HB COLD

The first phase of figuring out what to do regarding school and work has been completed. I met with the director of development here, who is the boss of the project and he told me that the official policy of the polytechnic - the parent institute of the East Finland Film Commission - is to support the further educational studies of its employees. I am taking this to mean that I will be allowed to commute back and forth from Helsinki during my first semester at school, while still under contract. I don't know what this will mean for my vacation time and potential October trip to Texas, but that is something I can work out later. We still might be able to make the trip, but it certainly won't be as long as we would have liked it to be. I'll know more about all that later on.

The next step is a little trickier.

Hot damn! I got in. I have officially been accepted into the Arts Management Masters Program at the Sibelius Academy. Me and a whole bunch of women. I have been extremely anxious over this decision because it has been many, many weeks coming. Karoliina and I were saying last night that we have both been on a roller coaster regarding the decision. At first we were confident, but then as time passes and I begin to think more critically of the interview and my exam essays and the fact that I was the only guy at the test - that was for you, whoever you are - made me more and more sceptical. Last night we both said that neither one of us feels as if I will be accepted, but what happens next? I got in. Now what am I going to do about it? I have no frickin clue. And to tell you the truth, this is a problem that I don't mind having.

There are some things that I read about in the news and then I totally forget about it. Like, for example the fact that the Finnish paper industry is on strike right now and has been for the past 2 weeks. Ok, big deal. Paper industry isn't exactly the airline industry. I don't use that much paper anyway. (Side note: the Finnish paper industry is responsible for 15% of the world's paper products) But then reality struck. I walked into our local shop SIWA and found that the entire section of toilet paper and paper towel had depleted to the point that the only thing available was bulk, rough, sand paper like toilet paper. Another side note, I am a firm supporter of soft, yet durable toilet paper. I told K about it all and she had said to me that her mother had stocked up on toilet paper and paper towel before the strike. Apparently she has been through this before. Another awful side-effect of the strike is the fact that strawberry season is underway here in Finland, but there are not enough boxes to load up the strawberries for sale. Those damned paper people are pissing me off.

The weather has been wonderful lately. Highs in the 80's, party cloudy with a 100% chance of pollen. Sometimes I forget the fact that we live in the middle of an enormous forest. There is so much pollen in the air that you can actually see it. It rained the other day for a few minutes and since we keep our window open, our house was covered in pollen. The puddles on the streets look as if there was an army, armed with yellow spray paint invading Joensuu.

The weather has been so good lately that at 3am the sun shines brightly and hotly through our open window and directly onto my face. It stays there until 6:30. I have recently been forced to switch positions so that I am sleeping next to Karoliina's feet for a couple of hours. I am glad she does not kick in the night.

Other interesting tidbits: Today I am 30. Last night I was reflecting on this for a while. The one thing I can say is that I still have a good portion of hair left on the top of my head and for this I am grateful. I said long ago - when I started to lose it - that as long as I could make it out of my 20's with some semblance of hair I would be happy. Mission accomplished. I have a bad feeling I will not make it another 10 years with the same amount on top.

Scott & Joanna Horwitzz called me this morning. They were celebrating someone else's birthday in Chicago, karoke style. He woke me up with a rendition of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". To which I asked Joanna after hearing a little, "Is he in public?" Great way to wake up.

I just got back from a crazy, bug ridden bike ride. Karoliina's still in Turku, she is seeing Motely Crew tonight with an old friend. So I've been home alone for the past couple of days which is extraordinarily boring. And so I went for a night time bike ride. When the sun comes out and the wind dies down, Joensuu is very picturesque and there are very few people out past 9pm. The sun was still shining brightly when I returned at 10pm. It was very lovely looking. However, being in the middle of the bike ride was not lovely.

You know the feeling when you walk into a swarm of gnats? How it can feel like the swarm is swarming around you on purpose? LIke they are stuck to you and so you have to walk or run or ride real fast in order to get through the pack? Well the entire ride was like that. I was glad I brought my hat so that I could shield them from my eyes. Every five seconds there was another swarm. When I would stop to look around - it really is a luxury to have a lake so close by - I was attacked by these things. They were everywhere. There were clouds of them. I kept thinking that I could get through the next batch, but then another would come.

But still the ride was great. Aside from the bugs that would get caught in my headphones or get stuck on my glasses or shoot up my nose or fly straight into my mouth. Very pretty ride indeed.

I forgot where I was earlier today. I think I got to the point when we went to Lilleri and Bjorns for dinner. They have asked us to be the godparents of their baby boy Espen - I have a small desire to call him ESPN, but I don't think he would get it, nobody would since they do not get ESPN here, and for this I am very sad. We were there for the ceremony which was very nice and sweet. Espen is a cutie. I will post a couple of pictures of him tomorrow.

After dinner the guys went to the sauna. We were going out that night in Turku because Bjorn's parents were in town babysitting and they could have a night out. Bjorn has an out door wood burning sauna and we had been heating it for several hours. It was at least 85 which is 180ish. We had to hurry because the girls (Lilleri) was getting excited to go out. I got in first and dumped some water that had been sitting outside the bucket and so was very warm on my head. Aaron followed. He saw the way I dumped the water and did the same, except his was from the bucket which is much much colder. I guess I could have said something.

The next day we were off to Helsinki where Anneli was able to obtain an apartment through the Doctor's Assoc. of Turku which has a 2 bedroom apartment in the heart of downtown that we were able to secure for only 80€ which was a steal. We got there early and walked around. We had dinner that night in Kerava, which is a suburb of Helsinki. About 25 minutes on the local train, kind of like going from Manhattan to Brooklyn to eat. But it was worth it. Our friend Greg has a restaurant out there and he was going to cook for us that night. It was a Tuesday so the place was empty and he cooked a 6 course meal for us. Not stuff from the menu, but delicate courses that were awesome. Probably the best meal I have ever had. Like Carlsberg Beer "Probably the best beer in the world" I love that logo. He used fresh, seasonal foods - tomatoes, white asparagus, salmon cannoli with apple, risotto, duck, crem brulet, apple tart and vanilla ice cream. Mmm Mmm. Gave me some really good business ideas. Can't reveal here though. It's not that I don't trust you. Strike that, reverse it, it is that.

The next day was a museum and then the boat to Stockholm. Ahh the boat. Statutory sex boat. Unbelievable place that boat. Wonderful view of downtown Helsinki as the boat pulled out. I was glad to see that. I hadn't yet and it was spectacular. Needless to say we all got caught up on the party atmosphere of the Silja Line. We were sitting in the dance floor when we realized that we were all watching a dance floor filled with teenagers and by teenager I mean 13-17 and a couple of nasty older boys and girls. It was mesmerising. And disgusting. And so we got up to dance, which didn't last long.

Next day in Stockholm was beautiful. A little rainy, but not for too long, but very exhausting. It is hard to have to walk around a town for 9 hours. Especially after a late night. We got back to the boat heading for Turku which was an older, cheaper more disgusting, yet ultimately more compelling boat. We thought that we would all get to bed early, like 10. That was a joke. We had to check out the scene at the dance floor and it did not disappoint. There were the tallest group of guys I had ever scene in one place. All of them friends all together and all much taller than me. We couldn't believe it. We were perched close to the dance floor and sat at our table in disbelief of these huge Swedish guys. I got up on the dance floor and stood next to them to put it all to scale. Because everyone else they were dancing with were tiny. And the reason for this, we discovered the next day leaving the boat, is because they were all 15 and 16.

After we got back we napped and then headed for the summer house. Timo said he would come and as soon as he said it, I told Aaron to pack his stuff and we were off. The girls would follow later. We got there and finished cleaning the lake and then we drank. And then the girls got there. We ate, shot Timo's air gun, drank some Jaloviina - big mistake - and then hit the sauna. It was great. The lake was freezing. The trick of beating the freezing lake is to belly flop. Divert the pain, for the 10 seconds it takes to jump in, turn around and get the hell out. Next came the sausages and more sausages. The next morning we all slept till 2pm.

The trip was winding down and we took it pretty easy the next day. And now I am back home and all is right with the world.

Finally back home. I've been singing the theme song to "Green Acres" lately as I feel it suits me at this point. Joensuu might not have all that much going for it, but you can't say that it's not a relaxing kind of town. I mean there is nothing going on here and after weeks of crazy travel, nothing is just what the doctor ordered. For now at least. In 10 days we have guests and then there is the Midsummer Festival, for which we will hopefully be in Helsinki, enjoying the empty town as everyone and their mother will be in the country. Yet July is looking attractively empty and I would like to keep it that way.

It was very nice to have guests here in Finland. But it is one thing to have guests at your house, it's quite another story to have guests at your in-laws house. I cannot wait until we are living in Helsinki and no longer have to live out of a suitcase when we are there. All in all I think Karel and Aaron had a good experience. Sure it's hard to be with the same people for 10 days in a row, even if those people are family. But I think we kept them pretty well entertained, even if they didn't get too much time alone. Well, neither did we come to think of it.

The vacation started out slow. After Karel and Aaron arrived from Newark, we could tell that immediate bus travel was simply not going to happen, Karel's belly made sure of that. So we went to Helsinki and had a couple of sandwiches in the Esplanade park. We situated ourselves directly in front of an easy to use bathroom. Say what you want about Finland, the toilets here are great and private and I think Karel appreciated that very much. OK, enough of that.

We got on the train to Turku and made it to Raisio where our guests promptly fell asleep. K and I went to the store and got some grub to cook. We decided to take it easy and stay in. However, in this case take it easy meant a lot of booze. I kept telling Aaron that whenever he wants he can simply say no and stop, well first impressions I guess, cause he didn't stop. The night was long and the sun set at around 11pm and was beautiful.

The next day we made it to the summer house where we had to clean the lake so that we could swim there the following weekend. This was no easy task. The unfortunate thing about the summer house is the location on the lake. It becomes sort of a resting place for all the grass and crap - and because of the pig farm on the other end of the lake, I do mean crap - that accumulates during the melting of the ice. So we put on our boots and got to work. The weather was too cold and wet for us to stay the night and so we headed back to Raisio for another night at home.

The next day we had dinner with Lilleri and Bjorn and Aaron was able to sample his first sauna. I don't think he had a clue how hot 180 degrees really is, but he soon found out and was a champion of the sauna and quite addicted to it after that.

Ah ha- it's time to go home. I will continue this post later tonight. Even though the night seems more like morning. It does not get dark here, at all. Last night I thought about going for a midnight bike ride to the lake because it was still light enough to do so. Maybe I'll do it tonight. For some reason the bright night makes it very hard to sleep. I just don't feel as if the day has ended until it gets dark.

So Adios for now.