Thursday, July 12, 2007
A most eventful week
It's hard to believe that as of now, I've been gone just 45 minutes less than a week. It feels like much more time than that has passed. After all, I've been through Thailand, got a new computer, seen my grandfather, bothers, nieces and nephews, arrived in Finland, attended a funeral, attended a Finnish church service for the first time in my life, taken care of NOHA and DIAC paperwork, placed an ad for a housemate (for Kelvin), picked blueberries, met with Emma, gone to a deerhoof gig, gone swimming, gone to Kiasma, met Miika, said good-bye to Emma (until the end of the month).
And now I am sitting alone in Emma's apartment, doing nothing. Sipping a coffee quietly, enjoying the first real moments of solitute. It's strangely fitting that my first moments of 'aloneness' are at Emma's house. Until I pick up my phone and call anyone, there are no plans for the day. And until I open my mouth, there is no sound to betray me but the light tap-tap-tapping of the keyboard.
So, rewind. My grandfather's funeral was on 07/07/07, as if arranged, but in reality, not so. It was even going to be on the 14th, but some people couldn't make it. It's like Vaari (that's grandfather in Finnish) arranged it from across the line and also made sure that his granddaughter managed to get her ticket changed to the very last available flight out of Australia.
And I'm glad I was there. How wonderful it is to see a lot of the family there, and for the most part, simply supporting one another.
On Sunday we accompanied my grandmother to church. My grandmother turned to ask me - "Now, surely you go to church when you are overseas?" and not wishing to lie, I said, "Well, I go to temples...", to which she replied "Ah! Why, those things! Good, good - that's what I thought", as if I'd confirmed her suspicions that there must be no proper churches out of Europe. Wanting to be a good sport, I asked my dad, sitting on the other side of my grandmother, "Can I light a candle?"... "No! Nothing needs to be done here!" Being the persistent kid, however, I asked my grandmother, too. She shooed me off to light a candle, much to the amusement of quite a few in the little church. Well, at least my grandmother was happy.
I guess the rest of the update can come a little later... Helsinki feels like a whole new world to me, and perhaps merits a whole new post...
fon @ 12:14 PM link to post * *