eastern homes, western hearts: kolkytseiteman

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 !