The woman was a gypsy

so, I have now been in finland for a total of 2 whole days, and I must say that it is not at all what I was expecting.  The people here are quite the interesting lot, they don't really look at anyone, except to stare at me while passing in a car.  They also don't see the purpose of the phrase 'excuse me'  but not in the way that other cultures don't.  So far in my experience if a Finn is trying to get something that you are blocking, they will simply loom over you until you realize that they are there and then you have to play a game of 'guess what the Finn wants' without actually saying anything.  It's really quite annoying, but they literally will not speak to you in public if they don't know you.  They also look at you like you are the devil/crazy if you say excuse me, because as you know now any sort of public interaction with strangers is completely weird.

Now, although most Finns are strange to me in a cultural sort of way, I have recently learned of a Finnish subgroup that is strange in a cultural way that is completely different.  To set the scene, it is my 2nd day in Tampere and I am casually standing at the bus stop downtown waiting for my buss to arrive, when a woman walked up to the bus shelter, house thing.  The woman was accompanied by a very small skinny man, who most closely resembled a cross between a string bean and a who from who-ville.  The woman on the other hand must have been about 400 pounds, with greasy hair, and a comb stuck into the top of her hair, and the icing on the top of the cake was that she was wearing a giant black crushed velvet gown with white ruffles all along the sleeves and the chest.  Now, combining the factors that it was sunday and that I am a stupid foreigner to these people, I just assumed that this form of dress was some type of traditional finnish church going attire.  this was a completely rational thought process.  Right after I decided that this woman must just love jesus (because who else would wear something that ugly by choice) and that I shouldn't laugh/be afraid that she would eat me. Her partner stringbean pulled a beer out of his front pocket of his jeans and handed it to cro-magnan and asked her to take the top off.  The woman then proceeded to open the bottle with her teeth, at the bus stop.  IT WAS 11:00 IN THE MORNING!  I simultaneously tried to hold in my laughter, keep my jaw closed, and not stare directly at this monstrosity that was taking place in broad daylight in downtown finland.  Now I know you all think that that was a funny story.  As did I, Until last night.

I met up with my friend Antti and we were going to go to a sauna with some of his friends from work (they work at an amusement park!).  I told him this story because I thought it was hilarious and he did too.  But as soon as I explained what she was wearing he goes "oh she's a gypsy that makes total sense!" thats right ladies and gentleman there is an apparently huge FINNISH GYPSY population.  They are shady here too, thus the teeth opener. 

I was floored, but I suppose I am learning more and more every day that I am here.  I will write more about the swimming party at a later date! 

canned pineapple diaries

So, as many of you know, I have quite the soft spot for pineapple in a can.  I have also proven to myself that I can live off of the pineapple alone when aided by some cereal and an occasional burrito, which is besides the point.  I have always liked canned fruit, but it was not until my dorm days as a freshman that I realized that I hated the dorm food so much that I would rather just eat heaps of pineapple than even think about digesting another bite of food provided to me by the meal plan. 

So, I am currently in Finland, Tampere to be exact.  I took a train in from Helsinki and my lovely school sanctioned friend met me at the train station.  We proceeded to take a bus from the train station to the stop that we believed would lead us to my dorm building.  we quickly realized as the bus left us in the dust that this was not our stop at all.  So instead of waiting for the next bus we decided to trek the rest of the way.  In general this would not be a funny/awful experience, but seeing as how I am here for quite some time, and I am not a light packer by any means, this became a bit difficult.  I was assured that it was right up the road, and off we went.  Two sidewalks, one gravel road, and about a pint of sweat later we arrived at my dorm, which from the inside hallways looks almost completely like a prison, not the converted hotel that I was led to imagine.  Regardless my room is cute, and the best part its a single!  Another good thing, the entire building is full of singles, so it  doesn't look like I am the totally antisocial girl in the single, VICTORY!

once I found my room safely, we went off on an outing to find me a bus pass some linens, and to show me the city.  it was a success, the only downside to all of this is that I am starving.  My body refuses to sleep but it seems to be that it is trying to replace sleeping with eating. downside to consuming more food than a small nation every 3 hours with people you don't know?  they obviously think that your a giant fatty American.  Also, people in this country resemble gnomes in their size so this does not help.  Regardless, after I was left alone to fend for myself, armed only with my buss pass, bus schedule, and one finnish word, I headed straight for the nearest department/food store.  I got my much needed bedding, and soap before heading downstairs to the 'cellar level' to buy some food.  problem #1 europeans buy about 2 items per shopping trip, most likely because they don't have real jobs so they can just spend all their time going grocery shopping for the amount of food to feed an ant, but I digress.  I bought 6 items and it clearly was the most amount out on anyone.  Of this shopping trip, you can bet your twin  sister that I bought myself not one but 2 cans of canned pineapple.

Thats where the story begins again.  Once again two years later I am sitting in my dorm room eating canned pineapple, out of the can, with my fingers, because buying a plastic fork would obviously up my item count to 7 thus making it near impossible for me to show my face again at the market.  Old habits die hard.   

note to self: when your life starts looking like it should be part of NASA you know you're ready to leave

so,  its t-minus 2 days here till Finland.  There is a lot less running around than I was originally anticipating, I think its because it still doesn't feel like its actually going to happen.  I have been looking at different places to go before school starts and so far I have come up with some rough ideas of places that aren't to far away yet still far enough away that most people wouldn't want to go on a weekend.  Poland, Czech Republic, or the Ukraine to name a few.  We'll see if I am even awake with the time change long enough to unpack let alone travel.  

Speaking of traveling to other countries, I have recently learned that I will not be traveling completely alone!  My comrade Jordan gave me the most useful/fantastic/hilarious parting gift that I have ever received.  His name is Potter, and he is indeed an otter hand puppet.  Not only has he become part of our family already, sneaking up behind people, lurking in corners, terrorizing the cat, and holding notes for family members who have left the house, I have also decided that he will be traveling with me on trains so I will have someone to converse with.  Now, for those of you that think this is crazy, which it is, once you get a good look at Potter you will completely change your mind.  He's practically human thats how fantastic he is.

I have effectively vacuum sealed every article of clothing that I am taking with me, and along with it looking much like the freeze dried food that I used to enjoy at OMSI so much, it is also completely waterproof!  Bring on the infomercials!  But besides being packed I feel completely unprepared, I keep waiting to realize that I have forgotten something so huge that I am completely screwed without it.  Like my passport, or my head.  I thankfully have checked both of them regularly and they are both in check.  

I am also taking it as a good omen that my favorite handicapped table was open today at starbucks, minus the old woman that I pushed out of the way to get to it.

heihei!