My Last Night in Kokkola

Well, tomorrow all of us here in Kokkola (Kaati, Konsta, Sirpa, Alpo, and I) will drive about 450 kilometers to Savonlinna for the Savonlinna Opera Festival. I'm really excited - not often does a person get the chance to see a great opera (Carmen) in an old castle during a world-famous festival - but I'm also sad because I have to leave the house in Kokkola. I've had so much fun here...going to the folk music festival, talking to all of the people (I feel like part of the family now), and sightseeing. Yesterday we did some walking around Kokkola - we saw the city center and open-air market. The market was very nice - it was so colorful and busy, and the merchants there sold everything from fresh flowers and fruit to antique dishes and framed pictures (including one of Elvis Presley, which Sirpa was excited to point out to me - it seems that little pieces of American culture can be found almost everywhere I look in Finland!). Later that afternoon we went to the beach and waded in the sea - it was very cold! Because the water was so cold there (and none of us were brave enought to go in any deeper than our knees) we decided to do some actual swimming in the "swimming hall" in Kokkola today...there were probably at least 8 different pools there including 2 with water slides, one with lanes, and 3 wading pools, just to name a few. There was even one small (but deep) pool with extremely cold water - I dipped my foot in and it became numb almost instantly! Now I have to go pack my bags for our trip to Savonlinna tomorrow...and I probably won't have a chance to post anything until at least wednesday (when I go to Tampere with Vintta and her family)...so until then, hei hei (goodbye)!