Pari Kiireistä Viikkoa (A Couple of Busy Weeks)

So I’ve been pretty busy the past couple of weeks and I’ve done lots of different things. Some little things that I have done on no particular day include starting to listen to Christmas music, and writing Christmas cards.

Iguana'd to show you all this picture (pun intended!)

One day I saw a sign on the side of the road for a travel reptiles exhibit coming to town. I checked it out online and asked some of my friends if they wanted to go. There were quite a number of different lizards, snakes, and spiders. I always like playing the “find the reptile” game because of how good their camouflage can be. It really wasn’t too exciting though. I’m glad I spent time with friends, but it was a bit pricey.

Joulutortu

At scouts we did some cooking. We made joulutortu (Christmas pastry) and pippurikakku (gingerbread). When I came home that evening, Jaana was making joulutortu as well. I think I ate 4 pastries in the one night.

A few weeks ago, my host mother Jaana’s mother passed away in the hospital of the neighbouring town. Although I never met her, I expressed my deepest sentiments to support the family. I attended her funeral last week. Jaana insisted that I walk in with the close family. I was very honoured to be at the ceremony because so many people to celebrate the life of Mrs. Passi.

Last weekend I went to Seinäjoki (the nearby “big city” of 50,000) with my host mom and some of her friends to see a musical called “Dance of the Vampires”. Before hand we went out for dinner and I actually had some conversations in Finnish; I think it was easy for me because the topics were normally me and Canada. The musical was entirely in Finnish, except the title. The costumes and set pieces were incredible; I wish they had better fake snow though. And I was disappointed that the leading actress had a “dance double”. Anyways, I will give you a quick synopsis of what I think happened, which may in fact differ from what actually happened. A vampire hunter’s assistant falls in love with the innkeeper’s daughter in a vampire ridden area in Germany. However, there is a high ranking vampire who is also in love with the innkeeper’s daughter, so his henchmen bring her to the vampire mansion. The love stricken assistant and the vampire hunter make their way to the mansion. Spoiler alert! In the end, everyone becomes a vampire and the assistant and innkeeper’s daughter are together. The major music theme was the song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in Finnish. The whole thing reminded me a lot of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was a great show and I am super glad that I went.

Last Sunday I had my first performance with the Church choir. It was the first advent so all of our music is beginning to centre on Christmas. I really enjoyed performing. I missed being involved in a music ensemble, after being so involved in the music department of KSS for the last three years. Later the same day, I went to see a piano recital of the students of a local piano teacher at the art gallery. Most of the songs were Chritmasy and I got me really into the holiday season (even though it wasn’t quite December yet).

Our house.

After dinner on the same Sunday, I changed host families. My family consists of the Sanna and Petri the mother and father, Sampo (13) and Konsta (11) the two sons, Saila (4) the daughter, and Viiru the cat. They live a quaint house a little bit further from my school than my last family. Petri and my last host father, Jarmo, are brothers. That night it snowed here in Kauhava. The snow lasted on the ground for all of Monday, but Tuesday’s rain melted it all.

At scouts the other day we had pikkujoulu (little Christmas) which was a Christmas party. There was a gift exchange: my gift consisted of a Canada Frisbee, a Canada handkerchief, a Vancouver 2010 note pad, and some candy. The present I received was a 5€ gift certificate to the only fast food restaurant in town.

Yesterday I had my first really learning Finnish opportunity with Saila. We flipped through a picture book together and asked each other some questions. Neither of us could actually read the book though.

Today, Saturday, I went to my Finnish course. The past couple of weeks we have written two tests to see where we stand. I have gotten my teachers highest classification on each of them. The tests were very very difficult. They consisted of lots of pieces of the language we have never talked about in class. I had read about some of them in my own time and others I choose just because I thought they sounded right. I am the best student in the beginners group, but the students in the more advanced half of the class I am sure got better marks than me. My teacher says that I am on the right track to do well in the Finnish Language test the Rotary organizes through a Finnish university. I had to leave today’s class early because we had a choir rehearsal. 

The Wind Orchestra.

There was a “Thank You Party” at the church today because the head priest Seppo is retiring. The local wind orchestra performed, and I plan on joining them come January. Our choir sang three songs, two of which were with the choirs of several other local parishes. We ended the celebration with Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, which is very difficult but very satisfying.

Now as soon as I finish this blog entry, I am going to pack my bag for the Rotary organized Lapland tour with all of the exchange students in Finland. My bus picks me up in the neighbouring town at midnight tonight and we will arrive tomorrow at 11:00 am.