Winter Break Part II: Finland

Ooooook cats and kittens!! Only two months later (about), here are my tales from Finland, the land of snow, sauna, and salmiaki!!
My journey to the great land o' the Finns was less than stress free and resulted in me loosing pretty much all of my fingernails, due to nervous biting. To start, I bored the plane to the airport around 3 and, despite the fact that it was an express train, I didn't get to the airport till 4. After searching for the gate I was told that running would be a good idea as my plane was scheduled to leave at 4:45 so I promptly made a mad dash through the airport, including running full tilt up a steep moving sidewalk, which was actually kinda fun. As I waited in the 20 minute long security line, my nerves were soothed a bit by the melodious sound of Finnish as well as the fact that my boots didn't set off the metal detector (though they did in the Vienna airport). Of course my plane was delayed for about an hour due to weather but that made my arrival all that more fantastic because there was SO MUCH SNOW!!!
Landing in Finland and going through the airport I was super super extra nervous, for no real good reason. My sole concern running through my head was, what if the Topinoja's don't like me anymore, or maybe they resent the fact that I'm going to be living with them for the entirety of my visit. Don't ask me why I thought these things, but upon seeing Jaana (my host mom) all questions of their tolerance of me were thrown out the window. For those not in the know, Finnish people arn't always so huge on emotions, at least now with people they arn't close to. So, Jaana almost crying when she saw me, then hugging me, and Jussi (Host Dad) saying "welcome home" gave me a case of the super warm fuzzies. The hour long ride back to Hameenlinna was a little disturbing because we drove through a sight-impairing snow storm for the majority of the way, but luckily there was little other traffic.
Arriving at their house I was greeted by some tall teenager who turned out to be Alisa, my 10-year old hosts sister. Of course, now she's 15, taller than me (karma payback for me teasing Carla about how much taller I am than her), and into fashion, with a wish to become a model. I was slightly shocked by this and more so confounded when I encountered Anni, my host-cousin, who also had the rude manners to not be a 7-year-old anymore. Due to my plane's delay and the slow driving because of the snowstorm we didn't get back home till pretty late and so I hit the hay pretty soon. Though I did take the time to meet Kerttu, Julia's (host-sister who was in the States when I was in Finland) new French bulldog puppy. Now I know I've voiced my displeasure with tiny dogs before, but man this thing was adorable.

Julia and Kerttu

The next day I awoke to screams and yelling, leading me to recall a conversation with Jaana the previous night. Turns out her eldest daughter, Pinja moved to the duplex across the way (like 20m away or so, but I don't really know as I'm horrible with judging distances) with her hus1band and 3 kids (ages 4, 2, and 11 months). When Jaana told me I answered, "oh that's really nice!" and was a little confused when she chuckled a bit before saying "yeah, sometimes." Well that morning the mystery was solved! Apparently the tiny children like to go over to grandma and grandpa and since they are tiny and fueled on whatever it is tiny children are fueled on, they can wake up pretty early. Of course, this wasn't that early, only 10, so I was more amused than annoyed. Especially since they initially were terrified of me but by the end of my visit the oldest would tell me his name was Julius (in English) over and over.
So this first day of Full Finland Awesomeness was also Alisa's birthday. All this really entailed was me riding around with her and her dad to a bakery (getting yummy chocolate, rum, potato cake things), some stores to find her a phone, and the bank (where I found out that Rotary had payed me one more 60 euro allowance so, yeah 60 euros!!). But it was nice just to see all the old areas that I remembered from before. We did go kinda fast though, so I made plans to return on my own and just kinda wander at my own pace. We also went to a grocery store for snacks and groceries for me. Of course, I was still in the "don't want to be a bother" phase and didn't insist on getting any specific foods. This led to Jussi just picking up random things, asking if I liked them, then tossing them in the cart. Which....doesn't sound so funny when I'm writing it now, but trust me, it was. Then when we returned Alisa scurried off with her friends to a restaurant and I stayed at home chatting with Jaana and her sister Hanna (yeah it was a little confusing). Once Alisa and her buddies returned they descended on the pulla (like a cinnamon roll) before wandering outside, leaving the 3 of us to shout out silly comments, as befit any family member when the younger child is hanging out with both girls and BOYS. :-P One of Alisa's friends did stay overnight though and somehow we managed to talk from like 11 to 3.30 in the morning, using a wonderful mixture of Finnish and English. And despite the fact that a large part of the conversation was about TV shows like The Hills, or Paris Hilton, or other such things that I really have no interest in, talking with the two of them was really really nice. And I may have agreed to pose as them while they escape to America, hmmmm should have thought of that better.

The rest of my vacation passed pretty mundanely, since both parents and Julia had to work and Alisa would sleep till 3, which left me just sitting around the house, playing with the little pig-dog Kerttu, or going over to Pinja's house to watch the kids run around. But I was still deliriously happy with this mundane-ness and I think the reason is I wasn't on vacation at some fabulous place, I was just visiting home. Granted this was a home that I haven't seen in 5 years, which made it all the better.
Don't worry though, I'm not gonna skimp on my whole time in Finland, just giving a brief note that many days will not be accounted for, since nothing really happened.

Have I mentioned ever how much I missed sauna? I don't know if it's just set into my mind that only Finnish saunas are good, or if American ones are actually not as awesome, but stepping into the sauna for the first time in Finland was fantastic. I think I actually couldn't stop smiling as I was just sitting there in a small, dark, hot room that smelled slightly of woodsmoke. Even cleaning the shower room to prepare for the sauna was nice, as it involved Alisa and I dancing around with mops and singing and other general silliness.

There's always time for photos

Fast forward to the night before the night before Christmas, ummm the 23rd. Despite the whole lack of being Christian thing, I had decided I was gonna go to church with the rest of the bunch since I remember it as a pretty nice experience. However, as Alisa was going too, there were some arguments as to what she was going to wear. Now, I realize I'm not an actual older sister, but I felt well within my rights to be shocked at her choice of attire and demand that she wear something not so revealing (it was pretty much a mini-skirt, with tights but still). Her parents also agreed and after several attempts to change our minds by adding such things as a jacket or a sweater Alisa returned wearing....

This

We all agreed that that was acceptable, Alisa was not so amused.
The next day was Christmas Eve, but here in Finland that's when it all goes down.
In the afternoon a few of us drove to the church which was about 1/2 hour away. Due to this far distance and me feeling a little under the weather my natural impulse kicked in and I fell asleep, which led to a little teasing from everyone. When I was living in Finland it was pretty much assumed that putting me in a car for more than 1/2 hour and it will be lights out for Hannah, Alisa even made a play about me leaving from Finland (back in 2006) and it included me conking out 5 minutes into the drive. :-P
The church was nice, not to big though definitely bigger than our synagogue (though most places are) and the music was really pretty, my main incentive for going. After the short service (like 1/2 hour) we went out back to the graveyard to make sure a specific gravestone didn't need any maintenance (I don't remember whose it was). Christmas Eve is also when people put candles in front of the gravestones, and with the dusk slowly creeping over the sky, the tiny pin-pricks of light turned the snow and graves into a really nice and peaceful place.
Back home there was time for some brief preparations before going over to Pinja's and waiting for Santa Clause (Joulupukki). Yep, Santa Claus himself comes to deliver the gifts to the children, as long as they sing him a song first. The eldest kid, Julius, was quite thrilled at the thought of getting gifts and towards the end was just grabbing everything, which of course led to his brother (Oliver) trying to grab back the gifts that were his. Thankfully Joulupukki restored order. After the little kids got gifts we went back home to Christmas dinner and get gifts of our own. Surprisingly, I actually got gifts, I mean, really nice ones. I had made a list of gift ideas since Alisa kept telling me to, but it mainly consisted of a hat and candy. Now, don't get me wrong, I was excited about gifts but I was really touched at how the family put in an effort to get things they knew I would like.
Christmas dinner was tasty, as it always is, and consisted of mostly mashed things but with an added ingredient of something sweet. Classic dishes are mashed potatoes, turnips, carrots, peas, and an un-mashed ham. Also, it should be mentioned that in the morning we had riisipuuro, the most delicious breakfast ever (essentially rice porridge). Although, despite the fact that Alisa put in several almonds, I failed to get one, oh well (finding an almond means good luck for the next year).

Alisa and Fiona. Can I get an awwwwwwwwww?

As it was family time, the second oldest sister, Pihla also came over and brought with her a boyfriend and 3 Chihuahuas. While I am not a super fan of these types of dogs, the resulting interactions between Kerttu and the youngest Chihuahua were most silly and amusing (once we realized they were just playing).
As the night progressed, we decided to break out one of Alisa's gifts. This game gives everyone a card that has a picture and we have to guess what it is using yes or no questions, three correct guesses wins. Despite my questions sometimes having to be in English, I actually won, hurray!! On a side note though, my Finnish actually came back to me rather quickly, though my grammar was still super bad. I couldn't believe how many words I remembered.

Yeah, that t.v was reflective, but there was very little cheating

For the rest of the night there was really just drinking and talking and general family time. All of which gave me super awesome warm fuzzies. Except for the booze, since I had a bit of a stomach flu I readily discovered that drinking anything but water was a poor choice.
After the game Alisa tried to teach me how to do a model walk, like down a runway. I was successful (kinda) until I attempted to do the same in high heels, which was an utter failure. From that point on, I decided to just do kicks down the "runway" while Alisa was able to strut her stuff. So now, some photos from the night.

You have no idea how many times we tried this before we got it right. SOOOOOO many

Alisa showing off just how much extra skin Kerttu has. Her sash says Miss. Universe

The morning after (Christmas Day). All day pj's are mandatory! :-D

One night Alisa, Anni, and I decided to go sledding, since wasting all this glorious snow would be a sin most foul. First we tried a hilly street (with one person below watching for traffic), but there wasn't enough snow on the road so we went to a little forest near their house. The single track wasn't the best, but it was pretty decent and really, just being outside was fun.

Oh the calamity!!!

After sledding we played a game whose name I cannot remember. Basically, we play around the garage, so the two people who arn't it just try to walk around the garage without getting caught. The person who is "it" can go either forwards or backwards in the attempt to catch other people. If the person who is "it" sees another person's legs moving, than that new person is "it." A surprisingly difficult game to master at first. Especially with sneaky Alisa lying on the ground so when I looked to see if she was there I would see nothing. Then, confident in my safety I would begin running to the next corner only to have her jump up and shout out my name. The first couple of times she did this, I'm not afraid to admit, I jumped a bit. Girl was sneaky!!

Snow sistas!

Anni gives away her hiding position due to her reflector.

I definitely got my dog-fix with the little possu (piggy).

Alisa trimming her eyebrows with Jussi's (unused) nose hair trimmer, yeah

On the 28th I went into town with Julia and Alisa since they were going to work at their dad's fireworks stand. This gave me plenty of time to just wander around and reminisce. Just walking around the downtown city area it was kinda odd how much I could remember. Not just where a store was, or which street was where (so I didn't get lost), but how many memories there were. Like walking by a restaurant I could remember going there with Kyla (another exchange student) and getting taught how to have proper table manners. Going to a grocery store reminded me of how I used to by snacks for Finnish class. Yet another grocery store was where Henna (Finnish friend) and I spent about 1/2 hour listing ingredients (in English) with a super heavy Finnish accent. One of the schools was where I had orchestra practice with a conductor that was eerily like Mr. Sisson. Walking by the lake, remembering how Jason (exchange student) and I had walked across it in the wintertime and hypothesized that Jesus was a lizard, due to his water walking abilities. The pool hall underneath the rug store where me and two Mormon guys (they were in Finland for church stuff) played pool almost weekly. Ok, so I won't list them all because that would take FOREVER but you get the idea. Julia was kinda surprised that I could content myself for so long, just wandering around, but I have a feeling that if she went to her host city she'd do the same. So I took bunches of photos from my walkings, but I will merely present this one.

Town Library

I spent soooo much time here during my exchange year, mostly due to the fact that they have a really excellent English book section. But also when I lived with the Topinoja's they were out of the city a bit so in the winter, once I took the bus back home I was pretty much there till the next day. Not a bad thing, but sometimes I would be meeting a person or just waiting for Finnish class to start, so I would wile away the hours in the library, eating candy and reading books. I actually went back inside there, just to see if it was still the same (it was, English section is still stupendously stocked) and decided to just read for a bit. Sitting in my usual chair and looking out the window with the view of the misty lake and the faint outline of the castle was another moment that just made me stop and appreciate Hameenlinna and my year there a bit more. Not to mention the fact that their book return system is this awesome conveyor belt!
In the evening, another cousin (Peppi) came over and while she was originally shy around me I think I left having won her over by roughhousing and crepes.

Julius, Peppi, and Alisa making lettu (really just crepes, but tasty!)

The next day, the 29th, I went over to my third host family's house (the Raunio's) in the evening, as this was the one time their son, Petteri, would be on leave from the army.

Doesn't he look dashing?

Despite initial thought that this would be awkward, I was greeted with hugs from almost all the family members, except for Minna who has entered that phase of being a teenager. :-P
We had a really nice chat over tea and all manner of cookies, with me trying to speak Finnish but every so often having to look quizzically at Maria (the eldest) who would supply a translation in English. All too soon Petteri had to go back to base, but I spent the rest of the evening there, till about 12.00 (so 6-12). We talked about my studies in Madison and Vienna, I helped their dad with his work (he has to translate technical stuff into English and wanted to know if the grammar was right), and I got to join in on the teasing of Minna (she was going on a "date"). I think when I was living with them I may have under-appreciated the Raunio's, or maybe just because the Topinoja's set the bar so high. :-P But being back with them (the Raunio's) I remembered just how great a family they were and how much they helped me to feel like I wasn't just a house guest. Also, I don't know why it is, but I definitely feel more comfortable when the kids are willing to tease each other, I feel like it shows they are kinda relaxed. Or maybe it's just because that's how me and my siblings tend to roll. Regardless, Maria and Sanna's sisterly teasing made me smile. Part of the evening all we did was watch a t.v show and work on a puzzle, but again even that was nice, because it wasn't like I was on vacation, just visiting home. I felt a little bad going back to the Topinoja's because I hadn't told them what time I would be back, so they were a little worried (oh yeah, my phone didn't work in Finland. Apparently Austria and Finland arn't down with me being able to use my phone in Finland). Also added to that was Sanna got a wee bit lost when driving me back home. But it wasn't too bad, just another awww moment when I realized the Topinoja's cared about where I was. ^_^

I helped them finish (ha! pun) the puzzle, it was exhilarating

Along came New Year's Eve, a time of fireworks, booze and tin (stay with me it'll make sense in a while). In Finland, at least in smaller cities, fireworks are set off by all individuals and not so much a town show (like in La Crosse). Of course, with the sky getting dark at 4, we were hearing noises and seeing bright lights all through the afternoon. Driving down to the train station with Jaana it was kinda pretty though, to just see random flashes of lights bursting in the sky. Why the train station you may ask? Because, it turns out another exchange student I knew was living in Finland (he had been for about 2 years, just sorta bumming around) and due to the glories of Facebook we decided to hatch a plan to meet up. The details weren't really concrete, basically we had to choose between going to Tampere (his town) or him coming to mine. In the end, I decided I kinda wanted to spend New Year's with the Topinoja's (the year I was there I went to a party) so he was ok with coming down. Unfortunately, we got to the station a bit late so he was a bit worried we weren't going to show or something. But, man it was awesome to see him!! I don't know why it is that from my Rotary year I've got such high-quality friends that I still keep in contact with. On average we saw each other maybe 3 times a year (when all the tours were) but somehow the fact that we were all in a strange country together was a binding glue. I haven't so much encountered that here in Vienna yet, I think it's because most of us are here for actual school, not just exchange.
Anyways, Alastair (my friend) had been reassured that I wasn't gonna leave him in a train station and we drove back to the house. In the evening, around 8, some of the fireworks were set off so the younglings could have a show.

I think because this is outisde city limits it's technically legal

Then, once the kids were put to bed, we could start partying New Year's Eve all Finnish style (this is where the booze comes in, sorry mom). There was also this tasty dish that consisted of sausages wrapped in green onion, then covered in eggs and baked. They even made a version with veggie sausages for me. I must say it was quite yummy.

Left to right: Alastair (sans mowhawk), Olli (Pinja's hubby), and Jussi

Now, here's where the tin part comes in. In Finland, on New Year's Eve, people melt down tin then toss it into cold water and the shape it makes tells what that person is gonna get/do in the coming year. Unfortunately, I tried two times but never really got a definite shape, which I was told means I'm going to get riches, which I'm ok with. :-P

Jaana melting the tin

I was quite jealous of Alastair though, because on his first try he totally got a sailboat, like it legitimately looks like a boat. You can kinda see it in the shadow.

Jaana's sister telling us what the shape is

The rest of the evening was pretty much like Christmas, sans the little ones, with us just chatting and such. I did get to talk with Pinja and her hubby which was nice since I never knew them well before since they had lived in a different town. Alastair and I managed to be the last ones up, with us just talking about old times, new times, and watching some films, but I had to clock out at about 4 in the morning.
The next morning I was actually in pretty good shape, hangover-wise, but Alastair and Olli were not so lucky. I'm saying this for two simple reasons. 1) the Finnish word for hangover is awesome. It's krapula, which translates into crab land, or something like that. 2) The worst hangover story ever. So Julius and Oliver (the two little boys) came over in the day (around noon) with their dad. I wasn't exactly listening to their conversation but all of a sudden one of them starts crying for their mom, and then the other one chimes in. Ok, nothing new there, kids want their moms. The funny part (for me, sad for those who have head pain) is when they start really WAILING and screaming for their mom and run to the window. Oh yeah, their mom was standing outside her house talking to Jaana. Right, her house, which is like 20m away, maybe less. But these two kids are still shrieking and screaming for their mom even though they can clearly see her and could probably be standing next to her in 30 seconds (if they put on their winter gear). For some reason I their ridiculousness most amusing and even Olli was laughing at them. Ahhh kids, they can be kinda not smart. :-P

Then the roughhousing commenced.

That same day, after taking Alastair back to the train station I went to visit my second host family, the Rantio's. Now this, this was a little awkward, but not too bad. They had been a really nice family but I didn't fit in so well, I think our personalities just didn't mesh or something like that. Still, there was more nice chatting over tea and food, though Maria (different one, obviously) spent most of the time in her room with her friend listening to music. I was kinda disappointing by this since I thought we had been close when I was there, but I think again it was the curse of the teenager. I did have a fun time with Nina (eldest sister, year older than me) as she took me and her boyfriend ice skating at a place near my old school. It was just a rink that had been made for everyone so we didn't have to pay and I managed to get a pair of skates. While her boyfriend went off to play hockey, Nina and I stayed in the non-injury section and just skated around. Well, she skated around, I made a valiant effort to both remain upright and move in a forward direction, which I did thankyewverymuch!

No I didn't actually play hockey, but this looks cooler than me wobbling with my arms out.

Oh, and I also was able to meet up with some friends from my school! I had met up with Henna once before, but just for a chat at a cafe and some shopping in search of a picture frame. This time the girls actually planned out some stuff for us to do. I was surprised how excited they were to see me, but I couldn't believe how much fun it was to just talk with them again. For the most part we talked in English, since this was the m.o when I was there last time. I think I actually shocked a girl when she was asking something in Finnish and I answered her. We stayed at Henna's place for a bit, till all the group met up, and then we walked over to the stadium to take in an ice hockey game. HPK (home team) vs. Turku (I think). While I'm normally not a fan of sports, there's something about watching it live and having super excited people all around yelling and shouting. I got pulled into it and was definitely yelling and cheering along with the rest of them.

Take down!!

Sadly, our team didn't win, though it did get down to penalty shots, which was exciting, you know, exciting until we lost.

Jenna expresses her displeasure at the game results

Afterward we all went to a restaurant where I got a ginormous and delicious pizza. We talked about our Christmas and what we have all been up to in our lives. Turns out one of them is married, which I find INSANE, though insane in a sweet way.
Once dinner was done everyone just went home, and I managed to grab a ride back. Also in the car with me a super adorable puppy (seriously, it was soooooooooooo cute), which helped me not be so sad that I probably wasn't going to see these people for a while again.

The group

Sooo the rest of the days passed pretty swiftly and like I said above, were mostly just me hanging around the house, or occasionally going into town. So here are some pictures of random family members.

One of the only pictures I have of Pihla

Fiona. She is ADORABLE and I think she liked me.

Two days before I left, I got to see Sari, my old viola teacher. We drove over to her house where I was also greeted by her husband who is unusually affectionate for a Finn (he hugged me even though I didn't know him that well). I got to see all of Sari's pictures from Israel and Africa (they were amazing!) and got caught up to date on the happenings of my old viola group as well as Sari and her family. After dinner (when they boys escaped back into their rooms) Sari, her husband and I talked for a while before he left to take the boys skiing. I realize I'm being a bit vague by saying, we talked about stuff, but it's hard to remember in detail and I feel it would be slightly boring since I would also have to explain tons of stuff for it to make sense. :-D Unfortunately both Sari and I were pretty tired so I left around 10. It was so strange seeing all these people who had such a big impact on my year in Finland and only talking with them for a couple of hours and leaving with the knowledge that I probably won't see them for a long long while. Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that I got the chance to see everyone, but it was still a bit strange.

Sari: a teacher made of awesome ^_^

My last day involved me going to many shops and buying much candy and other Finnish tastiness with Henna, as well as going over to Jenna's place for a bit. In the evening, I went to a bar to hear a cousin sing ( I met her once, she had gone to Australia for a while so was good with English). However, upon leaving I had a troubling thought, since Alisa couldn't come. Whenever my siblings visit or we all go to Peoria and they end up going to bars with the cousins I feel a bit left out, but here I was doing the same thing to Alisa. I don't know if she flt the same way though, and we didn't stay out for that long, maybe an hour or so, but still. In that moment I totally understood how easy it is to just go out and not realize the young kids can't go with (I mean obviously they can't, but I wasn't really dwelling on that until we had already left). Once I got back Alisa and I played the Sims for a while, but I figured maybe staying up all night might not be the best idea so, having packed, I went to bed around 3 or 4.

Further proof why Finland rocks, they have these in pretty much every grocery store

On the drive to Helsinki I managed to stay away for half of the ride, but eventually sleep overcame my brain so I woke up at the airport. It was strange saying goodbye to Jaana and Jussi again (since they had taken me to the airport when I left Finland after my exchange year). I felt like I was going to see them again so soon, but I knew that I probably wasn't. This time, both Jaana and I cried a bit. Jaana when she was hugging me goodbye and me after I had walked through the security gates. I had to wait a bit for my plane to leave, due to ice and such, which gave me ample opportunity to wander to different stores, though I didn't really buy anything. I think I was mostly trying to distract myself.

My window is not dripping with a melted dreamsicle, but rather the de-icing stuff that's coming out of that big spray thing.

My return flight went great, though there was a moment of confusion when I had to go through security again in Berlin. I didn't know if I had to pick up my luggage and bring it through, and I decided that I probably didn't, so seeing it arrive in Vienna was very nice. School started the next day, which was less than awesome, but it was good to get me right back into being busy.

So the trip in general, awesome in it's mundane-ness, but also a little sad and not just because I had to leave. While I was in Finland, I made a list (in my head) of why it was awesome and looking back I've realized that most of those reasons are comparing Finland not with the USA but with Vienna. I kind of like Vienna, it's an ok place, but I don't love it nearly as much as I love Finland (and Hameenlinna especially). I can't decide if this is because in Finland I had host families so I could actually know the culture and the people, or if it's because I lived in a smaller town so I was more comfortable. Either way, it made me a little sad because I want to love Vienna just as much. Especially since my grandpa is from here so this is the closest I've been to seeing my heritage. I dunno though, there's nothing about Vienna that's reached out to grab me yet. Same with friends here. They're nice, I enjoy spending time with them, but I have yet to make any that I feel ultra close with. Like I said above, that might be due to the fact that here we actually concentrate on school. Overall, that first night back I was definitely a little down in the dumps since then I was homesick for not just the USA, but also Finland. However, soon a new semester will start which means new students and I'm going to put in extra effort to make friends. Also, during semester break I plan to explore the city a whole bunch more so hopefully you'll all get to see marvelous pictures from that.
To end this on a happy note, here is a video of the Raunio's dog (who's name I can never remember, Naku, Nuku, Nuka, something like that) who makes the most ridiculous sounds ever.

P.S Sorry for all the spelling and grammar errors, I posted this without re-reading it is I am hungry and want to hit the stores before they close!!!