Penkkarit

Penkkarit photos

Last year around this time, I was walking home in my post-Finnish class daze when, seemingly out of nowhere, trucks filled with drunken kids throwing candy at people on the sidewalks began whizzing down the Esplanadi. I wondered what in the hell was going on and called Jarkko who didn't remember right away what the mayhem was all about. It's called penkkarit, the day that 18-year old students get to dress up, get drunk, pile into trucks and throw candy at people while driving around the city. People all over the city hoot and wave at them as they go by and even the elderly stoop down to pick up the sweets littering the sidewalks. What a fun thing to do. I was thinking that there would be no way that kids could do this in the US since noone would eat the candy for fear of it being tainted with anthrax or somesuch. It's good to see that there are some places left where kids can still have harmless fun. :)

I had planned to go down to the harbor and take pictures of the kids gathering there, but I was running late and didn't make it in time. Taking photos of rapidly moving objects and people with a manual camera does present a bit of a challenge, especially when the sun keeps popping in and out of the clouds and wrecking your exposure setting. :)