew I couldn't fool you. The snow never melts, but I still really hate it when new snow falls on the old snow.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? You'd think I'd have the brains to move to a warmer place. But moving is such a hassle, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteIt almost never snows? Then what do you do all winter long when there's no snow to shovel and you can't bitch and moan about the cold and the snow?
ReplyDeleteNo, it wouldn't be terrible at all. In fact, you can have ours! Just a warning, though, the Finnish takatalvi doesn't come with "snow days." ;)
ReplyDeleteWe rarely get to experience the Indian Summer here.. Last year we kind of did, but honestly, summer is so short in Finland and so full of short cold periods that calling it "summer" at all is a bit of a stretch.
ReplyDeleteTemperatures of 70 or 80 or 90 do not belong in March. Hell, they don't belong in Finland, period. Which, I guess, is why we still have snow on the ground while you're enjoying a nice barbeque outside.
ReplyDeleteRemind me please, why did we decide to do this 30 days thing again??
Because we both enjoy a little pain and suffering, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteHah, we don't have "snow days" in Finland. Not even when it's -30 degrees Celcius and a million snow. I wish we did, though, no one would ever have to leave their house in the winter. How awesome would that be?
ReplyDeleteWow, your knowledge of Finnish is amazing.
ReplyDeleteThe only nice thing about "Spring Snow" is that it sounds like a love song. ;)
ReplyDeleteUh oh, a whole new side of me? Is that good or bad? ;)
ReplyDeleteOh Meleah, you should have told me, I would have sent you a blizzard or two!
ReplyDeleteSheesh is right.. But that's Spring for you, always late and terrible with directions.
ReplyDeleteI hate snow, I hate being behind (although I hopped on this train late so never was ahead), and I love the new word I learned today. How is it pronounced? Can you type it as it's pronounced and where to put the emphasis? I'd be ever so grateful.
ReplyDeleteIT'S SNOWING IT'S SNOWING IT'S SNOWING! We didn't get any snow this year.... darn! But I feel for you... would hate to have it now. Soooo sorry!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean we can't bitch and moan about the cold?
ReplyDelete-----Original message-----
Next time!
ReplyDeleteNo snow at all? But how do you know when it's winter if you don't have any snow?
ReplyDeleteWell, Finnish is pronounced exactly the way it's written, but the problem is that the Finnish A and the American A sound a little different.. Also, you don't put any emphasis on separate syllables in Finnish, it's all just a steady staccato.
ReplyDeleteYou say no other language has a word equivalent to "Takatalvi" -- that time in spring when everything fresh and new is ripped away because of a sudden snowfall. Well, we do in Canada. We call it "Spring."
ReplyDeleteHaha, Canada sounds like my kind of place.
ReplyDelete