I had started a post about two days after I got here in Finland and then I never had time to write anything in it. Today is midsummer eve, it's almost midday, then guys are gone to the shop to try and score some beer (and other stuff) before closing time and I'm left here in my in-laws' house to blog!

So what can I say about this visit so far? It's been pretty awesome, really. I hadn't realized how much I had missed Timo until I saw him at the airport. I was a bit late because even though my flights had been pretty ok and on schedule, we had to wait about 45 minutes at baggage claim, for reasons unknown to me. I didn't mind much, except that my SIM card doesn't work in Finland and I have no way of letting Timo know that I'm here when I land But he always patiently waits for me, so no worries.

I think I'll stick to this flight schedule in the future. As I said before, Air France added an earlier flight to Paris which leaves at 7 am, and so that allows me to take the 12:20 flight from Paris to Helsinki so I can be there around 16:15, when the day is still young. And since it's a huge pain in the ass to get up early enough for a 7 am flight, many people don't bother with it so the flight was half empty \o/ I could try to catch some sleep on peace, at least. I say try because I spent both flights drifting in and out of consciousness and that made me even more tired I had left the wedding the previous night around 1 am and fell asleep around 2, only to wake up an hour later and not be able to fall asleep, until 3:45 when it was time to wake up.

Oh yeah, the wedding. I had kinda blocked that from my memory! What a boring affair. It was way too long, they dragged the process on purpose so people wouldn't leave early, I guess, but it didn't stop me. It was as I expected: very lavish, not very classy, lots of showing off, bride way too beautiful for the groom (:P) and me sitting with middle-aged ladies. Well, one of my mother's friends had brought her youngest daughter, who is about the same age as my sister, and we talked a fair bit (about Game of Thrones, of all things) and danced together so that was nice. The sister of the groom (who caused the whole suitor drama) was very standoffish. I got a very cold vibe from her. I mean I understand that she was very busy but she mostly ignored me even though she had time to talk to other people. It was very odd. I really am not hurt by it, but it strikes me as a bit strange. If anything, shouldn't I be the one ignoring her after she so openly betrayed my trust? Oh well. I won't mourn her friendship.

One thing did hurt me, that night. When the festivities began and the band started playing, I recognized the percussionist as one of my high school friends. His father used to be my professor at uni and he died suddenly about six years ago and I haven't seen the friend since the funeral. Anyway, during one of the breaks I went up to him and greeted him and we chatted a bit. He was really happy to see me and naturally we started talking about mutual friends. See, I'm terrible at keeping in touch with people once I'm no longer obliged to see them daily or semi/regularly (like at school or work) so I have been missing out a lot on our school mates. But I have this one friend whom I text everytime it's her birthday, so I was thinking, you know, if something major came up in her life, I would hear about it, right? Except I didn't. She had a long-term relationship with this great guy, and they stayed together eleven years (holy shit, writing that seems so surreal) and I was expecting to hear about her wedding soon, as in being invited, I guess. Well, turns out she broke up with him and quickly married this other guy, visibly older and richer. So I was very much hurt that I wouldn't even hear about it, you know. Maybe I'm presumptuous and entitled, but yeah. It kinda made me feel like shit. Thankfully I didn't have to stay much longer after that at the wedding.

Okay, so it's a bit later now and alcohol is kicking in. I'm trying to proofread as much as possible, but I can't promise thta my spelling or grammar are going to be good from now on.

So anyway, I got to Espoo on Sunday afternoon, as planned, and guess what! It was raining. So typical. Thankfully the temperatures weren't as cold as during my visit the previous year. It was so nice to be in the house again. Timo liked my presents, but then he always does. I saw my Christmas presents from my in-laws (some kind of candle holder) and from Jaana and Tommi (a small book containing quotes about marriage, but it's in Finnish so I won't be able to read it for a few years). That night we went down to Helsinki to my Morisson's, my favourite burger joint in the country, and had dinner there, then it was back home for some much needed sleep.

The day after, Monday, we got up pretty early because I wanted to do all the shopping I could pretty early. We headed to a shopping centre in the Leppävaara area and got down to business. It was a bit frustrating having to do all that but I managed not to be too grumpy and got like 80% of what I needed. Then we met up with a friend, Kalle, and went for lunch at the Pakistani place, just as planned. It was great, actually. Not awkward at all (which is GREAT SUCCESS, in Finland) and the food was pretty amazing, as usual. Can't wait to go back there on the day before I leave, as it is our tradition. Anyway, when we were done with the shopping we met up with this guy from New Zealand. My SO and I met through a heavy metal music forum, and he's also member of another forum in which he posts more often now and interacts with all kinds of people. So this NZ guy was traveling through Europe and came to Finland and wanted to hang out. My SO asked if I wanted to decline but I was fine with it, and it turned out to be a pretty interesting afternoon after all. That guy was odd, to say the least. Very lively and the kind who loves the sound of his own voice, and who is determined to let the world know how cool he is. But pretty nice all the same. He wanted to grab a beer so we went to this bar, and I ordered a cider because I figured I could drink that, n00b that I am, right? Turned out Timo's beer tasted much better, and after I finished my glass of cider, well, I was properly drunk. Like stumbling around drunk. I wonder how long it will take me to build some kind of resistance to alcohol Anyway, we drove him to Helsinki, looked at some clothes in Stockmann (look it up, kids) and went home because we had to pack as we were to go to the parents' place the day after.

And we did! So, so good to see them again.

Hmm, I think I should stop now because I'm losing inspiration, or something. I'll write more about family and Juhannus (which I'm right in the middle of) later.

Cheers!