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Published: August 23rd 2007
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My Bike
I don't really know why I took this picture, but I like it. It's at the water near my house. So, it seems like it has been forever since I last wrote an entry. Quite a bit has happened. On Saturday Jani, my host brother, and I went to Power Park, which is an amusement park in Alahämä. Well, I say it's an amusement park, but it's not really like the ones in America. It was very small and it only had 2 real roller coasters. The rest were just like fair rides. So, we spent a few hours there and rode everything about 3 times. It was pretty fun. After that I went to my first official Finnish party. It was alot of fun. It was my friend Ia's birthday. Her party was pink themed, meaning everyone had to wear something pink. Obviously I own nothing pink so I had bought a pink shirt from H&M a few days before. Anyway, I had a good time, and I was happy that I had been invited. When I got home that night I had my first sauna in my new house. It was very nice, but it was alot hotter than the times I went at Karkku. It was about 95ºC (Yes, as in almost the temperature at which water boils).
Ia
This is my friend Ia at her birthday party. She turned 17. I could only stand the heat for about 15 minutes , and then I had to get out.
On Sunday I did a lot of bike riding. I was really bored and all of my friends were busy, so I decided to explore the area where I live a little bit. So, I went out on my bike, and I was riding around when I saw this really big hill. I decided to check it out since I wasn't going anywhere in particular. When I got to the top of the hill I was amazed at how beautiful it was. The road going down the hill was completely lined with trees and at the end of it I could just see the valley area below. It was so beautiful. It looked like a painting or something. I found out later that the place is called Söderfjärden. It was the perfect picture opportunity and I of course didn't have my camera. I stood in awe for a few minutes, and then I noticed that there were a bunch of cars parked to my left and a little trail going into the woods. So, I decided to explore a little. The
Trampoline!
Some of my friends jumping on the trampoline at Ia's party. I swear, everyone here has a trampoline. woods were also really pretty. They are so green and there are these huge moss covered boulders everywhere. It's really cool. I only walked around in the woods for about 10 minutes because I didn't want to get lost or anything, but I would really like to go back sometime with somebody and hike the trails there. After that I rode around a bit more and then went home. Then I ate lunch. My host mom said we were having tortillas for lunch, but I think they were pretty much burritos. I was quite surprised to find that in Finland, along with the traditional meat, lettuce, cheese, salsa, etc., you also put fruit on your burritos. Maybe they do this in America also, but I don't think I have ever seen it. It was quite good though. After lunch I went back out on my bike. I took my camera this time and went back to the places I had been to take some pictures. I'll put them up so everyone can see.
Monday wasn't too interesting. At school I talked to this guy in my art class. I found out that he had lived in California for a
Näset
Some of the scenery near my house. year when he was 12. He said that his family actually switched houses with some Californians for a year. I didn't realize that people actually did that. I also found out that he has a car and he lives quite near me, so I should definitely try to use that to my advantage.
On Tuesday I had alot of fun. I only had one class because my art class had been canceled so that was really nice. I went to my first Rotary meeting which was kind of boring because everything was in Finnish and I had no clue what was going on. However, I must keep going because I need to make friends with the Finnish Rotarians so they will take me places and be generally helpful. After the Rotary meeting I went out for ice cream with my friends Viktoria and Josefin. We ate our ice cream and talked for about an hour and a half or two hours. It was really interesting to get to know them better. I learned alot about their culture and they had a lot of questions about America, including the inevitable: Are the boys cuter in America or in Finland? I
Näset2
More scenery. had to say America just because it seems like all the guys here are really short. Anyway, after that I went home and then I went to the market with my host mom. That was quite an adventure. It really wasn't much different than an American grocery store, that is until we got to the bread aisle, or section I should say. It was so crazy! There was this area about as big as three aisles devoted only to bread. I did a quick count and there were at least 200 different kinds of bread to choose from. I mean, Jesus, how much bread can these people eat? It was pretty ridiculous.
Wednesday was pretty good. I finished school at like 12:00 and I had been wanting to get a library card, so I decided to go to the library. I knew the library was near the school, but I wasn't quite sure where it was. I found a map of Vaasa and a couple blocks away was Biblioteksvägen (Library Street in English) so I assumed that's where it was. I walked down to that street and I took a left. I walked 3 blocks or so and I
Näset3
More scenery. I know, it's kind of all the same. still couldn't find it. So, I walked back down the street looking for it again, in case I had missed it. I was about to give up when I looked a little farther down the road and saw it. If I had just originally turned right instead of left it would have been right there and I wouldn't have had to walk like 6 blocks. Anyway, I got my library card, but I didn't have much time to look around because my friends were just getting out of school. Most of my friends were busy after school so I went to the town square. I ran into Christine, the German girl living in Vaasa, and I talked to her for a bit. Then I found my friend Sandra who was with some of her other friends. I was talking with them and I noticed that one of her friends spoke really good English. I asked her about it and I found out that she grew up in Canada. Another one of her friends was there and he had just bought a €900 camera and he was trying it out. I was just like Holy Crap! €900! (That's about $1300 or
Söderfjärden
I couldn't get a good picture from the top of the hill. So, I had to go closer and it lost a little bit of its picturesqueness, but if you look in the background, that's Söderfjärden. so). Then I went home and road my bike around again. At night I took a sauna again. I like the sauna, but when you're in there by yourself it gets kind of boring.
Tomorrow I start taking Japanese lessons at the Christian school. I'm going to be in the 2nd level class. All the teaching is in Swedish and Finnish so it should be interesting. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. Since I'm going to be learning in Swedish and my Japanese dictionaries are at home, I thought it might be a good idea to get a Swedish-Japanese dictionary. However, I went to 2 bookstores and neither of them had one. They had like every other language under the sun, but no Japanese. They even had Chinese and Arabic. I did not understand how they could have Chinese and Arabic but not Japanese. Oh well, I'm sure I will be able to find one somewhere. I'll also find out tomorrow when I'll be able to start Finnish and Russian lessons. Saturday is the official closing of the summerhouse season so we are going to spend the day at our summerhouse. Supposedly it might rain
Vaasa
This is Vaasa as seen from the water near my house. so I'm not really sure what we'll do if it does. I mean it's so small I can't imagine sitting inside it for a whole day. Well I should probably go now. I'll be sure to keep you all updated. Oh and I know some of you were wondering how you send a letter to Finland. If it's just a regular letter you can just use stamps although you probably have to use more than one. You can look up the price on the post office website or you can just take it to the post office. That would probably be easiest.
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Mallory
non-member comment
pictures!
I love the pictures that you included on this post! The one of your bike is really cool! I am glad that you are making friends over there... of course everyone wants to know you cause you're the cool American chick! I will be mailing you a letter soon. I love you and I miss you!!! Love, Mallory