Monday, May 08, 2006
Wow, it's been a while since I've written anything. And since the last post a lot has happened. Nothing too big or crazy, but big in its smallness if that makes any sense. For example since I last posted I have gone riding on my bike twice, including today on the way to and from school and I got lost both times. The second time on the way home was a lot of fun and I saw some neighborhoods that couldn't possibly have been Helsinki, they looked so Mediterranean. But then again since I last wrote, the sun has been out and shining and warm and that makes everything look not like Helsinki. The leaves came out and turned green literally overnight. We had the windows open yesterday. I've worn shorts on several occasions since I last wrote.
I sang karoke with Timo. We sang such hits as "Tomorrow" from Annie, "That'll be the Day" and "Unchained Melodies". It was late, the kids had just gone to bed (all five of them and all of them girls) and so what do the parents do? They get the karoke machine from out of the garage, put it in the living room, turn the volume up and pass the mic around. But no one really knew the songs, except for me - and Timo, but he wasn't about to step up first. And so I sang and sang and little by little, Timo made his way closer and he was singing.
On Mayday Finland was insane, but on May 3rd, a Wednesday I think, the first day I rode my bike to the market hall across town with the good Italian sausages, I saw more drunk people asleep wherever they may have fallen. The market square is in the part of Helsinki renowned for its drunkenness and its drunks and when the sun came out I think it was all too much for these people. They were everywhere, dozens.
Since I last posted I have learned to hate the sounds of seagulls, and this really upsets me. I used to think so fondly of the sounds of seagulls. It brought about images of relaxation, vacation, a beach. Now, whenever I hear these severely stressed out city seagulls the first image that springs into my head is that of a child with the most monstrous of all screams. A child I want to kill, but sounds like it is being killed. It keeps happening, usually at five o'clock in the morning and so it is usually the screams of beaten children which brings me out of my sleep. I'm telling you I hate the sounds of seagulls. And only in the past week or so, before that I loved seagulls.
The sidewalk patios have sprung up, out of nowhere and now, the huge slabs of concrete that I walked across everyday during the winter and spring or melting as I like to call it, are filled with people and the people are smiling and talking and laughing. The place went from Soviet to European in a week.
I saw my first batch of Finnish strawberries in the grocery store, but I didn't dare buy them. They were 6Â for 6 strawberries, but in a month - like when I come back from Texas, the will be 6Â for 100. Did I mention that summer is starting? Well actually, it's still Spring, it's just a few weeks late.
Tonight I am going to a concert, Matisyahu, the Hasidic Reggae BeatBoxer. I have no idea what to expect, but I have a feeling it will be hysterical.
I sang karoke with Timo. We sang such hits as "Tomorrow" from Annie, "That'll be the Day" and "Unchained Melodies". It was late, the kids had just gone to bed (all five of them and all of them girls) and so what do the parents do? They get the karoke machine from out of the garage, put it in the living room, turn the volume up and pass the mic around. But no one really knew the songs, except for me - and Timo, but he wasn't about to step up first. And so I sang and sang and little by little, Timo made his way closer and he was singing.
On Mayday Finland was insane, but on May 3rd, a Wednesday I think, the first day I rode my bike to the market hall across town with the good Italian sausages, I saw more drunk people asleep wherever they may have fallen. The market square is in the part of Helsinki renowned for its drunkenness and its drunks and when the sun came out I think it was all too much for these people. They were everywhere, dozens.
Since I last posted I have learned to hate the sounds of seagulls, and this really upsets me. I used to think so fondly of the sounds of seagulls. It brought about images of relaxation, vacation, a beach. Now, whenever I hear these severely stressed out city seagulls the first image that springs into my head is that of a child with the most monstrous of all screams. A child I want to kill, but sounds like it is being killed. It keeps happening, usually at five o'clock in the morning and so it is usually the screams of beaten children which brings me out of my sleep. I'm telling you I hate the sounds of seagulls. And only in the past week or so, before that I loved seagulls.
The sidewalk patios have sprung up, out of nowhere and now, the huge slabs of concrete that I walked across everyday during the winter and spring or melting as I like to call it, are filled with people and the people are smiling and talking and laughing. The place went from Soviet to European in a week.
I saw my first batch of Finnish strawberries in the grocery store, but I didn't dare buy them. They were 6Â for 6 strawberries, but in a month - like when I come back from Texas, the will be 6Â for 100. Did I mention that summer is starting? Well actually, it's still Spring, it's just a few weeks late.
Tonight I am going to a concert, Matisyahu, the Hasidic Reggae BeatBoxer. I have no idea what to expect, but I have a feeling it will be hysterical.
// posted by Howard @ 6:03 PM 
