Visitors & Travels in the Country

Hey again everyone. It's been over a week since my last post, which must have some of you on the edge of your seat. Since that time I've done and seen a lot. I had a visit from two of my old students from Trillium, Fionn Masterson and Sam Stotz. They spent just a couple of nights in our apartment in Helsinki. They have been backpacking across Scandinavia this summer.
Here's Sam and Fionn at Senattitori (Senate Center) in Helsinki.



Here's a picture of these two at Suomenlinna (Finland's Island), off the coast of Helsinki. They're sitting in the widow of an old army barrack.



Elina and I have also continued to be busy cleaning and arranging our apartment. Most Finns have these woven carpets in their houses and apartments which you wash by hand with pine-oil soap and lake water. Then you leave them to dry in the sun. Here's a picture of me doing just that in Helsinki. Elina's aunt Ulla is in the background.



Onto more interesting stuff... I've been in the country-side a lot lately. I spent a week in Ilvesjoki (ill-ves-yok-ee), which is in the middle of the western side of Finland. Elina's grandmother grew up there and still lives there. We stayed in the house in which Elina's grandmother grew up. The house is a an old farm house and there still remains a modest sized garden with berries of various sorts: straw, rasp, blue, black currant, red currant, and goose. We spent time watering the garden and picking thousands of black currant berries for juice making. Here's a picture of me with a basket of my work.



Here's another one that shows a bit of the garden. This angle shows off mostly the berry bushes with apple trees on the left.



After a week in Ilvesjoki we returned to Helsinki for a couple of days, which we spent shopping around for a new couch for the apartment. And it wasn't long before we were back in the country. This time we went northeast to what around here is called the lake region, where there is more water than land. We headed for Rantasalmi for the weekend. We drove up with two friends Tuomas and Marja who Elina met while in Haukivuori. We spent our time eating smoked fish, drinking beer, relaxing in the suana, and cooling off in the lake. Here's a picture of us having lunch in the afternoon. Sitting are Veke, Raija, Reiska, Rauni, Marja, Me, and Tuomas. Elina is taking the photo.



The cottage is situated on a small peninsula. Here's a picture of it from the water. It's pretty camoflaged by the trees, but you can probably make out the yellow cottage and the small red sauna house.



Here's Reiska's motorboat we took out on the lake. It was incredibly loud. Nobody talked the entire ride because nobody could hear anything. It was pretty ridiculous, but nonetheless it was beautiful and worth it.



Here we are on the boat. The boat had nothing on it except a huge engine in the middle of the floor. We brought lawnchairs and a bench on the boat for sitting.



The lake was 20 meters deep in some spots. We could dive right off the dock. The dock leads right up to the sauna house. A Finnish recipe for relaxation is as follows:

1. Derobe and enter 100 degree Celcius sauna with cold beer. Cook 15 - 20 minutes.
2. Jump in cold lake.
3. Repeat as necessary.

Suana House



Here's a picture of me swimming in the lake.



Now I'm back in Helsinki, but again not for long. I am on my way to Kuopio in the middle of Finland to return the ashes of Elina's father's mother to her birthplace. After that I am meeting my pal Jesse and his fiance Reika in Antwerpen. So, I probably won't be posting for another week or two.

I enjoyed reading the comments people have left. Thanks for taking the time. It's a great feeling to stay connected to people and places so far away. I miss the beautiful northwest, the bikes in Portland, my family & friends in Atlanta, Athens, Charlotte, New York, Portland, and elsewhere. Keep in touch!