I think I found a mandel from my Christmas porridge, didn`t I?

I have made up my mind. I won`t see you Finnish people at Christmas time because i will stay here in Budapest. I am one of those who has spent 23 Christmas with my family in my little hometown. But this year will be different. And i am pretty excited.

Usually my Christmas have been like this: First, working the morning time in a bookstore wrapping presents (i truly enjoy that!), watching the Snowman from tv, going to sauna and eating rice porridge with hidden mandel, listening to Christmas carols, going to church and eating a dinner after that. Last thing would be opening the presents, whippii! Alcohol has never been part of my Christmas, but intead of that bad habit ive getting to know Mr. Chocolate very well in Christmas times. And Mr. Chocolate means eating so much chocolate that i have been feeling sick. Very clever indeed but thats who i am.

I wanna say couple of words about rice porridge and hidden mandels. It is always very nice moment with my family when we gather around the kitchen table and try to find this fucking mandel. It means we all have to eat lots of porridge so that our chances to find mandel grows bigger. And usually the one who gets this little fucker will be very lucky for the whole year or even longer. Usually our discussion goes like this:

year 2009
me: "The one who gets the mandel will find the man of her dreams next year!"
everybody eating..
my dad: "Oh, what is this?! oooooo, its a mandel!"
me thinking: "Niiice, thanks dad!"

year 2010
me:"The one who gets the mandel will find the man of her dreams next year!"
everybody eating, mum laughing to my words..
my brother: "Hey, i got it!"
me: "hmmph...but of course!"

year 2011
me: "The one who gets the mandel will find the man of her dreams next year!"
(my plan is to eat so much that i will for sure find this bastard!)
eating, eating..
me: "Mum, did you put any mandel here at all?!"
mum: "yes, i put two."
eating, eating..

and then..for my biggest surprise i can`t remember anymore what happened last year. I can just say I think it is very much likely that i found the bastard from my plate..


pictures from lovely Natalie Dee.

"You can`t take away my freedom, but you can have my heart"

Once upon a time there was this really wise young woman who said:

"You can`t take away my freedom, but you can have my heart."

And this woman was E. And this woman`s words touched me deeply. I am just asking you to think about this sentence and what it means.

Our place is always full of feelings and emotions. We often laugh, cry and love. We often dance and I often sing. E writes poems. We talk about life. We talk about missing someone. But we are never willing to give up our freedom. I think it is the one thing you should always keep at yourself.

Heart, well what can I say?

We found A Winter Wonderland

..I will now tell you a little secret.

Our secret mission was to find this small village in the middle of forest and in the middle of nothing. We bought a nice map, took a bus to Manfa and started walking without really knowing where to go. Andiboi is quite a good map reader though and I am abso-fucking-lutely not good in that.

Anywway, suddenly we found ourselves walking in a Winter Wonderland. The trees had this white frost covering them and everything was so beautiful around us. I felt happy even though we had no idea where the village was and where were we.

Then we found our village. It was quiet, lonely and there really was 8 or 9 houses. We looked inside these people-free buildings and noticed these buildings looked like they were left empty suddenly and without really thinking what would happen to them. To me it kind of seemed like there used to be so much life, but then something happened. Or maybe it was just that the summer ended?

This time we didn`t have Andiboi`s tent with us, so we started finding our way back to Manfa and the to Pècs. On our way we saved a small kitty which had got stuck in a tree. I hold the rubbish bin against the tree and Andiboi climbed. The kitty started to follow us and i wanted to take it home but then the dogs came and that is a whole new story..

It is so nice to find out the winter wonderland where everything is possible is so close to us..

What happens in Pècs, stays in Pècs

Last weekend we went to Pècs and we had such a nice time there. These pictures tell everything that needs to be told you know. Maybe the second photo needs some explanation, or maybe not?

On saturday night we had this great Tournament 2011. We for example played some football, basketball, black peter and climbed all over the hostel. The funniest thing was that in the evenings we never left our hostel!

Others left on Monday and me and Andiboi we stayed one more night because we had this seacret dangerous mission..

This one is for my Mammutti

I am drinking tea, burning cinnamon-apple candle and waiting to meet my mom, her, sister and my cousin. They are visiting me here in Budapest.

Last night we went to opera to see Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi. I understood couple of words and saw - well not so much. But i heard a lot! Our seats were the cheapest and meant for standing. In euros they cost not even 2 euros. It was oh so good. Me and E drank a little bit of expensive white wine before the showtime to relax a bit. And to be classy ladies.

It has been nice to spend time with my mom, whom i nicely call "Mammutti". She is the smallest thing and thats why this nickname is so funny! Still, i feel bad that i decided to leave them alone in this big city for one night and for one half day. Some might think i don`t care about my family, but it is not true! Sometimes i just expect my family to understand even my silliest decisions. I, E and M&M and Andiboi want to spend some time together in Pècs, so thats where we are leaving with E today evening. Others are already there.

Mom, I just wanted to say that i love you. Even though i may not be there in Christmas and even though i am now going away from Budapest a day before planned even though you and T and J are still here. Please, try to understand. I enjoyed these days spent with you three.

I also wanted to say that i am so happy to have a mom, who i know would move the mountains for me if necessary. She cares about me so much that she is constantly worried of me. And it doesn`t help if i say she doesn`t have to worry, cos she still does. I know i can always count on you in everything mom.

I LOVE YOU, MAMMUTTI!

How much is the fish?

Scooter, Pendulum, Infected Mushrooms and Parov Stelar and so on. They even had a small ski jumping hill there and a place where we can do some ice skating. And we will go there again today. This is a festival called "Fridge" in Budapest. We were there yesterday with our awesome HILARIOUS gang. We drank some hot wine with pieces of apple in it. It has been all about the hot wine everywhere since the beginning of November. It was cold, I was almost freezing even though I should be hard core Finnish who is used to staying out in cold weather. But still, this all was very nice even though i was so tired that in the end i started to act like a little kid cos others got in to the warm inside vip-toilets and i had to stand outside in a line. Such a kiddo i was! I am sorry friends.

Yesterday it was a full moon. I am just a bit crazy and believe all these moon changes and how they can effect on us somehow.. :D I love full moon and pictures with it!

Kulttuurimatka Amsterdamiin

Syyslomaksi lensimme Amsterdamiin. Meitä vain huvitti juuri tuo kolkka maailmasta. Myös New Yorkia mietimme, mutta lentojen hinnat tuntuivat päätähuimaavan suurilta köyhille opiskelijoille.

Matkamme teemana oli mm. kulttuuri ja museot. Tarkoitus oli kiertää suunnilleen kaikki kaupungin lukuisat galleriat ja museot. Siksi joudunkin nyt nolona toteamaan, että eihän siinä sitten aivan niin käynytkään. Kävimme kuitenki seksimuseossa ja viimeisenä päivänä myös eräässä toisessa museossa, jossa näimme Rembrandtia tovereineen. Damissa kaikki on ihanan värikästä, juuri sellaista josta minä pidän! Ihmiset näyttävät siltä, kuin olisivat pukeneet päälleen ensimmäiset vaatteet, jotka käsiin kaapista sattuivat. Coffee shopit ovat mielenkiintoisia paikkoja ja vielä mielenkiintoisempaa on punaisten lyhtyjen alue. Tosin tällainen vapaa seksinmyyntikulttuuri ei oikein iske, ei ainakaan hyvällä tavalla! Muuten koko kaupungin alueella leijailee vapaus ja mahdollisuudet niin hyvässä kuin pahassa. Amsterdam on ehdottomasti kokemisen arvoinen kaupunki. Se on täynnä jokia, kirpputoreja ja kaikenlaista pientä jännää.

Matkan tarkoituksena oli irtiotto arjesta. Emme kuitenkaan tajunneet reissuun lähtiessämme, että paluu arkeen olisi sitten vähän vaikeampaa..Ensimmäistä kertaa pitkään aikaan minua vaivaa koti-ikävä ja ikävä koko Suomea ja sen ihmisiä. Samalla mietin mihin lähtisin seuraavaksi, missä maailman kolkassa tekisin harjoitteluni jne. Tällä hetkellä houkuttavilta tuntuvat mm. Glasgow, Edinburgh ja Lontoo. En taas tiedä missä haluan olla, kenen kanssa ja mitä tehden.

Siispä taidan palata kevääksi Suomeen, aloittaa gradua ja asustella E:n kanssa jossain kivassa kaksiossa tai kolmiossa, joogata, juosta (ilmottauduin Tukholman maratonille), viettää aikaa kavereiden kanssa, tehdä töitä ja olla onnellinen. Haluan myös kirjoitella onnellisia postauksia, sellaisia joista tulee hyvälle tuulelle kun niitä lukee.