kris with a k

Welcome October

I whispered welcome October

As summer slid by

With changed leaves and chilled currents

‘neath the moon lighted sky

.

Twenty-one times

I’ve met you before

But this one’s unique

On my red cedar shore

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.

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That is part of a poem that I wrote exactly two years ago, on the eve of October 1st, 2007 and quite close to midnight.  I thought of it in my head while sitting next to the Red Cedar river with three of my friends, occasionally dipping my toes in the cold water and enjoying the surreal atmosphere.

It was a week after my 22nd birthday and I had this calm realization that everything would soon be changing because of France, Wisconsin, and whatever other adventures I would get my self into.  I was at peace with the coming changes and happy to soak in these moments during my last fall semester at Sparty.

Life, oh how you make me smile sometimes!

Weekend Up North and a Moose

It has been a few weeks since my latest entry, but I promise, I’m not getting lazy at this whole blogging thing.  I have been ridiculously busy the last two weeks.  In fact, this weekend Kia and I headed up to her home town of Kälviä to get away from the rat race for a few days.

Kälviä is about five hours northwest of Helsinki on the central coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. It is a small town with about 5,000 folks spread out over a large area of farms and woods.  Basically, it’s in the sticks.  On the way to her home from the train station, we saw a huge moose crossing the road.   I had never seen a moose until then.  Beautiful creatures, and as big as a… um… moose I guess.

To begin the unwinding I hit up the sauna for about an hour Friday night.  Even though I’ve been living in Finland for about a month and a half, this is the first time I’ve gone in the sauna since my arrival.  I kept rotating between the sauna and an ice cold shower since there was no snow to jump in.  Apparently that is great for your circulation.  Check out this video to see what I mean.

Once I crawled into bed I slept like a baby.  Probably the best sleep I’ve had in months.  I had two dreams that I could distinctively remember but as the day wore on, I forgot most of the details.

The first dream was a mix between a train crash, Jurassic Park dinosaurs, and me driving a car that was have VW Beatle and half Chevy Camaro.  Sounds like a bad dream, but for some reason it was not scary or nightmarish at all.  It was more like being in an action film.  I distinctly remember jumping over a rocky canyon in my Beatle/Camaro and barely making the landing.

The second dream was ridiculous but curiously satisfying.  In the dream, I had tickets to some famous event that was like the Academy Awards or something and a nice tux to boot, but decided that I was going to skip it because I wanted to relax in Kälviä and play Rummikub and go in the sauna instead.  Weird dream yes, but it made me feel quite happy when I woke up and realized I was already there.

Saturday afternoon, Kia and I hit up all the 2^nd hand stores in the area so we could find some prohibition era clothes.  In a few weeks we are going to a mystery dinner party.  Should be fun but I need to watch a few more gangster flicks before I get my accent down.

After that, her pops and I spent about 4 hours building two night stands.  We used wooden planks from a 19^th century barn so even though the furniture was built yesterday, it already looks over 100 years old.  As silly as that may sound, I think I prefer them much more than anything I could find at stupid Ikea.

Today is Sunday and I am on the train back home.  My batteries are charged, my body is sauna’d, and my belly is full.  All in all, a very lovely weekend.

stream of thought recollection since my last post

Today was a lovely day.  I just got done eating chili leftovers, which was delicious by the way.  Before that I was in Linnanmäki (Helsinki’s Cedar Point) on top of a tower overlooking my corner of Finland at sunset.  It was neat to see the big old cruise lines heading in from Estonia and out to Sweden.  I could also see my apartment, which was nifty.

Before that I was out doing some lovely Sunday afternoon shopping with Kia.  I was flicking the water in a fountain like a child and when I looked up she was gone.  I was lost in the mall all by myself, also like a child.  I forgot how scary that was.  I need one of those stretchy cords that mom’s used to use in the early 90s.  You remember those things?  Nina never had one but she probably should have.  Once Scotty and I were playing tag in Hudson’s when we were like 5 and 7 respectively, and Scotty took a digger and busted open his head on a mannequin stand.  The kid got like 6 stitches in the ol’ noggin.  In his life that kid has probably had to get stitches 15 different times.  Maybe even 20.

On Thursday I played soccer with Tino.  This was the first time I dusted off the old boots since I’ve been here.  It was fun, but I am out of shape.

Earlier in the week we had a large group of friends visit from out of town for a few days.  It was great to see them!  Thanks Maggie, Mau, Malin, Matt, Lisa, Leena, and Anna for visiting and you are always welcome to come back anytime!  In fact, if any of you IFI kids out there read this, you have a place to stay if you’re ever passing through Helsinki!

That was a lot of sentences with exclamation points!

To wrap it up I’ll reminisce about something.  And I’ll use code names for the sake of anonymity.  Hmmm, what makes me laugh?

Oh yea, J4.  That kid makes me laugh all the time.  One time Eeny Babes dared him to chug a whole bottle of shampoo, and for some reason he did it, or at least half of it.  He was puking and farting bubbles for the next 4 hours.  That was hilarious.

Okei, minä olen väsynyt, hyvää yötä.

Taiteiden yö (Night of the Arts)

This past Friday night was Helsinki’s annual Taiteiden yö, which is an arts and music festival that happens once a year.  On this magical evening the usually mild-mannered Finns pour into the streets to enjoy art showings, gospel choirs, rock bands, and of course giant inflatable sea creatures from France floating across the Helsinki night sky set to techno beats.  You know, the usual.  They even had voting booths set up on the stairs of the Parliament House so people could practice the ”art” of making-out.

Here is a quick recap of my evening:

19:30 – Pumped myself up for Finnish culture by playing Titanic on repeat while taking a shower and getting dressed to go out.

20:15 – Met up at Tino and Miia’s place.  Tried to explain to some unwilling Finnish guys why moisturizing your hands twice daily is not a question of masculinity, but simply a good habit.  Swedish guys would totally agree.

21:30 – Whilst watching the giant French crustaceans floating in the sky, I experienced the most polite crowd of 100,000 people on earth.  It was ridiculous.  In my life I’ve been tear gassed at riots in East Lansing, nearly trampled to death during a concert at Cobo Hall, and almost beaten senseless by English hooligans at a soccer match (also tear gas that time).  From my experience so far, Finns are ridiculously well-mannered.

23:00 – Went to a club called Belly.  I think someone took a doo-doo on the floor.  Also, they served beer that tastes like smoked-meat.  Worst stuff ever.  On the other hand, I discovered the joys of a drink called Gin (lonkero) thanks to Daniel from Åland.  Framåt!

Overall, I’d say definitely a successful evening.  If you ever get the chance, give Taiteiden yö a shot.

That brings me to today.  On the way home from the grocery store today (Sunday), I saw four people raving in the park.  I’m not using a metaphor here.  They were blasting techno and dancing like hippies on a three day ecstasy bender.  In fact, because of the worn out grass/dirt beneath their feet and the fact that they looked absolutely miserable and drained of energy, I am fairly certain that they started their party on Friday night and just kept it going.

Finally, here’s a little nugget of knowledge for you.  Did you know that Darude (the Sandstorm techno guy) is from Finland?  The city they are running through in the video is Helsinki.  It’s all making sense now.