Over a cup of coffee...

Well, let me lay my coffee cup on the table here first, and then I will proceed to update you on the various activities of recent days. Actually, I will spare you the throw-up story and other non-central details and just give you the highlights.

My friend Justin visited from Georgia and brought me a lovely laptop that I still need some more time to peruse. I have mainly used it for internet and music thus far, but I know that there are plenty of interesting programs on it! It was enjoyable to introduce him to my fair city and catch up a bit.

I moved! Yes, I am now in a comfortable two-room flat, complete with freezer, washing machine, kitchenette, furniture and a friendly roommate. The place is right along the metro route and just 20 minutes from downtown. I still haven't finished all of my unpacking, but slowly the assortment of accumulated books and papers and clothes are finding their new resting places.

I am juggling new student orientations and work and Arabic class until the end of this week. Then I will only have university classes and work to schedule into my day. I sat in a few meetings yesterday and heard about all the possibilities of study that the department of African and Asian Languages and Cultures has to offer, and let's just say that I am abuzz with excitement from all there is to know! My department is small and thus provides ample opportunity to meet professors and lecturers on a more personal level, and so far they all seem very interesting and humorous. Ask me again after classes start and the test grades are in...

I am in for a very interesting fall and winter! I am thrilled to be studying again, and very thankful for the opportunity to learn more! A hint to all of you foreigners reading this, many classes at the University of Helsinki are offered in English, and there are no university fees--in case the dizzying heights of tuition fees in the US are making you ill and you want some other options. Or maybe I just want to lure you here so I will have company through the dark winter! :)

Signing out,
Yours Truly (THE GRAD-STUDENT!)

Yesterday: Night of the Arts

As the August night slowly darkens, the light rain ceases and the night life begins, I find myself as part of a crowd gathered before a small stage behind the national museum. Inky tree silhouettes frame the section of opaque sky that I can see above me. I am aware of the curious smell of wet skin and hair, a hint of salami from someone's breath, and even alcohol wafting from those who began their festivities with an overdose in the local bar. And then the air is suddenly filled with the powerful sound of Italian and German opera arias. I can feel my skin turn to goose bumps as the beautiful soprano on stage ends her solo with a powerful and clear finalé. She is an expert performer, knowing just the right amount of expression and vivaciousness to convey as she sings to her appreciative audience.

It is Night of the Arts in Helsinki. About 10,000 visitors have arrived in the city to enjoy a selection of the 140 different venues of art that are offered to the public. Museums are free and open late. Pyromaniacs display their skills with whirling fire batons and chains. Various musical and ethnical performances dot the city in theaters, street corners, cafés and parks so that walking is an exercise in dodging oncoming bikes and maneuvering through the masses of curious onlookers. Needless to say, I am a bit tired today, but the night was enjoyable. I also left early, so I missed the the pro-graffiti protest where the police arrested some hundred young people before they caused too much damage!!! I guess everyone has their own ideas of what "art" is!

Hermanita

Darling,

I walked across the train bridge in Heinola on Saturday. It was a beautiful August afternoon with sunlight playing hide-n-seek with the shadows on the Harjupaviljonki hill and the Kymi River peacefully flowing underneath the few fishing boats and various bridges. I thought of how you always make me laugh with your insane fancy to jump off that bridge. I would have to go in after you, you know. Or I would have to wait for you below, because I get queasy jumping off of heights. :) I walked back to Mummola along the shore road, where about a year ago we walked together. The current made swirling designs on the river's surface and I missed you something fierce.

I always like entering the apartment building where Mummo and Kikka live--it smells of age, and old people, and familiarity. The shades are half-drawn and Mummo dozes in her velvety orange chair sometimes watching what is on TV. Kikka is in the kitchen and I can see she is concocting something delicious. I think you understand how I feel about this place, because I think you sense the same rest and comfort when you are sitting in the kitchen with that same sugar bowl on the table at coffee time. The place reminds me of my childhood, while at the same time the aging condition of our loved ones reminds me heavily that nothing remains the same for long. I am intensely aware of the preciousness of the moments I get to spend with them.

I didn't mean to get so pensive and serious! I have had an amazing weekend, one of friends and new acquaintances, of good conversations and life stories, birthday parties and exploding fireworks at the harbor. I just wanted you to know that in the midst of all the fun and the seriousness that comprise life and give it depth and fullness, I miss you, darling sister. Thousands of miles apart...but so close in my heart--I'm sure that's a rhyme from somewhere. :) I can't wait to see you again, until that day though, may God grant you strength for your studies, his comfort in your heart and his peace through all circumstances!

With love from your big Sis, que te quiere muchisisisisimo!

So, what's up...

-I am flat-hunting, as I need to be moved by the end of the month...me and the thousands of other students looking for housing...

-Work is going well, but my computer crashed.

-The air in Helsinki is smokey from the fires raging in Russia. The heat and dryness are taking their toll on the land.

-New student orientation begins at the end of the month, as Yours Truly starts her MA journey at the University of Helsinki. Woot!

-My next Arabic course begins on Monday and lasts three weeks. I'm excited to see the friends in my class again!

-The European Athletics Championships in Sweden are underway. Tero Pitkämäki took silver in the javelin competition yesterday, otherwise we're not doing too well.

-An evening of friends, a German film, and food are on today's agenda.

That, my friends, is a nutshell of the things that I'm "up to" these days. I feel like this month will be very busy. Indeed, the days fly by like cars on the freeway--a progression of quick and colorful vehicles packed with dear people and assortments of unexpected luggage! I'm still hanging my head out the window, though, and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells before Autumn brings colder weather and new challenges.

Thoughts from this Suitcase Kid

The tender friendships one gives up, on parting,

leave their bite on the heart, but also a curious

feeling of a treasure somewhere buried.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I enjoyed myself with a group of acquaintances at a barbeque in the middle of a small dry city park a few days ago. We were quite a conglomeration of people full of different interests and in various phases of life, but the one thing that we held in common is that we were all "suitcase children." TCK (Third-Culture Kid) is another way to put it. Basically, we may have been born in our parents' homeland, but we spent our lives traveling and growing up in different places so that now our accents are muddled with various nuances and lilts, and when answering the question, "where are you from?" we must mention multiple times, "...and then we moved to..." and a certain identity crisis ensues as we try to figure out where we belong. We have issues with letting people get close to us, with permanence, and with saying goodbyes.

We also cannot answer the question, "where is home?" with a simple word or two. I think it is a concept that is hard to define when "home" can be perceived on many levels, and when there are many places that have felt like home along life's journey. If you asked me right now to tell you where my home is, I'd say Ecuador, because it is where I grew up and where my parents still live. My childhood memories are there, and it is where things are familiar. But my home is also in Järvenpää where I currently live and lay my head to rest at night. It is in Egypt where my heart beats with life when I drive "home" on the Ring Road as the pyramids fade in the red sunset of the Giza Plateau.

One of the girls at the barbeque was writing a paper about suitcase kids. I asked her what she had discovered thus far in her interviews. She responded that home had to do with people, always with people. This rings true as I remember with longing and love the people that are my "treasure somewhere buried." These are the people that have walked alongside me in different places, who still warm my heart with their memory--parents, friends, relatives. I associate them with my concept of home. I remember quite clearly that when I lived in California, and my parents were in Finland for six months, I told people that home was in Finland, simply because Ecuador couldn't be home if my family wasn't there!

As a global nomad, I have a lot of thoughts about belonging as well. In spite of all the paradoxical issues a suitcase kid can have, I have discovered that I belong in a reality that this world has no understanding of. It is a kingdom where I truly belong and my soul finds a "home" no matter what point of the map I am standing on. In this reality there is hope for the most oppressed, and healing for the most broken, help for the neediest, love for the most hurting of people. God's Kingdom knows no borders. So if I were wanting an earthly "home," I have a few I could pick from. But because my true home is heavenly, I can journey anywhere and still "belong." I think there are many people along the roads of life, in the darkest corners, the biggest cities, and the most forgotten places, that are looking for a place like my home. Maybe that is the reason I must travel, because I want others to find and know this Home too.

An Appointment

I'm waiting for you

to come sit by me and meander

through a lovely rambling conversation

and laughter and a few splashes in the lake

as the wind makes the leaves dance around

us and the grass tickle our feet on this

warm summer afternoon made for

friends like us to share.

Travel Edition: Romania and Hungary

At seven a.m. on Friday morning, I was enjoying my breakfast on KLM's flight from Helsinki to Budapest, when I heard the English man behind me comment to his friend in a somewhat puzzled and incredulous voice, "She's putting jam on her cheese!" The muffled reply sounded something like, "...must be Finnish," and I could hardly contain my laughter. I wondered if my example gave him the courage to try the combination! I was on my way to Deva, Romania, via Budapest. I know, you may be surprised that I didn't mention it earlier, but actually, I only had four days of forewarning myself!

I had friends who had been in Deva for two weeks helping a missionary family by building a roof over a section of their house, and I have wanted to return to Romania every since I visited last summer. I can't explain my attachment to the place; but if the six hour trip from Budapest to Deva were all that I experienced, it would've been worth it! But it didn't stop there, as I had the wonderful opportunity to see friends and family (some of the same people from previous travels), climb rafters, get soaked in the rain, enjoy wind in my hair at breakneck speeds through sunflower fields and small towns, go to a Romanian church service (about three hours long), eat delicious food under grapevines, and be in very very warm weather! I actually don't know anything about construction, so my attempts at helping were not too successful. So once I realized that I couldn't cut a straight line with a chainsaw, I just held the level and made marks on wood...ok, ok, so most of the time I just watched! :)

The time I had was short, but I feel spoilt for even having the opportunity to go there for a visit. One of the great joys I had on the trip was to meet up in Budapest with one of my college friends whom I hadn't seen in three years or so! Way back in California, we were partners in an anthropology class, and after she graduated we lost touch for a while. So Brigitta and her son Davido gave me a tour of Budapest on Sunday night. We wandered up at the Citadella with delicious ice cream and the next day braved the heat to walk around the city. I like seeing a new city with people who actually live there, because it gives me an opportunity to see how they live and what the "ordinary" life there is like, as opposed to merely visiting the tourist haunts on my own. And it's nice to see where your friends grew up! It was good to just talk and catch up on what has happened in the last few years!

It has been on my summer "to-do list" to go on a roadtrip. Little did I know that I would get that opportunity in Eastern Europe! In my memory I hold the beautiful scenery of storks in their nests; sunflower fields whizzing by; men wearing speedos almost hidden by drooping round bellies (ok, that's not such a beautiful sight, but it was certainly cause for laughs!); weathered old men and women sitting on benches by the roadside as the evening approaches, seemingly with nothing better to do at the moment than to watch cars drive past and catch up on the village news; houses painted in colorful varieties, most often with peeling paint exposing the brick layer underneath and giving the vicinity a quaint, run-down look; flourescent orange security jackets hanging on the line in a muddy yard; and the sun touching everything with beautiful half-light as the day begins to fade.

So, this is Yours Truly, the globe-trekker, signing out! Hope you have all had wonderful weekends as well!

A "Berry" Nice Weekend

"You go on ahead," seven-year old Katri told me, as she hid behind a rock pile. So I continued walking with her little sister Sanni down the dirt road between the summer cottage and their house. Never knowing what mischief a young girl can get into, we didn't go far. I turned back and saw her with a hand in the neighbor's mailbox, and I was slightly perplexed as to what she could be looking for in it. I didn't have to wait long to find out what she was up to, because when we arrived at the next mailbox together, she promptly opened it and dropped in it one of the many delicate purple flowers she had been collecting in her hat.

"I did that back there too," she said, waving back to where the rock pile and the mailbox were. I smiled, wondering at the way young minds think, and appreciating her desire to brighten up other's lives (and I didn't have the heart to tell her the blooms would be wilted when the neighbors found them)! We called Katri the "Flower Girl," because that's what she picked along our morning treck. And Sanni was the "Strawberry Girl," because that's what she picked and ate along the way. Wild-strawberry picking was the original reason we were wandering down the country road on a breezy summer morning, but the jaunt extended to include swimming, flower-picking, and drawing as well!

"So what will we call you?" they asked, trying to come up with a name for me, because as you know, everyone must have a name. They saw my blue swimsuit that evening, and promptly dubbed me the "Blueberry Girl," which I quite fancy, and which reminds me that I'd like to go blueberry picking this year!

Heatwave

It's been sweltering here. Yesterday reached 33 degrees Celcius (91ºF), which is the temperature they had in Cairo! Let me mention that Finland is not equipped with air conditioning like they are in places where warm weather is commonplace! The streets are full of tourists, EU representatives, and vendors in sleeveless attire and sandals, ice cream cones in hand. It is hard to escape the heat.

There is a tiny beach with huge boulders on an island not far away from the Helsinki harbour. I went there on Saturday, with hundreds of others who had the same bright idea to sunbathe and swim in the sea! We were like confetti--dots of all sizes on colorful towels spread out festively over the boulders! The sea was still very cool, but that didn't stop us from getting in! I feasted on strawberries and peas with my friends as the sun burned cheerfully in a clear blue sky.

I watched the World Cup final in a stuffy apartment, where the open window did nothing to alleviate the heat even late at night. I sprawled out on the floor between the candy bowl and the popcorn and tried not to move! I don't so much mind, as it was very fun to be with friends and yell at the players (as if our comments had any bearing on what happened on the field!). It is too bad that the match had to end in penalty shots, but exciting nonetheless. My soccer fan-hood is now put on the shelf for four years, or until the European Championships! :)

The heat continues today, making the sky hazy and sapping the energy right out of me! But I have the house to myself as my relatives have headed to their summer cottage, and I think I will take advantage of the peace to just lounge and do some laundry. Aaah, Summer!!!

Eino Leino's Day

For clarification, the title means that it is the national day of poetry and summer, so fly that Finnish flag high, and read some scintillating sonnets as you sit toasting in the summer sun (gotta love alliteration)! In the newspaper today, a man commenting on poetry said, "I have a natural interest in poetry, because a good poem has depth in the text and beautiful reading in between the lines. A good poem leaves room for the reader."

In hopes of participating in this national day, I present to you snippets of poetry that I have collected in the last, oh decade or so, of my life, because I too love poetry:

love is the voice under all silences,
the hope which has no opposite in fear;
the strength so strong mere force seems feebleness:
the truth more first than sun more last than star
-e.e. cummings, from Being to Timeless as it's to Time

A kid's poem:

We built a ship upon the stair.
All made of the back-bedroom chairs,
And filled it full of sofa pillows
To go a-sailing on the billows.

We took a saw and several nails,
And water in the nursery pails;
And Tom said, "Let us also take
An apple and a slice of cake"--
Which was enough for Tom and me
To go a-sailing on, till tea.

We sailed along for days and days,
And had the very best of plays;
But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,
So there was no one left but me.
-Robert Louis Stevenson, A Good Play

A hope poem:

Own it. Hold your heart the way
you'd hold a live bird--your two hands
laced to latch it in, feeling
its feathery trembling, its fledgling
warmth, its faint anxieties
of protest, its heart stutter
against the palm of one hand, a fidget
in the pull of early light.

Possess it, restless, in
the finger cage of patience. Enfold
this promise with a blue sheen
on its neck, its wings a tremor
of small feathered bones
until morning widens like
a window, and God opens
your fingers and whispers FLY!
-Lucy Shaw, Posses your soul in patience

A Haiku:

Keep straight down this block
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming
-Richard Wright

And one for my Finnish-speaking friends:

Eilinen on mennyt,
miksi siis kantaa
murhetta siitä,
huomisen huoliin
ei tietomme riitä,
siis tästä päivästä
iloitse ja kiitä!

Wishing one and all a summery and poetry-filled day!