Crab party!

So, last Friday we headed towards Björköby again, this time because of the crab party!

We went there on Friday, but the actual party time was on Saturday. and well, what can I say? A lot of drinking, singing, good food (not only crabs, i guess some people didn't even taste them :-D). I still think crabs are too difficult to eat! or, well, i don't mean 'difficult', i mean it takes too much time to get out the edible parts compared to the amount of the edible parts, you know what i mean? :D We were about 20(?) persons there, mainly J's relatives but also a few friends. I felt comfortable, and I got to know some people better (and also a few whole new persons).

the old cattle shed which was repaired and fixed for the party!

We started the party already at 4pm or so and we went on 'til the night. It was "the last summer weekend" so it was legal to shoot fireworks (never heard of this kind of event in Southern Finland??). I enjoyed the night, a lot! The next morning wasn't too nice, but everyone survived :-D Waiting for the next year's crab party!

a booklet full of drinking songs :-D

On Sunday we had to drive back to Helsinki, it took about 5 hours and I can tell you that none of us felt too comfortable :D Hangover......... Even though we all had fun on Saturday, I guess we all were so happy to get back home after the long drive!

fall is in the air

haha I don't know why i started to laugh when i heard a moment ago that the Finnish passport will be renewed - otherwise it will look the same but the back cover is gonna be adorned with snowflakes :-D it's gonna highlight our northern position even more! and when you're traveling to some warm place from Finland, your passport will remind you of the coldness that is waiting for you back in Finland, haha.

My feeling hasn't got any better from yesterday but I still had to go to work. After being out today I'm now even more convinced that our summer has come to its end.. it's sad because it's still August which usually is very warm (okay we've had some really warm days also). Today when I was going out, I checked the weather and I was like "ooh it's sunny and looks warm, could i still wear shorts..". Then I checked the temperature - 11 degrees??! seriously? even when the sun was shining? i can tell you, i didn't wear shorts...... But I have to admit that, even though I hate the fact that it's getting colder, I still like fall. At least the beginning of it! I like it when the nature gets more colorful and the fact that I can wear scarves (still quite sheer ones) and knitted shirts.

all the pictures from weheartit.com

Now I'm off to bed, good night, sleep tight!

illness = boredom

yesterday at 7am, going to work

Hello again,

apparently I (and J also) caught a flu last weekend so this week has passed by feeling more or less sick. On Tuesday I went to work but I shouldn't have done that, it just made me feel even worse. On Wed I went to the health center and they prescribed a few days of sick leave for me. On Wed I wouldn't have had a shift anyway, but I had to cancel my Thursday shift. And I hate being sick, it's so so so booorinnngggg...! I just hung around here watching Sex and the City and all the shit that was offered on TV. On Thursday I was already so frustrated that I asked J if we could go to the movies, and we did. We went to see Ted, I had thought that it's a children movie, and that's why I wondered why it's R16. But now I see why :D But at least I liked it, haha.

weheartit.com

 

On Friday I went back to work. I wasn't feeling perfect but neither did I need sick leave. Yesterday I had a long day there (and now I'm feeling worse again). After work my sister came to visit me, we haven't seen each other in a few weeks so she came to hang with me for a while. J came here in the evening and we watched The Dark Knight.

weheartit.com

Today we didn't get up from the bed until it was 3 o'clock or something, lazy asses! Luckily this is a day off for me, hope I'll feel better tomorrow because I'm gonna have four days of work in a row again. Have a nice Sunday :-)

one sunny evening, leaving from work

Oulu & Björköby

(warning: A LOT of pictures coming..)
 

So, on Thursday we arrived in Oulu. J is from there, so we lived at his parents' house (=his childhood home). On that day we asked a few of J's friends to come and spend the evening with us at their home, as his parents weren't there. We spent the night playing a board game and cards, and drinking. J's friends' dog was also there :-)

On Friday we took a bus (!!) to the city center, visited McDonald's, a few stores, Oulu's market square (with the police statue), bought ice cream, and just hung around, for a few hours in total. Then we went back "home". The evening included grilled food, Batman begins and sauna (as I told in the previous post). We had to go to sleep early so we weren't able to do anything so special.

a forest route to the bus stop.....

Oulu's market hall

And why did we have to go to sleep early? Because we had a wake-up call at 7am. J started hoovering (:D:D) and I put on some make up. J's brother and his girlfriend came to pick us up at 8am and we started our road trip towards Björköby. It took about 5 hours to drive there, we stopped once during the trip. First we went to J's sister's place (I met her and her family for the first time) and then we all jumped in a boat and went to a nearby island, where J's mother's cousin's (?) cottage was situated. She had her 60th birthday and that's why we went there. The island was nice (even though the weather could have been better) and we were able to see the lighthouse of Valassaaret, situated at the midpoint of Finland and Sweden. The evening consisted of drinks, food, socialization and so on. I enjoyed the night even though in the end I was exhausted because we had woken up so early.

On Sunday we just ate some breakfast there and then it was already time to leave. This time we stopped a few times during the trip and we were back in Oulu at 5pm or so. We were quite exhausted. In the evening we went to sauna, grilled some food and just watched TV (J's dad had bought a card with more than enough channels!).

On Monday we were supposed to be at the airport at 2pm but before that we had time to visit city center and a big, beautiful park called Ainolan puisto (that was a bit flooded...). We stopped in a cafe (liquorice ice cream, i'm addicted!). Then J's dad drove us to the airport. Our flight left on time, actually before it was supposed to leave. We were back in Helsinki at 16.30pm.

As you can see, the weather got better - actually almost perfect - just when it was time for us to leave. I wouldn't have minded staying there a few days more.. I like Oulu and I wish we could find some time to visit there again this fall.

By the way, in two weeks, we are going back to Björköby, to J's sister's place, for Rapujuhlat (=crawfish & a lot of drinking). We will spend a weekend there then.