Pieni maailma

For those of you who don't speak the world's tiniest language, that's "small world." Although, maybe you should start learning. The number of Finns or people with Finnish connections that I've come across in Toronto has been astounding. A short list:

-My dear friend C, who has Finnish heritage, and whose grandfather is in the process of getting his Finnish citizenship
-A colleague at work, who comes from Thunder Bay, aka Finnish-Canadian central, and has a funny story about how she pronounces her last name
-A lady at the bank, who actually lived in Sweden, but who can still count to five in Finnish
-Our friend T, who isn't Finnish at all but has been there - that's where we met him - and calls himself a Suomi fan
-My GP, who is Romanian but spent two years in Tampere, where Mr. O grew up, and can bust off a little suomea
-A girl in my yoga class who has a Finnish-Canadian husband who doesn't speak at all but who just got his EU passport
-A couple at the Art Bar who I pegged as Finns immediately
-Countless faceless but instantly recognizable names on hockey jerseys, TV show credits, message boards

I'm forgetting some, but these are the main ones. I think that's one of the great things about Toronto, you're always among people you know.

Even the CBC is getting in on the act with Finnish lessons. So now you have no excuse.