Viikko Kaksikymmentä

maanantai:
Today was a super/insainely/crazy/great day. It started out with a ride to school. My music teacher still was sick and we had a different sub... so I kinda left. I had things to do! Picked up my portfolio from the art teacher, then walked to Tokmanni, last minute shopping and all... lost my mittens in the store so ended up going back in and spending a while retracing my steps. FOUND THEM!!! fuew! Then kept walking, to Kyröskoski book store to pick up my English book. They gave me candy too... Christmas time is candy time here! Then I followed all this candels to a kirpputori that I had no idea even existed... It was a really small one in the basement of a building... It kinda smelt like Hampsters... but not in a bad way... really hard to explain I guess. There I found the most ugly sweater... so ugly that I felt bad for it and just had to buy it! It's wonderful! Then the rest of my day at school. The last class was Dance class! We reviewed the 3 dances we already learned, then learned another one... I'm not sure why... we are going to be on break for about 3 weeks.... so are we really going to remember it? Well lets hope so! Then Susanna picked me up, then Roosa, and quick to the house, ate, and back to the car to be driven to the bus stop, I had my lesson! I was taking the 4:30 bus today instead of the 3:30 bus... It was way less crowded which was really nice cause of the horn! My lesson went great! Then hoped on the bus back... hehe And home!

tiistai:
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL THIS YEAR!!! SOOOOO GREAT!!! Everyone was so excited, and we had Riisi Purro (rice pudding) for lunch. In rice pudding, they put one almond in the batch and whoever gets the almond either: will get married in the year to come... get to make a wish... or as in school, go to the kitchen and get a present! I didn't get the almond, though I thought I saw it in my bowl... It must have slipped thourght the hole in the bottom of the bowl before I could spoon it up. I also gave my presentation on Christmas in America to my English class. I think it went really well... anyway I had fun doing it! And our last class was canceled, instead we all went to the auditorium for Kinkku Bingo! (Ham bingo) There were 4 games, 3 small ones where you win a box of chocolate... a big box of chocolate. Then a big game where you win a Christmas ham... I had bingo for one of the chocolate ones, but someone else yelled it out before me so... Oh well, Then I was really close to winning the Ham but nope. After school I was on a mission to go to my favorite Kirpputori! So I walked there... It's some 4 kilometers from the school, my friend Reetta walked a few of them with me to the Library. I finally got there, I was a bit chilled... I had a pair of snowish pants in my bag... But I was too lazy to put them on so I just got cold Catch 22 I'd say. I finally got there and looked around. Just as I remember, tons of cool stuff! I then realized that my cell phone is missing! Oh no and Susanna was going to call me in 45ish minutes to find out where I was to pick me up... So I freaked out a little, paid for the two things I'd picked up already, and headed on the search to retrace my steps... sounds a little like yesterday and my mittens. Plus I was kinda freaking out cause what would I do if I couldn't find it? Well I had a couple ideas... but my best idea was to find it. And I eventually did! It was just laying on the ground all cold and lonely about a kilometer and a half from the kirpputori. So we reunited and I headed back to the kirpputori.

keskiviikko:
Sleep time!!! Yeah LOMA! Break!!! I hung out all morning, Roosa and Juha went in to Tampere, and Susanna was working. She picked me up after work and we also went to Tampere to met up with Juha. Roosa was with some friends. So while Susanna and Juha were shopping for some last minute food items, like a cake shaped like an almond, and fish. I toured the city a bit by myself. It was sooooo busy! Everybody was out getting in last minute things! Wow! Then Susanna, Juha and I went to Prisma, a gigantic walmart like grocery store! And let me tell you, the food section was crazy!!! It felt like supermarket sweep mixed with black friday placed in Finland... so it was oddly quiet. I was shopping cart watcher, I found a place that I was mostly out of the way in, then stood with the cart while Juha and Susanna filled it. And I noticed something about these carts... now I don't know if it is just a Prisma cart thing, or all Finnish carts, but that bar that you put your foot on and then push the cart like a scooter... There was none! It was so annoying cause by habbit I kept raising my foot to rest it on the bar... and just air... I did that so many multipule times... Ugh! Then we escaped that market, picked up Roosa and her friend. Then Susanna and I went back in her car stopping at a Drive-Through McDonalds!!! Second Big Mac in forever, and First Drive-Though here! It funny here they only have like 6 different burgers to choose from and then the chicken nuggets, I'm so used to the two whole boards of options that It takes such a long time to read through, then deciding take just that much longer...

torstai:
No school again! Today we cleaned! Then around noon we went present giving... if that's even a phrase... Anyway, the cookies I baked with Roosa the other day, I packaged them up and gave them to my future host family, my last host family, and my Rotary man, Markku. I felt like Joulupukki! (Santa) It was soooo cold though! The few seconds that was spent out of the car, getting to the door, your hands almost frose off! And at my last host family, my snow man I made was still up! I've never had a snow man last that long cause it always ends up melting or falling over!!! But that one was like an ice sculpture now! I'd like to make another snow man, but the snow is now too cold and wont pack : ( The rest of the day was more cleaning and cooking, getting ready for the big day!

perjantai:
So today was Christmas Eve!!! Merry Christmas Eve, here Christmas Eve is pretty much, if not, bigger than the actual Christmas day. We started off with some last minute cleaning and cooking. Some Christmas tv programs and lots of Christmas songs. Later that day there was sauna and a great big dinner! It was great food! Lots of salads type dishes, casseroles, salmon (raw and smoked) then HAM!!! Yummy! After dinner we went to the cemetary where everyone in the town light candles for special people that have pasted. So the entire cemetary was compleatly light up with a billion candles... really something amazing! After coming back we opened presents and drank glögi... It was a great evening! Hyvää Joulua!!!

lauantai:
Hyvää Joulua! Merry Christmas everybody!!! Today was great. Around 2:00 grandparents came and we had another Christmas feast! Yum AGAIN!!! Then skyping with my family back home <3 After that, card and board games. What a great Christmas

sunnuntai:
Boxing day!!! Still not sure what boxing day actually means... but today we hung out. It snowed all day, we must have gotten at least 6-10 inches. And so we shoveled the driveway... a lot! It's weird cause I just realized that not many people here / noboday have plows to plow their own driveway... I guess that could be because not too many / hardly anyone have big enought cars to handle a plow. In the states everyone or their brother has their own plow! We also ate the Christmas feast again, we joked that we'll be eatting this for the rest of the year (which is probably pretty ture) but I don't mind cause the food is sooooo good!