the half-way mark

PLaying guitar hero at New Year's
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This last month has certainly been a very busy one. I consider it a transition month.  Just like your day seems to change from morning to afternoon as soon as you've had lunch,  so my exchange has changed  from "first half" to "second half" as soon as my birthday has gone.  I did not expect it to be so,  but my feelings toward the exchange has changed knowing that half has passed and,  moreover,  only half is left.  My schedule has grown exponentially tight as I have come to know more and more people and take opportunity after opportunity.  As a result it startles me to think that virtually every week until my return home is already planned out.  The greatest change though is that I no longer regard this as anything long-term.  I feel as though I'm on holiday and need to cram everything into a tight schedule.  Before,  it seemed that there was time for everything and anything.  In fact,  there was too much time.  Particularly at the beginning of the exchange.  Its much nicer this way because I know I won't run out of things to do but I also know that time will go by faster and faster and I hope I can have the time to think about the here and now.  Anyhow,  I now I haven't written in a long time - I really must stop slacking on these entries.  Brace yourselves for an account of well basically the last month starting on new year.

Kuopio from the tower
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I spent the New Year at my host mother's sister's home in Kuopio which is just about 200km north of Mikkeli.  Even though it is not so far up north,  the difference in daylight was significant and noticable.  On our way there we stopped at Varkaus for McDonald's.  Varkaus is built around a paper factory which gives it the look and feel of some sci-fi city (without all the robots and that). Except what you would take to be city buildings are in fact factory turrets an chimneys.  The air is grey and musty and everything seems faded and dusty - even when its raining.  The perfect place for a Bigmac.  Kuopio on the other hand is a very cheerful city with many historic buildings and a beautiful lake which - although it isn't called Saimaa,  is nevertheless attached to Lake Saimaa.  I really like the atmosphere of Kuopio which gaev you the feeling of having entered a giant University Campus.  The reason for this is of course that Kuopio has one of Finland's greates Universities.  In fact,  it largly surpasses even the University of Helsinki in the science of medicine which is why the most difficult medical cases are sent to the Kuopio University hospital.  That is where my "host aunt" works.

AGain
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Kuopio is also the center of many sports activities such as skiing (ever kind even high jump) and skating / hockey.  Many of Finland's top athletes have trained in Kuopio.  All in all,  Kuopio is a busy city.  It kind of makes you feel enthusiastic about work just like when you enter your office or your bedroom which you've just tidied up and organized - ready for work.  Not only that but it is set in a beautiful area and is the center of the Savo province of Finland in the Northern Lake District.  This means that in Kuopio you will hear the finest Savo accents which can be compared to Jouale in French.

The ski jump where so many athletes have been trained
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My "host aunt" lives with her sons and partner close to the edge of the city just a few minutes from her workplace.  It is a nice house in a small neighbourhood.  My host brother Topi is very much friends with my "host cousins" and they spent most of their time playing video games.  I was given my own room which was nice.  When we arrived I didn't quite know where to go or what to do.  I'd brought a book but I thought it rather ipolite to start reading as soon as I arrived.  We'd already met but,  nonetheless,  I thought I should help out with something or at least take part in the conversation.  However the problem with being polite on exchange is that,  even if you want to appear interested or participate in a conversation, you can't.  You have no idea what's going on anyway.  So I kind of just sat there turning my head left and right as the "adults" talked and tried to understand things.  I do generally understand - if I listen.  However that requires an immense amount of concentration which you can give or about ten minutes after which your mind blanks out and you're just not listening anymore.  Typically,  it is at this time that someone asks you a question in Finnish and you blunder "uh,  sorry?" and feel like an idiot for not understanding the question although you've been here for 6 months.  Actually,  the most annoying thing is when you simply did not hear the question and ask them to repeat it.  Of course it is going to be repeated in English,  ripping you of your chance to impress.

Kuopio
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At around 18.00 the fireworks started.  Fireworks are illegal in Finland except at New Years between 18.00 on the 31st and 6.00 on the 1st.  At this time,  every single Finnish family purchases dozens of fireworks and puts on their own private show.  In cities this means that a whole lot of fireworks go off at once.  This started at around 18.00 mostly in families with smaller children.  We also started at 18.00 with just a few because my host brother and cousins are quite impatient.  The effect of the fireworks being spread out in so much time is that the city resonated with random and spontaneous sounds of explosives giving the impression that the city was under attack.

Taking pictures on my walks
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During the evening between random firework intervals,  we played games such as guitar hero and jenga - somehow I don't think this part of New Years traditions is so different from ours. It was alot of fun to see my host father singing to Bon Jovi and I had a great time playing the drums.  We also had the typical New Year's meal which is pretty much the same as the Christmas one.  The only difference were the salads which were replaced by chicken salad and fries.

The closer we came to midnight,  the more I felt Soviet shells were raining on us (this might have been that I was reading the Finnish novel "Unknown Soldier" which is about the second world war in Finland) the fireworks were so loud. At some time before midnight we all went outside to set off the bigger fireworks.  I set off a really big one and was really proud of myself when it blew up just above our heads in a miriad of colours.  I wondered at how safe these were more children.  My small cousin who is only seven I think was setting off explosives - under surveilance of course - but still.  Once he set one off toward a tree in the yard.  It bounced off th tree and landed in the snow in the neighbours yard where it exploded sending spraks of green eddying all over the place.  At midnight,  the neighbours were really showing off their fireworks and 2009 openned up the a city bright with lights of hundred of colours.  It was brilliant.  I wonder what it must have been like in Helsinki.  Every year they hold a contest to see who's firworks show will be presented at the New Year.  I think that overall,  the only difference between a Canadian New Year and a Finnish New Year is the Fireworks.  Maybe the food a little but essentially,  it is the same.

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The next day was a very beautiful and sunny day.  Actually it was sunnier than it had been for a long time with the affect that my unacustomed eyes were always burning. In  December and November,  Finland seems to be under a blanket of clouds 24/7.  The Christmas holiday was an exception.  Now,  again,  the clouds are back.  They won't leave apparently until mid-March... I kind of miss sunny winters.

Anyhow,  we drove around the city and went to the Kuopio tower which,  incidentally has a rotating restaurant at the top and an amazing view of the city - does it remind you of anywhere???!!!????  However one thing the Calgary Tower is short of in comparison is WW2 history.  The Kuopio tower was used by Lottas for air surveillance during the second world war.  Lottas were a group of highly qualified and trained women who helped in the war - not only on the homefront - but in battle as well.  They did everything from nursing to cooking for drained battalions to air surveillance,  to actually defending a position.  Now the tower is in the center of a ski resort where many of Finland's skiiers have been trained.  Actually it is also here that the annual ski jumping International championship is held.

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We visited the rest of the city by car because it was cold.  It was interesting to see all the Russian license plates.  Russia celebrates their Christmas on the 7th of december (or around that time) and many Russians come to Finland on holiday at that time.  I often saw the typical Russian with big fur coats waving their hands around enthusiastically while speaking in fast gibberish which had alot of jjjj and shshshshsh and kkkk.  Its pretty cool.  My mind still fails to register that I am so close to Russia.

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We mainly saw old hospitals,  old city hall,  old this and that.  The buildings were magnificent but it is the city life that I particularly liked.  Even though it was cold,  people could be seen skating on the lake,  taking walks,  rushing here and there etc.  It is amazing that a city with so few people (90 000) can give off that kind of vibe.

We returned to Ristiina that evening.  I was getting a little bored of the holidays.  As happens every year,  the holidays had reached a point of stagnant redundance.  Like being stuck in a room where the windows had been closed for a week leaving no fresh air inside.  Therefore I went outside alot.  I skated around Lake Saimaa.  The good thing about living in such a small place is that solitude can be found anywhere.  You walk a few minutes and you're at the outskirts of town where no one can see you,  hear you,  nothing.  Its just you and the forest.  Also there are many many kilometers of skiing tracks in Ristiina.  Its easy to go out and do some sports - I only have to walk five minuted and I'm at the lake or a ski trail.  Its also easy to go for backcountry walks since the forests are quite open and its nearly impossible to get lost because Ristiina is on a peninsula.

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Still,  I suspect everyone,  even at home in Canada,  was feeling the weight of the holidays (and its diet).  So my friends and I decided to have a get together.  It was tough organizing everything because it all had to be done by cell phone.  Calling or texting back and forth - finaly we agreed on a date and time and place.  We decided it would be a New Year party.  We made tacos (yes,  exactly the same stuff we have in Canada in the little box packages) and ate far too much candy,  cake,  chips,  joulutortu,  etc.  We also played lots of board games which are very good for my Finnish. We also listened to music and discussed different Canadian and Finnish bands.

On this bright note the New Year started at school as well and I was really happy to get back into a routine and get moving.