Quick Update

I just wanted to leave a quick note to let you all know what I've been up to this past week...I was in Savonlinna from Monday to Wednesday (oh - and a correction for my last post - it was 450 kilometers, not miles from Kokkola to Savonlinna!) and had lots of fun seeing two operas and walking aroung the town. The first opera was one for kids (and it was all in Finnish...so I basically just listened to the music and didn't try to understand any of the words) and the second was Carmen (which was amazing...the setting alone - a castle built in the 1400's - was very impressive). Last Wednesday I went with Vintta (Kaati's sister) and her kids, Santtu (14) and Emma (11), to their house in Tampere. Santtu and Emma showed me around the city by bike and bus on my first full day there - it was nice to get out of the car for a change. The next two days were rainy and cold so we mostly stayed indoors and played board games (including one called "Finanssi" which was a kind of Finnish version of Monopoly...luckily Santtu and Emma could translate enough for me to (sort of) understand how to play!). We also went to the movie theater to see the new Pirates of the Carribbean movie...it's nice because the movies only have Finnish subtitles (so everyone, including me, can understand). When the weather improved the kids and I went to the amusement park near their house...it had some very fun rides (probably better than the ones at Valleyfair), and we ended up going to the park twice. Yesterday was a "shopping" day in downtown Tampere, and I got my first real taste of the big Finnish brands like Marimekko and Kalevala Jewelry. At night Kaati and I went to a Flamenco dance performance in the city...she (Kaati) dances Flamenco herself, so I had been hearing about it since I got here, and it was nice to see the dance performed in person. I will post photos of this week later (probably Friday) because Ari, Kaati, Konst, and I are going to Tallin, Estonia tomorrow!