Tomorrow I will have thirty days left in Finland. I can hardly believe how fast the time is flying. Last week I was very homesick and now I feel as though there is so much for me to do before I leave. I am trying to figure out if I will be able to go to the Åland Islands-as I was telling my mom about my potential plans, I realized it sounded like a crazy idea. Its not cheap and it requires a lot of traveling and not a lot of time. I am going back and forth about this. Do I want to spend the money and jam a trip into a short amount of time? Or do I want to take the chance that I will be able to do it someday, this time at a more leisurely pace? I wish I knew for sure...*sigh* oh well. Like these are real problems anyways! You all are probably rolling your eyes or something equally overdramatic;)

Looking at my calender has also inspired me to make the most of my time here and to stop thinking about how I miss everyone. It would suck if I spent all this time doing nothing but missing because then I really would miss something! So. Yesterday, after it rained and the blue sky was full of big white fluffy clouds, I decided it was high time to get lost. I think some of you out there might know this (certainly if your last name is Butorac and Bob and Darby are your parents) but one of my favorite things to do is to get lost! I remember moving to Virginia when I was five and getting lost (someone might have called it having an adventure!) all the time. Oh what fun! Discovering roads that wound and wound (those were the best) and listening to music and singing along with my sisters, brother, and our mother. Getting lost was the best way to orientate ourselves to a new area and they are some of my favorite memories.

Today I got lost and wound up at a lake about 4 miles away from my apartment. According to someone I work with, the lake is about 240 kilometers wide. In the summer you can take a steamboat from one end to another. Needless to say, it was gorgeous. I was very jealous of the folks who live on this lake. From my side of the shore, I could smaller islands where one or two houses sat, waiting to be used. I was even more jealous of these people:) I took a lot of pictures of the lake and the woods surrounding it and noticed that Spring had finally come. Everything around me was either white, blue, or green. It was absolutely beautiful!! This made me very happy.

I was sad to leave the lake behind, but I figured I needed to start heading back to my neck of the woods. I found a road that brought me to Lake Jyväskyläri and I went across the bridge to the marina below. All the boats that just a week ago had been stuck in the ice were now floating in rather choppy early Spring waters. I am so excited to get on one of the steamers to go on a boat tour. That won't be possible for another week or so though.

Alas, my time has grown short and there is much for me to do before it runs out all together! Hope you all are well. I love you!

P.S. Pictures will be posted *hopefully* in the next day or two. Hope you all can wait until then:)

I thought you all would enjoy these...
Last week, some local firemen came to Suvimaki to talk to us about fire safety. The coolest part of their visit was a demonstration of how to put out a fire using a fire extinguisher and then with a special fire proof blanket. THEN, they let us all try it! The blanket was a little frightening because you had to get so close to the flames, but I felt all macho after I put the fire out. Maybe I will become a firefighter:)
In other news, the police came this week to give their safety talk. Let me just say the police talk was seriously lacking folks...

And so you all can stop holding your breath now...
From top to bottom: 1) Enjoying the summer-like conditions on the best place possible; 2) Well, maybe the second best place; 3) The outside of Turku Castle; 4) King Erik XIV's favorite home away from home; 5) I would like to say this is my boat, but alas they don't pay me enough (hint, hint); 6) An artsy shot of an artist's workshop (from the Handicrafts Museum); 7) A view of Turku Cathedral from the harru (meaning hilltop park in Finnish).

On a sad note, my friend Larita passed away on Monday:( For those of you who did not know her, she was a joy to be around. Larita had an endless supply of positive energy and love for those around her. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know her. I am even more blessed that I could help her during her darkest time. I am grateful that her suffering has finally come to an end.

Love you and miss you all!

Ok when I said I would have more pictures tomorrow I really means next week. And also that (sadly) there will not be any pictures. You all will just have to deal with another long winded post from me. Lol. It sounds like a lot of you love looking at my blog and reading all about my adventures (the washing machine story is an instant classic I am afraid). This makes me very happy:)

This weekend, as I might have mentioned, I went to the city of Turku. Turku is situated on the southwest coast of Finland and is a popular point of departure for folks wanting to go to Sweden or through the Archipelago (essentially a large group of islands, in this case the Åland Islands) that lies in between Finland and Sweden. The trip is supposed to be absolutely beautiful and I hope to have time to do it before I leave Finland, but it is looking as though it might may not be possible. We shall see. Aside from being a big port, Turku was the capital of Finland before Helsinki. I was told that when the Russians recaptured Finland from the Swedes, they wanted a capital closer to St. Petersburg (so they could keep a closer eye on the people and not feel threatened at every turn by the Swedish...very intelligent of them) and therefore changed the capital to Helsinki. Unfortunately, the history lesson is not over yet folks!

I arrived in Turku on Friday evening and went immediately to check into my hostel. The Turku Hostel is the only hostel in Turku and surprisingly, I was able to book a dorm room. I was very excited because I really like the experience of being in a hostel. People are usually very friendly and up to conversation with anyone, anytime. I was hoping that I would find someone(s) to see the city with, or if nothing else eat and drink with while I was in Turku. Sadly, it turned out that I had one other roommate and she had no interest in talking. Resigning to my fate as a single traveller, I went to eat at a little Italian place close to the center of the city. The food was good and the guy who waited on me was very nice. Unfortunately, he knew almost immediately that I was not Finnish. So much for keeping the illusion:) The river that divides the town is called Aura and it is a nice place to walk after sunset. There were many people out by the river enjoying the good weather when I was walking back to the Hostel. From what I had seen so far, I knew I was going to like the city. I decided to rent a bike for the following day and see the sights.

Saturday was another beautiful morning! The first place I went to see in the morning was Turku Cathedral. The cathedral is located near the center of the city and alongside the river. Turku Cathedral is another typical Scandanavian structure, simple in style and materials used. I really like this style. It seems more in line with function then with showing off. The inside of the cathedral was as dark as any I had seen before but again, there was very little non-function related decoration. There are several people buried in the crypt of the cathedral, including a Swedish Queen (married to the unfortunate King Erik XIV, who you will read about soon) and several national war heros.

From the Cathedral I went to the Handicrafts Museum. Don't let the name fool you...it was awesome! It was kind of like a smaller, more contained Williamsburg. The museum is set on a plot of land with buildings dating back over two hundred years ago. This community was practically the only area in Turku that was left untouched by a hugh fire that destroyed most of the city about one hundred and fifty years ago. In the early 1900s, city officals decided to make the land and buildings an open air museum showcasing the crafts and the lifestyle of people living in the 1800s. It is a very popular attraction now. I really enjoyed walking around the "town" and looking into the different buildings. There was virtually no one there when I went and so I could take my time going through. After visiting the Handicrafts Museum, I went to lunch at a Thai restaurant near the center square. I know what some of you are thinking, how good could that have been? But let me tell you, it was some of the best thai I have ever had!!

One of the most famous attractions of Turku is the castle. It dates back to the middle ages but has additions dating back from about two hundred agos. It is not like any other castle I have seen, and while it looks old, its design is rather simple and beautiful. This is no Versaille. Thank goodness for that! The castle is located at the mouth of the Aurajoki (joki means "river" in Finnish) and it is also happens to be where it meets the Baltic Sea. Its most famous for being the "home" of King Erik XIV from Sweden for several years. Erik was imprisioned in Turku Castle for seven years by his own brother. But don't feel too sorry for Erik though...before he was put in Turku Castle for being deemed insane, he had his brother and his brother's wife imprisioned in Sweden for (probably) the same charges. See Mom, at least I am not holding my siblings prisoner and telling everyone they are insane! Overall, the castle was very nice and I think I saw every nook and cranny there was to see. Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of the castle within the next couple of days.

After all that touring, I decided it was high time for a drink on one of the city's boat bars. There are about six or seven of these restaurant/bar boats along the Aurajoki and everyone of them was filled to capacity this weekend. I was fortunate enough to get a seat next to the DJ (which probably resulted in me losing some of my hearing). I sat and listened to the music (the DJ was playing Funk and old R&B) and read my book and it was really wonderful! At some point I started talking to the women next to me. We talked about the weather and how my trip was going so far. Both of them commented on how well I spoke Finnish (well its easy to master ten words!!), so I felt pretty good about that. I stayed there for a couple of hours and I decided that I would really like to come back to Turku. It is a truly beautiful city! I also decided that all I wanted to do the next morning was sit by the Aurajoki and read and watch the world go by me.

And thats just what I did! Hope you all are well. Look for pictures from my trip to Turku in the coming days. Love you!!

More pictures....

From top to bottom: (1)Ritva's youngest daughter Beanja celebrating Vappu with a game of chase, (2)tasting Sima (traditional Vappu drink) for the first time, (3)first impressions are not positive, (4)vowing never again to drink (yeah right), (4)the lake continues to unfrost...and the Vappu sunset makes it look even more beautiful.

Hope you all are doing well!! More pictures tomorrow...*mwah*

Happy May!

This past weekend, all of Finland dropped what they were doing to celebrate the coming of Spring. Along with Summer, Spring is a time that is universally revered in Finland. I think it has something to do with all those long winters;) Anyways, from what I understand from my friends here, it is usually really crappy out for Vappu (Finnish word for May 1st). This year was definitely an exception. I can still say that I have not seen rain (or snow!) while I have been in Finland. On Friday, the skies were blue and the temp. rose to about 15 degrees Celsius (that about 60 degrees for you anti metric system folks). As the weekend went on, the weather got better and better.

On Saturday, I spent most of the day trying to figure out how to use the washing machine in my apartment. As you can imagine, all of the directions were in Finnish. Aside from the directions, I didn't think there was any difference in how this machine ran and how American models run. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't figure out why there was no water going into the machine, which made the machine keep switching into different cycles. I kept hoping that water would eventually come from the pump that was connected to the machine. I really did not want to call anyone from work to come and help me. Call it foolishness, I call it pride. I wanted to be able to do this on my own. Finally I gave up thinking that water was ever going to come, and thinking that this part of the machine was broken, I used water from the shower (which is right next to the washing machine), I started a load. Miraculously, it worked!! I was so proud of myself. I didn't need anyone's help to figure out how to work this machine! This should be the end of the story...alas, I decided to share my triumph with people at work. When they found out what I had done, they almost fell down laughing. There was (and I suppose is) a switch on the water pump that you have to turn in order to get water to come out and into the machine. *sigh* Well whatever.... :)

MOVING ON...I was invited by my friend Ritva to go with her family to a Vappu celebration on Sunday at her friend's house. I was a little nervous about socializing with people I did not know, but the promise of good conversation did not allow me to hesitate. And afterall, it was a great time. Ritva's little girls are really cute, and while they didn't know any English, we managed to get along just fine. Most of the people at the party knew English so conversation was not that difficult. We talked mostly about Vappu traditions and how I was going to spend my time here in Finland. There were tons of other families at the party and much eating and there might have been some drinking as well;) The Finnish have a special drink that they only make on Vappu. Essentially, its brandy or cognac with two kinds of sugar, water, yeast, and lemon. The non-alcoholic version is pretty tasty. That being said, I have to say that Sima (the name of the drink) in its purest form (ie. with alcohol) is pretty nasty stuff. Or at least the stuff I was given was...that's probably a clue right? Lol....

Did I mention that Vappu is a national holiday? Because it is, everyone has the day off...except folks who work in restaurants and bars that is. I spent most of Monday riding around the two lakes surrounding Jyväskylä and than walking around the town center-where many Vappu revellers were hanging out. The center was really crowded, like Little Italy during a St. Ginero (I know I am spelling that wrong...anyone want to bet how many emails I get about this one?) festival. In fact, pedestrianrian street looked a lot like a street fair in New York. Anyone want to buy some socks? Possibly some incense sticks??

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...