No denying its winter

It snowed heavily for most of yesterday. About fifteen centimetres, the first time it's stayed. Which feels far more appropriate for the cold weather and of course looks beautiful. It also makes it lighter since the snow reflects any light, which is always appreciated. My body definitely knows it's winter. I'm constantly hungry, I'm convinced it's trying to store fat ready for hibernation.



I seem to have developed a slight fixation with trees. Sketches at the request of Lottie.


In other slightly belated news, I got my identity card. A lovely little piece of plastic that makes my life a lot easier and makes everything seem a lot more official. It also has no mention of my British nationality, the same as my passport has no mention of my Finnish nationality. Which makes me feel a little like a spy and I'm sure will prove to be useful one day, although I have yet to think of any circumstances in which it might.

Estonia

I went to Tallinn yesterday with one of the cousins I live with, a cousin I don't live with, and her German friend. It has a very pretty old town and I've been told that you're not truly Finnish unless you've been to Tallinn. It's where the Finns go to buy cheap alcohol.
We took the catamaran there because of a deal that made it a lot cheaper than the ferry when you quoted 'omena' (apple) when booking and included a free apple drink or apple muffin. This turned out to be a horrible mistake because the sea was very rough, especially in a small boat (same size as the one to bestival) and I spent half of the journey sitting on the toilet floor throwing up my free muffin. A real feat for me since I haven't thrown up (in an incident unrelated to alcohol) since I was about 10 and had food poisoning. But when we got there it was a beautiful sunny day, if a little windy.




We wandered round the old town and went to a handicraft market where I bought some kitten mittens before finding out that our scheduled catamaran back to Helsinki had been cancelled (because of weather conditions) and we'd been transferred to an earlier one. So we went to have something to eat before we had to go back and then we were informed that the earlier catamaran was cancelled as well. At which point my cousin managed to get us transferred to a ferry. So after the obligatory stock up on alcohol we went home on the ferry, which turned out to be a cruise ship. There's nothing quite like listening to karaoke in an 'Irish pub' to distract you from seasickness. But aside from the travel issues, a good trip.

First snow

Its snowing.



In other news i've been applying to jobs online. Which has resulted in me spending a lot of time swearing at my computer since i dont have this letter ä or this one ö on my keyboard. Filling in forms and having to copy and paste every third vowel gets a little wearing.

Feeling all grown-up

Today i filled out my first apartment application. Went to look at it and everything. It would be pretty much perfect. The lease is for the right amount of time, its hard to find anything under a year and this one's for 8 months. It also has one of those cage lifts which is a huge selling point for me.

But since i dont have job yet i think the chances of me getting the apartment/any apartment are fairly slim. Which is starting to be a recurring theme with the problems im encountering. So i really need to go get a job.

On another note, there were no problems with getting an identity card. I have to go and collect it in two weeks. From the police station, where i had to go apply as well. Its also where you go to get driving licenses and passports. I found this odd, but my cousin was shocked that in England they send such important things in the post. And their system probably makes more sense.

Middle of nowhere

Went to stay on the farm where my mum grew up. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Suovanlahti,+44670+Viitasaari,+Finland&ie=UTF8&ct=clnk&cd=1&geocode=FftzwQMdpciNAQ&split=0" Better known as the middle of nowhere, where there's no running drinking water and the night sky is nothing like you'd be able to see anywhere near civilisation. Its breathtaking.

These are very old summer photos but they illustrate the point a little at least.




The christening was in a chapel in the forest. Due to a lack of memory card i only have a picture of what it looks like in winter.



The reason why i had no memory card was because i was expecting my dad to bring my other suitcase all the way. But because of an unlucky combination of late flights, missing the connecting flight and luggage handling strikes the suitcase stayed in helsinki. This also meant that very little, very inappropriate clothing - a pair of white jeans, a t shirt, a cardigan, a dress for the christening and a pair of dress shoes. Not ideal for a week on a farm. But i borrowed clothes from my aunt, including a lovely gortex suit which rather unsurprisingly proved to be far more practical than the white jeans.

After the christening we were left with so much food. Mainly cake. I've definitely gotten fatter. I also learnt how to use a chainsaw, and cut up a whole tree. And drove a car in third gear. My 9 year old cousin was changing the gears for me, aiming for second. Then he drove, which was fairly scary since he couldnt really see over the steering wheel. And i went fishing with a trident in the middle of the night. The idea is that you shine a torch in the water and find the sleeping fish then stab them with the trident. Sadly the water was a little too murky and there was a lot of pollen and we didn't actually get anything. But all in all a pretty good week.

A renewed hatred for banks

So they wont give me a bank account until i have a job. which i think is silly. i dont want any money from them. in fact i want to give them money. but i went to two banks and the decision was unanimous.
In other matters, i managed to tick two other things off my list - getting a sim card and travel card. although it only took a total of about 15 minutes including the journey. and i got passport photos so i can get an idenity card. which might help with the bank account thing. slightly pathetic start really. but now im halfway across (the inhabited part of) the country in Jyväskylä for my 6 week old cousins christening. he's utterly adorable and there'll be pictures to come.

Sunny monday

I nicked my cousins DSLR since i forgot the memory card for the only digital camera i own. Here is where i am sleeping. Im on one mattress and my cousin is on the other. She snores so loudly that sometimes she wakes herself up. And that great big window has no functioning curtains.


Oh and the back garden is a forest. Its also pretty chilly here.

Since i haven't taken any pictures yet i though i'd upload some from when i was here in the summer just to add a little colour.

and it begins

So. Arrived yesterday. Suitcase was 1kg under the limit and my dad will be bringing my other (bigger and heavier) suitcase when he comes here next week for my cousins baptism. Packing my life into 2 suitcases with a combined 43kg weight limit was no easy task. Although in a way it feels kind of cleansing.

Current living arrangements consist of me sleeping on a mattress in my aunts living room, and as the house is very open plan this doesn't leave much in the way of privacy. Finding my own place of residence is actually fairly low down on my list of things to do since i have to do all these things in order to be able to:

Open a bank account
Get a sim card
Get an identity card
Get a national insurance number
Get a travel card (similar to oyster system)
Get a job

After that i can find somewhere to live.