Finland

AFP: Sat Jul 4, 3:46 pm ET: HELSINKI (AFP) – Finland put an end to Estonia’s 11-year reign and took gold and bronze on Saturday at the annual Wife-Carrying World Championships held in Sonkajaervi, central Finland, organisers said. Taisto Miettinen raced through a 250-metre (273-yard) course with two hurdles and a pool in 62 seconds, carrying Kristiina Haapanen on his back. The winners beat Estonia’s Alar Voogla and Kristi Viltrop by 0.1 seconds. Miettinen has been attending the competition for…

I’m here until May 1 to report for PRI’s The World. I’m staying at the Stadion Hostel, where there’s free WiFi. So far, I met a friendly Greek student who’s studying abroad here on the bus back from the airport, and an Iranian engineer who works for Nokia and lives in Mashad, but is here to visit Nokia HQ. Small world. Off to find dinner and explore a little bit!

Wait, there’s a networking company in Lithuania called Santa Monica Networks? And they do business from Lithuania, through Latvia and Estonia, all the way up to Finland? Huh?