Hell is for Heroes.



This is a screenshot from the film.

I recently watched the Finnish movie 'Matti - Hell is for Heroes' about the famous ski jumper. It's apparently quite fictional - though when you watch it, it's hard to believe anyone's life could possibly be like that. But, Matti Nykänen himself helped in directing it... Anyway, I recommend watching it if you want to learn about Finland, as this man is very well known - for all the wrong reasons! Basically, his life just goes downhill, and more downhill, and when you think he has hit rock bottom, he tunnels through that rock heading for the Earth's core. One of the sad parts is that the drama continues in real life through the newspapers. Voi voi.


Here are some quotes translated into English from Mr Nykänen:
"What is not done cannot be undone."
"Every chance is an opportunity!"
"Tomorrow is always in the future."
"The odds are fifty-sixty."
"Every time I jump and get to the ledge, I get that 'bon voyage' feeling. I mean it's like I've been through this before." (he meant to say 'déjà vu' but he said 'bon voyage' instead!!)
"Love is like a ball of string – it starts and it ends."
"I will not fall for the error of starting to hoard some sort of personal property."
"The question sounds like a question."
"I nearly died in the freezing cold, but I still had enough strength left to call a taxi."
"Germany-Austria is my other homeland."
"The movie was completely fiction, but it had some facts too."
"I'm prepared for each day. Even tomorrow."
"The truth is indeed reality."
"Let's just agree that you're a bouncer, and I am a world champion."
"I am still the world's best ski jumper, in the modern style I could jump 300 meters with a bound woodpile of metre long logs on my back."

Indeed.

I had the sports camp in the morning, there's like 24 kids there this week, way more than before. I went to the post office after and the lady there recognised me and spoke to me in English automatically which saved some embarrassment. I guess I'm going there too often! Came home, tried my scales on the cello again XD  -because I'm just sooo dedicated~ however, I do have my first lesson on Monday. *dance dance dance*
Went on a super long bike ride around Raisio and Turku with my host mother in the evening. It took us nearly 2 hours but then I got to go in the sauna after and it was all worth it :)
Oh how I love the sauna.
Love love love.

That, is all.

Guess Who.

If you guessed 'that girl in Finland' then you'd be correct :)
Well, I'm still in Finland.

Me being a fail.

Today I did nothing really. I managed to figure out how to play C major scale for two octaves on the cello - which did rather excite me, and then played 'hot cross buns' a few times. I desperately want to be able to play the cello background part in the song 'Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence' by Ryuichi Sakamoto, but I can't see that happening any time soon... I had a couple of attempts at it anyway - pretty much a Hayley-Fail, but I'm getting there. Hopefully I'll get some lessons soon and then I can learn vibrato, descriptions of that on the internet are doing my head in.

The Summer Cottage by the ocean. I stode on the jetty to take this photo

Yesterday, after some sale shopping in Mylly, we spontaneously decided to go to my host mother's parent's summer cottage in Masku. It's right on the ocean and has a really calm peaceful atmosphere. It was raining the whole evening, but it sort of added to the atmospheric effect. The ocean was actually 20 degrees whilst outside was about 16! My host grandfather had drunk a little bit and got chatting to me about the war. It was actually very interesting, though everyone else was trying to shut him up! XD
I was watching TV and Crocodile Dundee was on one channel, but because of the rainy weather the signal was terrible. So I watched another channel instead which coincidentally had the Australian television series of 'Rush' on! I thought the accents sounded hilarious, so so very Australian. Everyone was wondering why I don't have that type of accent. I explained that it was because I was from Victoria and that we generally don't have stronger accents. Then I realised that 'Rush' was FROM Victoria! They were filming in an area called Springvale which is very very close to where I live! It was so exciting seeing suburb names I know! Blew my mind :P

The Sunsetting at 10.32pm

After watching that, I went in the sauna. Oh. my. good. ness. It. is. so. good. I think it was only about 70 degrees, but I stayed there for maybe half an hour then jumped in the ocean and swam around a buoy. Back to sauna again (mind you this is at about 11pm) for another 20 minutes, ocean again, sauna again. This process leaves you feeling amazing. I felt amazing :)

The ocean at 12.34am

Then we had a barbecue (at midnight) but it doesn't feel so much like midnight due to the light everywhere. We stayed up talking of things I now can't remember, and then I tried to call home at like 2am but my mum was out grocery shopping. So I called at 2.30am or something but she was now out picking up something she bought off eBay. Hehe, I found this situation hilarious XD
So I went to bed because I couldn't keep my eyes open and left the adults chatting.

View from my window where I sit now, there's a strange mist I've never seen before :P

I think I've said enough!
That, is all.

I knew this would happen...

I totally lost my momentum.
Voi voi.
Well, I'm too lazy to write what happened over the last month.
I'll just start with today :)
I started helping out at a children's sports camp this week, 10-2 mon -thurs, and it goes for another two weeks.
Hahahaha, thinking back, my first day I went to the wrong camp...
Me being, well me, I rocked up and asked the nearest stranger if they spoke English and where the camp leader was. They asked me if it was some extremely long finnish name, and I just agreed and they took me up to an office in the ice hockey rink. That confused me a little because I was meant to be at an athletic camp. I told them I was there to volunteer and that my host mother had talked to them, they didn't remember anything about that but they said that I could help out with the girls group when they came back from lunch. I helped in the kitchen then went with the girl group. That was pretty awkward. They didn't know why I was there at an ICE HOCKEY AND RINGETTE camp. Hahaha. I didn't even know what ringette was. Gosh.
After about an hour some of the girls tried talking to me, their ages ranged from about 6 to 12. The older ones were willing to try out their English, and I was interrogated thoroughly with questions like 'How old are you?''What are your hobbies?''What do they speak in Australia?'"Do you have a boyfriend?''What sport do you play?' Etcetcetc
It was actually pretty fun trying to communicate with them XD
They were so lovely, I was so sad when I realised I was at the wrong camp because I had made such good friends with them.
Tuesday Wednesday and today I've been at the correct camp and met some really lovely people too. We've been in the sun all day and everyday has been around 26-29 degrees which is seriously hot. I got so badly burnt on my back and legs, but they've gone this magical tan colour that I haven't seen in forever.
I biked with directions from my host mother with my friend to a lovely series of lakes in a place called Masku. It was so beautiful. They had little beaches everywhere and we went to a place I learned today was called the lagoon. Me and Kiwi spent hours just sitting on a rock in the water contemplating life and it's issues and joys. the scenery was so strikingly peaceful and serene. Because it was such a hot day the water was unbelievably refreshing. Little fish came up and kissed our feet - which was fairly daunting considering we didn't know what type of fish they were XD

So anyway, today after the sport camp, my finnish friend invited me to the same place in Masku, and we went there again! It seemed hotter today, and there were at least 100 people on one tiny beach at one lake. There must have been sooo many people all together at those lakes, but it would be hard to tell due to all the trees and hills around them. We went swimming in the lake, which became really really deep in the middle and stood on a really big rock underwater in the middle. Kind of like a resting place coz it was pretty far from the shore, then me and her other friend swam to a nearby bridge, jumped off it and then swam back. It was so lovely.
Now I'm living at my second host family and I think that everything is going so well. Being an exchange student puts you in quite a few awkward situations where you're not sure how to behave or what is expected of you.
Tomorrow I might be going to my host family's summer cottage for the weekend. Super excited :)

That, is all. (actually, not really, but my fingers are tired :P )
Hayley

Goodbye for a bit. (12th of May)

Two major things are about to impact my life.
1. My laptop is being sent back to HP tomorrow to fix it's stupid freezing problem.
2. Tomorrow I'm going to a spa hotel for the weekend in Tampere!

All this means is that my all inspiring effort at writing this blog will fall to pieces.  Not having my laptop for potentially two weeks... I'm probably going to go crazy...
Brace yourselves.

Today was lovely. I gotta stop saying that, but pretty much, right now everything is so great.
On my bike ride to school I nearly ran over a little red squirrel that decided to run across the footpath. I then saw another two jumping around in the trees. Squirrels are still such a novelty.
Art was fun, not entirely sure what we were meant to do, but the teacher gave us a picture and I just photoshopped it until I liked it.
It's annoying because at school we use photoshop elements, and that is really just a fail version of the photoshop I use at home... It's quite frustrating when you can't find the tools you're familiar with...

Image we were told to photoshop

Hayley version

In my other art class (where we make the tiny rooms) I painted the sofa, the bed and the bookshelf. I also painted a small christmas decoration as a little globe, so now my model bedroom has a globe in it :D
After school, me and Kiwi went to my friend's house for dinner and then got driven in another friend's audi TT to a lake. It barely fit us all in there XD I was literally sitting facing the side window as there was no room for my legs to go straight!
Such a beautiful lake... It was about 5km if you took the track around it. It kind of reminded me of Lysterfield lake back in Melbourne but without the beach on it. And with a lot more rocks.
The water wasn't even that cold! My friend went SWIMMING. There was a bunch of girls in bikinis not far from us. Gosh the Finns can be so optimistic sometimes XD

I know I wrote some more, but this website was having issues and it's taken me this long to post this...
I don't have my laptop anymore... and I feel lost without it...
When i get it back, I'll write more!

That, is all.

RHETT!!

Finished 'Gone with the Wind' just now. I had put off the last 5 pages because I learned what the ending was like by accident. I wish he didn't leave! ARGG. I actually cried.

Three cheers for an amazing day! School, well, I don't even remember what happened... I think I was working on my bedroom model (for art we are making these little tiny rooms) and then in Physics, I do believe I fell asleep.
Lunch was porridge, with that fruit sauce they use often here. I quite like that porridge, but it's just a bit strange to be eating it for lunch.They had salad to go with it, and apple juice - which is rare.
We had Finnish class in Turku, so Kiwi and I rode our bikes there and saw that there was a really rather lovely market going on in the town centre. It was so hot! The ice-cream stand thermometer said it was 27 degrees but the thermometer above the buildings said 23 degrees, so I don't know which was correct. But who cares! It was HOT. I actually tanned today.
Turns out it was Kiwi's last Finnish lesson as next week we have a school trip into Helsinki and then after that it's cancelled due to the school being renovated. Then after that, it's the Summer holidays and Kiwi's leaving in the holidays. Nearly all the other exchange students are leaving this Summer holiday. Sept me.
Us exchanges congregated by the river on a random wooden dock thingy. I think we were all just lying there chatting for at least three hours. Soo damn good. There were so many people out there, sitting on the river bank, talking, sun bathing, drinking, smoking. It was the nicest atmosphere. So relaxed and content.
Random drunk guy was talking to all the people on the river bank. We were on this floating dock thing however, and were out of his reach. He poked my American friend in the belly button, and tried to hug him - that was fairly awkward. Got some photos ^^

View from the dock thingey

Drunk guy attempting to poke bellybuttons.

Rode our bikes to IKEA on the way home, took wayyy to many of the free sample chocolate and got an IKEA ice cream. I'm liking this tradition we're developing.
Got home, walked the dog, played extremely loud music to drown out the silent house as I cleaned it. Jumped on the trampoline with my host brother for a bit, finished my book.

That, is all.

You must set yourself on fire

I'm having lots of good days, with not too much bad things to say...
Tuesdays mean sleep in, which means nothing to me as I can't stop myself from waking up at 6.15 EVERY morning. School starts at 9.25, which means I could literally leave the house at 9.15 and pedal my bike like a deranged exercise addict and get there bang on time. Which is what I did this morning.
It's annoying because I charge into class red faced and panting... but whatever. I'm the exchange student :P
It got to 23 degrees today. I can't describe how blissful it is... I really don't have the words, and I don't intend to get all corny in describing it's blissfulness. Well, anyway, after school I went to the gym to run, but abnormally there was someone using the treadmill. So, I waited... and waited...and then she swapped with a girl on the exercise bike and she took forever. I never saw it free. I gave up waiting and left with Kiwi (she had been swimming) promising myself I would attempt to run the now snow-free cross-country ski-path. Kinda didn't happen XD Kinda knew it wouldn't...
BUT I WILL!
Soon.

Ended up rocking up at a friends house and visiting Ruissalo, which is a nature protected island, and it's beautiful. We were going to throw frisbees on the beach, but, ended up just sitting on the rocks by the water discussing Australian weather - a topic of much interest to the Finns I have met so far.
Then, we drove back and had a couple of games of Tennis. I'm not good at Tennis. I think I managed to return the ball like 4 times :S
Pathetic.
But seriously fun :)
I wish I brought my camera with me today, but it seems that the days I don't bring it, the days I don't expect anything special to happen on have the most amazing spontaneous events!
I really ought to remember that and just bring it with me EVERYWHERE.

It's been a long day again, only getting home at quarter to ten, just like yesterday! There is daylight up until that point, and on that note, there's still light outside now -(11.03) Hey wait, I'll take a photo.
I totally took that photo at 11.04 and then it took till 11.21 to upload. XS

Not dark at all. Not really for 11.03 :)

That, is all.

Well I didn't expect to tan here!

I had an extremely strange dream in which my dog knew German. Don't know WHERE that came from.
Mother's day yesterday was really nice, saw both of my host parents parents, spend the morning in Naantali which is one of the most beautiful little towns by the ocean.
Kinda forgot to write for yesterday, so sorry for that fail!

Today is certainly worth mentioning though, school was like a rush, I don't remember anything that happened there, after school, me and Kiwi decided to see if we could ride to IKEA, which we managed very well without a map. That was really fun, and the 50c Ice creams <3
Then we rode into Turku and sat by the river for a couple of hours. That's when I think I got sunburnt. But it was soo good. Then we rode back to Raisio, and I ate dinner at Kiwi's house :) And cake :P Whilst we watched 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' which was actually really rather funny.
Seriously nice day! Temperature was around 20 degrees! I remember Finland in -20 degrees... XS
I've been discussing plans to visit Stockholm in Sweden, and I'm get quite excited about that! Probably around the end of July... Really cannot wait!!

That, is all.