Well, more than a week has gone by since I left New York, and yet it feels like a much longer time has passed since then. I miss everyone so much and wish you all were here to be apart of this truly amazing experience.

I can't tell you all enough how wonderful this clubhouse is. As I have said in a previous post, in terms of the atmosphere and the spirit of the people, Suvimaki and Fountain House are exactly alike. But because Suvimaki is a much smaller clubhouse (the research unit at Fountain House is a little bigger then the whole house here), the pace and the tone of the day is more relaxed, which allows relationships to evolve more naturally and comfortably. I can't get over how relaxed it is though. There is always work to be done but I sense that their are few people here who feel very stressed out whether or not something gets done today or tomorrow. There is a lot I miss from not speaking the language fluently, but I can see this ease when members and staff interact with one another. Everyone loves being here at the house and more importantly, the people here have a sense of ownership that I think some people at Fountain House have a hard time feeling. They are both wonderful in their own right though and I am so happy to know that they exist in this world.

On Wednesdays for an hour at the end of the day, there is an English Only Table, where members and staff can gather to practise speaking English. I was very excited about this. I already knew many people who could and would speak at least some English to me but I was curious to see who would come to the table and just how strict the no-Finnish rules were. The group consisted of about eight members and staff. We went around and told something about ourselves to the rest of the group and then we just started talking. I asked what everyone liked to do outside of work and school and the conversation just took off! We talked about music and movies (and for like the third time in three days someone mentioned Blues Brothers, which then lead to Finnish and Americans alike reciting lines from the movie). It was really fun;)

Since I have neither a phone nor an internet connection at my apartment, it has been difficult to keep in touch with folks back home. This would not do. Fortunately, one of my new co-workers, Ratvia, took me to get a cell phone last Tuesday after lunch and now FINALLY, I can reach you all back home. Woot! Huge phone bills, here I come!!

Stay tuned! More to come later today...

The view from my apartment in Jyvaskyla.....

Springtime in Finland! Lake Jyvaskylari, in mid-thaw.

Whew! Well I am now in Finland and working at Suvimaki. Thank goodness! The trip here was not one of my best...the worst part was the flight between NYC and Amsterdam. The woman in front of me put her seat back righ after take off and did not return it to its upright position until we were about to land 7 HOURS later!! I tried to put my own seat back down to give me more space but it wouldn't move! Needless to say I was happy when I switched planes in Amsterdam! The train ride from Helsinki to Jyvaskla was fabulous though-I had more leg room then I knew what to do with:)
Kati was there at the train station to pick me and take me to my new digs. The apartment is on University Road (translation from the Finnish) and is about a mile from the clubhouse. It has the worlds tiniest elevator, but the apartment itself is beautiful. There are big bay windows in each of the main rooms and a decent sized balcony overlooking the town and the lake below. It is very well situated! I am so excited to live alone, although I know I will get lonely sometimes. After Kati and I put my things down, she and I walked into the center of the town where we were going to meet Anna Maria and Ulla from Suvimaki. I have met both before when they came to NYC for training and it was really good to catch up with them. We were all very tired from our various activities the day before so we ate and then departed ways.
Kati was going to come in the afternoon to drop off the bike she was loaning me while I am here and I planned to do a little bit of exploring of the town after. I was also planning on getting up early but of course (and for those of you who know me well should already guess), waking up sooner then I absolutely have to is difficult indeed. In fact, I woke up just in time to only have time to go to the grocery store down the block. My first trip to the grocery store was not so bad as I would have thought the day before. I made a decision to only buy things that I knew I could make without looking at directions (as they were in either Finnish or Swedish). Pasta and frozen pizzas in hand, I made it through the check out lane and was almost home free when I realized that I didn't get a bag to put my groceries in (something I had not thought of until that moment). In Europe, you have to either bring grocery bags from home or buy them at the store. I don't know if the check out girl had thought I was a Finn until that moment (probably not) but my cover was definitely blown when I asked for a bag in English. D'oh!
I spent the rest of the day riding around the main lake (there are two large lakes and many smaller ones within the city limits) and getting to know the city. I was starting to get nervous about the coming day. I knew at that moment that I had underestimated the need to know more then just the basic Finnish before coming here and I was afraid everyone at Suvimaki was going to hate me because I was an arrogant American who demanded everyone to speak my language. Not a good way to start the next two months!!
But alas! All the worry was for not...everyone here is certainly at different levels of English proficiency but everyone is trying and the fact that I am trying to learn Finnish has endeared me to them. The spirit is the same as Fountain House and the atmosphere is so relaxed and friendly that I have not felt so anxious or uncomfortable as I did the first few minutes of Monday morning. These last three days have felt like one big whirlwind, what with all the people I am meeting and the town I am getting to know and of course, learning the language. But I feel so fortunate that I have been given this opportunity and so I am going to mik it for all that its worth;)

Today is finally the big day! And thank goodness too!!
This week has thrown me some curve balls and now I am left feeling off balance. Whats more my world is about to change and while I know in my bones this will be one of those experiences that will change my life for the better, I still am anxious. Theres only so much I can do to prepare for an experience like this and that has frustrated me. However, the wait is now over and could not be happier.
I would now like to take this opportunity to thank all my friends and family for helping me through these last couple of months-without you all I do not think I would have left good about doing this.
Wish me luck!!

Six months later...
A lot has happened since my last post. Negotiations with Kati (who is coming to work at Fountain House in New York City while I work in her clubhouse in Jyvaskyla Finland) and our bosses has changed the time frame of our exchange from three months to two months. Now I will be going to Finland from April 21st-June 16th and Kati will be in NYC from May 1st to July 1st. A month ago I bought my plane tickets and it finally became real to me. I am incredibly excited but also a big ball of nervous energy. There is still a lot of work to be done both here at Fountain House and at home. I decided in Febuary that I was going to move out of my apartment before leaving to go to Finland and that I needed to find more stable homes for my lovely dogs. This was a hard decision to make but I feel as though it is the right time to make a break with both. So now before I leave I have to move my stuff into storage and find a home for my dogs. At work, I have to organize my projects and make sure the people I work with are taken care while I am away. WHEW!!!
In the last few months I have continued, although a bit sporadically, to learn some Finnish. Thankfully I do not sound too horrible!