Craziness
I am currently sitting on a sofa outside our room in the Stadion Hostel in Helsinki, looking at a neon green sign with the helpful instruction “ASIAKASKEITTIÖ JA TV-HOUNE ALAKERRASSA.” If you think this is funny looking, wait until you hear someone actually speaking this craziness. This morning I went for a walk/scramble over boulders in some naturey-are by the stadium (our hostel really is an Olympic stadium, not just built in the shape of one as for some reason it seemed to me last night. There are the silly spinning metal gate-things running along the outside, and bleachers beyond the inner walls of the hostel, and everything. Also this place is huge; over a thousand beds I think.) and when I jumped down from some large rock onto the bike path, some elderly Finn in a brightly-colored windbreaker laughed and said “Hi-da-hooh-he-hlip-hip!!” or something to that effect. It was so awesome. I smiled and also laughed. I hope that was the correct response. Then I went looking for signs to read and laugh at. Signs are written first in Finnish and then in Swedish, so there’s double the fun.
Saw the sun rise over Helsinki. I like places much better after seeing the sun rise there. Especially if there’s a spectral sliver moon still high in the sky. My feeling of last night, which can basically be summed up as “I can’t believe we are expected to find our way from the train station to our hostel in this ridiculous country, and what will happen when they review the security film from the tram and find out that Abby and I didn’t pay?” was mostly dissipated.
I almost tried to find a book to trade for one in the hostel book exchange for a crazy Finnish one, but I decided that wouldn’t be all that useful.
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5 comments:
It's like when I was in the Crazy Duck Hostel and heard the Finns speaking Finnish I was like WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE FROM.
I'm sort of jealous that you're in Finland right now. I'm homeless in Yaroslavl and all the good stuff is already closed and I'm sad because I leave in, like 20 hrs, that's not okay. Also the Hotel Volga doesn't exist, which explains why I'm homeless.
Susanna, I'm sorry we didn't get information about Karl Nordenstreng to you. Dad thought he had sent you his email address. His wife teaches in Helsinki, and they have an apartment there.
You seem to be getting along fine without help! We missed you, but envied you more for such adventures.
And I had always assume that Kazan Cathedral was in Kazan. That ikon everyone was venerating was in New Jersey for many years, you know, until the considerate Westerners returned it to the Roosians.
Karlis
ummm omg Natasha's homeless quota (can someone even HAVE a homeless quota? I can) has been SO high. It's fine though. I finally called the guy and he let me in, and, of course, was the nicest person EVER. Then in Yaroslavl EVERY SINGLE HOTEL was full. How does that happen? So I ended up being taken to some weird school/hostel/thing that was far away from Yaroslavl and this is depressing because I haven't really gotten to see anything and my train leaves in 3 hours.
Oh, also, I'm glad we got to experience the ridiculousness together too. It means we can laugh about it together next year when...no one else finds it funny.
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