Sadly I was not born in the fatherland. Some of my closest friends however are getting me reconnected with the land my grandfather came from.
I hope I can get along well here. I do not speak read or write in Finnish but my heritage is very important to me and I am very eager to expand my circle of Finnish friends.
I want to know more of the culture and get to know people.
I kinda feel cheated being born in america instead of Finland but my grandfather was awesome and I would not have traded him for anyone.
I hope you guys can welcome me here even though I am not as truly Finnish as I wish I was.
Though as proof of my amazing heritage I am likely the only person in america that can pronounce my last name of Karkiainen

Welcome aboard!
Tervetuloa mukaan!

5049975 Kiitos
I think the translator did that one properly XD
Thank you for having me ^_^
Oh and I am making an interesting Fic if anyone is curious. Based on a wolf race that lives in the far north called the Susi Tribes.
I try and tuck all the Finnish culture and lore I can into it. the leader is even called Susi Kuningas. though I feel I need a better an more theatrical title for him.

I, myself, am also one-half American. I live and have always lived in Finland, though, and speak both languages fluently. Keep up the good work, mate.

5050893 ^_^ I am overjoyed to meet more Finns. I am curious though, have any of you ever met a Karkiainen before?
I have been trying to see if I have family over there that I just dont know of.
I dont know how popular the name is but I think there is like four people in america who have the name Karkiainen outside of my known family. I am just eager to learn more

5050901 According to Väestörekisterikeskus (Resident Registration Centre) there's currently 102 people with the surname Karkiainen, with 84 of them living in Finland, and 18 elsewhere (one of those, presumably, being you). I don't personally know anyone with that name, although I do know a decent café with that name, in our neighbouring city The assumption is that it's the owner's surname.

5067452 OwO
awesomeness
I had the name traced through a genealogy group and they claim that I was descended from blacksmiths as the oldest known use of my name belonged to a blacksmith. I forget the guy's name. but still that is awesome. Thank you very much ^_^
my family is actually rather large so its safe to say that most if not all of those 18 others are my family here in america. Though some of them are estranged from me. It would be awesome to find relatives I didnt know I had back in the fatherland.

I'm sadly only one eighth Finnish and hardly now anything about the culture. I'm not sure I even qualify to be in this group. I do have an ancestor who smuggled Yellow Fin Potatoes into the U.S. though so I guess that's cool.

5067452
Hey, can you run Maunula through that system for me?

5381111 Sorry for the wait, I've been irl-busy and not on the computer much for the past couple of months. Anyway, 799 Maunulas around, with 767 of them in Finland, and 32 elsewhere