In Iceland, people are serious about catching rays when the summer sun shines (since it’s so rare). It’s almost as if people just collapse wherever they happen to be when the sun peeks out. One time, I looked out my window and saw a full-grown man lying prostrate on a piece of grass beside the bank parking lot. I love to see the Icelandic people enjoying the warmth of nature and not taking it for granted.
Naturally, here in Finland I want to soak up every last bit of summer. Yesterday, I went outside to take the trash out and couldn’t bear the thought of going back indoors. I laid down in a sunny spot on the grass by our parking lot. After a few minutes, I turned my head around and spotted a man watching me from his top-floor window. I laid my head back down and figured he’d eventually get over whatever he was looking at. Next thing I know there is a different man looking very concerned coming out the apartment door towards me. He was speaking very fast in Finnish and I just stared, my tired mind not quick enough to think of what to say. Finally he paused, figured out I wasn’t understanding him, and sputtered out, “You…take…sun?”
It finally occurred to me that me lying down in a random patch of grass was rather alarming to him. “Ummm….yeah….I think so,” was all I managed to get out. That appeared to appease him and he went back inside. Apparently it is NOT so normal to collapse in the sun here.
