nelkytyks - 41

Okay, so, the past few days have been sort of crazy, so I'll try and sum them up as best I can. So friday morning I didn't go to school because Anna took Maria and I on a trip with the church that she works for. We also picked up a family friend of theirs, Maija [probably 21 or so], and her baby Enna [1], so that was fun. We drove to her church in Muurame, probably a twenty minute drive from here, and just kind of hung around while Anna helped out and got things organized. Around 10 three buses showed up and everyone piled in. There were probably close to 100 people there, mostly moms with their kids. The bus ride was about an hour and a half, full of screaming babies and crying toddlers, but it was fun :] We were on our way to ähteri, a finnish zoo ! We walked around and saw so many different animals, all native to Finland, it was really cool. We saw reindeer and elk, deer, and a wolverine ! I also got to see swans, and beavers, and all sorts of animals :] I took a lottt of pictures, I'll post a few at the end. After we saw the animals we went back to the picnic tables and ate some lunch and then around 3 30 we headed back to the buses and headed home. I slept pretty much the whole ride home :] I don't know how, the babies were now tired and cranky, so the screaming was worse, but somehow I managed to sleep though it. When we got back we waited for about a half an hour for Anna to helpclean up and then we drove Maija and Enna home. Anna was supposed to be worknig a kiosk at the hockey game that night, so we dropped Maria off at Sonja and Mia's house and then headed to the hockey hall. After visiting three different kiosks, Anna said that they didn't need her help afterall. I was planning on meeting up with Annina and Piia that night, so I didn't want to go home just to turn around and come back again, so I stayed around and watched part of the game with Juuso. It was really cool, they had blaring music, and cowbells ! I didn't get any pictures, but I'll make sure I do sometime before I leave. I walked downtown to meet annina around 7 or so and waited for her to get out of play practice at the school. When she came out I also ran into Joonas ! He's one of Piia's friends and I've only talked to him on facebook, so this time I acutally said hi :] So he walked and talked with Annina and I down to the bus station and then we all got on the same bus, I was going over to Annina's house for a bit, Joonas lives sort of near her I guess. So that was a lot of fun, he's really nice...;D Aha, so anyways, Annina and I walked to her house, it was really cute, and I met her 11 year old brother. He's apparently really good at english, but he was too shy to say anything to me...darn. After awhile Annina and I left her house and headed for Piia's, who was cooking us dinner that night :] Piia lives quite close, just over an overpass from Annina's house. When we got there my jaw dropped. She lives in this tiny little house, but it's so pretty ! She's an only child, so they don't need a big house, but her house was so pretty inside and out. When we got inside we noticed that she had put candles on the table and set out food in neat little dishes, it was so cute ! We ate delicious chicken soft tacos, they were so yummy :] After we were done eating and talking we took a walk outside and stargazed for a bit, we found the big and little dippers and a lot of airplanes. We went inside and watched different TV shows, ate some salted peanuts, and Piia made us the most delicious green tea I've ever had. We watched the finnish Idols, ahhahhaha, and some other random TV shows, and then around 11 30 Piia's dad drove me home. He didn't speak any english, so the car ride was quiet, but I was able to tell him enough so he knew where I lived. And that was friday ! And then yesterday. Um, I woke up around 9, had some breakfast and then Mia came over with Nana [naw-naw](her mom) and Anna and her went for a run. The boys all left for hockey practice or games, so I was babysitting. The girls and I went outside and played this jumping game, I don't know how to explain it, but someone picks a number, then the other people run and jump/leap that many times to try and get the farthest. Then the person who picked the number does the same thing only one time less than the others. Then they try and tag one of the others, if they do than they have to run back to the starting point before being tagged, if they can't reach it, then they're it again ! It was fun, kind of weird. Then I showered and watched Grease ! At 2 the girls and I went to see a movie, Nana drove us down there and we saw WALL-E, but it was dubbed over in Finnish. It wasn't bad though, theres not much talking until the end of it anyways, and it's a really cute movie, so it was fun. And then I met up with Annina again because Jason told us there was a big thing happening at the Mormon church that evening, and that althoguh we're not Mormon, we would have a chance to meet the new guy filling in for Casey. So we went shopping for a bit, and then walked over to the church. It was packeeed with kids. Apparently it was their "super saturday" or something, and finnish mormon kids from all over the country get together and just do different things through out the day in some city, and then have a dance at the end of the day, this time just happened to be in Jyväskylä. The new guy is named Terry, he seems nice, and he's funny, so that was cool. We just kind of stood in the big gym, talking and what not with our normal chill night group, everyone else was either dancing or standing as well. The funny thing about Finns is that no matter the speed of the song, they're always doing a waltz type dance. One of the boys asked me to dance, so that was fun, kind of awkward at first, but not too bad. We just talked about the normal typical things, why I was here, how long, what my hobbies were, etc. Then we had a live band perform, it was one of the past missionaries, Daniel, and some other guys. They weren't too bad acutally, I took a little video, so I might put that up. The dance ended at 8 30, after Jason sang "Can you feel the love tonight?" and "Beauty and the Beast", and all the kids got on their buses and went home. I got home around 9 30, watched Step Up, and then went to sleep. And now its sunday morning, and I think I'm gunna go shower :] Have a nice weekend !


A Fallow Deer
An elk :]
And this is for Jordan, a Buffalo !

This is baby Enna, she was so cute !

And loved to make sounds :]
A Reindeer !
A wolverine !
And this one's for mom, its an otter ! and it's waving to you :]
This is the band, Daniel is the lead singer, playing the acoustic.

neljakymmenta - 40

Sorry for the no-post last night, the past 48 hours were kind of chaotic. I woke up yesterday, went to the bathroom, and then went into the kitchen to get something, but before getting it, I passed out ! Maria was the only one home, and when I woke up she was just kind of standing there and laughing at me, she told Anna later that she though I was sleeping on the kitchen floor. I'm not sure what happened, I didn't go to school though, Anna took me to the little health center near our house around 4 in the afternoon. They ran routine tests, blood pressure, eye exams, etc. Some of them felt as though I was trying to pass a sobreity test ! What fun. Then they wanted to check my heart [making sure I didn't have epilepsy] so I had those little round sticky things put all over me and then hooked up to wires :] It was quite the adventure, espescially because they spoke finnish...but the cardiologist said I was fine. Although I have a golf ball sized knot on the back of my head that hurts, meaning that I hit either the chair or the table when I fell, but other than that I'm perfectly okay. Anyways, so that was yesterday and today was really short. I had art in the morning, which I have with Anu ! So that was great, plus its only like an 8 person class, so its nice and quiet. After art I would have had english but there was a meeting for the "150" people, school celebration thing, so I went to that. We basically just talked about what to wear, went over some basic "dramatic effects" and other little details. I then went home, and for the first time ever, had the house to myself. It wasn't actually that great, I just watched some TV, drew a little, wrote a little in my journal, things like that. Maria was the first one home, so we took a little trip to K-Market, and I bought a little gift for my family. I'll send it tomorrow ;D We had soccer practice at 6, I just rode my bike around while the girls played. At one point I was just standing next to the goal, the girls were having a water break when Matleena, one of the girls on the team, came up and pulled my shorts down ! So there I was standing in my underwear, in front of the entire team plus maybe 10 other onlookers. Thatttt was embarrassing, I quickly pulled my shorts back up, and proceeded to chase Matleena around. I'm sure it was really hillarious to see, it wasn't as embarrassing as I would've imagined, but still...being pantsed is no fun...Anyhow, I'm going to webcam my daddy, I might not post for the next couple of days, they're going to be quite busy :] I'll be sure to take pictures !

kolkytyheksan - 39

So this morning began kind of oddly. I got to school at 7 45 and headed to the art classroom, there were a lot of people hanging around, but the door to the art room was locked, so I just sat on the steps. At 8 or so, the teachers of the surrounding classrooms showed up and all of the kids sitting near me all went inside. So there I was, sitting by myself, and I think it was then that I realized something was wrong. The Italian exchange girl showed up about a minute later, and Chet about two minutes after that. It seems that the exchagne students missed a memo...We went and found our counselor, Marjatta, who found out that the art class was canceled...She showed us to an english class that we could take, but when we walked in there weren't any seats. Marjatta said that we could go find other chairs, but we were already too embarrassed to ever walk in again so she showed us to a different english class. This time there were a few seats, so now I'm taking an english class ! I think we're just there to help out and such, I think it'll be fun though :] Afterwards I had a four hour break so I went home for a bit. I watched a movie, listened to some music, and ate some lunch before heading back downtown. I had a spanish class that started at 1 25, so I headed there. The teacher never showed up, and I had to leave at 1 50 for my finnish lessons, so it was pretty much a pointless class for that day. Finnish lessons were pretty fun, we played a verb conjugation game, I was Zorro ! Afterwards I walked over to the Mormon church, without Annina this time, she had choir practice. Tonight, however, was Casey's last chill night in Jyväskylä :/ He's being transfered to Helsinki tomorrow, so we had a party for him tonight. HOME MADE ROOT BEER FLOATS ! Finns don't drink root beer, it isn't sold here, so it was really nice, and tasty ! :] It was a lot of fun, although kind of sad, but Jasons still here, so chill nights will still happen. After I got home I had some dinner, watched some TV, took a shower, and watched The Simpsons with Maria. And now I'm watching Harriet the Spy, ah, I missed this movie, I used to want to be her when I was little, her life was so cool. Anyways, so now I'm going to sleeeep, have a nice night !

I'd like now to inform you of a terrible happening today, a school shooting in a town about two hours from my town. The man was in his early twenties and ended up killing 11 people, and then himself. It's all over the news here, a lot of people are affected by it. Theres an exchange student living in this city, Kauhajoki, but he's fine, so that's good. You can read about it online, I'm not sure if it's hit international news yet. Anyways, so that's whats going on over here, keep me posted about back home.

kolkytkaheksan - 38

Today. was. wonderful. I slept in until 8 this morning, although I didn't have to leave the house until 9 45, it was very nice to just lounge around for a bit, taking my time. When I got downtown I met up with Annina and we did a little window shopping before we had lunch at school. Lunch was nice, we had potatoes and sausages and we sat with Saana. After lunch I had about 45 minutes of free time, so I went and listened in on Annina's choir practice, they are so good ! Afterwards we went downtown to this hugeee arena/hall, kind of like the tacoma dome, only bigger and not domed...but we went down there to practice for our presentation on the weekend of October fourth which is when we are celebrating the schools 150th anniversary. The whole room is supposed to be packed with people, and we are putting on some sort of play/dancing/presentation stuff. I'm taking part in it, hence the reason I went to the practice. It was really fun, we did some dancing and some acting and some other stuff, its hard to explain because I don't even really understand what's going on, but I think I'll know more about it later on...After the practice I didn't have any classes left so I walked with my friend from art, [I don't know her name..:/] up to the bus station and took a bus home. I cleaned my room, watched The Day After Tomorrow with Juuso, helped Anna cook a berry pie, and then went to the first part of Maria's soccer practice. It wasn't really all that exciting so after a half hour I came back home and showered because Sirpa and her girls were coming over! Sirpa is my third host mom, so I was really eager to meet her and the girls. Mimmi is 12 and Maria [she goes by Nupe (noo-pay)] is 14, and absolutely gorgeous. They were really fun, I am really looking forward to getting to know them. Nupe speaks a little english, so it'll be nice to have her to talk to :] They invited me to go with them on a two day vacation with them in October, so that should be fun. And they also asked if I'd play on their soccer team, their games are over with now but they practice all year round. So I'm going to go to their practices next week and see what its like. Sirpa also asked if she could call me and go out to coffee or pizza some time, it was really sweet. So all in all, my day was really wonderful. Tomorrow should be good as well, hooray for fabulous days ! I hope all of yours are going swell, have a pleasant week.

kolkytkussi - 36 [part two] pictures !

So here are the pictures from the light show on friday night ! Make sure you also scroll down to see allll the pictures and videos from my weekenddd :] [sorry for the poor quality...it was realllyyy dark]

This is the church, it was really pretty, althought its really hard to tell from this, sorry !
Again, the church, but reallly blurry...
My school, with a countdown clock until the light show began, you can see part of the light show in the video below, its pretty cool :]
MAKE ! Piia's ex boyfriend, pronounced maw-kay. We got an inside tour of the school because one of Piia's friends had the keys, and Make decided to use the girls bathroom, heres proof :]
Annina and Piia playing the piano in our school after hours :O Annina on the left and Piia on the right.
And this is the light show ! Well, a part of it.

kolkytseiteman - 37

Wow, what a weekend. These pictures are taknig up a lotttt of room, so I hope you enjoy them. The house we went to was so awesome, it was on its own tiny island, so no one else was there. The house ran on gas, so we had a fridge to keep things cool, but it was heated by a fire place. We had to boat about 20 minutes to get to the island, so that was a fun trip, on the way over we saw swans ! They were really pretty. Maria, Minni, and I just ran around the Island finding all of it's secret coves and what not while Anna got the fire going. We ate delicious hamburgers and some sweets and Maria and I played Jenga. We probably arrived on the island around 2 in the afternoon and around 4 or 5 we went berry picking. We boated to a different island around the bend of the lake and searched for berries. They weren't hard to find, there were millions of them ! But also in these berry bushes were these little spider flies, they live on moose and elk and they don't die easily. They get in your hair and up your pants, it is so gross. I of course was freaking out, I really hate bugs, and Anna was just standing there laughing ! Although, I'm sure it was hilarious...when we got back to our cabin I sat outside for a half an hour just picking through every inch of my hair, squeezing the little bugs until they died, it was nasty. We had some doughnuts and then went on more adventures around the Island before going to sauna. It was a smoke sauna, the traditional kind, so it was really nice. The island and the surrounding islands are all deserted, so it was really really really quiet outside. We followed more finnish traditions and ran from the sauna, into the freezing, 2 degree lake, completely naked. We did this 5 or 6 times, washing our hair on the first trip, although I couldn't manage to get all the soap out of my hair because I got out too quickly, it was so cold ! It was only 9 when we went to bed, but it sure felt like 1 in the morning, we had a long day. We got up around 8 this morning, had some potatoe cakes and pudding/yogurt for breakfast, and started to clean up the cabin. Anna had to clean out the stove and everything, so Maria and I went on another adventure, touring every inch of the place. Because there's no electricity, there is also no toilet, just an outhouse :] But I acutally think I like them better, its really nice. I took some pictures of it, do enjoy ! We left the island around 10 and boated back to where our car was parked. Once everything was loaded and the boat was tied up, we set off for a nice 5 minute drive to Harri's parents summer house. Mummu [harri's mom] and pappa [harri's dad] were currently at the summer house, so we went there for a couple of hours, had some lunch and desserts, played hide and seek, and watched monster trucks on TV. It was really nice there, the weather was absolutely beautiful today. We started our trek home around 2 stopping in at Harri's aunts house for more desserts and coffee, [a very finnish tradition]. Maria managed to get a brush stuck in her hair, so Harri's aunt and Anna spent a good half hour pulling it out. She now has a little bald spot where some of her came out...whoops ! We got home around 4 30 or so and got ready to leave, yet again. This time for swimming lessons. I went along and after sauna-ing and showering, Anna and I swam laps for 45 minutes while Maria had her class. We came home around 8 this evening and I've spent the rest of it writing this blog. I still need to upload pictures from the lightshow, so I'll do that next, have a lovely evening !

The water here was so clean you can drink it. The water in this picture is probably 3 feet deep, but you can see right to the bottom !
The island :] These were rocks Maria and I adventured on.
Ah, it was so prettty !
This is the Island we stayed on, right in the middle is the cabin, but you can't see it...
Just more of the pretty lake :]

The weather was so nice, no rain and no wind.
Maria and Minni, climbing on the rocks.
View from the Island.
That orange rope on the ground is what you hold on to when you go into the lake after sauna. It helps you get back up.
This was our kitched inside the cabin.

Maria and I on the boat.
The island.
Clearrrr water.
A different piece of land across the water.
The dressing room and towel room.

The sauna !
Sauna seating and water buckets.
A real smoke sauna, soooo nice.
The couch inside the cabin. That's an elk on the wall, Anna's dad killed it.


Maria on the boat, her favorite english phrases are either "rock on", "nod your head", or "go! go!"

This is the cabin !
This is the outhouse ! Isn't it cute ?
The outhouse, and some nice magazines to read :]
On the Island.
Anna and Maria in the boat.

Minni and me !
View from the boat.
One of the relatives summer house...
Maria and Minni on the boat.
Maria and Minni.

The boat shed.
The relatives summer house.
Maria and Minni, again !
View from the boat.


Maria :]

A part of our boat trip :]

kolkytkuusi - 36

Sorry about not posting last night, I got home too late and went straight to sleep. But let's back track a bit to the beginning of my day. I, for the first time all week, got to sleep in till 8 30, it was quite nice. I then had Finnish lessons in Studio 4, the language lab at the University. We used headphones to listen to the teacher talk and would then repeat what we were saying. When we were done we could listen to ourselves, trying to figure out what we needed to work on. It was actually really cool. At the beginning of class we did a "get to know each other exercise" where we walked around the classroom and had to interview five people to find out where they were from, what their name was, and what they studied. I met the new kid Anton, he was Welsch, and was studying sports culture, likunta kulturia. I also met Daniella, she's from Brasil, and is studying digital culture, digitalia kulturia [I think...]. I then met Anna, from Russia, she's studying sports psychology, likunta psikologia. I then met Peter, from Detroit, also studying sports psychology, and Eric, from Ireland, studying sports culture, likunta kulturia. So that was cool :] Afterwards I walked around town for a bit and then went home. Lauri was home, and again, I really don't think he actually ever goes to school, he is always home ! Weird...But we watched the end of Step Up on TV, I listened to some music, cleaned my room, and wrote a postcard to mom and dad. I found them in a store yesterday for 50 cents, normally 2 euros and they're so cool. They're helicopter views of my city and you can see my school, Harju [that football/soccer field] my bus stops, etc. So I labeled them for you and I'm sending it soon :] I managed to make plans during the day with Annina and Piia for my first friday night outing. There was going to be a light show downtown that evening, so we agreed to all go see it. I got downtown at 8 30 and met up with Annina, Piia was arriving around 9. We walked aroudn the town and saw all the pretty lights that had been set up, not like christmas lights, but like underground lights that lit up buildings and such. The church was so pretty ! I took some pictures, but it was dark, so not very many turned out. We found Piia and Make, Markus is his real name but he goes by Make [maw-kay], he's her ex-boyfriend, but they're still good friends. We walked up to our school and stood in the street parallel to it to watch the show. It was really cool, and I got part of it on tape ! So I'll be sure to post that, it wasn't very long, but really nice. After it was over we met up with some of Piia and Make's friends and kind of just walked around for a bit. One of their friends is the editor of our school newspaper and has the keys to the school building, so we got to go on an inside tour of how the whole lighting thing worked. It was spectacular ! We went and walked around the church park for a bit and met some more of their friends, but then I had to go home cause it was getting close to 11 there are only two buses at night, 45 after and 20 after. But it was really fun, I'm really glad I went :] In just an hour Anna, Maria and I are going to a little lake cabin about 100 km from here, it has no electricity or running water. We're staying overnight, so I'll miss yet another post, but I'll definitley post tomorrow ! I'll try and take pictures, although my batteries are almost dead from last night...whoops...hope you enjoy the pictures and video !



....well, the video upload isn't working, and we're about to leave. So I guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow, sorry !

kolkytviisi - 35 [part three, last part]

Well, if you haven't seen already, scroll down to see new pictures and videos from today :] And also a few from my first weeks here at Chill Night. Today wasn't the ordinary day at alllll. I got to school around 7 45 and noticed there were only three bikes and seven cars in the parking lot, I knew then and there that I had definitely missed something. I texted Annina and asked her what was up and she replied with "oops ! I forgot, we don't have class until 10 !" So there I was, two hours early with nothing to do. I sat on a bench in the main hallway and did sodoku for the first hour. Then Annina came to school just to sit with me. I played solitaire with a deck of cards while she wrote letters to her friends. I got to see a lot of the preparations for the fashion show, so that was fun :] At ten I had art class, we just worked on our end of the period projects and what not, I'm really behind because I've had Finnish lessons during my art classes, so I'm trying to catch up. At lunch we had mashed potatoes [yummm] and fried fish, like fish sticks, only its the whole fish, skin and all. [not so yummm...] We sat with Piia and her friend Tibu. Piia is really nice and really hilarious, I am so glad I know her, lunch wouldn't be the same if I didn't. Since she's a senior she knows more people than me, so I asked her to go "boy hunting" for me because I need a date for this dance, but I only know first year boys. She said she would :D So look forward to upcoming news about thattt. After lunch I had an hour break before the fashion show, so I went to Annina's class meeting to help out with their final projet stuff. Veikko is also in her class, same with Anu, so I had people to talk to :] I showed them card tricks and we played card games, speed, three cards, and another game we don't know the name to. Then it was time for the fashion show ! The school really went all out, it was like a real thing. There were rows of seats, I got there early and got us front row seats :] And big lights and everything, it was so cool. I think it was themed as like a "travel through time", because we're celebrating 150 years this year. So at first, four boys walked out in old style tuxes and girls came out in old style dresses and then eventually they moved on to like 50's style clothes and then 60's and so on. All of the old clothes were just ones that people owned, but when we got to the "now" era the models came out in clothing donated by stores here. And a salon did all of the models hair and makeup, it was so pretty. Afterwards I came home, watched part of Men in Black with Juuso and his friend, went to Maria's soccer practice, and watched Generation Kill or something like that. So today was a fabulous today, tomorrow should be good as well. I don't have any school because theres a pesäpallo [finnish baseball] game at 10, but I have Finnish lessons that I can't skip, so I'll miss that :/ Have a nice night !

kolkytviisi - 35 [part two]

Here are some videos from the Fashion Show !

this last one is an African dance, my friend Piia is the last one ! :]

kolkytviisi - 35 [part one]

Before I start telling about my day, I'll share with you some photos ! We had a fashion show at school today, as part of the "end of the period" projects, because at my school we have 6 periods instead of 2 semesters, so we switch classes next tuesday, and this week has all been project work ! But I took some pictures and videos of it, it was really cool. I also got Annina's thumb drive which had pictures from my first chill night, the ice cream dropping night ! So have fun !



This is Casey ! In his ice cream poncho :]



This is me, dropping ice cream on Casey !

This is me dumping the whole bowl on Casey, he was the last to go ;]

This is what he looked like afterwards.
This is Jason and Casey. Jason decided to get one last text out before being ice cream covered.

This is me covered in ice cream :D

This is me, under the ladder, recieving the ice cream droppings.

Jason, Maiju, and Joona. Joona helps Jason and Casey run Chill Night, Maiju is just a regular attender.

This is Annina !

This was from the fashion show, it wasn't like a joke fashion show, it was actually really good. It was like a time travel fashion show, so this is like the '80s or something. This is my friend Arra, he's in my psychology class and is a professional model :]
More from the fashion show !
Arra again :]
Henri, also in my psychology class, he's nice ;]