juhannus

that's midsummer.

we went to the family's cottage. spent four days sleeping, sauna-ing and feasting on grilled sausages and grandma's home-made rye bread. in turn, the mosquitoes feasted on us. nights were full-out wars, attempting to kill every last one in our tiny cabin before we slept. as soon as we were satisfied, lay down and turned out the lights - another mosquito would start singing in the dark above our heads. and up again.

feast.

we also saw some moulting reindeer.

right out the sauna.

on midsummer's eve my host dad dragged us out to a dance floor. a popular juhannus destination for staggeringly drunk senior citizens. we sullenly sipped our sodas and waited to leave. at midnight they lit the traditional bonfire, past the dance floor by the lake. the sky was nearly as bright as the fire.

bonfire warming our backs.

1.30 am on the "nightless night"

we went home on sunday, itching.

leijonat!

that's our hockey team, the finnish lions.

all the boys at school have gotten their awkwardly short summer hair cuts, but it's still hockey season in Finland. walking Helsinki's main streets you can't miss the men with full Suomi facepaint and empty beers, the Leijonat jerseys, the little kids wearing massive blue and white wigs. world cup fever is obviously running high.

my friend Ida and I took her little brother and his friend out on tuesday for three world cup games and a lot of fried food. the ticket scalpers reckoned they were our boyfriends. we tried our best to look taller and bossier.
 

the boys were actually more interested in the cheerleaders than the hockeyplaying. i, however, bit all my fingernails off with nerves during the first game (canada v. belarus). we sat next to a small but very active french cheering section during the slovakia-france game, all wearing interesting rooster hats and singing "allez les bleus, allez!" at too-regular intervals. it was actually slovakia's jerseys that were blue though...

the finns thought this guy was hilarious.

this is how much people care about slovakia...

 there was even more french singing during the evening's usa-switzerland game...switzerland is a neutral country, but the fans were feeling pretty militant. the finnish audience was also rooting for switzerland, because team suomi was slaughtered by the americans last sunday. pretty sure the only person in the arena chanting "USA, USA!" was the drunk guy in the feathered pink cowboy hat. they didn't need a cheering section though. USA 5, SUI 2.

the final outcomes of the games were predictable - the usa and canada have very strong teams, and we all knew the french ate too much cheese and baguette to be any good at hockey. but all the teams put up a good fight. made for interesting watching. we left the arena around 10 pm, exhausted, our bags full of hockey freebies.

the final is on sunday. if finland is playing...well, it's going to get crazy.

kesä tulee

summer is coming.

the sun is up when I open my eyes in the morning, and there is light in the sky til 9.30 or 10. the snow on the ground is shrinking daily, ashy-coloured. sunglasses are worn on people's heads like headbands, even on cloudy days. bare shoulders are showing.

the last patch of snow in our yard.

when the earth thaws, the finns wake up. the second week of april was the start of our last jakso at school. only five weeks to go. the prospect of summer buzzes faintly in the hallways, electric. outside, people are getting their shoes muddy and filling up the playgrounds and packing the jogging trails, though the air hasn't really warmed much past five degrees c. the breeze feels so nice when it doesn't numb all exposed skin.

mämmi. i swear it's not dog shit good.

easter has come and gone, and with it one of the milestones of an exchange year in finland - mämmi. 8 months of sly grins and "ohhh, i want to see your face when you eat mämmi the first time..." made me wonder. it's a traditional food eaten for easter, symbolizing purification. viscous, brown and grainy with rye. great visual appeal. but i actually like it. then again, with enough cream and sugar anything is delicious.



last weekend my family took me ice-swimming. we ran from the sauna, skins steaming, then jumped into a hole in the still-frozen lake. the ducks looked on, amused, as we squawked and paddled desperately for the ladder. repeat, repeat. the next time that i swim in that lake will be sunburn weather. i can't wait.

it was really that cold.

kaitlyn, host mother and i. so happy to be clothed again.

synttarit

that means birthday. mine was two weeks ago.

photo thanks to saara :)

 it was meant to be a toga party, but by some tacit agreement, or maybe just finnish shyness, everyone's sheets stayed in their bags.
the party gathered in the kitchen, a lighter flashed and then they were all singing "paljon onnea vaan, paljon onnea vaan, paljon onneeeaaaa Sonja-Clare-ja-Kirsikka, paljon onnea vaan!" a toast to our collective 54 years of life. the three of us blew out the candles in a single breath. everyone laughed and danced til late.



on the day of my birthday, sonja and i ate cake with raspberries and cream and talked about being grown-ups. my host family's relatives and i also ate cake. they presented me with far too many chocolate eggs for my own good. then kaitlyn came over. surprise - we ate cake.

in the eyes of Finnish law, I'm now an adult. I'm still perpetually late and apparently don't know how to vaccuum (my host parents' lectures on technique have done nothing for me), so I think maturity will be a while yet. thank god for that.

wien.

that's vienna.

worldtravellers.

vienna was a blur of happiness, schnitzel and gilt. gilt as in gold-coated statues at every turn...but also buyers-remorse guilt after my shopping spree. now that I think about it, the Hapsburgs probably had some gilt guilt after the whole World War I thing.

the air felt like spring. vienna's history as one of Europe's cultural centers is definitely not locked in museum cases, and the monuments were crawling with joggers. zigzagging through the topiary gardens and circling the Parliament fountains.

monkey boy. possibly one of my favorite pictures ever.

my host parents picked up Vienna Philharmonic tickets (!!), so we went to the Sunday matinee. the hall was small enough that there were seats on the stage itself. i really hoped the couple sitting next to the timpani were deaf prior to that morning, because after the show they certainly were. the Sibelius concerto has an aggressive percussion part.

hit the contemporary art museum. market street. hapsburg palace. coffee break. mozart monument. the line for the Sacher Torte cafe (an adventure in itself). parliament. schnitzel break. the crown jewels museum... my host family are professional tourists, in a non-fannypack way. we walked so much that one of the soles of my boots ripped off, and yet there was almost no complaint from any of the kids. being an honorary member of the rämö family? they are all travel rämbös, it was all i could do to keep up.

(i really miss making bad puns, finns either don't understand or just don't want to understand).

viennese art, with finnish art in the background.

post-museum cake break.

not everything in vienna is marble.

market street at dusk.

vanhojen tanssit

that means "old dances". the most anticipated event of this winter.

all over Finland, the "day of the olds" is the day that the second-years push out the matriculating seniors and become the top of the school. it begins with a week of elaborate skits mocking the graduating class, crazy costumes and the sky raining candy. thursday of that week is probably the best day of the year for hair salons all over finland. and then that night half the town watches proudly (or shrieks "prinsessoja!!!" over and over...) as the second-years present their dances.

we practiced the humppa and the waltz and the tango for two and a half months, and for this coming-of-age thing our whole lives. but when the band wheezed to life, i realized that we were entirely unprepared for how huge ball-gown skirts are. there was hardly space to move, and i had horrible visions of catching my heel in someone's ruffle and starting a jewel-tone domino effect down the long line of pairs. my partner kept licking his lips nervously and trying to watch our feet.

this is only a third of the crowd.

the band.

my lovely friends.

and our partners.

beautiful.

father-daughter dance after the main presentation. Vallu has some moves :)

everyone survived, though, even the over-enthusiastic twirlers. the only lasting damage is that i think i'll be singing this song for the rest of my days.

"miksi ei?"

my decision to go on exchange was a spur of the moment thing. my dad said, "oh hey...those rotary papers are due next week, you reckon you want to do it?"

"sure, why not?"

and here i am. six months away from home, years older than i was in august. i don't actually know where home is anymore...that either means i'm a real person now, or just homeless. (if you see me swigging mouthwash on the sidewalk, you'll understand why.) i belong to not just one family, but four. "holy shit, i'm in finland" moments have been replaced with thoughts of "hirveä sää, kuten tavallista".

my current family to the left, my first family to either side
 of me, my third family  to the right.

sure, my exchange has made me more mature, i wash my own dishes these days, all that. but i feel most accomplished when i trick shop attendants into thinking i'm finnish - even though to do this i have to speak in short sentences and wear my favorite Hämeenlinna hockey sweatshirt. at least, they pretend to be fooled.

"sure, why not?" continues to serve me well. it has pushed me into the pool for underwater rugby. made me look like an idiot, many times. turned me into a celebrity in front of 25 fifth graders (they wouldn't leave til i'd autographed all of their arms). made me clean a massive dance hall. taught me to enjoy coffee. acquired me a pair of tribal hippie pants. got me agreeing to cook a dinner for twelve. made me several of the best friends i've ever had.

and i'll be saying it even more during my remaining five months in finland.