Vanhojen Tanssit!

Just a little fill in on why I have been so incredibly busy! We have been practicing 2 months now for a little(big)...(huge)...thing called Vanhojen Tanssit which literally translates to "Old Dances". People are paired up from the second years and practice about 12 different dances from the end of November to February. The purpose is that it is a "send off" because the third years, after this weekend will be done with school. So in honor of them, we will do dances such as the waltz, tango, dance squares, and many others. We perform once during the day in front of the rest of the school and once at nighttime for parents and teachers. The girls wear very VERY nice dresses- similar to those of a quincinera and the guys in tuxedos. So since we are still the "babies" of the school, we will dress up as babies for "Vauva Paiva"...baby day- tomorrow. We will have the dances on Friday. Which means a full schedule from 7 in the morning when I get my hair done to 3AM for the afterparty...Then the next day around 7PM we are going aboard on a Silja Line cruise ship to Sweden and back with a few different other high schools who are celebrating like us. Garaunteed to be a crazy crazy CRAZY ship ride! I borrowed a dress from a good friend Linda, my counselor's daughter and made it a little bit bigger to fit just right. Mom sent shoes from home and painted my nails tonight and I am ready to go! Wish us luck! (pictures later)

Just a quick note

Living in a different country definetely makes you appreciate things you didn't even realize you should've been grateful for before. It also brings out your patriotism like crazy! Oh, and it also makes your English dwindle to phrases and very simple and small descriptive words!

Crazy!

A few weeks ago, my Brazilian friend Erick visited me. While walking home at night from the bus to my house, it was about -22C and I looked up and saw the most amazing thing. The moon had a halo around it. Erick told me that it was due to the coldness, the ice/water particles in the air reflect from the moons' light. A picture really can't do justice, but here is one I pulled from Google:

It is really beautiful, felt like the world stood completely still

Also, whenever I am walking home from a night out in Turku, I always get the pants scared off of me by these little guys, who happen to appear in completely darkness across the road. I always think it's a cat...but then I see the ears..

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Now is the time

So I have been informed that it has been quite some time since I have last written in my blog and now I realize how much I have done in between that time and how much I want to write down every detail, but I have a pounding headache and a gurgly stomach that is being magnetically attracted to my bed.

So I will make this short and sweet.

I have moved into a new family. There is two floors. My host parents run an ambulance company with our neighbors (who happen to be family as well). So they work quite often, but it is sort of interesting to watch. I have a 17 year old host sister who goes to school in Turku (Enppu), whom I have mentioned before on here- memory check for you old farts! And a 30 year old sister who lives close with her fiance. Christmas was wonderful. And I was shocked to find that this host family has gotten me a new camera!! I was like, "What?! I don't deserve this!!" And they said they found out that my camera was waterlogged after riding my bike in the rain. So kind! Here are some other things I got; Kalevala Jewlery (traditional Finnish Jewelry-very fine), Guess bracelet, Finnish glassware, spectacular earrings, and LOTS of chocolate, which I have already eaten...they had a lot of traditional Finnish Christmas casseroles which I enjoyed, but many said they don't like. On Christmas night, we went to a memorial and put a candle for my host parent's deceased parents. It was quite beautiful, a graveyard with numbers of candles in the snow.

Tuesday, my Aussie friend Jenny decided to visit. Well, a big reason for that (next to me) was because a friend on exchange (Tom) who left this past July was coming back for a visit. So Jenny arrived in January and leaves tomorrow and Tom left in July. So they know each other. Ya feel me? Also another friend, Jon, from New Zealand, who is also leaving in January came to see Tom. So we went out for those 2 nights she was here and it was quite memorable (from what I remember).

Then on New Year's, I went to my friend Lotta's grandmother's place for a little get-together and around 12ish we hopped on a bus to Turku and stood on the bridge and watched fireworks. Then we mozied over to the center and shot our own fireworks (very illegal) but the police had other drunken people to take care of.

I am now back at school and we are cracking down on learning the 12 dances for Vanhat Tanssi (Old Dance). I have now learned the tango and the waltz, although my waltz is absolutely awful. While Finns get taught the waltz in elementary school, we are getting taught the chicken dance...talk about a culture difference?  I have yet to find a dress because the dresses they wear for Vanhat Tanssi can be compared to a Quincinera dress...since this is their "special" dance (unlike the proms we have) they dress up SUPER nice- white gloves and all. So we'll see how that plays out! This past weekend I went to my friend Georgia's going away party. We began at her house then went to the city later on. Then the next day I hopped on a train to Salo (after many complications which I don't want to talk about) for my Aussie friend Madlen's going away party. It was quite the eventful weekend to end my three-week Christmas vacation!

Now I am getting e-mails about my return date...but I just got here!!!! The 8th was my 5 month anniversary...
Whew! Okay I think I am good until Easter now ;D


If you have any questions about whatever, I would love to answer them! E-mail me @ cguess6@gmail.com :)



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a small christmas party at lotta's about a week before xmas



Georgia's going away party



Us singing karaoke at Madlen's going away party (Me, Georgia, Madlen)

when Tom and Jenny came to visit :)



Us in the center on New Year's Eve :)



Pictures from Lappi (Read blog underneath)

I love dogs, dogs love me

At Santa Land. Me, Jenny, and Jon(Yon) from New Zealand

This is in the cottage and the reindeer farmers house. All the tools and clothes on the wall were from the 5 generations and were used. The guy presenting to us showed us how to castrate reindeer. With your teeth. I won't go into further detail.

Me feeding Rudolph

The guys who managed the reindeer when we got to go on a reindeer sleigh ride...the guy to the right of me hit on me in Finnish...how sweet...by the way, that is traditional Sami wear (lots of reindeer fur, etc)

us on the bus. it got pretty crazy in there...when we weren't passed out

At the school performing take me out to the ball game

Basically our whole bus, this was the breathtaking place that I just cannot describe (10AM)

They took charge (2PM)

A good depiction of me trying to ski. (2PM)



Oh and by the way, I am moving to my new host family today. Email my mother if you want the new address because I don't remember it right now. All for now! Lots of love from Finland!

Lapland!

So this past Wednesday I got back from Lapland. It was such an amazing experience. I don't have the time nor patience to go into ultimate details, but I can briefly go through the activities and post some pictures, because pictures speak a thousand words. For this trip, it was actually bittersweet because a lot of the people we were there with, we won't see again. For example, the Australians, who come in January, will also be leaving in January. This was our only big event with all of them together and they are amazing people.
So after a 14 hour trip on a coach bus picking kids from Eastern Finland up, we ate lunch then we went downhill skiing which I completely sucked at, but it was fun nonetheless. Then we went back to our hotel, had dinner, had a dance party that got shut down because we had no clue that quiet time was 10PM...oops. I roomed with 2 Americans. One from Indiana who I met before I left and another from Washington. Our room consisted of 3 beds, a bathroom (heated), picnic table (random), and a closet. With 3 Americans, you can imagine how messy it got...I may have contributed greatly. The next day we had breakfast at the hotel (which by the way, was at 7.30AM) then went into a multi-roomed igloo at the hotel that was very neat. Then me and my Aussie friend Madlen attempted to carve a chair out of snow. My ass didn't fit and I broke it. Again, oops. Then we just hung out until we went to dinner at an indoor/outdoor fireplace area. It was lit with candles and there were different screened in rooms with fires where we sat and had fish soup and pancakes for dinner. Then after that, we went to a school where different bands and dancers performed for us. Then each country performed for them. We sang "Take me out to the ball game" and did the Batman rendition of "Jingle Bells". Then after that, it was straight to bed since we were so tired. Our final day was the Finnish independence day. We woke up, ate breakfast, then went to another resort where we learned about the nature in Lapland (so fun)...BUT we saw the most incredible view; white trees speckled with pine green for as far as you can see. It was breathtaking. Even if I had a picture of it, you just really could not appreciate it unless you were there. After that, we went to this 5th generation reindeer farmer ladies ranch and she was adorable. We roped some (wooden) reindeer. Then we fed reindeer and they were absolutely adorable (mind you, we had reindeer for dinner the night before). Then after that, we went to the hotel where we went on a dogsled ride and saw all the huskies the place owned. They were SOOOOO cute. I love huskies. They were so eager to go out and run. Now, I am one completely against animal cruelty and I thought it would make me really upset, but the dogs were so happy to run and be outside it was ridiculous. Everyone found out my obsession with dogs there. Then after that we went inside to celebrate the Finnish independence day where a traditional Lappi Sami guy sang songs. Then the Australians handed off gifts to us. My Australian other half, Jenny, gave me my present, as well as my oldie Georgia whom I love dearly. Then we had a no pants party until 12 (it was harmless, don't worry mom). The next day was leaving day. We had breakfast and headed out 2 hours to Santa Land. The tourist equivalent of Wall Drug. No, I didn't meet Santa, but I did buy a huskie which I named Brian and sleep with every night now. He reminds me of my exchange family. Then we ate lunch at about 2PM (It was pitch black by then) and headed back out for another 14 hour drive slowly dropping people off at each city. Overall the trip was truly something phenomenal. I can only tell you the events that took place, but the emotions and friendships have no words I can use to explain it. I always say how awesome it is to be with exchange students, but this really just tore me up inside because there is no other relationship or friendship like an exchange friendship.