Anyway, the birthday plan was at first like this:
3 - 6 pm : Party at his house. Snacks and drinks are provided.
6 pm onward: Sauna at the army cabin. (I didn't even know what kind of place that was!!!)
Late at night : Go to bar together.
My hubby and I walked to his place bringing a bottle of liquor as a present and a backpack filled with two towels and some liquid soap and shampoo. When we got to his place, we were the first two guests coming even thought it was already around 3.20 pm. His girlfriend was preparing the table and getting everything ready. Then she said that the girls weren't going to have a sauna at the army place, so she asked if I still wanted to have a sauna. I said yes, thinking that I had brought the towel and everything and I loved going to sauna anyway. So I was at first thinking, "What?!?!?! I'm going to the sauna ALONE??? ........ OK, but maybe that's good since then I'll have the whole sauna for myself."
After some time, some more guests came (more relatives) and the girlfriend said that I could have a sauna in her house instead with another girl named Pia. I didn't even know her hi hi hi...but I thought, "OK, at least now I'm gonna have a company. I just hope she'd talk to me in English." So not long after that we went to the sauna together. Turned out that Pia was the girlfriend's niece, though she was actually two years older than her aunt he he he he...Confused? Well, they have a big family. Pia's mother is the eldest of 8 siblings, whereas the girlfriend's the 6th kid out of 8, so there's a big age gap between them. Pia was pretty talkative, so that helped me A LOT since I didn't have to think of topics to start the conversation going he he he...We talked about regular stuff, mostly just getting to know each other. ;-D
After sauna, I dried my hair upstairs and then I came down to eat since I was SO hungry already. Here's a pic of the table and the snacks they served:
See the liquor bottle next to the jar of water? That's our gift for my hubby's cousin he he he...Besides all these, they also served cake. MMMMM...YUMMY!!!
Not long after that, the group of relatives went home and more guests started coming. They were mostly the birthday boy's friends. They talked to each other and sometimes one of them talked to me or teased me HA HA HA HA...Yeah, one of them kept on saying to me, "Beautiful smile. Beautiful girl." It's hard to know what to say when someone says that to you over and over again in one minute. It made me kinda awkward, though I appreciated his sentiment.
Since the girls weren't going to the sauna, the guys went there ahead of us. Turned out that the girls got busy preparing for more food to bring to the army place (which turned out to be a rented cabin). They got busy preparing some macaroni with tuna and slices of tomatoes and cucumbers, salad sauce, and they packed the rest of the food on the table to bring with them. I mostly just watched as they were talking in Finnish and I didn't even know what to do. I was afraid I'd be in the way of the whole process since everything was different from the parties back in Indo.
Soon after we finished preparing the food, we took a taxi to the army place. The taxi was big enough for 9 people (besides the driver) and it was so clean and there was this big skylight on top. When the girls were talking about how lovely the taxi was, the taxi driver turned on the light around the big skylight (neon green). COOL, isn't it? ;-D
When we arrived at the army place, it turned out to be a big cabin overlooking a river. There were steps down to get to the river. There was a big living-room/dining table in the main room along with a big fireplace. There was also a small kitchen complete with a sink and a fridge so we could store the drinks there. There was also a big sauna (enough for 15 people) and a shower room and a toilet.
We girls began to set the table with food and forks and stuff while some of the guys were still inside the sauna and some others were skinny dipping in the river. BRRRRRR!!! It was only around 7'C outside so you could imagine how cold it was. Here's a video clip of the river and the cabin (notice the smoke billowing from the chimney):
The girls began to eat the macaroni. Some of the guys had finally had enough of sauna and skinny dipping (they brought a towel to the "dock" but they went in the water naked). To those of you with dirty minds, of course we weren't even watching them!!!!!!! ;-D
So basically we were just talking and having fun and eating and drinking in the cabin. I only drank water or light cider as usual, though one of the girls (the birthday boy's friend) tried to persuade me to taste wine and other alcoholic drinks hi hi hi hi...
I got to talk to some of the girls, so that was nice, as well. The birthday boy sat next to me at one time and he said that he was happy to have me there. He said that he was my hubby's best friend, so he wanted me to join them, too. He said that he was surprised about our marriage since my hubby didn't even tell him about the plan even though they were best friends. But he understood that my hubby was a very private and a bit shy man. I told him that I had persuaded him to tell everybody about the wedding plan, but he wouldn't budge. Do you know that he only told his own mother about the wedding A DAY before the D-day? I was so glad his mother didn't get mad at me or him he he he...Anyway, the birthday boy also said that he liked me 'coz now he could see how I had made my hubby happy. Then my hubby, who was sitting right behind me at that time, said right away, "Yep, that's right. You DO make me happy." Darn tipsy guys!!! How could they make me feel SO touched? My hubby's not someone who'd profess his feelings like that. It must've been the alcohol, but still it was a nice moment for me. ;-D
We also brought a tape with us, so we were listening to some music. Some of them started dancing and the birthday boy also danced himself silly while we were laughing at him he he he he he he...After midnight came, we left the place by taxi again. Then we went to the bar to drink and talk some more (yeah, this is the Finnish way of having fun!!!). I got to sit next to one of the guys and we talked a bit about everything. He was into languages and travelling, so he loved practising his English he he he he he...At around 1.30 am I begged my hubby to go home since my eyes felt SO heavy. So finally we walked home, though as usual we stopped on the way to buy some DELICIOUS pepper steak at a nearby kiosk (it was a small building actually, not really a kiosk). Then we ate it and went to sleep. My hubby fell asleep right away after eating (he didn't even bother to brush his teeth) HA HA HA HA HA...
Well, we'll see what happens in 10 years. The birthday boy said that it'd be fun to get together again 10 years from now. He also wanted to make a deal with me. He wanted me to have a kid already in 10 years, so I made that deal with him since I had already been thinking of planning to have a kid in 2-3 years (if God permits us to have a kid then) he he he...
Anyway, one of them told me that years back they only celebrated the BIG 30, 50, 60, 70, 80, and so on. However, lately the BIG 40 has been celebrated as well. All in all, it was a better party than I expected since some of them sometimes translated what the others were talking about for me. I even got to talk to some of them pretty much, so that was pretty satisfying. I went to the party thinking that I'd be left out the whole time, but that wasn't true.
Here are some autumn pics for you. I haven't taken too many pics yet he he he...but I will later on!!!
Almost forgot...we also roasted some sausages in the fireplace. Here's a pic of it:
Here's a pic of me in the porch of the log cabin. Unfortunately the pic isn't too straight since I put my camera on the log in front of me and took a pic using the timer he he he...
And here's a group photo of us:
