Hviba, hviba!

The Finnish ministry of tourism should definitely give a price to Lotte, a Korean company doing almost anything, including chewing gum, for promoting our country. Almost everybody here knows Finland, but not because of Nokia, our welfare system, Santa Claus, Sauna, Sibelius or even our sportsmen. No, the reason is the most popular chewing gum Xylitol. When you mention being from Finland the usual reaction is that the Korean person will start making weird movements and screaming “hviiiiba, hviiiba!” First I taught that I’m just a magnet to mentally challenged, but the reason was simpler. In TV they have this advertisement for Xylitol where they tell it’s from Finland and Finnish people always eat it before going to bed. (Of course, why would someone bother to brush teeth if u can chew gum instead?!) In the end of the commercial there is this weird greenish elf-looking man who dances shouting “hyvä hyvä”, meaning “good, good” (Koreans pronounce it “hviba”) and this is the image is the one Koreans have from us. However, words are not enough to describe, so here is the link to the advertisement. Enjoy!