Nyt olemme Suomessa!

So as quite a few of you know, we arrived safely and without much incident. I've definitely learned I dislike the Paris airport, though. I got off the plane, after getting a little help from the woman in my row to figure out where I was going in the first place, went downstairs, found where I needed to go for my flight, went back upstairs, got sent through customs (which was weird, but there you go...) went out by the baggage claim, stood looking confused, asked a couple people at a desk, got sent in another direction, followed the signs to my terminal, and had to go through security again. That was ridiculous. At least when I got to my gate, shortly thereafter a woman sat next to me and I glanced over at her book to see it was in English so I said hi and turns out she was from PA in France on a tour kind of thing. We were confused about the gate thing together but we both got on our planes just fine so it worked out. Arrived in Finland, grinning like a maniac while looking out the window... I did manage to order a can of soda in Finnish on the plane, of which I was proud. Met with Laura in the airport, bought a SIM card and a bottle of soda and off we went on the 4 hour car ride to her family's cabin. Cars being soporific as they are for me, I fell asleep multiple times on the way... though I did hear some familiar songs on the radio before I did. Got there, met the family - all were very very kind and hospitable - dragged our things to the room, and then it was time for the Juhannus eve festivities. We went to the sauna, roasted sausages and drank quite a bit.

Shot of the yard - far left is the sauna, on the right is the picnic table surrounded by mosquito netting, behind which you can see the little room in which there was a small grill.
Shot of the front of the cabin - it was once a schoolhouse. Inside, it was like a maze. Lots of fun to wander!
Me in jail. Vankilassa.

Went to sleep, got back up and had a great Juhannus during which we did more of the same. I learned to play Mölkky as well, a lawn game somewhat like Bocci ball. Today we left the cabin with Laura's grandparents, went to the grocery store and their house, and now are at her aunt's place. They're all so nice here! I'm definitely shaky with the language... I think I'm thinking too much - trying too hard to speak well immediately that I can't say anything well... I'm learning slowly, though. They're all so tolerant of my idiocy. Hopefully by the time I get to the class I'll be able to say things at least somewhat well. My writing is better than my speaking, so I definitely have to work on that. But a little bit at a time.
And I think my class would be greatly disappointed if I didn't choose to end each entry with:

Tavataan taas!