The Family, Särkänniemi, and the Cabin!

I blinked, and the week was already over. I met my host family a week ago, but we're very close now! I love talking the day away with Anne, running in the mornings with my personal trainer Mikko, and playing Legos with Lassi. This week, I ran 4 kilometers (2.67 miles) with Mikko! For someone who has never gone running before, I'm really glad that I chose to run with Mikko. With Olivia to help take care of Lassi, I've gotten used to Lassi's shenanigans. Before I came to Finland, I was nervous about being around a five year old kid, but this week has taught me how nice Lassi is! He's the sweetest, cutest, most huggable and thoughtful boy I know!

He wanted to keep sock monkey safe too!

My parents are still working during the week, so Olivia and I have been playing with Lassi during the day and going out with the parents in the evening. Tampere is surrounded by two beautiful lakes, Pyhäjärvi (poo-hai-yaravi) and Näsijärvi (nah-sah-yah- rah-vee). We have been to Pyynikin Näkötorni (poo-r-niki nah-kur-toni), the observation tower looking over Pyhäjärvi and another tower over Näsijärvi. We've eaten poro (we roll the r's in Finnish!), which is reindeer! Olivia, her grandpa, Lassi, and I watched a professional performance of "The Emperor's New Clothes". Even though the play was in Finnish, I managed to learn a few words! 

Ida (Olivia's cousin), Lassi, and Olivia!

It was really windy on top of  Pyynikin Näkötorni!

Näsijärvi is on the right, Pyhäjärvi is to the left. A river crosses into Tampere and connects the two lakes.

At the end of the week, Olivia, her cousin Ida, Lassi, and I went to Särkänniemi, the second biggest amusement park in Finland! It was raining a bit, but that didn't stop us from going! Coming from the intense rides in Cedar Point, I found all of the rides in Särkänniemi very easy. But even though I could handle them, I still screamed a lot because that's just how I am. Olivia and I found it funny how "American" I was because all the Finns on the rides were quite quiet! Lassi made my day 20 times more fun because he wanted to ride all the rides with me! He would say "Kimmi! Kimmi!" as he dragged me on the merry-go-round for the second time of the day. Sadly, we had to say good-bye to Olivia, but we'll see each other again when our family goes to Sweden! 

This ride was just like Cedar Point's Gatekeeper. But I didn't have time to ride it :(

Back in Chicago with the school orchestra, I discovered my love for aquariums. Luckily, Anne, Lassi, and I went to the exciting aquarium inside of Särkänniemi! Of course, we saw the standard Nemo tank and turtles, but my here's my favorite fish. Wow. What a sight to see.

This weekend was one of the biggest Finnish holidays:  Juhannus, the mid-summer festival! Mid-summer is always on the third weekend of June. These are the days where the sun doesn't set, so people stay up all night making bonfires. It's a time for the whole family to get together in the countryside and relax in their cabin! It's just like families going up north for their cottage in Michigan. I've never gone up north, so this was completely new for me! I met Anne's parents, her brother, his wife, and their daughter at the cabin. Jesse and his girlfriend Nora were also there! We spent our weekend by the lake with good food, relaxing in the sauna, and fishing. 

I'm really glad this picture captured the vivid colors around the cabin!

Anne's mother, Anita and little Olivia!

If you look hard enough, you can see Lassi's hand between Mikko and Jesse!

It's amazing how bright it can be here at night! The sunset that didn't go away was so beautiful!

10 pm at the cabin.

11 pm.

The midnight sun!

I tried out some mid-summer magic! If you pick seven different kinds of flowers and put them under your pillow, you'll dream of your future husband. It was a lot of fun running around the house picking flowers! ...But I dreamed about people waiting in a long line for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... I guess it's a sign.

We're going to another cabin mid-July, so I'm excited to live the cabin life once again in Finland! Hopefully I'll catch a fish this time! Now that I have more time, I hope to have some posts about Finnish life instead of only updates. As always, thank you for reading and I hope you're enjoying your summer so far!