I made it - I'm in Germany for christmas. It was a rather interesting trip, though.
On Thursday I was still a bit busy getting Seita's stuff ready and cleaning the apartment a bit. At 8 Tapsa came to pick up Seita and I went to toewn to meet Virve for a beer. On the way I was thinking that I'd been quite stupid- could have got my stuff packed already and taken it to town and spent the night at Virve and Keijo's, who live close to the train station. When I mentioned that to Virve she said "What's the problem- we can still do that!". So we went to there place, to the car to my apartment, packed my stuff in 15 min (I never ever before packed without at least 2 days of planning!!! It was very scary... ;p) and got going. So far it even seems that I have everything. Wow!
After 4 hours of sleep I somehow made my way to the train station. Everything went quite well until I got to the airport. The plane was supposed to leave at 14:45. When I came into the departure hall and checked the table, there was this ugly red field next to my flight saying "estimated 15:15". Oh well, could have been worse. I checked in and at some point went into the security area, found myself a cheap English translation of the Kalevala, got some more coffee and settled down for a long wait. At some point they corrected the estimated departure time to 15:35... then 16:05...



I think we left at about 16:30.
The flight was actually quite nice- I sat between a polish French- teacher who works as a CNC programmer, and an elderly finnish lady, so I was talking English and Finnish in turns. The plane landed in Berlin at basically the exact time that my train (of course paid for already... but at least that was the cheap one) was leaving. Then we got to wait for our luggage for ages, and the bus to the train station left when I was almost at the stop. By then I was considering flying back home.
The rest of the trip went well, though, and in Leipzig Romy and Katrin picked me up at the train station, prepared for a girl's night, and we immediately headed for the christmas market. Tons of stands, lights, food, drinks, things, people and my 2 best friends- the perfect medication after a shitty trip.







We had some Glühwein (hot seasoned wine) and food, then mead and more food. On the way to Katrin's place we stopped in a small bar for a beer, then spent hours with wine and talking at Katrin's.



The "morning" we spent walking through Leipzig.









It's nice, with all the people and smells and sound in the street. There was a lot of musicians- a string quartet, accordeon players, ... And a Finnish christmas market, which I found quite hilarious considering the fact that I didn't see one in Finland!

In the afternoon Romy and I took the train to Gera, where I met with my parents and brother- and headed of to the christmas market. ;-) More Glühwein and food.

On Thursday the language course ended with a celebration, as usually. We were told to be there at 9.30 to get our picture taken- we were there, the picture got taken at about 9.50... That much about "In Finland we're always punctual...!". ;p The whole procedure took a while - as one after the other thought it might be nice to get the picture taken with his own camera, too. (Including me, of course!)



The actual happening was very nice - a short, funny speech, coffee and cake, lots of address exchange, picture taking and hugging,... And gifts. ;p I got a great book from our teachers, about North Carelian nature with awesome pictures. Of course, the teachers got gifts from us, as well.



I think it's gonna be quite a strange feeling not to be in the course anymore- I'd basically been in those courses for as long as I've been living in Finland. It was a very good way to learn the language and something about culture, but also to meet people. Especially this last group I liked very much and am gonna miss it.

After the party we went to the employment office and waited for a loooong time. Afterwards I still had some shopping to do, then one of our Russians was very nice and gave me a ride home. And not only that- when I said that I'd still have to go back to town to go to KELA, she said that she'd also have to go there and we could go together. She saved me a lot of time with that!

I should maybe just keep my big mouth shut. What did I say about christmas carols yesterday? Today we didn't just get to listen, but also to sing... Was quite funny, actually. Most of the time, anyway.
We had quite a nice christmas party. There was tons of food- candys, chocolate and cookies, of course, cakes- but also fruit and salads and "palatschinken".



And finnish christmas carols. And a christmas quiz. And gifts. And a very happy Santa... ;p

Christmas is coming up with a speed that's starting to get scary- on Friday I already get going. Before that, there's still "pikkujoulut" (christmas party) at the language course tomorrow, my interview at the hospital on Wednesday, and the "course over"- party on Thursday- followed by everyone marching to the employment office to show the diploma.
Talking about christmas- on Friday I decided to get myself some christmas feeling and walked to town with Seita. We even got there surprisingly fast, considering that she's sniffing everywhere- only 1.5h. Yeah, and there we were- on an empty marketplace with some christmas decoration and lights, a few people walking around and the only "music" the bass out of a car that drove by. No christmas market with food, Glühwein, handicrafts, loads of people and music... So back at home I called my mom and told her that we have to go to christmas market first thing on Saturday. Or if I'm really lucky, we'll already go Friday evening in Leipzig with the girls. Scary enough, I'm even looking forward to hearing christmas carols. Don't think I heard a single one this season. And that to me! ;p
In the meantime I'm trying to read as much Neuropsychology as I can. The problem is- it's all very interesting, and I tend to want to check out this detail and that link... The Oliver Sacks books came just in time and help a lot- it's fun reading them and he describes the diseases quite lively.
Yesterday after work I was gonna help Virve and Keijo cleaning their old apartment. We even had a great plan- since they live near my workplace, I'd take Seita to them before work (by bus), and then go there immediately when I got off. Yeah, but- on Sundays, the first bus doesn't go before 9.30- 2 hours to late. And coming back home to pick up Seita and going all the way back would have been a project of about an hour and a half- senseless. So in the end I just cooked for all of us and we had a nice evening together.



Virve has a bad eye infection and therefore has to stay home- and she's bored. So I went there this afternoon with Seita. We took the bus again- third time in a week, new record. She's not even barking at it anymore. Luckily the drivers (so far) all like her and don't seem to mind waiting a minute, until Seita also decides to sit down. ;p Anyway, first we took the dogs to the dog park, where we basically had to force them to play. Later in the apartment, of course, they had too much energy. We still managed to cook and plan our New Years Eve. At least the food- there's gonna be a sh.. ah huge load. I'll make Sushi again... Num.

Today I get out of school and my phone rings: "Hey, it's Minire- are you hungry? I'm making pizza, you can stop by on the way home!" How I missed that! Having coffee, pizza and tea together, talking or not, just spontaneously.
Almost at home I met a neighbor who told me how great my dog is- all quiet! (And sooo cute...;p) The other dog that lived there before was barking all the time... YEAH!
Seita's eye is way better- she had fought the cactus and lost, which she payed with an eye infection. Now she's very energetic again. Luckily we met another puppy on the evening walk and they played for a while.
And I finally, after at least 7 looong evenings, basically finished translating my 2 page thesis description from English to Finnish. Found plenty of very useful documents while googling words- and those I have to will love to read now (in Finnish, of course :/) before next Tuesday, so I'll get an idea again what my job is all about. Been a while.
In the language course it's more easygoing now that the tests are over. Some Finnish history, which I think is a very good idea, some "what would you like to repeat",...
Then I was on the phone with a good friend for quite a while- and afterwards found my living room looking like that:



Say goodbye to Seita's pillow! ;p I just had to laugh- good thing I had been strong earlier today and didn't give in to the urgent need to clean! (LOL and duh!) And after all, who could be mad at those eyes for long?

Today I got my first pay slip. And that's a very good thing, because I basically spent the money already. In a sudden attack of "I have a job, I'm rich!" I ordered 3 books (by Oliver Sacks) that I always wanted. My excuse: they're job-related. ;p Now I'm waiting for them to come...