Ovalish shaped life-organ

Oh goodness gorilla gracious it's been a while. I apologize from the bottom of my ovalish-shaped organ that pumps blood and life fuel to my body.

How are you?

A little while ago, ( a few days, months, who's keeping track? ) I went to Sweden, Stockholm, via party-cruise ship with my class.

It was quite cold and dark back then. Although I feel deep down in my ovalish shaped life-organ, that I handled the thick blackness of Helmikuu quite admirably, I realized this weekend I'm just waking up from a sort-of hibernation .

Let me explain,

For Christmas I received a polar-bear hat , I am no longer wearing that hat, thus my analogy.

Who wore it better? Lappa oli (jk) We all know Mette is the cutest jääkarhu, like, ever. 

I went to Lapland ! The reindeer pictured above is literally the most famous "person" I have ever met. Go youtube " Aatu the reindeer who watches tv" He even posed for my picture ! 

So these pictures uploaded in all the wrong order, but I've decided to, being the talented writer  that I am, work with it. Can I get  Girl scout promise of best wishes? 

(If you got that you are both a hunger games fan and were a girl scout, and on your honor you will try to serve God and be a mocking Jay)

Moving on... 

This picture was taken in March, it was "warm" for a few days and then we had what the Finns (and me when I'm feeling Finerican)  call "Taka talvi". The snow returned and everyone and your mom besides myself was grumpy for a few weeks. He was the only snowman on the block.

 Someone stole his nose. 

Sometimes my life is truly extraordinary and I feel more cultured then a panda bear in antarctica , but sometimes I stay home and contemplate how baby bananas are made. 

Here I am (the one who forgot sunglasses ) On a boat to one of my favorite places in Helsinki and the world, Suomenlinna .Once I saw an old lady with a hat made of leaves there . I wanted to take a picture, but my friend told me that would be creepy. That's Last time I conform ever , leaf-lady is my idol. 

So refering back to a previous post about Kamppi being awesome and so on, sometimes they give free ice cream. Who cares if it's only +1degree. There are so many perks :

1. It's free

2. The icecream won't melt and make your hands all sticky 

3. the beach theme makes you feel warmer 

4. The third one was a lie 

5. But, like, Free Icecream 

I made the frozen Characters out of clay for art class. If you're curious what I'm up to, I'm Anna from Frozen, go watch it.

My russianaphobic host grandpa told me a very elaborate story about this cake, O'boy! . It went something like, a nice old lady baked this cake and everyone loved it, so she made a lot of money.  Stockman wanted to also make money, so they obtained the recipe and started making it and selling it . They were stealing her customers, so, americanstyle she sued. She won the case, costing stockman a lot of money. Stockman was pretty upset. It could longer call the cake by her name, but since they still had the receipt they continued making it. The lady went out of business. Stockman rechristened the name "Revenge".

Revenge is a dish best served with a lot of sugar? 

This is the most recent picture for this post, taken only a few days ago (really this time ).

In Finland they have this easter tradition that, if you're super curious about , the internets a thing. But Basically,  A week before Easter, children dress like cute old-fashioned woods-peoples, or trolls, or not-scary witches, and find sticks to decorate. Then they ring their neighbors doorbells, and say a poem, which demands chocolate in return for one of their sticks. 

This teaches them a valuable lesson in economics, supply+demand+ the advantages of dressing occasion- appropriately .

Or maybe, just that being cute wins you chocolate...

A lesson well learned.. Do I have any callers ;)? 

Back to lapland. There I enjoyed, reindeer -riding, International-boys cross-dressing , giant snowmen, meeting santa claus, nightmares about creepy stuffed-bears, and generally, it was just a great time. I even found a cool purple rock.

I really Like Finnish foods. 

My friends are sexy and they know it. 

Blogger has decided that after the above pictures mark a good place for me to shut up, so Here it goes. 

When Finnish students graduate from Lukio ( High school) . They get to decorate and then ride in trucks all around their home city/town/village . They then trow chocolate at hopeful children, 

and sometimes unsuspecting japanese tourist. This is a great metaphor for the life one lives as an exchange student. 

The life is dropped on you from a high altitude at great speed. It may hit you in the eye, but next time you'll duck. 

And at least it's sweet. 

A much overdue New Years Post

I spent New Years in the magical land of Turku with my lovely friend.

A brief review of Turku :

"Hey look a mini Helsinki"
"aww the river is so pretty!"
"what's with the demonic baby statues?"
and of course , the Finnish specialty,

"LOOK!!! another tree. "

The Great Wall of Turku

ja Arvaa Mitä ?! Mä puhun suomea nyt ;) 

Hello Again, remember me :) ?

Since we last spoke 4 major events have taken place, and circa 9,000 smaller ones.

We have some catching up to do.

For this post I'm going to cover three major events :


-Firstly: Thanks-Giving

-Secondly: My New Host Family

-Thirdly: Christmas

- Fourthly: (is that a real word? ) AHA! Were you reading carefully? I said three, let's not be greedy.

I won't have any of my own pictures in this post, but rather the following one, because pictures have caused problems in uploading and blah blah yaddah yaddah wouldn't you just rather hear me talk? Or rather, ramble, because I have no intention of proof reading this ;).

Thanksgiving

The gigantic colorful leaves that covered Helsinki this October had flown to Africa (or where ever they go) and this Thanksgiving was a rather dark day - filled with bright smiles and unfathomably large amounts of delectable food. ( No Turkey though) I wrote on the Facebook:

"Today I'm thankful for my Finnish and American friends and family, and for an unforgettably unique Thanksgiving. My day began with meeting (my cousin) at central station, meeting (a friend of my cousin), and together adventuring around my beautiful Stadis (my use of Finnish slang is a recent thing and you should be really impressed). Among other exciting endeavors, we went skating in front of the train-station, saw some pretty churches, and ate A LOT of good foods (including Fazer ) cousin has promised to post pictures

And words can not describe how thankful I am for the most unconventional Thanksgiving dinners that followed. Filled with laughter and me trying to explain traditions (and laughter at me trying to go about them) My lovely international friends and my host parents all enjoyed our first Finnish-style Thanksgiving Celebration in an Italian restaurant.

I am so blessed."

What I didn't tell in that post was how we went first to fazer then to a Chinese buffet (Happy Food Garden if you're a local) and then I proceeded to go stuff myself with Italian, and chocolate cake, and like. I love food.

I'm officially a moomin.

<--- Me

Okay so you get one picture, but this is the only one! For those of you who don't know Moomins are White Hippos that are kind of like Mickey & Minnie Mouse are to American children, except Finnish. And also they live with this ghoulish-girl-thing called Little My.

I think it's a girl anyway, she gives me the creeps with an emphasis on the eeeeeeps-sound .

Somedays, actually nearly everyday, I'm just so happy I think to myself "is this a dream?" if you (yes you) the reader are considering going on exchange, do it. Don't give me any excuses (or rather yourself)
If you have the opportunity, go.


I digress....

New Host Family

It's been a big shift from living in the center of the center (kartinkaupunki) to living on the outskirts of Helsinki, and generally civilization (gotta bus card, it's pink!), but I'm really happy with the decision.

I now get to live with my host parents, my stylish older host sister (18), my adorable little host sister (8), and sweet host brother (14).

Oh! and our pupu Muu of course! Can't forget her!
*pupu means bunny 

Miila and I share the basement with our own laundry, bathroom, and living space. I only have to journey above ground for like, Food. And also Muu, because she inhabits the penthouse.

I felt at home here almost immediately, and I really love my comfy yellow chair and big wooden desk for doodling... I mean homework.

Around our green house, and under its red roof, we've been watching movies,walking, ice-skating, pullaing, and CHRISTMASING :D

(^ I have awesome transition skills, my English teacher would be proud. It almost makes up for the myriad of made-up words and grammatical errors. Yes? No? I think so)

Joulu

Joulu, which of course means Christmas in Finnish, is not 100% the same as an American Christmas , and to give you  a more to-date recollection  I will again steal from the Facebook:

"Merry Christmas everyone from beautiful Finland! Here we celebrate Christmas on the 24th, because Finland is Santa's home turf! In case you didn't know, he visits every home in Finland in person before making his trip around the world! He's in a lot better shape than I expected :) "

So of course the biggest difference was celebrating a day earlier, and, Santa coming through the front door - that is, instead of magically squeezing himself, the toys, and not to mention his plus-sized-belly through the chimney .

There were also some different foods, including rice-porridge, 10 different pullas (one made with chocolate) , and a array of unique casseroles.

Older sister, äiti, sister's friend, and I remained dolled-up until after 1 am, because we attended the midnight mass at this church named Kannelmäen kirkko with a tall-pointy, witch-like hat for a roof. I enjoyed the service, and even though this was the blackest Christmas I've ever seen, the light that smiled through the cold windows made me forget my dreams of a white Christmas.
*äiti  means mom

This Kirkko speaks for herself.