kakskuyks - kaksi kummenta yksi

The weekend, the weekend, the wonderful weekend. We went to the train station around 9 on friday evening to pick up Maija, Jaako's daughter who turned 17 not too long ago. And oh my gosh, she was wonderful. She's a lottt like me in so many ways, speaks perfect english, and even spanish ! She was so much fun to hang out with, and helped bridge the awkwardness between me, juuso, and lauri. We jumped on the trampoline until midnight just talking about our lives. She's lived in Brighton, England for a year and also in Spain for three. It all sounds so amazing, I'm so jealous. But she too is jealous that I've been able to grow up in the states which is apparently the dream of all little girls in Europe. Juuso, Maija, and I played different cards games until two am and then went to bed. In the morning we woke up, watched some cartoons, jumped on the trampoline, trampoliini in finnish, and kind of sat around for a bit. Anna suggested we go swimming at the local pool which sounded fun, so off we went ! But it was closed, so we drove to one a little farther away, towards Murame. We got in, Anna paid for everything! Ah, she's so generous. Swimming was a lot of fun, we played water tag, hippa in finnish, and just swam for about an hour and a half. Then we went to the pool sauna, it wasn't as hot as the one we had in Tampere, but a little hotter than the one here. This lady in the shower started yelling, well repremanding I guess, Maija and I for wearing our suits in the showers. She first told us in finnish, but Maija kind of just ignored her. But then she turned to me and said in english "I'm not sure if you know our customs here, but we don't shower with our suits on, you aren't allowed to swim." I just said something like "uh, okay!" And then we went and got dressed. It was funny though, Maija kept apologizing for her. We took the bus back to dowtown Jyväskylä where we picked up movie tickets that we had previously ordered online. When you buy your movie tickets here, you have to pick your seats! It's so crazy, we went to go see Get Smart at 8 that night with Lauri and Juuso. It had Finnish subtitles, but was in english, so that was nice. The theatre was inside the shopping center, on the third floor. Everything you bought was self serve, the drinks, COKE SLUSHIES!, and popcorn. It was really cool. The theatre itself is just like ours, the seats are kind of arranged like the Pouslbo theatre, where the seats are all on different levels. Apparently this was a really small theatre compared to the ones in Helsinki, but it was about the same size as the small theatre in Silverdale. The movie was good, at first I was sitting between Maija and Juuso, but then this HUGE guy sat right in front of Juuso so that his head was covering the subtitles. Juuso was so angry so I kept telling him I would switch with him because I didn't need to read the subtitles. He kept refusing, but finally he gave up. So now I was behind the huge guy, who had the most annoying but hillarious laugh ever. His head took up the entire bottom right corner of the screen! But I've already seen the movie, so that's alright. We went to bed around 11 that night, we were all really tired. I woke up around eight this morning, it was nice to sleep in again. Petra had her confirmation today, but we skipped the church part, because it's boring and just went to the afterparty. Maija didn't know we were going to this so she didn't bring anything to wear. But I saved the day and let her wear my farewell party dress while I wore my homecoming dress, we looked nice :] The party itself was boring and everyone was so quiet. But Maija and I just hid downstairs and talked while we sent Maria and Pinja to get us food. When we were doing toasts, where I experienced my first glass of wine which was grapefruity and delicious tasting, I stood next to this old man who is the first person I have met who snores while he's awake ! Goodness it was annoying, and so hard not to laugh, espescially when Maija noticed it too. But the food was delicious which is always nice. Sadly Maija had to catch a 4 30 train back to Espoo, which is near Helsinki. So we said our goodbyes and off she went. On the way home Anna told me that we are almost positively taking a cruise next weekend to Sweden ! I'm so stoked ! We would leave friday around noon and arrive in Helsinki around 3, and the cruise ship leaves around 5 that evening. And then we would go to Sweden ! And I think we get back on Sunday evening. Goodness, I am so excited for this. We are going with Maija's family, so I'll get to hang with her again :] Anyways, I'm waiting for Juuso to get home so that I can ask him if he has a non-flat soccer ball because the soccer pitch is empty right now. I'm hoping he says yes ! I shall post tomorrow after my long day at school...moika!

kaksi kummenta

Number twenty ! Ah, and thank goodness it's friday. I got to sleep in this morning, it was so nice to wake up at 8 30 :] Art was definitly fabulous, we got to paint ! I loveeee painting and our goal for this paper was to use at least 20 colors, so it was really fun. And I sat with two new girls, so I made new friends as well. Lunch wasn't that great today, justttt potatoes and salad. But I found Piia and we found out that we both share an undying love for rye crisp, ah, it's delicious ! Uh, music was alright, more finnish, more finnish, more finnish. But the teacher had her kid in class today, he was probably six or something, and the cutest thing ever. He was playing with transformers, it was so adorable. Psychology was good today, because for the first half of the class all we did was ask me questions about schooling in the U.S. And then we went to this ceremony of all the graduating IB [international bachleaurate] students who passed their exams last year. It was sort of cool, the choir is amazing. It only has about 12 students in it, but they're all so loud and so animated, and so good. Ah, it was really nice. We sang some finnish songs, and Auld Lang Syne, which was kind of weird. But good, and the kids in my psychology class talked to me a lot :] And then I came home, read a little, took a shower just because, and kind of sat around. But then Maria and I rode our bikes over to her cousins house. Annas brother Jaako and his wife are the ones with Miika, Sonja, and Miia. Miika is the kid with all the track awards. And by all the track awards I mean he has over 40 medals in his room ! It was really fascinating. He and I played a game of pool, and the girls and I played bingo, so I'm really good at my numbers now. Uh, and now we are about to leave and pick up Maija from the train station ! I might not be able to post tomorrow, so I'll be on as soon as I can !

yhdeksan toista

I freeze, you freeze, we all freeze for football ! Ah, today was so cold ! I couldn't feel any of my fingers or toes, or my nose...it was terrible. Spanish wasn't all that great, it was one of those super finnish days, where all of the work is finnish, not spanish, so I don't really have much to do...We did yoga in gym though ! And I actually like it, its quite relaxing, I want a yoga mat. I'm really quite unflexible though, so that kind of stinks. The teacher has yet to speak english to me though, she won't even try my name when we do roll, she just looks around for me, I feel kind of insulted. I'm trying finnish aren't I? Today I also decided to attend a Rotary meeting, it wasn't at Hotel Alexandria however, so Martti picked me up from school around 11:30 and we drove about seven minutes down the road to this building called Metso Paper. It's this paper making machine building company, it makes the machines that make paper. But what was really cool wasn't the fact that it makes machines, more so the fact that in 1938 Metso Paper was solely Metso and resided in these underground tunnels that lie behind what is now Metso Paper. And not only is that cool, but this Metso company made artilary and rifles for the Finnish Army just before WWII. The tunnels were just out of range from Russian bombers and go back almost 5 miles ! In the 50's Metso stopped the production of guns and turned to......dentist chairs ! Yes, it became one of the largest dentist chair producers in all of finland...I guess that's kind of cool. And somewhere shortly after that, Metso became Metso Paper and started to produce paper making machines. We got to go down to these tunnels which was a real treat because hardly anyone knows of them, and even less have been in them. They were so fascinating, there was a museum type thing in the middle of part of it where they had 8 submarine engines from WWII that were taken from German submarines. These things are huge ! They have 8 fuel tanks and each one took about a quarter of a million gallons of fuel to fill up. And we also got to see some of the production of these paper making machines at work! They use the tunnels still, mainly as their computer database headquarters, but in the back there's machinery and such. It smelled awfull down there, but it was so cool. The walls were made out of rock, it was just like going through a cave. So yeah, my rotary meeting just happened to be awesome, I'm really glad I went. That was such an amazing opportunity, none of my host family members have been down there, so I felt pretttty special :] And thennn I came home ! So I had a nice short day of school. Lauri made us macaroni and sausages, it was delicious. And today is thursday, so Maria and I had football [soccer] practice. In. the. pouring. down. freezing. cold. rain. It was so cold ! But it was fun still, Henna wasn't there and Heidi doesn't know much english, so it was kind of quiet. But I think the girls like me, they always want me to play along with them, so that's nice. Getting in the car Maria smashed her thumb in the door, so that wasn't very excting :/ But she's alright now. We got home, stripped, turned on the sauna and got it ! We made it up to 100 degrees celcius, which is hottttt. But it felt so good, its just kind of hard to breathe at first. After a nice shower and clean clothes, I feel quite refreshed and ready to sleep in tomorrow because I have a late start ! How nice :] I might not be able to post much this weekend, Maria's cousin Maija [My-ya] is coming up for the weekend, she's my age, so that should be fun. I'm sending letters tomorrow ! So be looking for them next week sometime, have a nice night !

kahdeksan toista

Woo, keskiviiko. Wednesday. I learned a lot today, I guess I can start with that. I now know four complete sentences, all of which are useful in everyday life. Where are you going? Minne sä oot menossa? I'm going to sauna. Minä mennen sauna. You go to sauna with me? Sinä mennet sauna kanassina? [i think..] And Good morning, my name is Jocelyn Swanberg. I am pleased to meet you. Huomenta, nimeni on Jocelyn Swanberg. Hauska tutustua tetä. And I did all of that from memory :] School was nice, we took a lottt of notes in psychology about how different "scans" work, like the PET scan, CAT scan, etc. Spanish was fun, Aino and I laughed at how I can't roll my r's, at allll. And art was fun too, we got to paint ! So that was cool, I like painting. At lunch I didn't know anyone, but I still went and asked this one boy if I could join him. He said he didn't mind, and after a while started asking where I was from and such. I asked him if he played any sports, he said that he used to play ice hockey, and now he plays floor hockey on wednesdays. He seemed pretty chill, but I forget his name, they're all so different sounding ! Uh, I napped in the afternoon because it was raining outside and no one was home, so I didn't really have much to do. It was a nice nap :] Maria and I had another 45 minute sauna tonight, but it felt reallyyy good. Lauri isn't getting his haircut until next week or even the week after, I'm not really sure why, something to do with the coaches I guess. So you'll have to wait on that. Kara, I have planned the greatest birthday present ever, I just hope I have the guts to actually do it. But now you have something to look forward toooo :] Uh, and tomorrow I have a Rotary meeting, so that will be nice, free lunch and no school, who wouldn't go ? And I think that's all for today, I'm off to watch Mrs. Doubtfire !

seitseman toista

So today was great, except I woke up two minutes before I had to leave for the bus, so I had no time to get ready or anything. We did dancing in P.E. today, like waltzing, and traditional finnish dances, Uumpa and Jenkka. I asked four different guys to dance, the second and fourth were really cuteee :] Lunch was good, I found new people to sit with, I finally broke away from my Annina circle and asked to sit with different people, it was nice. I felt good about it. And then after lunch when I was waiting for the classes to make our trip to Harju, this kid I met on my third day here, who usually waves to me and says hi, came and sat by me and talked to me about Finland and its history. It was really nice, his name is Veikko [vay-koh], and he's super cute too, but he has a girlfriend...darn! But then the classes went up to Harju to compete for points on like creativity and class spirit and what not, like we had six different stations around the track and we would do them and try to earn points from the judges based on creativeness. Chet, the canadian, was in my group, so I had someone to talk to. One of our stations had to do with Finnish songs, where the judges would say the title and we were supposed to sing the song the best we could. Chet and I obviously had no idea what the songs were, so we just hummed alot and shouted a lot. It was funny, but we got points for trying ! Chill night was great too, we played two truths and a lie, which was hillarious, and Casey, Jason, and I attempted to draw the united states, which we realized we couldn't really do...but it was fun anyways. And then I enjoyed a nice 45 minute sauna with Maria and Anna, so I feel quite clean. I hope you had a wonderful day as well !

P.S. I would like to refrain from hearing about the everyday life back in the states, it will only hinder the type of experience I will have here. Please only e-mail me when it is urgent, hand written letters are much more appreciated. Please respond to this if you would like my address here in Finland. Thanks so much !

i forgot !

My host brother, Lauri, is taking part in his ice hockey teams tradition tomorrow night. He's six months younger than me, and the youngest on his hockey team. They have this tradition where when the youngest one becomes a member of the team or something, the older members get to cut his hair. In any way they please, shaving off whatever they want, going with any look that comes to mind. And he has to live with this hair cut for three whole days before he can fix it, aka shave it off. So Lauri, who has a tonnnn of hair, will probably be bald by friday, and from tomorrow until then, may look like he just went through the garbage disposal. I took a picture of him so that we can see before and after pictures. Oh, and during of course :]

Here is what he looks like as of now:

kuusi toista

monday monday monday. The longest school day of the week, along with scout meetings and soccer practice. And somehow, it's already over. Art was great, I made the decision to make new friends and moved tables, leaving poor australian Houie all by himself. But he wasn't much fun anyways, he just mumbled a lot. So I moved over to a new table and talked the whole time, it was really nice. Then Annina and I walked to P.E., which happened to be about 2.5 kilometers away from the school. They do a lot of leaving campus here in Finland, I do enjoy it, except when you have to walk to gym, that's not much fun...We were going to play pesapallo today, finnish baseball. And oh my word is it different. The pitcher stands next to home plate and throws the ball directly upwards and then the batter tries to hit it while the rest of the outfield is just waiting. Ah, it's too hard to explain, it's just way different. But fun in some odd way. Lunch was alright today, we had potatoes, although they were kind of chilled, and meatloaf in the shape of hamburger patties. We sat with Piia and her friend, again, forgot the name...And then I had a nice two hour break. I sat in the commons and read "Blue Like Jazz" -Donald Miller which is by the far the greatest book I have come across. I thank my older brother Jordan, he gave it to me. It is so insightful, and makes you wonder so much about your own life and your own personal relationship with God. Ah, I highly reccomend that you read this book, it is so good. And I am not one for reccomending books because I'm insecure in my own thoguhts, but I know this book is good. We had a test in spanish, in finnish. My teacher translated most of the instructions, I think I did pretty well, some of it was still a little confusing. And I keep mixing up my finnish with spanish. I forget what an orange is in spanish, I just learned what it was in finnish. So that was kind of dumb, same with the word money, raja in finnish, but it took me ages to figure out dinero for spanish. But I think it was alright...When I got home Maria asked if I could go to her Scout's meeting with her. I went, but it was kind of dumb cause I didn't do anything. Just stood around while they did everything, she just likes to have me with her, thats what Harri said. And then we went to football practice, soccer, which is always fun. The girls are always asking Henna and Heidi [hay-dee] how to say things in english, and they wanted me to play with them today, so that was fun :] Andddd, I think that's it. !

oh and also

i have new pictures on my flickr, please visit it!



www.flickr.com/ilovepaige345 :]



here's one that's one of my favorites:

viisi toista

Well, this should be a long post seeing as it is a compilation of two days that were both utterly fantastic I don't even know where to begin. I guess saturday morning would be the best place. We left for Tampere around nine I think and we picked up Juuso's friend Aleksi and then headed to Särkänniemi, a huge amusement park! At first Juuso and Aleksi went off and Maria Anna and I waited for Maria's cousin Maija who met us at the park, but then Juuso called and asked his mom if he and aleksi could come and pick me up and hang out with them, so I did! It was so much fun, we went on this ride the Tornado, which takes you upside down and through corkscrews and tunnels, four times! You get on it underground, it's so cool. And the lines weren't even long until the late afternoon, so it was super nice. We rode so many rides, and so many of them so many times, but it was so exciting. And not raining, which was super nice. But then it was time to go, Aleksi had ice hockey in the morning so we dropped him off at the train station in Tampere so he could get back to Jyväskylä that night. It was a two hour drive, probably an hour train ride. And Maija got picked up by her mom, so Juuso, Maria, Anna, and I drove probably 15 km to Anna's parents summer house. It's right on this lake and more than 50 years old. There are like four pieces to the house, the sauna house, which is where we slept, the house house, where the grandparents live, the back house, where Anna's brother and his wife stayed, and then the toilet, which is an outhouse. There isn't any running water in the house, so you take these huge buckets from the lake up to the house to use for water. The sauna was a real wood sauna which is different than the one we have at this house, ours is electric. It got to about 95 degrees celcius, which is HOT. And everything is done naked, usually the boys and girls just go together, but Anna realized I'm not quite all the way Finnish yet so the boys went first, and Maria cause she loves it, and then Maria Anna Anna's mother Kirstii, and I went to sauna. It was about eight o'clock when we went in. We were in the sauna for about twenty minutes and then it was to the lake ! You run buck naked and jump off the dock into the 4 degree celcius water, swim back to the ladder, and run back to the sauna for another twenty minutes. When you're hot again, you take a birch branch, a leafy one, and beat yourself with it, literally. It was so hillarious to watch and to do, but apparently really traditional. And then of course, you run back to the lake again. And you do this as many times as you want. I think we got out of the sauna around ten, and then got dressed and went back up to the house for homemade bread. And once you're tired you just head to bed. I got so many bug bites, it was terrible, I didn't sleep at all I was so itchy. And I still am, the sauna makes it worse as well...but it was such a fun experience. When we woke up we had porridge, which is unbelievably good, I thought it would be disgusting, so I only took a little, but I found myself going for seconds. You put homemade raspberry jam on top and oh man, its delicious. Then Maria, Anna's father, and I went rowing! We rowed to this little island and stayed for about 15 minutes, it was really pretty. And then I got to row back! Anna's brother, Janne [yaw-nay], his wife, Kristiina, and Maria all went to sauna, again. I chose not to, too much sauna for one day :] So I watched the olympics with Juuso, who doesn't shut up now. I really thought he was just a quiet kid, but no, he was just shy around me. But now he like beats me up and talks to me all the time, so it's really nice, I think his english is even better than Lauri's. But it's nice to have someone to talk to other than Anna in the house :] After everyone had had their share of sauna, besides juuso and me, we went to lunch at a country inn type thing. It was in this farm house, but it was good food. And there were lots of animals to see. The sheep were really loud, Juuso, Maria and I had a nice chat with them. There were two really cute dogs, some adorable bunnies, and horses ! So that was really fun. And then we made the two hour trip home on which I just napped in a rather uncomfortable position...And for the rest of today I haven't done much, just rested a bit. Anna's other brothers wife and kids came over and Maria and I rode over to the soccer fields and wathed Mika [Anna's brother, Jaako's son, hes 11] do long jump. He apparently just won first place in the Central Finland Championships for long jump, javelin throw, and discus in the 11 year old bracket. But we went and he practiced long jumping while we watched, it was fun though. And then it was sauna time [again] and now I am here, writing a book about the weekend. I hope you enjoyed reading it, I am amazed if you even got this far...School tomorrow, my longest day...Have a good one !

nelja toista

friday friday friday. So short and sweet, and wonderful :] I slept in till 8 30, caught the 9 20 bus and had art at 10 :] Lunch with Annina and Piia today, it was hilarious, ask me about it sometime ;] We did still drawings today of vases and little things, and were supposed to draw an "active background", i just used a lot of color...I thought it worked...Then I had an hour break, so I just walked in and out of the shops. On tuesday the second graders, my grade, put on an events assembly on the big hill near the school called Harju (Har-you). Each class dresses up in a certain way as to distinguish themselves. As I am not part of one certain class, my counselor told me to just go with a friend and participate with them. So I'm going with Annina and her class is dressing up in all green. So today, I bought a nice and cozy beannie for 4 euro's. It's super cute and will keep me nice and warm in the winter, plus, it's green ! And if I do decide to dye my hair, I think a dark brown would look lovely with it. So I think it was a fantastic buy ! After my excursion I had psychology where we just took notes and talked about clinical disorders and things related to the brain. When I got home, Juuso had three of his friends over, Jani, Alexi, and Alexander and they invited me to go to pizza with them ! So we rode over to the pizza arkadia and ordered our pizzas. At first I thought that 4.50 euros was way expensive for a slice of pizza, but when they brought out our orders, it was the whole thing ! A huge pizza, for 4.50. I didn't buy it, Juuso did, which was quite nice :] When we got home Juuso and his friends left for hockey practice and Maria's cousin Saimi was over. So I watched the olympics/random disney channel shows with Lauri. Then he left and Maria Saimi and I went to the soccer field and kicked around a soccer ball. But then Lauri called and said he rented a movie and if I would like to watch it with him. So I went home and we watched this movie called "Militia". It was actually really good, so that was fun. I showed Anna my pictures and we just talked about what we were doing this weekend. Apparently we are going to Tampere, a town about two hours away, and going to an amusement park (if the weather is nice) and then staying over night at her parents summer house where we will get to do the traditional sauna, lake, sauna, lake, etc. I am definitly looking forward to that. Oh! And I got a package from my mom and dad this afternoon, I loved it, thank you guys so much, I miss you all ! Thanks for everything you sent, I will write soon ! And I also recieved a four page letter from Grandma Olive, it was so sweet, it made me cry ! So whoever sees her next, please thank her so much for me, it was so nice to hear from her :] Anyways, I won't probably be able to post again until sunday night, so have a fabulous weekend !

kolme toista

Its thursday ! Well, it was. And it was a good one at that. School was fun, we got to practice our song for music, we each have a band of 4-5 players, and our band is [trying] to play livin' on a prayer - bon jovi. we suck as of right now, but im trying the drums ! It's quite fun actually. Apparently I have a spanish test on monday, but I think it's in finnish, so i'm not sure how much i'll get to do...but i'll try ! We talked about peanut butter the entire class period in psychology, that was fun :] I got to argue why JIF was the best, and why Peter Pan was nastyyy. It was really funny, espescially when the finnish kids try to speak english, ahahah. I came home, ate some delicious chicken and rice, on a thursday ! not monday !, and then I decided to take a nap. My nap was fabulous, I really enjoyed it. It only lasted 45 minutes though, because at 5 15 we had to leave for Maria's soccer game. It was raining, there was no where to sit, and little did I know, she had TWO games to play ! But they were cute, and really uncoordinated, so it was fun to watch :] We went to sauna tonight, no water fights this time, Anna came with. I'm thinking about dying my hair, yes mom and dad, I will be careful and choose a good color, but Anna said she knew a good place to go. But I'm still iffy on that idea, I haven't dyed my hair before. I think I'd go darker, I don't want to be a blonde. Let me in on your opinion ? Thanks :] Anywho, I guess that's it for today ! Hyvää yota :]

kaksi toista [part two]

So let's talk about yesterday. It wasn't too shabby, tiring, but not too bad. I believe it started withhh psychology. Not too bad, we did some talking, and some drawing, and some more talking. Emmi, my teacher, is so crazy ! But it's hilarious, so that's fine :] And then I had spanish, which wasn't really all too spectacular, although I learned some new words and such. And then I had an hour break after lunch, so I sat in the art tower and read, and re read, my psychology hand out. I need to remember to start bringing a book to school since we don't have a library at my own...Art was good as well, we did some more shading, I finished my metamorphasis project, and I have to say, it turned out pretty nicely. And then I rode the bus home and hung out with Lauri and his friend, I forget his name. We watched the olympics and figured out how to work his new laptop. And then they had ice hockey practice, along with Juuso and Harri, Anna went running, and Maria was at Pinja's house. So I was home alone for an hour ! But it was alright, I just watched some more olympics and Hogan Knows Best. And then I attended Heidi and Henna's soccer practice, which was alright, reallllly tiring, and the coach didn't speak any englsih, but overall it was nice :] And then I went straight to sleep !

kaksi toista

i justttt got home from soccer practice. it started at 7 45. And i am dead. We did so much running ! Ah, but it was fun :] I'll post more about today, tomorrow. Sorry ! I love you all :]

yksi toista

Today was fabulous ! So good :] School was alright, P.E. was tough, we did a lot more in this one gym class than we ever did in a whole semester of gym back home. We played volleyball, but only for about ten minutes of our two block period, the rest was "warm ups". Haha, more like death. But I managed to run seven laps around the track in 12 minutes ! Fun fun. But music was alright, we just sang some songs in finnish, I played guitar ! I walked down to Sokos, the local grocery store, about three minutes from school, and bought some bread, because its so delicious ! Psychology was alright, we just talked about the nervous system and how it works. I recorded some of it, because my teacher is psycho and hillarious, and I wanted you to hear what she sounds like :] I'll upload that sometime soon...And my school day was over around 1, so I took the bus home then. I showered and got ready because tonight was "Chill Night" at the mormon church. I took the bus back downtown at around 3 30 and met Annina, and we walked to the church where we met Juha, the leader of it all, and Storm and Casey. Only like five people acutally come to this, but it was so much fun ! We played this game where one person climbs up a ladder with a hugeeee bowl of ice cream and a spoon. Someone else lies under the ladder in a trashbag dress and attempts to catch the ice cream being dropped in his/her mouth, ifff you miss, you get messy ! It was so much fun though, I had it alllll in my hair. But I got to be the last dropper onto Casey which meant that most of what was left was all melted, aha, so I just tipped the whole bowl over when he wasn't looking, it was hillarious :] He was quite shocked to say the least. And then we had a series of ice cream fights which were reallyyy messy, but fun. And then I had to ride the bus home ! Covered in ice cream, funnnn. Aha, I looked so retarded. But I'm glad I went, and it wasn't church related at all, just a free hang out. So it was nice. After I had showered and what not after I got home, Juuso and I instant messaged each other in the same room ! It was funny, but he talks a lot more now. He told me all about the hockey posters in his room and who was who and who was the best and what not. He's actually a really cool kid, and has surprisngly good english, which is really nice. No sauna tonight, I'm pooped. I shall post tomorrow ! Moi moi :]

P.S. How ironic, but my friend nathan from language camp also has a blog, on blogster, with a URL so close to mine its scary...www.nathaninfinland.blogspot.com.

crazy eh ?

kumeinen !

wow, my tenth blog already ! crazyyyy. Ah, today was so much fun ! School was really good, kind of long, but i liked it. During my break I walked to the grocery store and bought some bread, and then I met Annina and she took me to meet Jason [storm] and Casey, the leaders for tomorrow nights, "Chill Night" at the mormon church. They seemed cool, they're from the states, Utah [duh] and Idaho. But Anna also took the time to express her concerns with the mormon church and what not, which I though was really nice, it made me feel a lot better. And I don't think I will plan on attending more than this once, because it is a really sticky situation to get into. But I want to at least go, I think everyone should at least try something, but be strong enough in their own beliefs before hand. And I think I am, so yeah. And then I had spanish which was actually entertaining and I learned new things ! And got homework...bleh. After school it was raining a little as I walked to the bus, but by the time I got off the bus it was a complete downpour, ten seconds outside and I was drenched from head to toe, inside and out. Right after I got inside my house, it stopped. Justtt my luck :] Maria and I played Ubongo again tonight, we've become pros at it ! Soccer practice, not a game sadly, was good. Henna and Heidi [hay-dee] invited me to their soccer practice on wednesday ! So I'm definently excited for that ! And then I got to talk to my mom and dad on webcam :] They met my whole host family, it was quite entertaining. Anna made puuula, which is a type of donut, its really tasty :] I'll try to mail letters this week, talk to you soon !

yhdeksan

Ah, sunday sunday sunday. What a wondrefullly rainy day it was. The potluck thing wasn't bad at all actually. Petra was really sweet, her little sister Pinja was really adorable, she was 8. So her, Petra, Maria and I all hung out. It was basically this order of events that took you on a trail hike through the woods and what not. We sang some songs, in Finnish of course, and it was really pretty. I took some pictures of the scenery and what not. We even got to pet some horses ! Heppas, in finnish. Maria has gotten a lottt more open, so we have a lot of fun. We had another water fight in sauna tonight, but it was fun. Yesterdays sauna was so hot ! But today was better. School tomorrow :/ And it's my longest day, I wont be home until four ! But we have our first soccer game tomorrow! I'll try and take pictures :] Distict camp is the 13-14 of September for all the rotary kids in district 1390, my district. I'm not really sure what we're doing at this camp, but it should be fun, I'll get to see some of my friends from language camp. Ah! and then lapland tour in December ! And that's when I will move to Säynätsalo with the Viertolas ! There's not really much else to sayyy, I think I'll turn in for the night. Adios !

kahdeksan

Hello :] Today was kind of boring. My family went to a confirmation which is basically like a Barmitzfah? But for the Lutheran Church. After you have had a confirmation you are able to be married in the church, become a Godparent, and take communion, before that, you can't. But it's like an hour and a half long service alllll in finnish. And then there's the after party, which lasted for six hours. The food was good, and I just hung out with Maria and her cousin Saimi. They're both really cute and Saimi's on Marias' soccer team, so I knew her a little. But the whole day was just so awkward, because I didn't know anyone. And tomorrow I have to get up at seven and go with Anna and Maria to a community potluck festival thing, but it's supposed to be raining again, and the thing is outdoors. For those of you who are reading this and also went on the youth missions trip, it's like the potluck that we did where we performed our song thing. So I dunno, I'm not really looking forward to being drenched for eight hours...but I guess I'll have to manage. We had pizza for dinner tonight, but it's not like pizza from the states, it's real italian pizza, thin crust, organic sauce, delicious toppings. mmmm, I loved it :] Maria and I went to sauna tonight, but I was out of there in less than ten minutes, it was so hot this time ! Ah, this post is really short, but I don't have much else to say...

[i know its only saturday, but im not sure when ill be back, so id rather he get this earlier rather than later]

happy birthday spencer !

i hope your 13th birthday is wonderful :]

have lots of fun, i love you so much<3

seitseman

Well goooood eveing :] ah, my first non-school night. Today was fabulous. School was alright, I finally have someone to talk to in art class, Houie, he's from Australia. We practiced shading today, it wasn't really all that fun, but it was better than sitting and listening to something for two hours I guess. Music class was alright, we had to make up a rhythm that depicted a word that we were given, our word was "sophisticated". I atteneded a meeting in the morning with Annina that was about the school's birthday events. I joined the school choir and the parade! I'm really excited for it, it's going to be going on the first week of October. Psychology was really boring, we talked about neurons and cell structures and other things that I learned last year in biology. So I wrote letters! I managed to get nine done, I'll try and send them soon :] And thennnnn, after school I was invited to go shopping with Annina and her friend Piia, pee-ya, in downtown Jyväskylä! It was so much fun, and I purchased my first item in Finland! A purple pullover from H&M. Its really cute, I like it a lot. We were downtown for two and a half hours and then I caught the bus home. Anna's parents came over to visit, so I got to meet them, they have really good english compared to most of the elderly generation, Harri's parents don't speak any English at all. Maria and I had sauna tonight, for the past few nights it has turned into a water war, but its a lot of fun :] I'm learning a lot from her, I have now memorized all of the question words, well the basic ones. Who what when where why and how. Who - Kuka, what - mitä, when - miloin, where - missä, why - miksi, and how - kuinka. :D Kulmää means cold, kumma means hot. I'm practically fluent ;] Harri told me that he and Anna feel that I have been here a lot longer than a week, and that I fit in just fine with their family, so that was nice to hear. I hope all is well! Have a wonderful night :]

kuusi

mmm, today was sort of interesting. Boring to say the least. It started off with a two period block of spanish in finnish, fun! When I walked out of the classroom I found Annina waiting for me :] She has my P.E. class, so she helped me get there and hung out with me during that period. It was supposed to be a two period block, but we got let out early because we were done talking and such. Lunch wasn't the greatest today, some sort of fish in a weird sauce, and of course, potatoes. And then I got to skip psychology and walked down to the Sokos Hotel Alexandria for my first Rotary meeting in Finland. It was really boring because they gave an hour long presentation about different facts and numbers, all in Finnish. I got to give a little three minute speech about myself, I think I did alright. It was only one o'clock when the meeting was over, which meant I still had to attend music class. But I'm glad I did, it was loads of fun. We sang a song today, The Hardest Part by Coldplay, but it was hilarious. And there're loads of guitars and drums and stuff everywhereee. So I'm excited for that :] I have a late start tomorrow, no classes until 9:50, butttt there is a school play meeting at 9:30 that I'm going to with Annina, so that should be interesting. And then it's the weekend! Maria, Anna, and I are going to a pool about half an hour from Jyvaskyla while Juuso, Lauri, and Harri are at an ice hockey tournament. Hope your weekend is fun as well, remember to wish Spencer a happy 13th on sunday morning !

things to know about Finns...

1. they like milk.
2. they like cheese.
3. they like butter.
4. you will become lactose intolerant after living in Finland.
5. everyone owns a mobile phone.
6. everyone owns a bike.
7. everyone owns a bus pass.
8. if they tell you it will be cold, it will be cold.
9. they like to be hot, sauna time !
10. they pronounce v's as w's and w's as v's. [ex: waccuming - veather]
11. breakfast at seven, bread at nine, snack at 12, bread at two, lunch is at three, bread is at five, dinner at seven, bread at eight, dessert at nine, bread at ten.
12. nakedness is beautiful.
13. all talking is monotone.
14. there is no smiling unless you are laughing.
15. soccer is futbol.
16. baseball is pesabol.
17. if you have a swedish last name, the first question to be asked is, "do you speak swedish?"
18. absolutely NO family photos.

This is my host sister Maria, she is nine years old and absolutely adorable :]

And now, you all can see where I will be living for the next three months, more to come!

viisi

im posting a bit earlier today, but I have so much to tell about school! I finally made it to all the right classes today, not the IB ones. My psychology teacher is nuts, like literally, she's insane. But we went over the course schedule and like what we would be studying and it seems really interesting. We're studing social behaviour at the moment, from what I've read it seems really cool. We had a two period, [1 hour 45 min.] block of psychology and then I had a two period block of spanish, taught in Finnish. Ahaaha, that class is a fun one :] I can understand when he talks in spanish, so I understood half of the class. I met a new girl, Aitu there too, and she asked me to eat lunch with her friends. We had potatoes and gravy, it was delicious. I don't have a third number class, so I had a free period for an hour. Aitu said I could sit with her friends, so I did. Laura, pronounced l-ow [as in cow]-rrrra, is really nice and their friend boy was also quite nice. FOR DAD: and he wasn't cute at alllll. FOR EVERYONE ELSE: he was quite nice looking :] ahaha, after talking it up for an hour I had art class. Oh my word, the teacher is crazyyyy, she's old and talks in really harsh finnish, and her classroom has stuff everyyywhereee, there was no where to sit! She talked for 45 minutes in Finnish and then handed out mirrors and a piece of paper to everyone. When I told her I only spoke english, she pulled over Houston to sit next to me. He's from Australia, I love his accent, but anyways, we were supposed to draw eachother and then draw ourselves by looking in the mirror. We just drew stick people and called it good and then talked the rest of the time though, I'm not really into portraiture...After class ended, at 14:50, I walked out my door and was greeted by this girl whom I had previously seen sitting at the table that I sat at with Aitu's friends during break. She came up to me and asked if I had time to talk with her. I had twenty minutes so of course I said yes, she asked me if I wanted to attend a youth group type thing at the local mormon church on Tuesday. She said she wasn't mormon either, but it wasn't a church thing, just hanging out and having fun. So I'm planning on going, it sounds like fun. She walked with me to the bus, her name is Aninna, and yes, A names are very popular. And now I'm at home watching the emperors new groove in finnish! What a fun time :] I'll probably post again tonight, hasta luego!

nelja

Wow wow wow. Well today was certainly an adventure...my first school day. When I got there these two tutors came up to me and told me that they knew where I needed to go, and led me to a classroom upstairs. This was a class for the IB students, [which I later realized I was not], so here I sat in some random class that I wasn't really supposed to be in. And then we walked down to the next class which was called TOK, Theory of Knowledge, which, again, I wasn't supposed to be in. When I explained this to my tutors we came to the conclusion that I was not who they thought I was and that I was not in the right place. But I stuck with them for the rest of the day, and one girl showed me around Jyväskylä at lunch. It was here that I got invited to a dozen raves, some beer gatherings, and other various things. And I am now regretting ever befriending Naomi, so tomorrow I have to secretly avoid her as much as possible. AFter school, which seemed to go on for agggeeees, I caught the bus home and helped Maria make a salad, salaati. Anna came back from running, [for two hours !], and told Maria she needed sausages from the market. So Maria and I rode our bikes to the market, baught some sausages and water, vesi, and then biked home. We ate a wonderful lunch of potatoes, perunas, and sausages, along with our normal side, bread and meat ! I rode with Anna and Lauri to the department store where we checked out laptops for Lauri and then we took him to ice hockey practice. I met Anna's brother at the swimming hall, and his kids, they seem nice. The pool here is hugeeee. Theres actually five pools at this place, one 50m, one 25m, two hot tubs, and a kid pool complete with a water slide ! I can't wait to swim therem it looks like a lottt of fun. When we got home Harri asked me if I wanted to go on a nice hike with Maria and her friend Sara. I of course accepted and off we went. It was a 45 minute hike up a hugeeee hill. But the view from the top was gorgeous, I wish I would have brought my camera. I carried Maria on my back the whole way home, but it was fun. Five minutes after we got home Maria told her mom to ask me if I wanted to go down to the lake and swim. Not wanting to let Maria down, I accepted. The lake was frrreeeezing ! Probably the coldest water I've ever been in. But once we were in we got used to it. And for desert, Anna made square pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, yummmm. I am pooped from today, have a fabulous one yourself :]

Heippa !

kolme

Officially day one of my first week in finland. I started school today, but I was only there for an hour of it and then I opened a bank account. They don't have school buses here in finland so everyone takes the public buses, its kind of weird. It has been raining everyday so far, everyone here says that its been the rainiest summer ever here, I guess finland wanted to make me feel at home ;] After school Maria and I walked Minni, their poodle. It's so much fun going on walks, we can't talk but we'll follow each others leads, so if I start skipping, so does she, etc. It's quite cute :] I got a library card as well today, and checked out some children's books in finnish. We rode our bikes to the library, it's really close. People ride bikes everyyywhere here, there are more bikes than cars on the street usually. After a late lunch, early dinner of spaghetti and bread, I got to go to my first soccer practice as the assistant coach ! The coaches, Haiti and Henna, are my age, and the girls are Marias. They're so cute and kept asking Henna how to say different things in english. Some of the girls were really outgoing and kept asking me all sorts of questions. It was really fun. When we got home, Maria asked me, "can you come?" and held up the dog leash. It's so much fun when she talks in english. I try to use as much finnish as I can around her, like hyvaa for good job or okay, and ei for no. We started this game today where we just battle eachother to see who can make the weirdest sounds with their mouth and nose, it's really funny, she gets a kick out of it. After our walk, Maria and I went into the sauna, I'm getting more used to it now. We sat in there for twenty five minutes and had a water war with the water bucket that is used to make steam and make the room hotter. It was a blast. And now, I'm writing this. My first real day of school tomorrow, my schedule looks like this:

Monday, maanantai:
8:00-9:30 - Art
9:50-11:25: P.E.
11:25-12:05: Lunch
12:20-13:05: Music
13:25-14:10: Break
15:15-16:00: Spanish

Tuesday, tistai:
8:00-9:30: P.E.
9:50-11:25: Music
11:25-12:05: Lunch
Go home !

Wednesday, keskiviiko:
9:50-11:25: Spanish
11:25-12:05: Lunch
13:25-14:55: Art
Go home !

Thursday, torstaii:
8:00-9:30: Spanish
9:50-11:25: P.E.
11:25-12:05: Lunch
12:20-13:05: Break
13:25-14:55: Music

Friday, perijantai:
9:50-11:25: Art
11:25-12:05: Lunch
12:20-13:05: Music
Go home !

I am also taking a psychology class, so I will have one more class to add to this. But this is what my schedule looks like as of today. And I have been asked to be in the school play to celebrate the schools 150th anniversary. It's on October fourth, I'm not sure what its about or what I'm doing in it though. Anyways, goodnight :]

Kaksi

My first day in Finland and boy was it an adventure. I woke up around seven, seitseman, and did my devotion, which I have been keeping up with for the past week now, it's very nice. Today I read about the miracles of Jesus. When Maria and Juuso woke up we watched cartoons, which are the same ones in the states as they are here only some of them are translated into finnish. Breakfast was delicious, we had bread, which tastes a thousand times better here, with cheese and meat. Juuso had an ice hockey game today, so I got to go see that. And I saw half of Lauris game after that. Maria opened up to me so we had a blast, we just laugh at certain things and kind of use sign language to get across what we mean. We even mastered a board game together, it was really fun :] Anna cooked a really good salmon and rice meal for lunch, and then we went into town to do grocery shopping. All stores except grocery stores and small businesses are closed on Sunday's and aren't allowed to be open, so that was kind of different. jfkdjfa;lksd and then I got to go with Lauri and his nice looking friend Pete to a soccer game! It was fun, but when we walked out Lauri couldn't find his keys to his mo-ped, which he was driving me home on, so when we walked down to where it was parked we found out that it got stolen! So now he has no mo-ped...it's really sad, but kind of hillarious. Pete kept apologizing for the worst first day in Finland that anyone could have had, but I got a kick out of it. I'm really tired, so I'm gonna hit the sack, I start school tomorrow! I am quite nervous, but so excited :D

Until tomorrow, moi!

yksi

Hyvaa Yota ! Ma olen Jocelyn.

I'm in Finland! Finally. I don't even know where to start. My trip so far has been wonderful. I missed all but the last day and a half of language camp because Jessica and I missed our flight from Germany to Helsinki by twenty five minutes. We got to stay in the Munich airport of Munich, Germany for eight hours. And I soon realized that when you can't speak German, you get no respect. When we finally got to Helsinki, we had to stay the night in the airport hotel which, by the way, had a shower that flooded our hotel room! The first day of Language camp was kind of confusing, I had missed a lottttt. But my table group soon became my closest friends....plus Bailey. We hung out for the next fifty something hours together, it was a blast. My roommate Caitlyn was really sweet and Nathan was hillarious. Bailey didn't leave my side so I was grateful for her. I learned all my colors and numbers and a few odd phrases. I really hope I pick up this language quickly, I want to so badly. The food was usually good, sometimes not. Anna, my host mom, picked me up from language camp today. She's so sweet, I can talk to her really easily. Harri, my host dad, works with speech therapy so he'll be a huge help in teaching me to roll my r's, cause I stink at it. Juuso hasn't spoken to me directly yet, but I think he'll come around. Maria is really adorable but she doesn't speak english so we just smile at eachother and laugh at the same things. She put the pictures I sent them on her door! It's so cute. Lauri, oh boy. Well, he can speak english, let's leave it at that ;] I start school on Monday, maanantai. I'm sort of nervous. I tried the sauna tonight, it was hot and sticky, but it wasn't too bad I guess. I'm working on being quieter, it is true that Finns don't talk. But they are so active! There are people riding bikes everywhere! It's so insane, even the old people. My family doesn't go to church regularly, but it's right across the street, so I still should be able to attend. I'm going to Lauri and Juuso's ice hockey games tomorrow, that should be fun. We had chicken curry burritos for dinner tonight, they were goooood :]

until next time, hei hei !