Post 10: Continuation of Post 9

So i tried to do this yesterday. And spent around an hour writing on my phone befroe I pushed the Back Button and, poof, all my writing was gone. But i wanted to write a bit more about Helsinki since I am not so tired anymore. So i will start with another list of key words, followed by a list of key phrases i learned in both finnish and swedish.

Keywords (to accopany above list):
Illegal student Party Place
Karaoke
Dance Dance Revolution
Theater Tour
Black Licorice (yuck)
Tar Liqour


Key Phrases:

Hello=Moi (finnish)
Thank you=kiitos(finnish)
Fuck=Vittu(finnish)
Excuse me Sir, your reindeer shit in my purse= Ursakta, din ren sket I min handvaska (swedish, and some of the letters have two dots above them, idk how to do that on the computer)
And in finnish: Anteeksi, porosi paskoi kasilaukkuuni

I'll add here that I loved trying to read the finnish street signs. They have named may thinks words with a sieres of 3 or 4 k's followed by the same number of U's and T's and i guess its just easy for them but the words don't even look real to me.

So onto the story:

Even though i stayed out late almost every night I actually managed to eat quite a healthy diet in Helsinki, but never better than at Annina's family summer house in espoo(?) out there her parents Christian and Ulla have a beautiful garden from which we ate carrots, potatoes and greanbeans. and they have plum and apple trees (which weren't quite ripe yet but still found some tasty plums) and bushes with berries which they made into some kind of delicious drink by boiling the berries, and stored in their "cellar" which looks like a hobbit home.
The best meal I had was when Christian smoked a Salmon for Me and Annina and Tabby (Annina's friend from Australia who also happened to be staying with Annina for a few days).

First he salted the fish fairly heavily and then but it in a box with a few different kinds of leaves and sticks, their scent was to cook into the fish. the end product was on of the most juicy and delicious pieces of fish I have ever eaten, Christian siad that the trick is to not get the fire so hot so the fish doesn't dry up.

It was actually very touching to have Christan prepare one of his favorite meals for us becasue he hasn't been able to eat, or taste a thing since he bagn chemo treatment in June. The treatmeants have finished but he must give his throat, right where ke held his cell phone, a chance to heal becasue the chemo pasically made a jumbled mess out of his throat.
He had to take his meals by filling a plastic bottle with some liquid mixture that looked like baby food which connected to a small plastic hose that ran through his belly and into his stomach directly. Can you imagine 3 months of that?!

And what was worse he couldn't speak for months before i arrived. But he had just regained the use of his voice a few days before I got there, which was very nice becasue he told me interesting stories while we sat in the sauna together.

One story that Annina told me which actually managed to shed some humorous light on the situation was that since her father had regained his voice, any time that Ulla spoke with him he would complain that his voice hurt and he couldn't speak, but when the Cat would get outside for more than an hour or two Christian would go out and call loudly for her. Which I heard him do as well. I think it is a sign that he is recovering well, he tooke me out on the boat once and also drove in and out of helsinki a few times while I was there. Hopefully the treatment worked.

Ok that is enuff computer time for today.

TTFN

post 9

Date: 9/12
Location: amsterdam.

Key words:
Traditional finnish culture
Swedish theater in helsinki
French cinema in swedish and finnish
Sweet island with war tunnels
Finnish rock
Boat bar
Invisible pizza shops
Spaghetti with tuna sauce
Traditional (means naked) finnish sauna with christian
Homemade juice
Garden
Finnish arthouse cinema.



Story:
As you can see I did many things in finland. Now I am In amsterdam. I got two hours sleep last night plus another 1 or 2 at the airport/on the plane. Been in amsterdam long enough to try smoking pot for the first time. Always wondered what it was like but its illegal in the states so obviously I never tried it. Its an exciting and exhausting feeling all rolled up into one smooth smoking sweet smelling little piece of paper.

I'm going to take a nap or full snooze now. Not sure which.
I have lots of pictures so far good for the blog and facebook (OMG!!!)
TTFN

post 8: cornwall

Date: 9/5/09
Location: car and train in the english countryside

I've decided to make things easy on myself because my fat fingers struggle on these tiny keys. So I will be listing things that sum up our semi-week in polzeath, a summer town on the atlantic coast in cornwall, followed by one short story from the trip.

Keywords:
English countryside
Stonehenge
Iconic airliner trailer
Hurricane swell
Rainstorm
Laser tag
Cornish pastie
Mega shark vs giant octopus
Onshore winds

Key people:
Me
Christian
Ed
George
Octavia
Skatie

Supporting people:
Mark and erin

Story:
Late august in cornwall felt like a crappy day in october in chicago, only greener. Our first full day in the trailer was the only day of favorable winds for surfing. Light offshore/sideshore wind all day. The waves seemed to build a little as the day went on. We surfed from around 830 to 1030am and went in to eat and i got one wonderful overhead wave.   Around noon the rain really picked up and all we could think about was how miserable it would be to get into our wet cold wetsuits. I was laying on a bed undercovers in the van when everyone made the push to get suited up.  And reluctantly i got suited up  

So we got our suits on and made the 3 min walk from the trailer park, across the street, to the beach. After my suit was on all my complaints were over and I was just excited to surf.

The paddle out through the shore was always grueling, on this particular session only the boys made it out back, partially because Skatie and Tia were given some safety advice by a surfer coming out of the water so they didn't paddle out where we (ed christian greg and I) did.

When I finally made it through the waves I was pretty exhausted so I just sat on my board and watched the sets come through.  

The waves at polzeath are a beach break with about 3 or 4 decent peaks out back when it was big.  The waves we rode were gifts sent to us from hurricane bill. The biggest swells were measured at around 10 feet with an 11 second swell period. The biggest faces we estimated at about 15 feet.  Very powerful.  

After resting my arms and watching a few sets I decided it was time to paddle into some peaks. In my limited surfing experience I would say the biggest waves I surfed before this had faces that were no more than 6 feet tall. So this was a big jump in size and I was nervous to the point that, if I had waited any longer to take a wave, I could have easily talked myself out of it.

My first few waves we a combination of humbling and disappointing. Lots of thrashings and underwater tumbling, lots of near missed drops.   Over the course of the 2.5 hour session the weather switched between a steady rain and a torrential downpour making it difficult to see the incoming set waves, which had a tendency to begin crumbling about 50 yards in front of you meaning you had to be on your toes.  

Finally i got a good peak and good position I was swallowed up by whitewater for a moment on as a got to my feet and as i came down the face.  Afterwards Ed and George said the wave face was 3 times as tall I was, not sure if that is true, but if so it would be a wave a good 8 feet bigger than anything I was used to.  I do know that i was scarred shitless on my feet and just as the water cleared from my eyes I saw some guy with a red board right in my line.   So i jumped off my board before the drop was done and tried to swim under the wave.  I basically tumbled and twisted for a few moments before breaking the surface behind the wave.  I had survived and not done any damage to my board or the man and his board in front of me.  But i did wish that i had continued my ride.  Later in the session the sun managed to peak through the clouds and the rain fell to a drizzle, a very beautiful moment in time that helped relax my nerves a little.

Over the next few days the onshore winds howled making the waves choppy, and the water was churned up with sand and seaweed giving it an nice brown color reminiscent of a big northwest day in the fall or spring at home at cliffs.   I got some great rides, not so fearful as I was when i first made those first few drops, but certainly with a sense of respect for the power of waves that size.

On to Finland to see Annina tomorrow!

TTFN

Post 7: Great Days Today, Great Days To Come

Today is a great day! After much turmoil over my RTW ticket (yesterday i thought i might be able to fly to london on sunday given the stipulations of my ticket. The fact is i was a little lazy and relying on the travel agent too much. But when i would read the rules of the ticket I started to fill like i was drowning in lots of the bullshit that I hope to avoid by "getting away.") i think today everything will be finalized and to top that off i am getting out of the effing city and going to the Hamtons (a swanky beach town) until sunday, when i board a flight bound for London. My travel schedual is a little crazy at times, long layovers and serious jet lag lies ahead, but as long as i don't go broke ahead of time I think i am in for one hell of a trip and I hope more that you will all enjoy reading about it.

TTFN

post 6: mobile post

Hello,
I'm in the airport trying my first post from a mobile device. By days end I will be in nyc. Ann arbor was really fun. Too much fun. Means that today will be about recovery. Chris and Jess got married in the finest of fashions. A short but meaninful service, followed by a great reception that was amazing. I could tell there was a great deal of thought put into making the event enjoyable for everyone.

It was a great way to start my trip.

Ok I think that will do for now. Mobile post over

Post 5: Boredom

8/2/09

Location: Moultrie, Georgia

 

            I have a lot of free time here.  And there isn’t much to do.   I am staying in a bed and breakfast about 3 blocks from the pool.   The house is quite beautiful.  It’s defiantly an old plantation house, big and white with a huge wrap around porch It is over 100 years old.  I am sharing a room with my boss, Alik.  He has a king sized bed and I have a plastic inflatable bed that is comfortable, but slowly loses air.   Our room is in the garage/stable house.  It would be a nice place to spend a nice romantic week, but with just the two of us staying here it feels a little awkward.

            I can feel the boredom setting in.  My 2 divers do not arrive until Tuesday, which basically means that I am on vacation.  I have been watching TV all morning, first Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (classic) and The Bad News Bears (remake) on TBS.  What’s worse is that I missed a huge south wind yesterday at home which would have meant a road trip up north for some waves (Frownie Face of Frustration) Oh Well.  

This place (Moultrie) is tiny and surrounded by farms.  Yesterday we went to the Winn Dixie supermarket, I saw all the staples: McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell, on the same road as the supermarket.  Don’t remember seeing a Wendy’s but next to Taco Bell there is a small stand that serves snow cones and funnel cakes, I would love to haven’t had a funnel cake in years, I believe that some folks call them elephant ears, but I sounded good to me when I saw it.  Moultrie is not big enough for Best Buy, but they do have a Radio Shack.  There is a Dominoes Pizza around the corner from our hotel and a CVS and Subway around the corner the other direction. It is sad that these things are the staples of many of our small towns in this country.  You can click on the blue text above to read more factual information about Moultrie. 

The natural landscape is amazing however, there are theses huge trees that have some kind of tiny vines or moss that hang down from its branches.  The air is super humid and it seems to rain every afternoon, which I love and which makes this place vibrantly green.  Even as I write this, the rain has begun to fall.  If there were an ocean, or “great lake” close by it would be a great little place to live because so far that people are very friendly.

 

TTFN-Ta Ta for Now

    -Tigger

Post 4

7/31/09

            Location: Airplane headed south(east) to ATL

 

I don’t really like having sharp Metal Objects in my mouth.  Even if people are trained to do put them there I still don’t like it.  On my most recent trip to the dentist (yesterday) I found out that I need a Root Canal before I fly away.  So I got one scheduled for august 18^th (fun).  My DDS, who I think was completely full of shit, told me that I have a ticking time bomb in my mouth that will eventually hit a nerve (literally) and I will experience “the worst pain known to mankind” (I thought it was childbirth but I bit my tongue when he said that).   So that will be a nice little bonus thing to do before I leave. 

It turns out that my DDS isn’t the only person who is probably full of shit.  When I was in Bloomington I turned on my (the hotel’s) TV and Fox News channel was on.  A Show called Red Eye.  It looked like a round table discussion between 4 “well educated” people, 2 men and 2 women, in their late twenties/early thirties, who can tell the difference?  Not me, no way.  Both of the women had blonde hair and both men had short dark hair and looked fairly similar.   They were sharing their opinions, which is  really what caused me to look at them as being so full of shit.

 One of the men said: “There are more TVs that people In America.   Most houses have 25 remotes, it’s a scourge.”

            The other Man responded: “Yea and most remotes got so many buttons that you don’t even know what they do, I mean you could push some of these buttons and someone 100 miles away could be getting electrocuted, cause I know that’s how I would make remotes.”

            Next one of the Women spoke:  “Yea but I have 7 tv’s and 3 cable boxes cause I know I don’t want to miss (some bullshit show) if one (cable box) goes out.  But you know what there’s less of, guns.  So I like to see some more guns for sure.” 

            Laughter ensued between them all and I imagined that not far from where I was laying some drunken business major was sitting in his room at his frat house laughing and agreeing with every word.  And thus we have the magic of TV, and the problems it can create.  4 people, all of them guided by a notion of perfection created for the sake of advertisement or to help them feel fiscally sound, sitting around on a TV show telling everyone how big of a problem TV is for American Culture, knowing full well that people will continue to watch regardless of what they say.   I Just wish that the lines between people actual opinions and the things they say to entertain TV viewers would not get so blurred.

As for the Gun comments, most people would already know that Fox News is quite a beacon of conservative political thought.  But interestingly enough, the idea of Guns for Everyone was a very liberal idea before the development of much more powerful weapons; guns used to be such a powerful object that to give them to the masses was thought to be a way to surefire revolution, and that was not far from the truth at all.  Now it seems to be a tied to conservative notions of personal security.  I myself do not own a gun, and have never shot anything other than a rusty coffee can (except for when i play laser tag and paintball).   And I have killed thousands, possibly millions, of digital people and Aliens on various videogame consoles.

 

Anyways I am way off topic so let’s transition back to more relevant news.   I will be in Moultrie, Georgia for the next 8 days at the US diving and Speedo JR National diving meet.  It is my last bit of work before I go, and the next few days will hopefully go smoothly.  This meet is the culmination of months of training so I will try and enjoy the experience and I will encourage my divers to do so as well because they have worked hard. 

When I get back home I will begin to furiously organize myself to leave (and take a nice relaxing trip to Canada).  This will involve an awful lot of cleaning.  Both my room and my Car are filthy.  My room is so dirty that my mother called it a “sore spot”, meaning if I don’t clean the hell out of before I leave she will shit a brick.  My Car is technically my Dad’s car and I need to clean it out because I know that he will also be upset with me if I leave a mess back home (or if I don’t turn all of the lights in he house off when I go to bed). 

In the process of cleaning I will probably give away lots of my clothing and things other things that clutter my life up at home, although I won’t be able to give away all the clothing in my closet because most of it belongs to my sister Skatie who might own more clothes and shoes than someone rich and famous who owns lots of clothes.   I think she made a wise choice in transferring to fashion school.

After I clean I will pack my bag for traveling.  Here is the inventory thus far:

1.     Tent

2.     Lightweight sleeping bag

3.     Water filter/iodine tablet for backup

4.     2 canteens

5.     Stove that will burn nearly any fuel (sounds like an advertising slogan)

6.     Cooking hardware

 

I feel like I have covered many necessities, clean water, shelter, food preparation. But I would still like to get my hands on a GPS of some kind and a waterproof camera so I can put some sweet pictures up here. 
As well as a good sharp knife.

The plane is now about to land in Atlanta so I will conclude abruptly.

 

 

TTFN