The sun has definitely blessed Finland and that means a lot of outdoor activities... that includes a lot of barbecuing, drinks and you name it.

Let the pictures speak!

There're so many foods that you can't get in England so of course I have to make the best out of my visit.
 

Does this look like a holiday? If I'm not cleaning up my parents flat I'll surely be put in work at my grandma's house. She has been planning a redecoration of her house and my eyes for interior design are needed.

Some rare samples of the urban art left in Pasila 

Let me introduce you my new man: Vili!

 So there we were in Kallio at Johanna's amazing flat speaking about rational stuff that we always do. Everything went so well and smoothly before The Great Egg Hunt. For some reason we were more interested about the easter snacks and drinks then the egg hunt it self.  That's why the egg hunt had to take place in Aussiebar.

Rules were simple:

1. Hide the egg (place or a person)
2. Give 3 hints to the person looking for the egg.
3. Enjoy the show!


For those not speaking fluent finnish. The word egg has two meaning. It either can be one one of those that a hen lays OR men's genitalia.

So you can imagine how hilarious the conversations with people in the bar were?... The bartenders, DJ, other customers absolutely loved us as did the bouncer himself. The bouncer told me that I'll get some egg on my way home after 2am and I just thought he was having a laugh when he actually gave me one of those kinder eggs with a wink at the door while we were leaving.

Every bar has a condom machine. This one with instructions.. 

All that  a girl can do after terrible amount of partying  is to laugh.  2  week detox diet/fasting will be needed after my visit to Finland!

Here's some evidence of my dad cooking.

My heroes in hangover mornings. Salty garlic russian cucumbers.   

I still love the brutal beauty of the finnish nature

Anne got me lured to their city summer cottage and women's sauna. Glad that she did. There's nothing as relaxing after 2 days of partying then the real sauna!

Easter's here! 

I don't know about you but this is the summer cottage experience I know oh so well.  City girl rarely had a change to enjoy family summer cabins but here at my friends garden cottage in Herttoniemi I gathered my best memories of summer holidays. 

For the traditional finnish sauna some sausage (yeah I know it looks a bit strange...) and long drink is needed.

The finnish beauty spa!

Anne made sure that I'll be fit to party on my 3rd day too. With Henkka you never go wrong!

It's shocking to realize how much living in London has already altered me.

1. Some words are hard to remember in finnish.
"Suklaa makarooni? Mikä makarooni?.." (chocolate pasta)
"Siis se kakkunen se sellanen macaroon!" (The cake like thingy)
"Ai siis macarone!" (correction in the right english pronunciation)

2. It's so quiet in the streets that all the people walking too close to you are probably trying something, right?..

3. All the people in the customer service are so rude!

Helsinki's beautiful and quiet.

Splendid dinner/drinks with my ex-colleaques. 

So small that fits under the bar table... Pocket sized venus!

How small city Helsinki can be when you meet your old friends and colleagues at the same club? And make new ones?

We tried to have a round 4 the next day and with Eija noticed that even smelling water made you a bit tipsy. Later in the evening (after a meal)  I just had to stop the drinking and get beaten up in billiard instead.

Birthday chocolate-rasberry volcano cake.

Actually I have to admit that I love the fact that everybody is so rudely honest. And the best feature of all is that people actually usually mean what they say and it's not rude to be quiet when spending time with someone. Not to mention that all my family and friends are here! 

I actually heard that my mum and auntie are trying to find me a man to force me to move back to Helsinki. (Kidnapping would have taken too much energy and been time consuming). 

And I do have to admit: Finnish men are much more easier to understand! (No extra amount of small talk or just being polite but really meaning what you say.) Not to mention the shoulders and height! (Everybody's so much more taller and owns broad shoulder in Finland. I have no idea what happened to me: Short, curvy and strong temper!)

Barbecue time!

sunbathing

My little cousin helping with the dishes.

Some quality time with the girls 

D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!

Imagine this:

The sun blazes up in the sky while you run feeling the peppermint like freshness all the way in the bottom of your lungs pushing all that London smog and pollen out of your body. In the beginning the occasional stops for some 70-year-or-something coughing and spitting drives you nuts and makes you doubt your fitness levels but when you get to the forrest jumping over rocks and tree branches the child like joy fills your mind and heart. Enormous grin on your face you speed up and on the top of the rocky forrest hill you throw yourself on that cool rocky surface and turn on your back to face the sun. You close your eyes and listen to the world around you. So quiet... only the birds with you.

There's something magical about the finnish nature. My running route starts only 500 meters from my parents house and there plenty of grounds to explore. This is one of the small things I love about Helsinki. Forrest (not just parks that are carefully looked after), rural spots of forrest all around us!

My running route passed next to my previous schools gardens where we used to spend a lot of time with our fingers in the mud.

Passing through the forrest behind my parents house..

All natural glow and work out reddens after my morning run.  

The running outdoors with softer grounds and the air are working wonders in me. My shoulder doesn't get the sudden sharp pain as running on the hard surfaces and I actually could just run, run and run after a few stiff trials in here. I got my voice back and all that London dust are now on the pavements of my running routes.












Tom of Finland has woken up plenty of conversations all around the world.

http://www.comicsreporter.com/images/uploads/tomoffinland_thumb.jpg

"The autumn's stamp series begins September 8 with Tom of Finland, who is considered one of the most well-known Finnish artists around the world. His emphatically masculine homoerotic drawings have attained iconic status in their genre and had an influence on, for instance, pop culture and fashion. In his works, Tom of Finland utilized the self-irony and humor typical of subcultures."

Absolutely normal erotic art for us! You always see half naked women everywhere in the magazines, adverts and pictures all around the world. Why not men? Why not with a homoerotic touch? 

For us finnish this is the case: Absolutely normal and amazing art.  What the fuss about it? Talking about the cultural history here...

And have to comment about finnish news and especially the news readers. And just to make my point even more precise: Women news readers. 

I understand that beauty is what we want to see. But there's a line between natural and unrealistic. Over here in the finnish news you see women dressed up and with a bit of make up of course.  Most amazing are all the beautiful small lines showing the past emotions those people have lived through.  wait till we go to the world and behold! A army with immobile foreheads, all plastered faces, lipp and breast fillings.  

If that is what world demands I claim immediate actions to be done with the male image of the world today! No more middle aged fat hair loosing men as the voices of truth and trustworthiness in the media PLEASE! Bring those fake tanned, half naked chippendale dancers with their ripped muscles and pepsodent smiles here and NOW! (Not really my taste but apparently media thinks that about women's ideal so it must be the same with men.. BOOM!)

Couple of days ago I was enjoying a afterwork drink with my male colleagues and oh my lord... the quality of conversations! I actually feel a bit appreciated that the guys felt comfortable of speaking about such matters with a presence of a female... actually they pretty much loved to take the piss out of me! (But I must say that if any man would ever hear what we girls really talk about. I'm pretty sure we would see a lot of open mouths and red faces. )

Then the countdown started and the final evening flew by in a excited euphoric state of mind. Last evening watching The Bounty hunter (Gerard Butler is bone melting hot hot HOT!) and so with this "chick flick" zeroing down the expectation levels and my bad habit of overanalyzing everything.

All for me!

Early morning at the launderette, some packing and BOOM! Heathrow airport and in a blink of a eye I was on Finnair plane on my way home!

I really an't remember when I last had a loooong holiday since I was in the sweet age of sixteen. When I started working the work just never seems to end. So I take this long break as a change to load my batteries back on my roots and take a break from my life. It has been lately far from simple...


BTW I may have start to stick up with a more natural look. Unbelievable how many men approached offering their help with the luggage or made an eye contact etc! (So why to even bother to make any effort with hair and make up?! Well... I just like to dress up and feel spoiled with my beauty routines.)

The plane started landing on a perfect timing. The sun was just about to set the horizon and revealed the beautiful coast line with all of the small islands and shimmered from the small lakes not to forget to mention the absolutely amazing rural nature!

Due to amazing finnish efficiency I literally had to run from the departure gate to fetch my luggage from the luggage collection area.  Up here north there's no waiting time at all. BOOM at it's on the line even before you walk out from the plane it seems.

I had to even run to the buss!

Cultural shock hit me properly when doing some small grocery shopping. I smiled way too much and used too many "excuse me", "oh sorry..." and "thank you's". This 2 meters tall and wide strong blond  viking like guy just looked at me with a poker face and smiled ever so slightly obviously amused about my behavior.  I really didn't remember that actually I'm short in Finland and pretty small sized.  Finns are just broad shouldered! The shock continued in the buss when people didn't really speak that much (only the foreigners) and just looked at their smart phones sitting all alone in their own corners. An everybody looked so cold with expressionless faces and fair/blond features.

You can see that air is so fresh that even the sky is more blue. Feels so good to breath fresh air!

And about the traffic... What traffic? Rush hours? What are they?...

We finns don't spend time in words but in actions. When I rang the bell my dad came downstairs and hugged me the first time, took my luggage upstairs and hugger me again in the hall way. (We don't  usually hug that much). I heard from my mum that he actually made sure that my room is fresh and bedlinen clean by keeping the windows open for 2 days and pillows+duvet in the balcony to freeze all the  dust mites away.  Then he pointed out that there should be plenty of rice cakes and fruits for my taste, Gin long drink in the fridge and some chocolate in my room. He wanted me to know that they will fatten me up during my visit here.  After this I heard that my mother expects me to join her to her hospital visit tomorrow. And did I already mention that my grand mom has already booked a day to clean her house?...

The way we show love and been interested of someone is obviously a bit complex for people from other cultures. We finns never ask for help or show that we're weak. But when we do ask for someones help or when we automatically help someone it shows a great deal of trust and respect. Our way to show love happens in daily tasks. We'll make sure no one is hungry, our loved ones have everything they need for their daily living and show them that they are needed even in the most simplest tasks. Even asking how this and that did go etc. shows a great deal of caring. It's not only a politeness for us to keep up a small talk.

And just for a good laugh. We never say anything (emotional matters are a hard subject for us to talk about)  but the words are printed everywhere.

Like in a form of a poem on a toilet paper! (When did this happen!?)

I am a shoulder for you.
Just lean with all your heart. 
I love you.

A rough cheek.

Rugged toes.

A bit of belly.

Yet so soft....

And tender.

My words and actions have become more sweeter and more easily to understand during my time in London (thanks to you guys!) but I still have so much to learn! So if I seem a bit bossy or ask for help it means I really care for you.

South side of the river is ultimately the best side to look for places to shop. 

My personal favorite is Kingston. Not just many a places to shop from high end to those small boutiques filled with cheap shoes etc.  but also amazing nature and riverside views. 

So I met with Jaqs in her neighborhood and we did some shopping, gossiping, enjoyed the views and the sunny day.  Of course not without some sort of scenes. (These always seem to be happening when ever Jaqs or Shauna and me get together)

This time at TK Maxx when approaching the till we noticed the snack and grocery area with all the delights. A few gluten free baking sets and looking at the coffee shelf to try something new... what did my eyes find?.. A Belgian chocolate flavored coffee! The coffee packages  always have that "smell window"- thingy and I couldn't but just to scream from delight after the first sensation of that godlike odor. "Jaqs OMG... this is a food orgasm! OMG!...." Jaqs came giggling to get her taste of the luxury and we apparently woke up the curiosity around us too. This lady next to us came and wanted to have a sense of things and after me commenting "Such a orgasm by death.. honey I love you!" she asked a permission to smell the odor of the package and when done with it with big eyes looked at me smiling: "You don't need a man with this!".  Even the till workers were laughing. Bargain of the day I must say!

In a search of the perfect gift for my friend of course we made our way to Ann Summer's too. And not without another scene. All those vibrators on the shelfs and buttons that you just have to click. What happens when we don't know how to switch off the bloody thing?! 

"Kiki!... How do you switch it off?.."  

"Let me see... it just changes colors.... Jaaaaqs... just leave it in the shelf!"  

"Tried it all ready and it buzzes'  it's way from the shelf to the floor!". 

"Ok... we just HAVE to ask some help... Hey psssSSt heeeelp...."

The highlight for the trip: First outdoor drink and a red velvet cupcake!

Apparently I have fallen in love with a bit more village atmospheric places. Just like my home area here north with that rare community feeling the south has it's places.  Have to admit that I do miss my visits at the Battersea Park, Wandsworth and Clapham junction.  Don't get me wrong: I love my flat and the safe area I live in not to mention my short distance from the city center but south just has that something.  So depending on where life leads me I may find myself back from the south side. The whole world is open!

Now some Lush Rose Queen bath bomb-time and sweet dreams escorted by the game of Thrones!

I came to conclusion that my new work title should be the universal advisor or Google between us friends. "Wink, wink".

Not a single day goes by without the most out of context questions from traveling advice (Which bar, where about situates this and that locates..), cooking, exercise, literature to metaphysical questions about my views about human happiness and the depth of soul AND don't you dare to forget questions about my motives to be here because "Finland's all about nature, lakes, sauna and amazingly clean facilities... what on earth girl are you doing in here?!". 

In the dark corners of my little mind I have been thinking to test people's limits in rational thinking and wicked humor by answering with one of these lines: 

"WELL my big plan is to integrate to the system and when the time is right effect to everything from the inside out... VIVA LA REVOLUTION!".

"Finland and The Scandinavia is not what it looks like at all! It's a cover story! Help us! They're hurting us!".

With a small smile on my lipss: "I ran away from the charges of a triple homicide. What can I do for you today?...". 

"My family tried to force marry me to a 60 year old man and I couldn't bear it!"  And dramatic crashing down to tears.

Actually the typical english thinking providing THE answer for my existence in here has been the most amusing: "So nice that you have some work in here..."

Oh sweet hearts... let me reveal something: I still have a high demand in Finland and actually I get paid more. And I'm highly appreciated experienced optical dispenser there (strong experience is always appreciated in Finland)  and I can actually legally work as a qualified groceries  handler with my hygiene pass, a sports instructor specializing in to functional stuff, group lesson instructor and... well I think you got the point here.

Why can't people just use their rational mind and stop the great search of the ultimate answer for the reasons why I'm here? (Just like the question of my single hood... I simply don't know why I'm single! There's something really wrong with me or been busy lately?... Hard to date when almost the only closest experience of a touch of a man is a sweaty gym equipment or looking after the beginnings of men by babysitting!)

But why am I here: It's simple. Just like most of the other immigrants through out the history I'm in a search of my life's path and a happy ever after. 

Everybody values different things in life and my values are in experiences, knowledge and the amazing beautiful people and their stories around me. I get completely thrilled by mental challenged that need a bit of an OCD to be solved, cultural experiences in the museums/theaters  etc., learning new by training days and studies, psychological analyzing of the human mind and the motives behind our actions AND "plentyofotheramazingstuffrelatedtopeopleandthethingslondonoffers"... 

Victoria&Albert museum is my favorite at the moment

So much to see!

details details...

Nothing more relaxing than a glass of  champagne at work training?...

BTW talking about human mind and actions etc. 

My next door neighbor on our raise-to-the-shower-with his little big man ego tried to make me feel uncomfortable about last weekends noises: "Your quick shower makes up last night!".  HA!

In finnish culture some noises in the weekend are completely normal and god knows how many times I had to stop myself of been a cunt and smacking the wall to make them lower down music, speaking, drinking, all after party glory etc. And their everyday all time playing TV show tune (that now-a-days-I literally hate) what ever guitar solo it is.

This means war....

Got some results back from my MRI and a partial tear found. Lack and changes in the rate of motion and muscle weakness indicates that there's more to my shoulder injury and actually got a referral to be seen by a orthopedist. My life will be on a some sort of hold for now until I get a medical hint what I can do with my life and future. (At least at work I'll be kept busy and I can enjoy more of my colleagues twisted minds!)

With the lack of strength had to order groceries delivered.. actually not so bad after all!  Next time I'll concentrate in the drink offers..

So as I'm lacking high mental challenges and things to bite on I'm going to make a plan of a perfect pay back time for my oh so beloved neighbor. I see easy living, impact drill, night time half naked male YMCA dancing group and some traditional preserved smelly shark/fish/viking cooking in my head. YUMMY YUMMY! Maybe you folks back in Finland can help me with this?..

BTW can't get this song out of my head:

And the best song for the night out (and don't forget FIFA world cup games!)