These people will never understand me

I have written numerous entries about all the Finnish things which simply make no sense to me. Therefore, I thought it was about time I wrote about a few things that Finnish people don't understand about me and my country. I'm sure all of these things are very normal in my country, but Finnish people really don't get them.

1.) My aversion to the sauna
I'm not actually sure if other English people would exactly share my views on this, but I find sauna very unappealing, and Finnish people cannot understand why. In my country, we don't get naked with our friends and family, unless you're a nudist. Therefore, the idea of doing that in a hot, sweaty little room really doesn't work for me. It's not as though I've never seen naked people before - in art schools in England life drawing is a very normal activity, which is usually strongly encouraged, and that involves staring at a naked person for hours at a time. As a result, I'm also perfectly capable of seeing a naked body in non-sexual terms, so that isn't the issue. I just find the idea of everyone getting naked together a bit weird. I don't want to see my friends naked, I don't want them to see me naked. In England the only other person who is likely to see you naked is your partner. Maybe I wouldn't mind doing it so much if I was with a partner, but I don't have one right now anyway.
Unfortunately, sauna is so normal and so loved in this country that Finnish people find my feelings unbelievable. On a couple of occasions when I've talked about this, Finnish people have been very pushy and quite rude about it. One particular conversation I had made me think that it's unsurprising that a lot of foreign people consider the Finns to be intolerant. I know that's not the case, and that the person in question was just very shocked, but I ended up feeling like I was being punished.

2.) Chip sandwiches
Finnish people do not understand the beauty of putting a potato based product between pieces of bread or toast. I'm not one for crisp sandwiches, which are very popular with English children, but sandwiches with chips, potato wedges or hash browns are beautiful things to me. Yesterday I was discussing this with Emmi, and I told her that the night before I'd had a hash brown sandwich with loads of butter and garlic mayonnaise, and her response was to tell me that I'm quite disgusting. Sadly they weren't real hash browns, but I've found a brand of röstiperunat which are almost identical. In the city I come from there's a cafe which sells a Vegetarian Melt, consisting of either vegetarian sausages, hash browns, or both, in a baguette smothered with melted cheese. That's one reason to be glad I'll be staying there when I first get to England.

3.) School uniforms
I think pretty much every school in England has a uniform, but Finnish people find the idea quite unpleasant. Most people have argued that it doesn't allow the child any sense of individuality. I disagree - I managed to cultivate a perfectly good sense of individuality and creativity, despite wearing a uniform for 11 years. Plus you don't have to wear it 24 hours a day. Emmi said she thought it was unfair as some people might not have enough money to buy a uniform, which is a fair point, but at the school I went to, and presumably others too, they ran a second hand uniform shop. Anyone could donate pieces of uniform which they grew out of or no longer needed, and others could buy them for a much lower price than in the shops. I think uniforms also make everyone equal. No one can be bullied for the way they dress.

4.) Christmas food
I found the traditional Finnish Christmas food to be a bit odd. Very tasty, but it didn't seem very Christmassy to me as it was so different to what I'd normally eat. Similarly, when I showed Emma and Tommi a photo my parents emailed to me of their Christmas meal, they laughed for ages. Essentially, it's a very elaborate roast, but as that's very foreign to the people here they found it quite bizarre. I enjoyed the food I had last year, but I did miss the English meal, and I'll be very grateful to have it again this year.

5.) Salt & Vinegar crisps
This is the most popular flavour of crisps in my country, and I absolutely love them - they're definitely my favourite. Finnish people think it's a very strange flavour to have. They have similar thoughts on pickled onion flavoured crisps, which are also quite popular. When I first came here I did buy a bag of salt & vinegar crisps, but they tasted all wrong, which is why I've stuck to buying proper ones from England in the Kauppahalli. In this country I understand that sour cream is the most popular flavour, but I don't find them very appealing, even though they are available in England.

If I think of anything else I'll write about this again. Or if any Finnish people reading this have a suggestion of something "weird" from England, I'll try to explain it for you.