After The Fun

Yep, back to routine life again after a week of fun with my friends. The last time I met them was around 5 years ago (back in 2006). I must say that they came at the right time. A week before they came, the weather was horrible. It rained almost every day and the sun only came out on Thursday. Last week the sun was out EVERY DAY and it got even as hot as 30'C. Yep, they were laughing and saying that they could get some tan in Lapland, of all the places in the world! He he he he he he he...We went to the river bank and my two friends went for a dip in the river.

On Friday we had a BBQ party in my place and we had a blast. I invited my BIL, SIL, MIL, R2's cousin (close friend) and also two friends (but only one of them could come). We had too much food and drinks, but at least we had more than enough for everybody ha ha ha...

Here are some pics of the BBQ party...


We bought the wrong kind of BBQ grill 'coz it was so small, but then again we had prepared so much food that it was OK to wait for a long time to grill the satay and sausages HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...R2 was the grill master and I helped out in between chatting with the guests.



My friend made this delicious German cheesecake he he he...


The rest of the guests...


Yesterday we drove to Rovaniemi and stopped by at Santa Claus Village. We met Santa there and took a pic he he...It was free to come inside to meet him, but we couldn't take pictures inside, so we had to buy some ourselves.


Here's a pic of us in Santa Claus Village area. R2 wanted to be the female elf HA HA HA HA HA HA...it wasn't I who told him to do that! :-D


OK, now it's time for me to blog-hop a little. I feel that I'm starting to have a cold or something 'coz my throat feels a bit weird and I slept so long yet I still feel so tired. I've been coughing during my sleep, but I've taken some cough medicine now. I'm just going to take it easy before I have to go to work later on. Good thing I have some days off now to recuperate.

Summer 2008 Plans

One of my closest friends who now lives in the USA is planning to visit us next year during summer break. She's just started working as a substitute teacher, so she's going to have a long summer break next year. Oh, I forgot to tell you that by "us", I mean me and my other closest friends who also live in Europe.

One of us lives in Holland with her hubby. Another one lives in Germany 'coz she got transferred there from Bandung. So my USA friend is planning on visiting all of us. I sure hope it's going to happen. At first I was planning on meeting my USA and Dutch friend in Helsinki, but on second thoughts, it'd cost too much for me. I still haven't got any regular income, so I can't spend too much money. So I told my USA friend that she's welcome here in Sodankylä. I told her that we'd be able to pick her up in Rovaniemi if she comes here. After all, if she comes here, she HAS to spend a few days in Rovaniemi as it's a big city and it has many more tourist attractions, such as Santa Claus Village.

My Dutch friend suggested my USA friend to visit other nearby European countries as well, but it's going to take so much planning. My USA friend said that personally speaking, she actually wanted to taste our lifestyles and she wasn't really interested in visiting too many countries at once by spending only a few days in each country.

I just hope that my hubby's one-month summer holiday from work happens at the same time as my friend's trip here, so we can go anywhere easily he he he he he...It's going to be SO MUCH fun!!! ;-D I haven't met my USA friend since she got married in July 2006.

My Dutch friend said that she would come here someday in winter 'coz she wanted to try out our winter activities he he he...My German friend has also told me that she's interested in visiting Lapland someday. There's no real plan yet, but it's going to be SO NICE to meet either of them again!!! ;-D

The other day I begged my hubby to go back and visit Rovaniemi someday, perhaps on his long holiday next summer. If it happens that my USA friend is coming here for sure during my hubby's summer holiday, then we can spend a night or two there along with my friend, so it's gonna be easier for them to get around with our car. ;-D

Plans, plans, plans...it's not even Christmas yet, but it's SO EXCITING to talk about plans to meet old friends, eh? ;-D

The Trip to Pori

Okay, finally here's the story you've all been waiting for, but I'm afraid I'm gonna disappoint you as I can't take as many pics as I wanted to. Let me start from the beginning then.

We woke up at 6 am on Sunday morning to get ready. We were ready at around 7 am already, but Arttu's elder brother picked us up at around 8 am. I guess Arttu wanted us to be totally ready way before he got here. That was why he decided to set the alarm at 6 am he he he...

It was breathtaking when we went out. Everything was WHITE. Snow had fallen during the night and it was around 1'C when we left home. Too bad I didn't take a pic 'coz we were in a hurry and I didn't want to be in the way. After all, we had a LONG drive still. The bad thing was that I sat at the back and the back windows were tinted, so I couldn't possibly take pics from there. Oh well...Plus it was raining most of the time, so it just wasn't the perfect timing to take pics. I slept most of the time hi hi hi...Arttu's brother was astonished at my sleeping ability HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Ahem...the first stop we made was in Rovaniemi, right in front of Santa Claus Village. I had my sentimental moments there as there was snow there, as well, and I remember the first time I went to that Santa Claus Village with my hubby back in 2004. Maybe later on I'll show you the pics of that trip. Back then it was March, so there was still plenty of snow. Snow reminds me of everything good now, because I first visited Finland in March and I also moved here this year in March he he he he he...Ahhhh...memories!!! Anyway, here's a pic of Rovaniemi. See the X? Our "new" car is the same as my hubby's brother's car, but the colour is dark grey. The building across the street is Santa Claus Village.



Along the way to Pori, we stopped by at a few places (ABC resto) to pee and to have something to eat. Here's what a regular ABC restaurant looks like from the outside...plus I got to take a pic of the toilet, as well HI HI HI HI HI...

In all those places, there seems to be ABC resto serving lots of buns, sandwiches, cakes, drinks, and they also serve heavy meals like steaks, soup, etc. There's also always Hesburger (a bit like McDonald) in this type of building plus a small supermarket.




I LOVE those things they put on top of the shelves he he he he he he...





I LOVE those HUGE paintings all over the walls!!!!




All ABC chain restos have the same colour scheme, including the same tile colour scheme in the toilets he he he he...I think it's a GREAT colour scheme, esp. when the weather outside's so dark and grey.

You know what I LOVE about the toilets? THE SPRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-D YIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!



Anyway, upon arriving in Pori at about 8 am, we dropped by at a kebab place to buy some dinner. Here's the resto:



What I found strange about the resto was that there was NO toilet at all!!! ARRRGGHHHH!!!!! I bought some pita kebab, whereas Arttu and his brother bought some pizza, then we stopped by at his brother's apt. to eat before going to his eldest brother's house. The house was actually pretty near his second brother's apt. building he he he he he...Here's a pic of the outside and inside of his eldest brother's house:



Sorry the pic is a bit blurry he he he...



Here's my sister-in-law with her youngest son. Since she looks so young, everybody thinks that she's her son's elder sister HA HA HA HA HA HA...By the way, the red couch is a lazy couch, so she can lean back and extend a part of it...well, you know what I mean, right? HE HE HE...




Here are some pics of their kitchen.





Apparently they love candles...or at least my sister-in-law does 'coz when we got there, there were candles lit in the living room he he he...I LOVE the red one in the below pic! ;-D




This is their garage. Don't wonder about those many tools. Arttu's eldest brother's a car mechanic. The drums are his youngest son's and the motorbike's his eldest son's he he he...




OK, here are some pics I took when we left Pori at 7 am. It was SO dark and SO VERY foggy. I'd never seen fog that thick before. I was SO glad that my hubby wasn't alone driving in foggy weather in a city he barely knew. Most of the time we drove along the freeway, so all we could see was either fields or trees. One funny thing I realized was that people here don't have to pay to use freeways. Plus I see more fields here than in Bandung or Jakarta, but of course they're both big cities, so there aren't many fields anymore.

Sorry the below pic is blurry, but you get the gist of it (the yellow lights from the street lamps actually looked pretty romantic in foggy weather). I couldn't take it using my flash from the car. It would be crazy to open the car window as well as it was cold. Plus since the car was moving, I couldn't use any other features as it'd be blurry, as well.








And here's a video clip I took on the freeway from Pori to Vaasa...We were driving in thick fog for about 150 km, can you believe it? It felt like we were in a horror movie. Sometimes we couldn't see more than a few metres ahead or sideways, and since most of the time we were passing by fields or trees and the road was pretty straight, it felt as though we were going nowhere!!! We kept on driving along the road but the scene stayed the same: foggy!!! Quite an experience!!! GOOD THING there were no moose crossing the roads. I could see SO many moose crossing road signs tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk...



Here are some more pics from the roads...







These are pics of a coffee shop somewhere (I forgot already hi hi hi...) There's a gas station right in front of it.






Yeah, don't ask me what the helicopter's doing there. It's on the side space of the coffee house he he he...




We stopped by at a mall in Vaasa (if I remember correctly). Here are some pics of the mall.




The inside of the mall...see the right resto: Ravintola (Restaurant) Batman!!! Quite a name for a kebab resto hi hi hi...I wanted to try the Chinese resto on the left, but Arttu didn't feel like eating there, so we ended up going back on the road as he said we'd find something to eat in Kemi. Kemi is the place where we first met. He was living there back in 2004, so going to Kemi also brought up some nostalgic moments for me.



Here are some pics of downtown Kemi. It was foggy as well over there.









We ended up having dinner at Hesburger he he he...Here we are inside Hesburger...





When we came out of Hesburger, I saw some bushes with these funny looking "fruit". Anybody knows what these are? I found them cute, but Arttu said they were ugly HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...



Last stop: a big supermarket at Rovaniemi. We were running out of milk, so we stopped there to buy some. As usual, Arttu couldn't help buying some salmiac ha ha ha ha...



We were SO happy to be home again. Home sweet home. I gave Arttu a back massage before we went to bed he he he...And we did have a nice long sleep afterward. ;-D

Oh, almost forgot one thing...on the road back home, I dozed off a bit a few times and you know why I woke up? Because I could sense my drool coming out of the lips...so my body went alert and I was suddenly awake. Arttu shook his head when he found out why I woke up those few times HI HI HI HI...but he couldn't tease me 'coz he also drools every now and then when he sleeps LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL!!!

Today I've finally regained my strength and I had enough strength to exercise, as well. Naturally after exercising, I felt more fit he he he...My back was sore after sitting in the car for 24 hours. Next time we're going to Pori again, I'm gonna insist on going by train or plane HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...