Wensday. [I mean that is how we pronounce it anyway.]

On Monday Donna messaged me to ask if I wanted to come with Helsinki with her on Wednesday to drop off her husband at the airport then hit the shops! I was so excited!!! I had also been dreaming about the vegetable salad I'd eaten at Maya - a Mexican restaurant - and I got to take Donna there! We hit the shops thereafter. Donna bought a beautiful purple wallet and a silk shirt from Esprit! Then we drove home and chatted the whole way back... Donna also sampled my muffins - all THREE batches - and has been raving to all of Tampere about them so I'm really happy someone other than Juha enjoyed them too!

Last night I got a big of downtime before heading out! Anne, Nina and I met up and dressed up [although beforehand] and headed to Lavatanssi - a barn dance that happens every year. Everyone dresses up in 1920s barn clothes and they teach you dances there and then and you can then do them all together. It was pretty entertaining to watch! People had really gotten creative with the theme... I felt like I was in a movie almost! Unfortunately, we didn't partake in the dancing BUT we chatted lots, so no time was wasted!

Today, I decided to make apple cinnamon muffins... they're out of the oven, I've taken tons of pictures and they're ready for sampling. Sadly, I haven't worked up the courage to try them yet. So I can't say how they taste just yet.

Tonight, after my Finnish class, Donna is coming by to pick up me and Juha and bring us to her place. She's making her INFAMOUS goat cheese salad [tweaked to perfection, or so I'm told!] and I'm really excited about it. Our friends Lauren and Kimmo were supposed to come along as well but turns out Lauren got the flu bug. Get well soon Lauren! [even though you don't have the link to this blog quite yet.]

Stay tuned for muffin pictures. [Yes, I'm talking to you Kelly <3.]

Last Night. [The Strokes.]

So yesterday was a pretty action-packed day! We woke up around 8am, got ready and headed to the gym to play badminton from 9am to 10am.
Needless to say, with my current diet and the lack of carbohydrates, I was exhausted all day. BUT there was so much to do! I came home, showered, watched *****, my new TV show... which is just too embarrassing to reveal to the INTERNET and all of you who will lose all respect for me. Then I did a bit of Finnish with Nina through FB chat. Basically I asked her to give me 10 Finnish words in basic form and I had to say them in partitive singular and genitive singular. I did okay. And most importantly I now know that ring is: basic form= Sormus - partitive singular= Sormusta - genitive singular = Sormuksen!
[And if that's wrong then I guess I don't remember haha...]

Anywho! Then Nina and I met up and headed over to WokWok for some fabulous food and company! Donna, Lauren and I like to meet up there on Fridays for lunch. We also bring friends to widen our circle. This week I brought Nina; Lauren brought her friend Candice, who is visiting from Florida, and her husband Kimmo. Donna invited her son, who was going to join us after school but he never showed up. Either way, we sat around for ages, as we often do, and ironically both Finns had to leave before we did. [I say ironically because I have a feeling that hanging out in a restaurant for hours on end at lunch time is not a Finnish custom.] But I have to say that WokWok is very tolerant of our needs - nutritionally and conversationally. Service and staff alike, are super friendly.

I headed home after about 3 hours, bought some more almond flour and raspberries on the way [my obsessions] and came home to the boys [Juha, Jonne and later Ossi too] playing NHL 95. I was feeling pretty drained so NATURALLY I sat down and studied some Finnish... then my mind wandered over to my computer... watched a bit of ***** and then started browsing recipes. In light of equality day yesterday, I decided to bake the boys some brownies... but let's call them experimental brownies... there was indeed a disclaimer. I say experimental because I hadn't tried Irina-friendly brownies yet and the Stevia does add a rather odd sweetness to them. But they were okay. I had some last night and today too and if you're not used to Stevia then they definitely wouldn't qualify as heavenly but otherwise, a nice break from vegetables.
[BTW, I've been making the avocado salad like... everyday haha. Changing little things here and there. Still obsessed!]

I'd spoken with Anne about going to a gig at night and then everyone decided to join so it was nice to get a big group. Ironically, it appears that absolutely no one is single in Tampere. Anne and Jonne came with Kalle and Niina then Juha and I showed up with Ossi and Kaisa. And in the upcoming days we have a few dates with other Tampere-based couples haha... it makes me laugh.

The set actually lasted about an hour, if not a little more and I really enjoyed it. Some of the songs - maybe 2 - made me a little sleepy but I can't blame the band, I was exhausted as it was. The band was Kiki Pau [or according to me earlier on in the day Kaka Puu or Koko Pau/Puu... and other such combinations.] You should check them out by clicking here. I especially like "Just Real." [Great song!]

As a side note, the weather is getting pretty gross in Tampere. The snow is melting and it's wet everywhere and snow is falling off building and killing people and you have to be careful. [I don't think the death rates have skyrocketed or anything, just something to be aware of though.] We took a cab to the bar and home last night and the flat fee [before driving anywhere, the driving is extra] for a cab on a Friday night [prices change here depending on time of day - do we have this in Canada??] is 8e!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luckily we were 4 people so nothing too drastic. But 8 euros is 12$... and then you presumably travel more than 5 meters.. anyway, I'll stop being cheap haha.

Alright, back to my Finnish so I can eventually post about the complicated stuff I'm learning. I just have to understand it first.
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N.B. Turns out I stand corrected! Two of the people we went out with on Friday: Kalle and Liisi [whose name I thought was Niina] are not a couple. Alas, there are still single people in Tampere!

Work as a result of The Hangover.

Yesterday, thanks to my darling boyfriend, I clocked 3 hours of PAID work time. Basically he was too... ill... to drive himself and do his deliveries so I drove him and coached him to smile nicely and be polite to the customers even though all he wanted to do was hurl...

So it all started Thursday morning! The day was looking pretty busy but I was looking forward to the running around - even without the energy. I got up at 9am. Studied Finnish from 10am to 12pm and then I took a lunch break. This break was rather extended because I figured I wouldn't have much time to laze around later. I watched some TV online and ate lunch. Then around 2:50pm I left to meet a friend. We scouted all the second hand and Asian shops in the area; I spent 40 euros. BUT I bought: a really nice sweater, a soap holder, a candle holder, many spices, ghee, some warm GREEN mittens...and some other stuff... In total, I think we walked about 6 or 7km. I got home at 6pm, exhausted, ate a small dinner and ran out the door at 6:20pm to get to Finnish class... another 1km walking there and back... came home at 8:15pm to Nina, Juha and Juuso. Nina brought her brother's dog over for a visit so Juha could meet him too. They bonded before I got home :)
I ate another small, quick dinner and we rushed out the door to pub quiz... another 700m or so walk. We hung out there until about 11something and then Eeva drove me home. The boys said they'd be going for a drink at Semafori and they wouldn't be long...

I got home, exhausted, read a little, watched some Ugly Betty and went to bed around 12:30am.

3:30am - I am awoken by the sound of ... Juha. Anyway, long story short, I managed to get him to bed.

Okay so one down, one to go... I laid in bed... tossed and turned... Juha snored and his stomach protested the alcohol as it tried to make sense of what had happened... the stomach that is. I got up around 5am to check Facebook. I turned the light on in bed and read a little... before I knew it 7am rolls around and nothing. I felt wide awake. And my day went on from there...

I met Nina and we walked to Sokos together. I was impressively coherent all through the day and didn't even feel tired. I later realized that I have a really regular sleeping schedule and this tends to happen to me a lot. I miss a night of sleep and it's fine. If you start missing more, that's when it gets problematic. I was gone for maybe 3 hours or so. Once I got home I found a half-dead zombie-like version of Juha. He'd apparently tried taking the garbage out and walking around the building a few times to feel better but to no avail. Then around 5:30pm he started getting calls from the primary driver who needed help with his deliveries. Since Juha didn't feel up to driving, I drove and he delivered. We did 5 deliveries in 3 hours... one of them was to his co-worker who was also at the bar before.

I was pretty happy about the whole day's events! I earned the first bit of salary that I'd earned in the past ... well... let's just say over a year [because I worked for free in the summer.] And the money I earned offset my shopping splurge from Thursday! Not to mention I felt like I'd really been needed for something! [Which is a great feeling as you seek employment.]



To add the cherry on top of the cake, we made Indian spiced cauliflower and green beans with rice for dinner! It was absolutely delicious... but maybe could of used a few extra vegetables. We didn't take any pictures though. BUT then for dessert, I used the almond-flour waffles I am so fond of and added berries, banana and cinnamon! Awesome. And yes, there was some late night Yatzee! [note the dice.]

Now I gotta run! Päivi and Anna are coming over for lunch!

Friday.

You'll have to forgive my tardiness. I'm a little behind on blogging as I've had little energy to do much of anything lately.

Last week, my goal was to get to page 100 of my "From Start to Finnish" language book by Sunday. I proudly reached my goal Saturday afternoon and gave myself Sunday off. Of course, this made for a difficult start on Monday as I felt too tired to study much. But anyways, let's go back to Friday.

On Friday, I attended my very first demonstration. [Yes, this may shock some of you who know me well.] Anne invited me to come along with her and I jumped at the opportunity to try something different and do something useful. The event itself was an anti-fur demonstration. Apparently the fur trade has already been outlawed in the Netherlands and Ireland and the people we walked with wanted the same laws to be put in place in Finland.

Personally, I think the fur trade was useful before synthetic fibers started being used for warmth and I can see why people would be attached to it historically. On the other hand, if you think about it, it's a little useless and causes unnecessary harm [aka. death] to animals and needn't be killed. So although I can't pretend this issue is something I think about on a regular basis, I saw merit in demonstrating against the fur trade and trying to incite some change.

I felt a little funny being there at first. It's really hard for me to separate real protesters from fake ones in my head but this was a challenge I knew I'd sort of have to confront while being there. By fake protesters, I mean people who just like to protest anything. For example, there were individuals at my university who were in favour of abolishing tuition AND the teaching assistants' strike to increase their salaries from $32/hour because this is Canada's lowest TA wage. UNBEARABLE! Those poor starving TAs... and where should the money to fund such wage increases come from if you abolish tuition... Anyway, I didn't mean to get all riled up. But I'm not a big fan of those people... so back to the anti-fur demonstration!
It was really interesting and I really enjoyed myself. I was a little sleepy and Anne felt the same. We were both in dire need of a nap but still, we were given a sign [I wish I had a picture of it] and we marched with it. We were both annoyed at one of the protesters who decided that drinking a beer while demonstrating would be a good idea. I guess Anne and I saw eye-to-eye on what should and shouldn't be done at these things. The march took us up the main street, down a secondary street and in front of a department store which sells fur. Standing in front of that store made for an uncomfortable 10 minutes or so as we chanted "Shame on you Halonen" in Finnish. [Halonen is the name of the store, and incidentally, the Finnish president's last name. But that was only coincidental.] We then headed back to the main square. There were some speeches but we ran home because after over an hour outside, our feet were numb from the cold.

It's hard to really reflect on everything because the demonstration was in Finnish so I couldn't tell how people were feeling. Anne mentioned there was some hostility in the air and people seemed pretty angry. Yet Anne and I both felt that the right approach would be just to smile and inform people, instead of being angry at them. Since everyone was there with friends, we all joined up in little groups and took what we each thought appropriate from the experience, and gave what we thought was appropriate in return. I'm probably not making much sense now and I have half a mind to delete this whole post but I'll keep it anyway.

Point being, if there are any policy changes, they won't be instantaneous but if you hear anything [Anne!] then let me know.


Post-nap, I hung out at home in the evening and then went to see Janne Laurila in concert with Anne! [It was indeed an Anne-filled day!] I was really excited for this show because I'd heard a few songs by him [ok seriously, just one but that day two!] and I liked his style. I was pleasantly surprised when he played a whole set and I enjoyed every single song. I guess it's handy he works at the bar right near my house and plays shows there pretty often. I definitely want to see him again.

That's it for my Friday update. I'll write more later but for now, I have a date with a handsome fellow named Juuso and his owner's sister, Nina.

Day 2.

So today is the second day of a completely surreal life, and I have to say, I really like it here. Before I rant about today, let me tell you a few really random things.

When in Austria, there were a million Romanian people there. There were Romanians in our hotel, on the ski slopes, in restaurants, in the bathrooms, in the shops... you get the idea. And this happens every year! But really, it's quite remarkable. I heard almost as many Romanians as I heard German speakers. This is something quite difficult to get used to because, like many Finns, Romanians are used to saying whatever they like without being understood. Our last night of the vacation, at a restaurant in Munich, my aunt [or dad's step-cousin... I'll just call her my aunt!], pointed out a woman sitting near us wearing a red track suit. And I commented: yeah, straight out of Romania!

... as it turns out, they were straight out of Romania...and it was embarrassing. But that just goes to show that you can't think no one understands you. And just maybe, maybe next time she won't go out in a track suit... but I guess that's up to her. And not really the way you should find out what people think about what you're wearing. So if you're reading this woman with the red track suit, I'm very sorry if I offended you.

In other news, we had Mr. Järvinen over last night for some cocoa. I also saw Anne and Jonne for a few minutes. Juha and I hauled 2 Ikea CD/DVD racks, 1 full-size book shelf, 2 garbage bags full of clothes, a few really long pieces of wood and some toilet paper... oh and an iron and an ironing board... with the seats does in the VW Golf and in very illegal ways. I had no room at all to move in the passenger seat and had to remain fairly hunched over since my seat was so far forward. Otherwise, the trip to get all these things was a success and we saved a lot of money! We also bought a pasta pot [5L!], some BLUE mixing bowls and other household tidbits for here and there.

Now here's the good part. For that full-side bookshelf, we couldn't find the metal rods that keep it standing so we cut up some pieces of wood and made it sturdy in a very makeshift way. We haven't put books on it yet but it looks pretty good! ... especially since we managed to make it stand up straight [it didn't start that way...] Go team!

I was so exhausted last night I finally got my wish: to fall asleep on the sofa while watching a movie. I realized a few weeks ago that I haven't had the time to fall asleep on the sofa since... well...I don't remember the last time I fell asleep while watching a movie. [My mom can tell you how therapeutic it feels!] So yes, I crashed to the movie Snatch around 11:30pm. Epäonnistuminen, I know. [=fail.]

We accidentally overslept until 10am this morning so we didn't do anymore unpacking. I then walked 2.7km, according to google maps, to have lunch at Päivi's [Juha's mom] with Päivi, Anna and Juha at 1pm. Since my face had just finished defrosting, I got a ride in the Gastronauttimobile to the train station to meet my new friend Nina at 2pm, for the first time, I may well add. Overall, I really feel like the freezing weather is just an extra effort one has to make to get everything done. And I mean that in a good way. I get home and I feel really proud that I met up with people and got things done despite how cold it was outside. So weather is not impacting my social contact in any way... but I hear this weekend it's supposed to be another 10 degrees colder... from -15 to -25 so I MAY decide to stay home on Saturday and avoid frost bite.
Note to self: I need a scarf.

And now, back to researching unis, deadlines, requirements and all that jazz.

Word of the day: hissi - elevator.