The woman was a gypsy

so, I have now been in finland for a total of 2 whole days, and I must say that it is not at all what I was expecting.  The people here are quite the interesting lot, they don't really look at anyone, except to stare at me while passing in a car.  They also don't see the purpose of the phrase 'excuse me'  but not in the way that other cultures don't.  So far in my experience if a Finn is trying to get something that you are blocking, they will simply loom over you until you realize that they are there and then you have to play a game of 'guess what the Finn wants' without actually saying anything.  It's really quite annoying, but they literally will not speak to you in public if they don't know you.  They also look at you like you are the devil/crazy if you say excuse me, because as you know now any sort of public interaction with strangers is completely weird.

Now, although most Finns are strange to me in a cultural sort of way, I have recently learned of a Finnish subgroup that is strange in a cultural way that is completely different.  To set the scene, it is my 2nd day in Tampere and I am casually standing at the bus stop downtown waiting for my buss to arrive, when a woman walked up to the bus shelter, house thing.  The woman was accompanied by a very small skinny man, who most closely resembled a cross between a string bean and a who from who-ville.  The woman on the other hand must have been about 400 pounds, with greasy hair, and a comb stuck into the top of her hair, and the icing on the top of the cake was that she was wearing a giant black crushed velvet gown with white ruffles all along the sleeves and the chest.  Now, combining the factors that it was sunday and that I am a stupid foreigner to these people, I just assumed that this form of dress was some type of traditional finnish church going attire.  this was a completely rational thought process.  Right after I decided that this woman must just love jesus (because who else would wear something that ugly by choice) and that I shouldn't laugh/be afraid that she would eat me. Her partner stringbean pulled a beer out of his front pocket of his jeans and handed it to cro-magnan and asked her to take the top off.  The woman then proceeded to open the bottle with her teeth, at the bus stop.  IT WAS 11:00 IN THE MORNING!  I simultaneously tried to hold in my laughter, keep my jaw closed, and not stare directly at this monstrosity that was taking place in broad daylight in downtown finland.  Now I know you all think that that was a funny story.  As did I, Until last night.

I met up with my friend Antti and we were going to go to a sauna with some of his friends from work (they work at an amusement park!).  I told him this story because I thought it was hilarious and he did too.  But as soon as I explained what she was wearing he goes "oh she's a gypsy that makes total sense!" thats right ladies and gentleman there is an apparently huge FINNISH GYPSY population.  They are shady here too, thus the teeth opener. 

I was floored, but I suppose I am learning more and more every day that I am here.  I will write more about the swimming party at a later date!