Canadian grown, Finnish roots

Sometimes you can make friends with strangers just by accident. For me, this happened in the very end of my stay in North Bay. Here's the story...

I had just left the apartment to walk up to the university to meet my friends for the Duchesney Falls when a person approached me in the parking lot. She asked me if I knew how the parking ticket system worked during the weekends. I told her that unfortunately I had no idea, since I was an international student and didn't have a car there. Then she proceeded to ask where I was from. I told her that I was from Finland. Then, out of nowhere, she shook my hand and said: "Hei, minun nimeni on Jaime." (Hi, my name is Jaime.)

The surprise was mutual. I was surprised that she knew Finnish. And she was surprised to find a Finnish person wandering in a North Bay parking lot. This mutual surprise continued with a conversation about Jaime's Finnish ancestors, Finland in general and how Sudbury (1,5 hour drive from North Bay) used to have a big population of Finnish immigrants in the early 20th century. And how the city still has some signs of migration of Finnish people. 

We agreed that we would have to go for a road trip - and soon - since I was leaving North Bay in 5 days. The very next day, at 9 am, Jaime arrived to pick me up to go on an adventure with her and her mom. What does it tell about me as a person when I just agree to go for a road trip with total strangers? I am either totally crazy or I just trust people too much. Maybe a little bit of both. But I think in this case I trusted the people because of Jaime's interest towards Finnish language. 

We spent the whole day driving around the Greater Sudbury area. We visited Finlandia Koti, which used to be a retirement home for Finnish immigrants. Nowadays it is for everyone. With some effort, we eventually found a family that spoke a little bit of Finnish. They were visiting their grandmother. From this interaction I got a new Finnish Canadian friend, Lena. 

In addition to Finlandia Koti, Jaime, her mom, and cousin showed me different places in the Greater Sudbury area. A lot of them had something to do with Finland. There was a Finland Street, Kivi Park, and an area where there used to live a lot of Finnish immigrants. 

 

We also visited the Big Nickel. It was the only thing I had known about Sudbury before we arrived in Canada. After that Jaime wanted to visit her friend. The friend had just had their hen's eggs hatched and for the first time in my life I had a chance to hold a chick in my hands.

I am so glad that I met Jaime in the parking lot that day in April. I'm also glad that I took the risk to go on a one-day-trip with total strangers. Jaime, her mom, and cousin gave me such great memories. I will cherish them forever. 

Perhaps one day we'll meet again...