Friday, November 11, 2005
A whole helluva lot has happened in the two weeks since I was last able to say anything in this thing. First of all, Karoliina and I will have a new apartment in Helsinki at the beginning of December. So in like 2 weeks we will have an empty place and two weeks after that, we will have an empty place filled with boxes of our stuff and hopefully not too long after that we will have a place we can call home. And this place isn't just in Helsinki, it's smack dab in the middle of Helsinki. It couldn't be any more in the middle of Helsinki if it crawled into its belly. And the way we came across it makes it seem like fate. Or at least some sort of karmic rebate for having spent the last 2.5 years living in this town of J.
I looked at 5 apartments in 3 days and none of them were too my liking. OK, 2 of them would have been livable, but not too my liking. And they were expensive and they were dilapidated and they were just not that great. But since we were getting closer and closer to desperate I made my interest known on one of them. It was in a good location and pretty big, but really run down and it was expensive and it needed some work done that would have had to have been done by us. But still, it was the best I had seen and so we were going to take it if it came to us. It was an open house - as were the rest of them - and I was without K and had to stick around until after everyone else had left to have my little private talk with the realtor.
But not an hour after this private talk, Karoliina called and told me about another place that was available and I could go and see it on Thursday. Since time was of the essence and since I happened to be right at the address - it's that in the middle of Helsinki - I went up and checked it out right then and I was sold. Apparently the owners thought they had a bad place, but that's because they're stupid. The place is great, could only be better if it had closets, but that's what Finnish relatives are for, give them some wood and you can get anything you want, closet, radio, tv, you name it.
Turns out the guy was a graduate of Sibelius, where I now study and after further investigation the couple's daughter-in-law is best friends with Karoliina's cousin and is also a neighbor to K's parents. The couple was so worried that they would not be able to rent this place - and whenever we move in I'll take pictures to show you how crazy that notion is, well at least until after we get closets.
Onto other things. A couple of kids from the university paper told me that they were big fans of my column and likened my writing style to Hunter Thompson. I was flattered, but never really thought that I had a writing style. I've been writing this thing for almost a year - next month will be my last - and no one ever commented on my style, let alone made me aware that I had a bit of a fan club.
Also, at the train station - where I have been a regular lately - the ticket lady asked me in Finnish if I was the basketball guy. Fan club on a couple of levels, eh? Don't worry I won't let it get to my head.
Another topic. I was at a party for one of my classmates - who are all quite cool and for this we have all acknowledged that we are quite lucky - and there was 20 people there and half were French and the other half Spanish or Mexican and me and a few Finns. I recognize that the math doesn't work out but you get the idea. It was like no other party I have ever been to in Finland. Singing, shouting, dancing with no music. I met a Spanish guy, Juan who has been living in Finland for 5 years. He and I were comparing stories and kept saying, "Me too!" It was wild to think that there was someone else who had a very similar story as me. Except for the fact that he has lived in Helsinki his whole time, and his family in Spain aren't a hemisphere away, but still it was comforting.
What else? Had a meeting at the Ministry of Education for my project and walked away like I walk away from a roller coaster ride. Ups and downs galore. One minute I thought I did the deal, and the next minute I thought I had no chance whatsoever. When the meeting was over my colleague Irina and I looked at each other at could say nothing more than "Wow". And not really a good wow or a bad wow, but just wow. Fortunately we all agreed to digest the meeting and have another one soon. And I hope it's a lot sooner than later cause I got a new place and it costs money.
Oh yeah, one more thing. My director friend who has asked K and I to help translate his script into English has asked us to be present during the month long production next summer right here in Joensuu so that we can work with the actors on their dialogue right before they have to perform. We said sure. I don't think we will ever be able to fully escape this town and I don't think that that is such a bad thing.
I looked at 5 apartments in 3 days and none of them were too my liking. OK, 2 of them would have been livable, but not too my liking. And they were expensive and they were dilapidated and they were just not that great. But since we were getting closer and closer to desperate I made my interest known on one of them. It was in a good location and pretty big, but really run down and it was expensive and it needed some work done that would have had to have been done by us. But still, it was the best I had seen and so we were going to take it if it came to us. It was an open house - as were the rest of them - and I was without K and had to stick around until after everyone else had left to have my little private talk with the realtor.
But not an hour after this private talk, Karoliina called and told me about another place that was available and I could go and see it on Thursday. Since time was of the essence and since I happened to be right at the address - it's that in the middle of Helsinki - I went up and checked it out right then and I was sold. Apparently the owners thought they had a bad place, but that's because they're stupid. The place is great, could only be better if it had closets, but that's what Finnish relatives are for, give them some wood and you can get anything you want, closet, radio, tv, you name it.
Turns out the guy was a graduate of Sibelius, where I now study and after further investigation the couple's daughter-in-law is best friends with Karoliina's cousin and is also a neighbor to K's parents. The couple was so worried that they would not be able to rent this place - and whenever we move in I'll take pictures to show you how crazy that notion is, well at least until after we get closets.
Onto other things. A couple of kids from the university paper told me that they were big fans of my column and likened my writing style to Hunter Thompson. I was flattered, but never really thought that I had a writing style. I've been writing this thing for almost a year - next month will be my last - and no one ever commented on my style, let alone made me aware that I had a bit of a fan club.
Also, at the train station - where I have been a regular lately - the ticket lady asked me in Finnish if I was the basketball guy. Fan club on a couple of levels, eh? Don't worry I won't let it get to my head.
Another topic. I was at a party for one of my classmates - who are all quite cool and for this we have all acknowledged that we are quite lucky - and there was 20 people there and half were French and the other half Spanish or Mexican and me and a few Finns. I recognize that the math doesn't work out but you get the idea. It was like no other party I have ever been to in Finland. Singing, shouting, dancing with no music. I met a Spanish guy, Juan who has been living in Finland for 5 years. He and I were comparing stories and kept saying, "Me too!" It was wild to think that there was someone else who had a very similar story as me. Except for the fact that he has lived in Helsinki his whole time, and his family in Spain aren't a hemisphere away, but still it was comforting.
What else? Had a meeting at the Ministry of Education for my project and walked away like I walk away from a roller coaster ride. Ups and downs galore. One minute I thought I did the deal, and the next minute I thought I had no chance whatsoever. When the meeting was over my colleague Irina and I looked at each other at could say nothing more than "Wow". And not really a good wow or a bad wow, but just wow. Fortunately we all agreed to digest the meeting and have another one soon. And I hope it's a lot sooner than later cause I got a new place and it costs money.
Oh yeah, one more thing. My director friend who has asked K and I to help translate his script into English has asked us to be present during the month long production next summer right here in Joensuu so that we can work with the actors on their dialogue right before they have to perform. We said sure. I don't think we will ever be able to fully escape this town and I don't think that that is such a bad thing.
// posted by Howard @ 3:03 PM 
