One of the things that changed in Finland is what I like to call the “detached household” concept- where one family has two houses.

One of the houses is the päärakennus (main, old house)- where the elders of the family live. The other is the newer “pikkupuoli/kesäpuoli” (small house/summer house) usually built close to the main house.

The reasons for doing this changed over time. A hundred years ago, when the gas/electric stove had not been invented yet,the pikkupuoli would be the “cooking house”. In case a fire broke out, the päärakennus would be safe from harm.

In other instances, the pikkupuoli housed servants or farmhands.

Oh oh also, before the 60’s (ish) in house saunas were not so hot ,figuratively hehe, in which case the pikkupuoli was the sauna-house close to the päärakennus.

Finnish construction lasts long. In fact the building that is the Russian barracks turned school turned war-time hospital turned high school turned upper secondary school turned immigration centre and recently turned hotel (wow Finns know how to squeeze the life out of concrete) is around 100 years old- hats off to Finnish construction.

Okay I am diverging.

Finnish houses were already old in the 60’s. There was only so much that repeated renovation could do so families said “Hei, let’s make a smaller modern house instead.” So the humble pikkupuoli gained grounds in the 60’s again.

A general reason was also that the family is getting bigger.

Though most Finnish families now have only one house which has fewer family members and is much more affordable, efficient and easier, my first host family had two. My host brother and I lived in the pikkupuoli that had the sauna, shower and deep freezer. The rest of the family i.e. my host parents, eldest brother and sister lived in the päärakennus where the meals were prepared and served- basically it had all the food.

Sure the reasons made sense in the days of yore but how does it work now?

You can skip the following paragraph- it’s only my opinion I mean.
Personally I hated it. Though we were 15 meters away it felt like being a world apart. The only time I went to that house was at hunger’s invitation. The result? I felt disconnected with the rest of my family. Visiting the other house was an easy but inconvenient task- kinda like taking out the trash: it didn’t take long but eh I’ll do it later There were times when didn’t see family members for more than two days because of our schedules. In my final weeks, all motivation to get close to them lost, I only went there to pick up my food. Albeit shitty, it was a different experience.

Luckily the endangered pikkupuoli will soon die out *evil laughter* as family sizes reduce and members move out for work/college.

Hopefully, you are now better armed with knowledge about housing in Finland that’s as useless as shoes in a house, clothes in sauna or small talk in Finland. Why I wrote this, is because I have never seen something like this, however if you have such an arrangement I’d like to know your thoughts, and whether you like it.

Do comment below.