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Published: November 27th 2007
Hey everyone! It's been a couple of weeks since my last entry, so here it goes!
I believe I left you all at November 4th. So, on Monday November 5th I only had my Finnish class since my normal school was having test week. I hadn't told you all this, but during my test week my family and I had been planning to go to their winter cabin in Lapland to go skiing for a week. However, since it hadn't snowed by Monday and it didn't look like it was going to snow for the rest of the week, we decided on Monday that we wouldn't go. I was really bummed because I had been really excited to go.
On Tuesday I didn't have class at all, so I rolled out of bed at about 11:00. It was sooooooo great! That afternoon I went to meet Christine in the city. However, because of the weird afternoon bus schedule I had to walk almost 3 kilometers to the main road to catch the bus. It sucked! So, Christine and I did some shopping in the city. I finally bought a pair of skinny jeans. They were the first ones I've
Kayla and Max
See the weird lighting. Not very Christmassy.found that actually fit. I got them from H&M. Then we had some coffee and then we went to the grocery store. While there Christine found some German chocolate and she said, "Oh, you have to buy this MacKenzie. You have to taste German chocolate!" So, I bought some. I gave her some and she said that it tasted like home. I thought that was funny. Eventually I took the bus home and we had reindeer for dinner. I thought it pretty much tasted like roast beef or something. I didn't really think it tasted special. After that Jani and I baked a fathers day cake. Well, actually, we baked two cakes. We baked one to eat on Father's Day and one to eat that night. It was really good! Later that night Jari told me that he had a cousin in Turku who I could possibly go stay with the next weekend. It was kind of interesting since I had just been talking with one of my exchange student friends who lives near Turku about coming to visit. Somtimes things just work out.
On Wednesday I again had no school. I decided that I would bake cornbread for
my family. I brought some cornbread mix with me, but I hadn't made it yet. It tasted soooooo good, and it made me so happy. Later in the day Jani and I played ping-pong for about an hour. We had to stop because my arm started to hurt.
On Thursday it snowed in the morning. I was so happy! I went to Japanese class. One of the students told me that the Japanese program was having a big get together on Tuesday and that I could come if I wanted. However, I already had plans for that Tuesday. I felt bad because I really did want to go. After that I had school basketball practice. Then I went home and did homework and watched Desperate Housewives.
On Friday I started the 3rd period at school. I started my new Finnish course at my regular school. I was really excited about it because it seemed like it would be much more challenging than the one I already had. It was. After school I had to wait an hour to take the bus home so I hung out with my friend Emi. At basketball practice there were only 6 of
us so we played 3-on-3 the whole time. It was fun but extremely tiring.
On Saturday we celebrated Father's Day. Sunday was the actual Father's Day day, but I was going to be gone all day with my basketball team, so we celebrated on Saturday instead. So, we all ate and then we went to Jari's parent's house. We spent about two hours there and had a coffee meal. All the food was soooooo good and I was stuffed. After that we went to Ros-Mari's parents house and had another coffee meal. There was soooooooo much food! And it was all soooooo good! At Ros-Mari's parents house Jani and I played cards while we were waiting for the food. On some card decks here, like the one we were playing with, the jacks have Kn written on them instead of J. So, at first when we were playing I was really confused because I thought there were just a whole lot of kings in the deck. Haha. Anyway, then we all went home because we were absolutely stuffed. Jani and I watched some tv and played some more cards. At about 10:00 we had kebabs for dinner since my
hostmom said we needed something salty before bed. Then we all watched Swordfish together. That's a really good movie.
On Sunday I had to wake up at 7:45 to go to my basketball game in a town called Salo. Salo was about 5 hours from Vaasa. My coach had a 9-seater van for the team to ride down in. However, on the way there there were only 4 of us in it because the rest of the team was coming in their own cars. It was really nice because we could all stretch out and stuff. When we finally got to Salo we played our game, and won! Then we rode back to Vaasa. However, on the way back we had 8 people in the van so it was alot more crowded and not as much fun. I got back to Vaasa at about 11:00 and went to bed.
On Monday I woke up late and skipped breakfast to make it to the bus on time. Then we waited for the bus, and waited and waited. Apparently the bus broke down somewhere so it was about 30 minutes late. I was really mad because I could have eaten
breakfast! On Monday night ,after dinner, my hostmom brought up the idea of maybe trying to cook some sort of Thanksgiving dinner next Thursday. I thought it sounded like fun although it would probably be a bit of a daunting task. At basketball practice on Monday my friend Ella mentioned to me that the IB students were going on the boat to Sweden and back on Sunday and she asked me if I wanted to join. I said, "Of course!" Everyone here has been on the boat to Sweden and back, so I figured I must do it. Plus, it sounded fun.
On Tuesday I didn't have school until 9:50. However, I had to go to take the bus earlier. So, I sat on the couches in our school and listened to music. It was really dark and quiet and there were other people sleeping around me. I almost fell asleep myself! In the afternoon we didn't have any classes at school, but I was supposed to go to the theater that night with the lady from Rotary and her granddaughter, Cecilia, (the same people I went with last time), so I had to wait around town until 5:00.
I just sat around school and talked to people and eventually I went to the library. Then I met the lady from Rotary and Cecilia and we all went to dinner and then Cecilia and I went to see a musical about Janis Joplin. It was really good. The lady who played Janis had an amazing voice! The play was in Swedish, but I could pretty much understand it.
On Wednesday I had Finnish class in the morning and then I was supposed to have music class afterwards, but the teacher never showed up. So, I was done with school at like 10:30 in the morning. However, I was supposed to meet my Rotary counselor at around 2:00, so I had to wait in the city until then. So, I waited and waited and at about 2:00 my counselor called me and said that she couldn't meet me that day. I was really mad because I had had to just sit around all day doing nothing when I could have gone home. Wednesday evening I got my package in the mail from Suzie. She sent me lots of great stuff like hot chocolate, foot warmers, candy, and Grandma and
Stockman Christmas Window
Come on! Funky colored mushrooms!! An obvious reference to drugs. Grandpa sent me warm socks!
On Saturday morning I had to wake up early. I was going to Turku to meet some of my friends and stay with Jari's cousin for the night. I was getting a ride with Ros-Mari's cousin and her husband. It was really nice of them to take me, and I was happy because then I didn't have to pay the train fare. I got to Turku and I met Jari's cousin's wife in the city. Originally I thought I would be meeting my friend Max, an exchange student from Wisconsin, in the city when I got there. However, there were some complications and it ended up that I wouldn't be able to meet him until later. So, I was in the city for awhile with Jari's cousin's wife and then we went back to there house. At about 6 I went back into the city to meet Max. He brought two other exchange student friends with him and we hung out in the city. Turku had just put up the Christmas decorations downtown and we spent some time looking at the decorations in the Stockmann window. They were seriously ridiculous. It wasn't exactly your
everyday Christmas window. It had this weird psychadelic theme. It was almost as if they had designed it while on LSD or something. We took lots of pictures.
On Sunday morning I had to wake up at like 6:00. I was soooooooo tired. I was supposed to be at the boat dock in Turku by 8:00. I was going on a cruise to Sweden and back with some of the IB students at my school. I got there at about 7:30, but we didn't even get on the boat until like 9:00. I could have slept longer!!! However, I shouldn't complain since the others had come from Vaasa in a bus that left at 2:00 AM. I was really glad I didn't have to do that. Anyway, so we got on the boat and went to our cabins. They were soooooo tiny. I was amazed that it was possible to fit four people in such a small space. The cruise was actually a sort of conference for all the IB students in Finland. So, at about 11:00 we had to go to some programs and stuff. While I was there I saw my exchange student friend Dan who lives
in Tampere. I had forgotten that he went to an IB school and hadn't even thought about the fact that he might be there. It was really fun seeing him again. After the morning programming we had lunch. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet and it was the only meal that we would get which was included in the price of the trip. So we all pigged out. We literally ate as much as possible so that we wouldn't have to eat dinner later in the evening. Then for the rest of the afternoon I pretty much just hung out in my room with the other people I was staying with. At night we went to the club on the boat and had a really good time dancing until early in the morning.
On Monday the boat got back into Finland at about 8:00 in the morning and we had to get off. I was soooo tired. Then we had the long bus ride back to Vaasa. We got back to Vaasa at about 2:00 and I went home. I went to basketball that night, but I was so tired I was like a zombie on the court.
On Tuesday I woke up at 7:50 (the time my bus comes.) Eeeek!!! I got ready really quickly and my host dad took me to school so that I wasn't late. My last class on Tuesday was my cooking class. It was sooooooo awesome. We made a whole meal: fish soup, bread, chicken and rice, and some sort of dessert. Everything was amazing and I was really wishing that I hadn't had lunch! On Tuesday evening my host mom and I discussed making Thanksgiving diner on Thursday. She had mentioned it before, but we hadn't really talked about it much. We decided that we would for sure do it and figured out everything that we would need. My hostmom was really worried about finding a turkey because apparently in Finland like no one eats turkey. I also got a surprise call from Mallory and Mom which was great. It was nice to talk to them!
On Wednesday I only had Finnish and music, and I was done with school by 11:00. At 12:00 I met Christine in the city and we had tea. I invited her to come to our Thanksgiving dinner the next day and she said she would.
On Thursday I went to Japanese class and then to the library. Then Christine and I rode the bus to my house. We had a snack and watched some tv. At about 4:30 we started cooking dinner. Christine and I were in charge of the salad and the stuffing. I was really afraid that the stuffing would turn out horribly since I had never made it before or anything. It was funny because I kept asking Christine things like "Oh, do you think this looks good? Do you think I'm doing this right?" Finally she said, "MacKenzie, I don't even know what this is. How am I supposed to know?" I was like oh yeah, they don't have this in Germany. Well, eventually we pulled it off and all had dinner. The stuffing turned out quite well and the turkey was great. The apple pie we had for dessert was AMAZING! Later in the evening I called everyone at Grandma Donna's house. It was so great to talk to you all! I hope Thanksgiving went well! Then Christine and I just hung out for the rest of the night. She spent the night because we both had Finnish as our first class in the morning.
On Friday Christine and I went to Finnish class. However, when we got there there was no one there and the classroom was locked. Apparently class had been canceled and no one had told us. I didn't have any other school that day and neither did Christine so we went and hung out in the city. We went shopping and Christine got her hair cut. At about 2:00 I met my friends Susu and Mikko. We had to take Mikko's dog to the dog park. We stood outside with the dog for like 20 or 30 minutes and it was soooooo cold. Then we went back to Mikko's and had coffee to warm up and we just like hung out. Then I went home. At night I went to basketball practice. there were only 6 of us there so we just played 3-on-3 the whole time. It was really fun. I didn't do much the rest of the night because I was so tired from practice.
On Saturday morning I had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 6:00 AM!! I had a basketball game later in the day and we had to leave for it at 7:00. Ughhhh!! It took us about 4 hours to get to the game and we had my coaches van full, but it was alot of fun anyway. I actually started in the first game, and I think in the second one too. Our team played really well. We won both games and in the second one we scored a hundred points!! By the end of the second game three of our players fouled out and we were only playing with 4 people. On the way home I got a message from Susu saying that one of her friends was having a party and that I could come if I wanted too. Of course I wanted to go. So, I went to the party at about 10:00. It was really fun and I got to meet alot of new people.
On Sunday I finally got to sleep in. It was sooooo nice. It was Christine's birthday and I was supposed to be going to her house in the afternoon to celebrate. I went to Christine's at about 1:30 and I stayed there until about 6:00. Some of her other friends came too, and we all had birthday cake and other good food. It was really fun. After that I came home. Jari and Ros-Mari had been at the Christmas market and Jari had bought some traditional Finnish bread which had fish baked inside. He made me try some and, as expected, it was one of the most disgusting things I have ever tasted in my entire life. It was sooooooo gross. However, I'm glad I got it over with and tried it because I'm sure I would have had to taste it at some point this year. The rest of the evening I did homework and I worked on this blog.
Sorry it took me so long to update guys. I promise I will do it more often in the future. I hope everyone is doing well and that everyone had a good Thanksgiving!
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Mallory
non-member comment
yay!
Good to get another blog from you!! Sounds like you've been having fun. We had a great Thanksgiving at Grandma's but it wasn't the same without you. There were a lot of mashed potatoes left over! :-) I'll be emailing you pictures soon and I'm going to try to print some to send you as well. I love you! Mallory