Monday (maanantai)
School.... yup oh and in sports/gym class we went to a hotel/spa thing and bowled and did archery. that was cool! they didnt even have the opption to put bummpers on so i did horrable cause ya know usually my bowling stratagie is to make the ball zig-zag down the ally (which recuires bummpers) i did manage one strike! yeah go me!!! And there was a really cool playground with weird trampoline-like bubble mounds of air... idk, and there was this thing that you curl up in and have you friends spin you around and around, like if you were rolling down a hill in a tire. CRAZY FINNS!!! haha
Tuesday (tiistai)
ITS GETTING COLD!!! burr! riding my bike to school was awesome!!! haha wow, just cold. And on the way back it was raining! awesome! haha. Went to my first Rotary meeting, room full of old men and lots of food, that was just where I wanted to be! oh the food was so good!!! And plus none of the old men could speak any english so all I had to do was eat. But I was told that on the 28th of September it will be my turn to talk about my homeland... but I'll get food then too so I'm alright with that!
Wednesday (keskiviikko)
It's my half birthday today!!! yeah! Main thing today was the "orchestra" it's a small band of younger kids, maybe ranging from 9-15, but it's a start, and frankly what else do I have to do on a Wednesday evening? It's a 20 minute bike ride from my house, and I must look rediculous with a horn straped to the back of my bike! haha
Thursday (torstai)
School, home, Eija was in Tampere with Johanna, and Anssi was working, so I just chilled, ate. When Anssi came home he broke out all these piano books from when he took lessons. There are these big books full of songs, some of which I know, there's a Billy Joel song in one of them which I was really excited about!
Friday (perjantai)
Ditched school today, not really "ditch" just Antti was getting oathed or something into the army so we all went to that which took all day standing in the cold. I was in like three sweatshirts cause I havent gotten my winter coat from home yet. But the whole thing was pretty cool, there were 1000 or so men in this area, all lined up, not moving. They all looked the same too! Except for two black guys (who were easily spotted : P) At one point they all took off their hats, and the crowd just started laughing because they all looked exactly the same! Baldish and white!
Saturday (lauantai)
The song of the day is Stand By Me, cause I love that song, and I found it in one of those books Anssi showed me, so I played it on their piano, and it was stuck in my head for the rest of the day! The day was a lazy one, which was nice cause I was kinda tired. Picked a couple apples of the tree in the back yard, they'r so little, nothing like one of Kristy's Barn apples, but they were good
Sunday (sunnuntai) /today
Also a lazy day, it's been raining on and off. Just a day to chill
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
First List of Differences
There are so many differences between Finland and Upstate New York, some are huge, others harder to define. But here's from day 19 in Finland, differences I've noticed so far:
- No meal is not complete without AT LEAST one of the following: butter, jam, or ketchup
- No bathtubs
- Eat with forks in left hand, knife in right
- Juice/milk/soda, come in tiny cartons, havent seen a gallon jug in 3 weeks!
- Tiny cars
- Mullets and MChammer pants = IN!
- Eyebrows = OUT!
- Texting = IN, why talk when you could text?
- Finns love Finns, love to look @ Finns (there are mirrors EVERYWHERE) I mean in Maple Hill, the girls had to FIGHT for one small, like half size mirror in the down stairs bathroom. At this school there's a full wall of mirror right when you walk in, and other various mirrors sckattered all around the rest of the building
- Lock Everything!!! classrooms, cars, bikes, homes, saunas... I mean Finland's suposed to be safe, but I guess things can go missing in safe places too!"
- "What's for breakfast?" "Oh it's lunch"
- Mailboxes, I don't even know how to explain these, they all look like.... oh the place you are suposed to drop needles off in... those plastic containers... idk, hard to explain.
- "What's a school bus?"
Sunday, August 22, 2010
time to fill ya in!
so its been about 2 weeks, A TON has happened! its hard to get it all down, but i´m gonna try:
Travel:
Got to the airport with 2.5 hours till my flight left. i thought it was gonna take FOREVER to get through security with all my stuff, but i was really wrong! the only real funny thing that happened was my one checked item was 11 pounds over weight, so unless i wanted to pay $250... i had to take some things out... we moved some things to carry-on, some things i sent home with dad we were down to 5 pounds over when i realizeds i would have to get rid of some belts : ( saddest point in the whole trip (hehe not really) so one by one my heart sank.... i took all but my two most favorite belts out and i was still 1 pound over. the lady said "thats good" and put the sticker on. when she turn around, my dad and i were both thinking the same thing, we smiled and shoved all the belts back in the bag. Greatest moment of the whole trip (hehe not really)
First flight, i slept. it was good cause i had only gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before. Landed in Chicago... [Dear chicago airport people, if you are reading this, you need to get better signs, it took me way too long to figure out where to go, and i'm not a bad navigator, thank you for your time -Paige] yup so i got to my gate with 5 minutes to spare, the other kids going to Finland were all decked out with billions of pins on their blazers, i just had... maybe 4. so i was the odd ball out who hadent been sitting at the gate for 10 hours, and only had 4 pins, but i was okay with that!
Second flight, 9 hours! good food, and good movies. i sat next to Janett, a girl from Nebraska. She was really cool, and still through the camp we became really good friends. shout out to Nebraska!!! 4 hours into the flight, we realized we still had 5 more to go, and we were like: shoot me now!!! But i consoled her for the next 2 hours by singing her country songs from the radio the airplane had (channel 10= a really good country station) She then no longer wanted to shot herself, just shoot me. ; P (if you havent figured it out yet, Janett hates country) oh also i didnt mean to make her want to shoot me, it just accidentally happened.
Germany!!! we ate Lebercases, or something. we went to the counter of a food place and i was like, "I want the most Germany German thing you have." cause ya know i was IN Germany, so i wasnt just gonna have a hot dog or something... anyway this Lebercase thing was like sausage in meatloaf form, on really good bread, with sweet mustard. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!!
Last filght, i sat next to a 7 year old boy named Danile. he made fun of the way i hold my pencil, sang me songs, and tought me some finnish. one word, Moikka: hello. really? thats all you got Danile? i even shared my skittles with that kid and he only taught me one word! what ever i left his as behind!
Wait! your not done traveling yet! you get to ride 3.5 hours in a half sized Brown bus! and you and Hailey get to sit in the fold down seats in the stairwell, right next to the driver! (but i did get a good view of everything! tons of trees, rocks, walls [most with graffit] and lakes)
Week in Finland bootcamp:
Monday: food was really good!
Tuesday: people are really cool! plus we were introduced to a finnish delecasy: hotdog soup! soup, with potatoes, carrots, and hot dogs! who would have thought it? oh the Finns did!
Wednesday: we visited the 2nd largest city in Finland; Tampere, its about the size of Albany... oh but if your an old lady walking on the side walk, BEWARE cause randomly buses just decide to pull up on the sidewalk, and if you are in the way... well you should just hurry and get out of the way...
Thurdsay: Did you know that finnish toliets are designed so you can't drown in them? well now ya do!
Friday: Cozy night! it was a night of Japanise singing, Mexicans' singing and dancing, North Americans doing the Cha-Cha slide, and Finns "acting" but it was an awesome night followed by a ton of picture-taking even with people you had never talked to before.
Saturday: Family pick-up day.... I got really nervy... well... its such an odd position to be in: meet your new mommy and daddy, weird! but my host parents are really cool, and their absent children are also really nice from the 2 times i have met them. they took me to their godson's wedding were we had a blast at the after party! Everyone but me and like two others got drunk, and I was on the dance floor, dancing with all the drunk old people, haha it was awesome. They probably dont remember it, but i know its something i'll never forget!
First week at "Home"
Sunday: after breakfast, Eija and Anssi (my host mother and father) took me for a walk around the house and roads near by. Shout out to Shelby (you're gonna love this!) one of the neighboors dosnt live in a "house" instead he has many boxes/sheds that he lives in, its adorable! there must be like 10 of these boxes things skattered around his treed yard. haha love it!
Monday: first day of school and i've got the worst cold! really? ugh gross! awesome first impression... "who's the new girl?" "oh the girl over there that's cant seem to stop blowing her nose or sniffing" yup that was me, but the people were really nice, and it seemed that i wasnt the only one with a cold.
Tuesday: still sick, hot dog soup seemed to have found it's way back into my life... hmm its not bad just who would a thunk it? oh yeah, the Finns!
Wednesday: i was riding my bike to school, and after 7 kids had pasted me on their bike all with mullets i realized that mullets must be in... OH NO!!! ahhh bussiness in the front, party in the back has hit Finland bad!
Thursday: Anssi and Eija brought me to Anssi's mother's house. she was this adorable 82 year old women who couldnt speak any english. Anssi told me the first thing she said about me was that i was pretty. (i like this woman i thought to myself) and my liking for her just grew from there cause after feeding us, it was great "pizza" not really but thats what they called it and it was awesome, but after that, she brought out a box of socks she knitted and insisted i take a pair. i found an adorable pair with cats on it, the tail and legs are movable!!! ahhhh love it! then she put that box away, Anssi laughed and said "she knows winter is coming" and Grandma got up and brought a box of mittens she had also knitted, man i love this lady!!! ahhh just love her!
Friday: TGIF!!! oh man am i tired of getting up early. when i got home from school Eija and i watched odd Australian soap operas, they were actually really intreging. Later when Anssi got home we went to the cottage, and had sausages and did yard work. it was a good time. i liked it!
Saturday: they took me to try the loved but feard by tourists : black sausage, it was first made in Tampere accidentally. it is made of meat, and blood! and you eat it with jam... actually that parts not weird cause i've come to find that here, you eat everything with jam! but i was really nervous to eat it! i wantted to, and i was going to, i was just nervouse... it wasnt too bad, had a weird smell, and the oddest texture. but i'd eat it again!
Today: Eija took me to the forest to collect her favorite flowers, they are pine like and have little purpleish flowers on it, we couldnt find many, she said becasue of the little rain they have been getting the flowers had all turned brown. but i soon found that there were wild blueberries growing and accidently got side-tracked from the task at hand, and instead focused on eatting all the blueberries i could find. haha i felt like we were little forest people looking for something magical, it was an odd but great feeling, and i had a great time.
And know, i'm telling all these stories to you... that took WAY to long, and i didnt event get to tell some things, but next post will be shorter cause i wont wait so long to post something! see ya!
Travel:
Got to the airport with 2.5 hours till my flight left. i thought it was gonna take FOREVER to get through security with all my stuff, but i was really wrong! the only real funny thing that happened was my one checked item was 11 pounds over weight, so unless i wanted to pay $250... i had to take some things out... we moved some things to carry-on, some things i sent home with dad we were down to 5 pounds over when i realizeds i would have to get rid of some belts : ( saddest point in the whole trip (hehe not really) so one by one my heart sank.... i took all but my two most favorite belts out and i was still 1 pound over. the lady said "thats good" and put the sticker on. when she turn around, my dad and i were both thinking the same thing, we smiled and shoved all the belts back in the bag. Greatest moment of the whole trip (hehe not really)
First flight, i slept. it was good cause i had only gotten maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before. Landed in Chicago... [Dear chicago airport people, if you are reading this, you need to get better signs, it took me way too long to figure out where to go, and i'm not a bad navigator, thank you for your time -Paige] yup so i got to my gate with 5 minutes to spare, the other kids going to Finland were all decked out with billions of pins on their blazers, i just had... maybe 4. so i was the odd ball out who hadent been sitting at the gate for 10 hours, and only had 4 pins, but i was okay with that!
Second flight, 9 hours! good food, and good movies. i sat next to Janett, a girl from Nebraska. She was really cool, and still through the camp we became really good friends. shout out to Nebraska!!! 4 hours into the flight, we realized we still had 5 more to go, and we were like: shoot me now!!! But i consoled her for the next 2 hours by singing her country songs from the radio the airplane had (channel 10= a really good country station) She then no longer wanted to shot herself, just shoot me. ; P (if you havent figured it out yet, Janett hates country) oh also i didnt mean to make her want to shoot me, it just accidentally happened.
Germany!!! we ate Lebercases, or something. we went to the counter of a food place and i was like, "I want the most Germany German thing you have." cause ya know i was IN Germany, so i wasnt just gonna have a hot dog or something... anyway this Lebercase thing was like sausage in meatloaf form, on really good bread, with sweet mustard. IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!!
Last filght, i sat next to a 7 year old boy named Danile. he made fun of the way i hold my pencil, sang me songs, and tought me some finnish. one word, Moikka: hello. really? thats all you got Danile? i even shared my skittles with that kid and he only taught me one word! what ever i left his as behind!
Wait! your not done traveling yet! you get to ride 3.5 hours in a half sized Brown bus! and you and Hailey get to sit in the fold down seats in the stairwell, right next to the driver! (but i did get a good view of everything! tons of trees, rocks, walls [most with graffit] and lakes)
Week in Finland bootcamp:
Monday: food was really good!
Tuesday: people are really cool! plus we were introduced to a finnish delecasy: hotdog soup! soup, with potatoes, carrots, and hot dogs! who would have thought it? oh the Finns did!
Wednesday: we visited the 2nd largest city in Finland; Tampere, its about the size of Albany... oh but if your an old lady walking on the side walk, BEWARE cause randomly buses just decide to pull up on the sidewalk, and if you are in the way... well you should just hurry and get out of the way...
Thurdsay: Did you know that finnish toliets are designed so you can't drown in them? well now ya do!
Friday: Cozy night! it was a night of Japanise singing, Mexicans' singing and dancing, North Americans doing the Cha-Cha slide, and Finns "acting" but it was an awesome night followed by a ton of picture-taking even with people you had never talked to before.
Saturday: Family pick-up day.... I got really nervy... well... its such an odd position to be in: meet your new mommy and daddy, weird! but my host parents are really cool, and their absent children are also really nice from the 2 times i have met them. they took me to their godson's wedding were we had a blast at the after party! Everyone but me and like two others got drunk, and I was on the dance floor, dancing with all the drunk old people, haha it was awesome. They probably dont remember it, but i know its something i'll never forget!
First week at "Home"
Sunday: after breakfast, Eija and Anssi (my host mother and father) took me for a walk around the house and roads near by. Shout out to Shelby (you're gonna love this!) one of the neighboors dosnt live in a "house" instead he has many boxes/sheds that he lives in, its adorable! there must be like 10 of these boxes things skattered around his treed yard. haha love it!
Monday: first day of school and i've got the worst cold! really? ugh gross! awesome first impression... "who's the new girl?" "oh the girl over there that's cant seem to stop blowing her nose or sniffing" yup that was me, but the people were really nice, and it seemed that i wasnt the only one with a cold.
Tuesday: still sick, hot dog soup seemed to have found it's way back into my life... hmm its not bad just who would a thunk it? oh yeah, the Finns!
Wednesday: i was riding my bike to school, and after 7 kids had pasted me on their bike all with mullets i realized that mullets must be in... OH NO!!! ahhh bussiness in the front, party in the back has hit Finland bad!
Thursday: Anssi and Eija brought me to Anssi's mother's house. she was this adorable 82 year old women who couldnt speak any english. Anssi told me the first thing she said about me was that i was pretty. (i like this woman i thought to myself) and my liking for her just grew from there cause after feeding us, it was great "pizza" not really but thats what they called it and it was awesome, but after that, she brought out a box of socks she knitted and insisted i take a pair. i found an adorable pair with cats on it, the tail and legs are movable!!! ahhhh love it! then she put that box away, Anssi laughed and said "she knows winter is coming" and Grandma got up and brought a box of mittens she had also knitted, man i love this lady!!! ahhh just love her!
Friday: TGIF!!! oh man am i tired of getting up early. when i got home from school Eija and i watched odd Australian soap operas, they were actually really intreging. Later when Anssi got home we went to the cottage, and had sausages and did yard work. it was a good time. i liked it!
Saturday: they took me to try the loved but feard by tourists : black sausage, it was first made in Tampere accidentally. it is made of meat, and blood! and you eat it with jam... actually that parts not weird cause i've come to find that here, you eat everything with jam! but i was really nervous to eat it! i wantted to, and i was going to, i was just nervouse... it wasnt too bad, had a weird smell, and the oddest texture. but i'd eat it again!
Today: Eija took me to the forest to collect her favorite flowers, they are pine like and have little purpleish flowers on it, we couldnt find many, she said becasue of the little rain they have been getting the flowers had all turned brown. but i soon found that there were wild blueberries growing and accidently got side-tracked from the task at hand, and instead focused on eatting all the blueberries i could find. haha i felt like we were little forest people looking for something magical, it was an odd but great feeling, and i had a great time.
And know, i'm telling all these stories to you... that took WAY to long, and i didnt event get to tell some things, but next post will be shorter cause i wont wait so long to post something! see ya!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
I'm leaving soon
So its been a great summer, full of awesome people, movie nights, ice cream runs, ten dollar palm readings, playground fiasco's, and road trips. But now it is finally ending, I'm headed to the airport in less than an hour and from there I'm gonna get on a plane, land, get on another plane, land, get on another plane, and finally land in the capital of Finland.
So many possibilities and unknowns about what is going to happen. Its so exciting! Yeah I'm gonna miss people back here, but nothing is gonna hold me back now. Look out world, I'm gonna start with Finland, but this girl is gonna take you over one country at a time.
So many possibilities and unknowns about what is going to happen. Its so exciting! Yeah I'm gonna miss people back here, but nothing is gonna hold me back now. Look out world, I'm gonna start with Finland, but this girl is gonna take you over one country at a time.
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