Smashing out of the comfort zone

Well, throughout my brief time in London I have made all my English-speaking friends watch pics from my amazing blog, and the frustration of not being able to read what I actually have to say has been present both verbally and non-verbally. I have also had few conversation regarding this specific issue with few of my friends (at least I hope they are my friends :< ) and I made a sacred promise to write something in English at some point. 

Title of this post has it's roots in these same conversations. I love to use very rich language and spice it up with metaphors and amazing tongue twisters, but since I have been living in England only for few months and on top of that I have been living with Finns all the way, I have zero confidence on being able to be the same entertainer who provides wizardry with words and brightens up even the bleakest of the days with pure verbal fireworks. Content is never the most important thing when I write, it's the way things are put in to words. I highly doubt that this has been the case when having a conversation with me at the Rocket after four jugs of Carlsberg, all because of my poor knowledge (and lack of vocabulary) in this noble primary language of United Kingdom. Although, I have experienced even bigger struggle when it comes to spoken English. Hence right here and right now, I would like to express my gratitude to Jas and Faye for being my walking & talking dictionaries and helping me through many soon-to-be-awkward situations, especially when I have been having a Facebook chat conversation with someone. These may be baby steps, but I'll get there.

So, it is once again time to take away another virginity, and it is not the one Mikkel hopes it to be and Swedish boys in our ice hockey team claim it to be. No, this will be my first, lets say, English piece of literature work that may have some other than tragicomic entertainment value. And since none of the people who sit behind the keyboard and actually belong to my target audience aka don't know a word of Finnish, don't have any idea who I actually am or where I come from, I thought that a little introduction would probably be more then appropriate. 

I was born in Kangasala, Finland, back in the year of many great events, year 1988. My family consists of mother, father and two older sisters. I lived first 18 years of my life in the vast wilderness of northern Kangasala and around nice and mature age of 15 I started to work near semi-professionally in the forestry industry and taking care of my parents forests. Including for example making firewood to keep the house warm during short Finnish winters and carrying logs around just for fun. Sport closest to me has always been ice hockey, this piece of information some of you may have known. But I also did race downhill bikes, and rode all kinds of mountain bikes for 8 years. Prior to that my secondary hobby for 7 years was a sport including two wheels and an engine, Enduro. I also like to watch MMA and kickboxing events, mostly UFC, WEC, DREAM, SRC and K-1, but I would never have the determination or the physical attributes that both of these sports require. Hats off to the guys who do this at the highest level. Or even at the lower ones. 

Me and my amazingly beautiful girlfriend Sara will celebrate our sixth anniversary next spring / early summer, and she pretty much is the sun around which my world revolves. She will join our Finnish Commune in London around February or so this year. Right now I am living in London, studying Sports Psychology & Performance at London Metropolitan University and playing ice hockey at University of London Union Dragons. I also visit the school gym every once in a while, but probably my most time consuming spare time activity is still eating. 

What comes to the blog, in the beginning this was the primary communication tool between me and my family and relatives living in Finland. Simply because writing one story is much easier than repeating same stories to every aunt and uncle. But it soon became something bit more than that and now we are at the point where posts have made the transition from the familiar and safe native language to the language I'm trying to get the black belt at. Right now I'm somewhere around yellow. Style of the blog, as it says on the Finnish description below the nice banner that I made with Paint, is pretty much "Exaggerated, provocative and somewhat true stories". It also says on the description that I have almost limitless financial resources, hence probably the most important thing when reading this shit is to have some sort of filtering on. And not to take it too seriously, because I don't either.

So, because none of the Finnish people I know probably don't give a shit about what I did in Finland during the Christmas holidays, I though I'd share some of these experiences with you English speaking people. This is also a chance to show what Finland looks during wintertime. And probably when you see where I have been living in most of my life, you will understand why I am the weirdo I am. One thing that I always do, as all of my four subscribers know, is that I start unloading my verbal vomit through my keyboard in a chronological order. New language doesn't provide a change to this. I have thought of alternatives though, but I thought that this is probably the easiest way for everyone to follow what I'm doing. Therefore, I present to you this highly visual verbal journey to Finland and somewhat inside my head.

After the last beer(s) at the Rocket and a visit to the Sir John Cass Hall to meet Chrissy boy on Thursday, it was time to pack and leave London behind on Friday 17th of December. Slight concern began to rise its ugly head inside our Commune when heavy snowfall struck London in the morning, but apart from little hassle caused by myself at Liverpool Street station, journey was a smooth ride from beginning to the very end. Sara and her little sister Sofia were at Tampere-Pirkkala International Mega Über Airport to meet me and take me to the Mäkivaara Residence at the posh part of Kangasala. After good night's sleep it was time to go and pay a visit to the old hoods before hitting the town at Sara's friends birthday party. It was good to make the victorious and glorious return to the nightlife of Tampere right away and in the process get down with some of the good old gangsters and badasses from the old days. 

Homecoming. Notice the nice and crisp temperature.

Bottoms up!

Anna and former tortillas.

Me, Heidi the Bday girl and Kiki.

"Where are you, its gettin' pretty cold in here..."

Central Tampere by night.

Next few days included few trips to town with Sara and finishing up the Christmas preparations. On 23rd it was the un-waited time to spend one night away from the warmth of Sara and go to the countryside house for one night. Some of you may have seen these pictures already in Facebook (or in the previous post), but I personally think that it is possible take a second look at these views without becoming blind or otherwise impairing your vision.

Countryside house.

Lake Säynä.

House and the beach.

Christmas eve began with huge hassle and hurry because no one obviously had had the time to decorate the tree, or even clean up the house properly. There was some work to be done outside also, and this is pretty much how the daytime was spent. After all the drama and running around, it was time to hit the sauna, a proper wooden one of course. Because I study Sports Science AND because I'm a true hardcore scientist, I had to perform a little human experiment. Have you ever wondered what it feels like when you go from one room to another and within few seconds from +80°C to -26°C, with just your towel on when you go outside? It was surprisingly mild, until I decided to take a hike in the snowbanks that were over knee-high. But recovery was as instant as the cold effect on the legs after sprinting back to the sauna. Rest of the evening was spent in less scientific tasks, such as eating and opening presents. After these actions were performed, it was time to say goodbye to my family and drive to Jämsä to meet Sara's parents and grandma. 

Nice light phenomenon caused by an airplane.

Walking the dog. 

Niece / goddaughter getting all cheeky with Santa.

Puff the magic dragon guarding the tree. Hideous tree this year by the way...

On the go.

Sara's dad on the chill-mode.

On the Christmas day it was time to hit the road again and drive from Jämsä back Tampere/Kangasala region. We visited my blogs number one fan and reader, Maso "Stonewall" Lehtonen's residence for mulled wine tasting -evening. Also present was the guy sharing the number one podium with Maso, Janne "Norway" Kivinen. Great night, and again tens of good friends. It is highly likely that the word had spread around the county that the power-couple is back in business, and people were on the move to catch an eyeful of this catlike woman-being and her not-so-presentable partner. On the boxing day, it was back to my parents place to meet some relatives, and eat some more. Good times.

Maso with the black hat, Fabu standing and Janne with the glasses on. 

Showing off at nightclub Tivoli.

Sara reading book with Olivia, the other niece.

Goddaughter on the firm hands of Sara. 

Puff and Turo showing off some synchronized swimm...sleeping.

After this, it was time to relax for few days. For new year, on the planning table there was a blueprint of a trip to our former hometown, Jyväskylä, in Central Finland. On the way we were going to pop by at my grandma's house in Orimattila at Southern Finland. Once again, it was over 300km of sitting in the car ahead, and our beautiful little powerhouse, Seat Cordoba, was ignited back to life again on 30th of December. Get ready for another visual explosion, because here we go! Rest of the year 2010, all in the same package.

Hello there ^____^

Grandma's house.

Photo memories. Nice picture of my sister on the upper right corner.

Granddad, grandma and sisters.

Me and grandma. 22 and 84 years.

On the bench.

"Why do you have your skiing boots back there? Did you ski to the rink?" - Martin Lambert

All gassed out.

It was not my stick, and not my tape on it.

Proof of that we actually did something! Average BPM was 119 by the way.

Sara - Iida - Hans - Mikko

Miikka - Taru

Warming up or sumin or nutin?

Welcome 2011!

After this, it took a while to recover and we made it back to Mäkivaara residence in Kangasala around 9pm next evening. On the way, we were forced to have a pit stop in Jämsä at Sara's grandma and refuel there... Luckily Sara's grandma always has pans and pots ready if a battalion happens to shipwreck nearby. Or if me and my humble appetite happen to drive by. 

Last happening worth mentioning was a good old fashion father-son activity, North Kangasala -style. I made a little trip back on memory lane and went to do some maintenance work at a lean that is situated at hiking trail network nearby our parents house. Morning was nice and warm, only -15°C and forest roads filled with snow were waiting for someone to destroy the virginal white surface violently with a car. Ten minutes of snowshoeing there, few hours of cutting with a chainsaw, taking few scenic pictures and 10 minutes of snowshoeing back to the car. Of course, we couldn't resist to do few extra detours around these challenging roads and "warm the car up properly"... 

The lean of Lake Norojärvi

Dad at work.

Trailblazer.

Sure, it looks like a red box on wheels, but it is indeed amazing when going gets really tough.

These are MY premises. 

Now we have reached the point where this post has taken most of my evening and I couldn't be happier that this is finally over, and that its time to go and recover under Sara's tender arm. I don't know if you non-Finnish talking people can believe it, but some people have actually said to me that they have found my blog rather entertaining, and I'm anxious to find out if I was able to pull the rabbit out of the hat once again and reading this did not make you want to kill yourself. If you even made it to the end, because I have also received a bunch of comments from various Finns that my posts are too long. Seriously, like I would give a shit? As far as I know, I'm not forcing anyone to read this.

But please, feel free to leave feedback. I would really appreciate that, and it would give me a guideline how I performed in this so called premier.

Greetings to everyone around the world from nice and chilly Finland. And all you peeps at London, we will see in a week.