My White Christmas

My house is covered in snow.

Let me repeat that.... my house is covered in snow!!! For those of you who do not live in the Pacific Northwest, this is extremely unusual! And incredibly cool!!!!

This is my first white christmas... EVER!!! And while I must say that I enjoy it, I am also glad that this is not every year!

Perhaps if our city didn't shut down at the mere thought of snow, and perhaps if they used salt on the roads instead of sand, and maybe if people (including myself) knew how to drive in snow, then maybe maybe maybe that would be alright.

But we don't and because of this I almost got stuck at my little apartment all by myself on Christmas! Thankfully we had a break in the weather on Tuesday and my papa came in his four-wheel drive SUV and rescued me!!

Now I am with my family and we have been working hard! If you look at the picture below you can see how much snow has fallen over here. I also encourage you to notice our driveway and the fact that you can see the pavement. Yes, that is right.... yours truly took part in making that possible.

My driveway is steep. Some of you know this. At the time that my brother and I shoveled it the temperature outside was below freezing. So you can image my brother, in shorts and regular shoes, and myself digging under the snow only to find ourselves standing on a mound of ice!! Needless to say, we both took a couple of good falls!!

And now, to get you further into the Christmas spirit.... here is a video of my brother getting a beat down from his big sis! Enjoy!!! I know I did!!! :)

My Next Adventure

There is a new idea on the floor.

After reading my blog, Buckles had an interesting proposition for me. He thought that I should also write a bit about places that I would like to travel to in the future. Since I am now back at home and reasons to write become fewer and far between (let’s face it daily life just seems dull when you are stuck in it), he thinks that I should start looking for my next adventure.

And I support him on that idea! So here we go:

PATAGONIA: Los Glaciares National Park & Ushuaia

Ushuaia es una ciudad de Argentina y es la zona mas austral habitada del mundo. Whoops I mean.... situated on the Beagle Strait, Ushuaia is the largest city in Argentine Tierra del Fuego and arguably the southernmost city in the world.


Although it seems to attract many tourists, I think it would be amazing to see how a city that far south functions and what kind of customs have sprung from this factor.

After exploring Ushuaia, I would want to take a plane or a tourist bus (note: there is no public transportation around Tierra Del Fuego) to El Calafate, a town that sits right on Lago Argentina. It is the main attraction of this town, 50 miles away, that is the reason from my curiosity in Patagonia in the first place.



The Perito Moreno Glacier is supposedly one of three glaciers in Patagonia that is still advancing. It is famous because it is dynamically changing which produces a cyclic phenomenon of forward and backward movement, with spectacular ice falls from its front wall.


I think it would be phenomenal to stand on a peak looking over this monstrous glacier carving its way down the mountain, moving with such force that it actually losing pieces of itself along the way!

So what do you think? Anyone interested in a journey south?

Introductions

This is incredibly nerdy and thanks to facebook almost too easy. It may even be a little bit creepy to some but oh well.

I was thinking that as I progress down the road of bloggerdom, recounting tails of my crazy adventures for friends far away, I am not doing a good job of developing the characters for my audience. That is why I decided that as I go along I will include posts that introduce any new players in the game of Meg's Life. Now who knows how it will work but I am going to test it and go from there. Deal? Deal.

Alright, here is goes.

As you may know, I play volleyball. Although I never appreciated it in high school, it was my saving grace while studying abroad. From that experience, I learned that the best way to meet new people was to hop on a court and start swing away (or I guess I should say "set away"). I returned to Seattle to finish college but upon graduation the majority of my college friends moved out of the area. Alas, I was stuck in the same predicament that I had found myself in two years ago in England. Fortunately, I knew the secret.

I start showing up to the Ballard open gym almost a year ago. Every Tuesday. I was there. I went out afterwards. Stayed up past my bedtime. Often felt hungover the next morning. But in the end, I found myself surrounded by a fine young group of people that I now call friends.

So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to the Tuesday crew:



Jessica - Now you might not be able to tell it from this particular expression, but this girl is the loveliest girl on the face of the planet. Such a genuinely kind person, she was the first person to approach me on my first day. She greeted me with a cheery smile and is the reason I returned the next Tuesday.

Alicia - Also, incredibly kind and generous, you would never have guessed that this girl has done every job from training monkeys to teaching ESL. She also loves her Apple Martinis! Hehehe


Sarah - My most favorite yoga buddy, who lives right around the corner from where I used to live. She is outgoing, witty and never leaves home without her enormous laugh. She also never lets me leave volleyball without stopping at the bar for at least one drink. :) The sign of a true friend.


Chris - Sarah's fiance, is equally as witty as his lady love. He is a riot, dancing to his own tune... literally! He is the reason that the bartender at the Wingmaster gets off the phone from time to time. "Oh hey Jim the volleyball team just got here. Gotta go."

Kristie - A wild child from the East, this lady has a motorcycle, a dozen tattoos and an adopted great Dane named Rupert (who is my god dog!). She is my partner in crime although now that our schedules are completely opposite I barely ever get to see her. :(


Jon -Hmm what can I say about Jon? Only he is a nut. Don't leave him around a volleyball net alone. And never ever play him and his girlfriend at Shuffleboard!


Libby - An Oregon Duck from Alaska, she can drink me under the table and ironically, reminds me a lot of another certain volleyball lady from the very northern hemisphere. It seems that either time I am out with these ladies, I always end up a little more "happy" than I anticipated.




Buckles - Yes, that is right Buckles. Which is derived from his name, Buckley. I know. Crazy. He is also a Duck, and friend's with Libby from College. Don't let his rugged, mountain man features fool you, really he is just a huge teddy bear of fun and giggles. And yes, I said giggles.

Alright so that is it for now! Those are just a few of the people I play volleyball with on Tuesday evenings. Now whenever I write stories about volleyball evenings (Sarah's bday party is happening this weekend), the hardcore followers of this blog can use this as a reference. Plus when some of you come back to visit me, you will probably be forced to hang out with them. So you can put a name with a face before you even see them in person.

Creepy. :)

My Grandma's Trip to Africa

My 86 year old Grandma recently returned from a three week trip to Tanzania.

First of all, I just need to say how awesome this is! Go Grandma! I hope that I am still traveling around the world with friends when I am that age!

My Grandma wanted to show the family all 300 of her pictures from the trip. So on a Sunday, Cole and I went over to my family's house for dinner and the slide show.

Grandma had some amazing pictures of the people she met, the places she stayed and or course, of the animals she saw. One particular set of images captured the mating rituals of a group of lions (insert brother's giggle here).



Now this is not exactly her same picture but a similar image proceed all of the mounting images. At which point, my grandma decided to explain to my whole family and Cole that "she [the lioness] is lying like that so the semen doesn't come out of her."

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?! Did my Grandma just say what I think she just said?

Yes she did! Cole and I exchanged glances and then the whole family burst into laughter.

I was a great moment!

I wanted to share this story with everyone because it cracked me up and I hope it made you smile too!

I appreciate my Grandma more than words can say and I am glad she continually surprises me! I would not have it any other way!

Love you Grandma!

My New Apartment

I live with a boy. A very, very clean boy but still a boy.

For those of you who don't know, Cole and I moved in together this November.

We moved to a neighborhood called Phinney Ridge, which is on a hill in between Greenlake and Ballard.

Thanks to Google (scary), I can offer you a pretty cool tour of our neighborhood. I am starting you off at the Red Mill burger & Starbucks coffee shop where the road turns from Phinney Ave N to Greenwood Ave. Go north and check out the Stumbling Goat Bistro on 67nd and Greenwood Ave N‎ where I like to go to dinner with my friend Darlin. Then, go south to check out Sully's Tavern (on the corner of 62nd and Phinney Ave) where Cole and I play Trivial Pursuit Sports Edition from the 1960s!


View Larger Map

Our apartment used to be a one-story house that was split into a duplex. It is two bedrooms, has hard wood floors and a little area out back for a BBQ. We are still trying to work everything out, like getting a carpet and coffee table for the living room, but all-in-all it is a pretty cool little space. I will put up pictures when I have them.

If you want to see an exact image of the house and where it is on the block (yeah Google has that too!), email me and I will send you the link to check out!

I am really excited about this apartment and making it my own. I hope you all can come visit me sometime and I cannot wait to have my first party here. Yes, you heard that correctly. Meg will be throwing a party! Crazy! I know.

Enjoy the tour!

Oh and for those of you who have never meet Cole, here is a great little picture of him.... feeding a monkey!



Man, is he going to kill me! :)

A New Job

Many of you know that I was looking for a job for what felt like an eternity. After a month of searching, anything was going to be better than nothing. However, I got lucky. At the end of September, a larger Seattle company decided that they wanted to try me on for size.

I am now working for them as a Web Content Producer. Sounds vague and frankly, it is. But I will attempt to describe what it is I do for all of you curious folk out there.

I work in a division of said company* that manages an ecommerce website. I am part of the Traffic Team for that site. What does that mean you wonder? Just as it sounds, my team’s goal in life is to drive as much traffic as possible to our little site. It sounds kind of silly but it is general enough where I get to deal with multiple facets of the company’s business. Marketing, syndication, strategy, etc.

Obviously, I do a lot of boring stuff. Pull Omniture reports (what an f***ing awful tool compared to G.Analytics!). Update information on the website via HTML. Write copy for promo material (what a joke… have you seen my spelling?). And general administrivia work regarding server organization and our archival process. Fun.

Overall though, it is pretty cool. And definitely a huge change from the 20 person company I used to be at. I am happy that I am here and looking forward to seeing how my time here works out.

*There will be no mention of the company name or of the channel that I work for due to security reasons. I am not planning on slandering the companyr, I just want to be extra cautious and stay off the big brother radar. You know how it goes.

And the blog continues on….

I know it has been almost two months since my last entry but I can explain:

Finding a new job, finding a new apartment and getting cable set up at said new apartment takes up a lot of time!

But now that the storm is somewhat behind me, I can recount all the crazy events and news for you! 

…Oh lucky you!

Coming soon - New posts :

1.) The New Job

2.) The New Apartment

3.) Introductions

Hope you enjoy!

The First Presidential Debate

Tonight, TV on, Tweeter Feed open, I watched in horror as the presidential debates proceeded and the people of the United States responded. Here are just a couple of the individual response found on Tweeter this night:

joshmoody Seems like Obama was fighting out of the corner tonight. Stayed on defense. He came off rude and dodgy. McCain wins by TKO. #current

bjlayland #joshuaduffy McCain is telling the truth, Obama doesn't know the truth. #current

jguerrero #debate: obama gana puntos en economía, rusia. Pero en el aspecto de seguridad, ambos candidatos ignoraron a América Latina #current

Bonedwarf You know McCain should just stand there and sing "Mr. Self Destruct" by NIN. #current

MediaLizzy McCain: "I know how to heal the wounds of war" Best line of the night. #debate #current

**Resource: Tweeter feed #current

I live in Seattle. Blue, blue, blue, secluded Seattle. Where we pride ourselves on supporting homosexuality, fighting for the environment, being pro-choice, opposing war and pursing positive relationships with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, as the tweeter feeds rolled down the page this evening, it became evident that the Seattle mindset is not entirely the norm and that Mr. Obama has a hard race ahead of him.

This video appeared on YouTube about ten minutes after the debates ended http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec3aC8ZJZTc. Ugh.

Snow in August - Crystal Lake/Peak

The Sunday before Labor Day, my family and I set out early in the morning to go for a hike. My dad and brother are training to climb Mt. Rainer so they decided it would be a good idea to practice climbing at a bit of elevation. So my parents choose Crystal Lake trail.

The day before the hike, I was told that the trail was 6 miles round trip and received a moderate from the hiking guidebook my mom held so dear to her heart. She told me to bring lots of water and layer my clothing. Here is what I wore the day of the hike:

• Hiking shoes
• Wool socks
• Black Patagonia stretch pants (yes, the one's with the sewn hole in them)
• A wife beater (good I hate that word)
• T-shirt
• Long sleeve hoodie
• A Light Blue Sussex Sweatshirt
• My Ski Jacket
• A Space Needle baseball cap

*** Please note.... IT IS AUGUST!!!!!!!!

It took us about an hour and a half (this is why I love Seattle) to go from Seattle downtown where the temperature was 60 degrees to the beautiful Mt. Rainer National Park and a whopping 35 degrees!

The hike started off strong with switch backs for about twenty minutes. Once we reached the top of this part of the hike there was a fork. One way led to Crystal Lake and the other to Crystal Peak. I believe it was my dad who said that Peak sounded more difficult so lets take that path.


** The Beginning

Well difficult was right! After about two hours we still had not reached the "peak". And as we trekked higher and higher, the weather began to change. Instead of the misty gloom that Seattle is famous for, it began to snow. Perfect white flacks that sat on the ground for a couple of seconds before disappearing into the dark dirt.

Now for some of you, this must sound fantastic but let me remind you what my family was prepared for. My brother had regular trainers on and no real jacket. My mother was the ONLY person who had gloves. My father was wearing shorts (although he did bring his golf cover-ups). And I had these thin yoga-type pants on!!!


** Notice Dad's shorts!!!

WE WERE FREEZING!!!




** Notice how high up we are.... yes it was beautiful but it was also really high up! We had started our journey down by the river in the background!

We finally decided to stop for lunch. Since we were past the tree level, we had to find a spot that sheltered us from the wind. It was still snowing as mom and dad unpacked the backpack and cut up tomatoes and onions for our sandwiches. My blood sugar was so low that I immediately went for the Kettle's baked, not fried, organic, whole wheat, sans-trans fat, organic, green, festive, happy, wholesome potato chips.

As I stuffed the chips into my mouth, I began to fantasize about how delicious they were going to be wedged in between my turkey sandwich. However, the next moment crushed any hope I had of enjoying this dream.

Meg - Mom, where is the turkey meat?
Mom - [Blank stare]
-
-
-
-
-
[Long Pause]
-
-
-
-
-
Mom - I forgot it.
Family - WHAT!?!?!?!?!

Anyway, long story short, we sat on the slope of the mountain eating onion and tomato sandwiches, freezing and still not at the "peak" yet.

There isn't a happy ending to this story. We didn't make it to the top. But actually, it turned out to be a happy ending. No one got hurt and my brother and I sang every single song we could think of all the way down the mountain. Needless to say no bears bothered us that day

P.S. There might even be a YouTube video of the singing incident! Lucky you!

Pig in a box - Orcas Island

The Sisson family has a yearly tradition known to outsiders as The Sisson Family Pig Roast but to seasoned vets as "three days of debauchery". Yes. Three days.

This year I was able to experience this event first-hand.

It all started on a Friday morning. Cole and I, along with two of his friends, drove two hours north of Seattle to Anacortes, WA. We caught the ferry there to Orcas Island, Cole's hometown. Upon arrival, the gang immediately set a course straight for Lower Tavern, a bar in East Sound that honestly has the best burgers. And beer... of course! They even have bottles of the Elysian's Immortal IPA (only my most favoritest beer ever!)!!!

Stuffed and ready to rock-n-roll, we picked up supplies from the market and headed towards Doe Bay, where Cole's family house is located.
** In the background: The Sisson Household!

On arrival at the Sisson residence, we learned from Mr. Gary Sisson himself that a boat trip to Lopez Island was necessary in order to retrieve Cole's youngest sibling/brother, Herbie Tucker. He had been camping on Lopez with his mom and let me tell you the "quick" ride across the Puget Sound ended up being a bit more taxing than the boat ride I took with Monna, Sven and Claudio through the lake in Finland. Not only does a sound have more waves that a lake but Henrik's boat went half the speed that Gary's did! I am not sure whether or not that was the fault of the boat or of it's driver. :)

As we traveled between the two islands, we passed another ferry on it's way to Orcas from Anacortes. A quick call on Cole's cellphone and we discovered that his youngest sister, Sophie, and a group of her friends from Western (for you international people that is Western Washington University) were actually traveling on the very boat in front of us. Craziness!

** Sophie is the one on the left! :)

The girls arrived at the house shortly after we returned from our adventures at sea. We hung out, played Rock Band and began preparation for the day to come.

** Herbie and the ladies rockin' out.

As the night went on more people began to arrive, including Molly, Cole's other sister, and her entourage. At one o'clock in the morning, the work began.

A pig, gutted and drained, sat on a piece of plywood in the middle of Gary's workshop.


It was going to be placed in a box, covered with a sheet of metal which was then going to be covered with burning coals and cooked for almost 15 hours. There was only one problem. The pig was too big for the box.

Enter the Japanese hand saw.

Yep. You guessed it. If the shoe doesn't fit, just cut off a couple toes!

No really, bad analogy, but in order to make the pig fit into the box, we had to cut off the head and the legs. Now this may seem grotesque and vile to some of you but in my mind, it is necessary to understand so I actually participated in sawing off one of the legs. I figure whenever we eat any kind of meat, someone somewhere had to butcher the animal for us to enjoy it. So similar to Mike Rowe's philosophy on Dirty Jobs, I wanted to "gain a new understanding and appreciation for all the often-unpleasant functions someone is shouldering to make [my] everyday life easier, safer — and often cleaner."*

Here is a picture of the finished product... in the box!!!!

*** Yummy!!!!

There are two more days to this story but for now I think you have had enough... that and it is early in the morning and I need sleep. So more on this fantastic event to come! Aren't you excited?!?

Set sail

George Gray - Spoon River Anthology

I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me--
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire--
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

Thank you Claudio!

Concluding thoughts on my summer trip of 2008

Sometimes things happen for a reason. You go with your instincts, leave your comfort zone and find yourself in situations you couldn't possibly dream of. This trip was one of those occasions.

Experiences shape who we become. And this trip definitely had a huge impact on me. I not only was able to learn more about the people I traveled with but also about myself and my relationship to the world around me.

I have been back for only a month and already the world has changed. Russia has invaded Georgia. The 2008 Beijing Olympics are currently underway. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, has resigned. And Obama is announcing his VP candidate via text message.. just to name a few events.

So where does that leave me? What exactly did I learn on this trip?

The answer: Travel. As much as you can. Whenever you can. To places you might be uncomfortable in.

This is not a revelation. Just something I hold particularly close to my heart.

Thank you to Sven, Monna and Claudio for putting up with me for those three weeks. I had an incredible time! You guys are my family now and I love you all very much!

Thank you to Monna's family. Kiitos. Kiitos. Kiitos. For taking in three foreigners with particularly peculiar personalities! Yes, Sven, I am talking about you as well!

Thank you to my family and friends back in the United States who told me I would be a fool to pass up such a wonderful opportunity and who supported me throughout the trip and now support me back at home. I could not do it without you guys.

And thank you to everyone who has lasted this long reading my blog. It really means a lot to me. I have enjoyed writing each post so I have decided to continue posting. Although it will not necessarily be about international travel anymore (or at least for a little while), it will still be about my adventures in the world around me! I am sure you all are waiting with breath that is bated! ;) See you again soon!

Riga and the birthday no one will forget!

We arrived in Riga and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. The border crossing the night before had been interesting. It began at 2 in the morning and there were two checks. One with the Russian border. And one with the Latvian border. They were an hour apart. Fun. The only thing I really remember was when the Russian border patrol lady asked me a question about my visa in Russian. I stared blankly at her. I turned to Monna and Sven (we were all in the same cabin this time)and Sven immediately tried to tell me what to do. But the words came out of his mouth all wrong. I didn't understand him! It took me a couple minutes to realize that he was speaking to me in German, which he obviously didn't realize himself. Anyway, it was too much for my brain to be processing at 2a.m so I just nodded my head. Not really sure what I nodded about.

Our hostel was really close to the train station and it was another winner! Thanks Monna! It had internet in every single dorm room and leopard everything! From the toilet set cover to the stools in all the rooms to the comforters on the beds. Awesome.

** You can see the bedding... wild!

Riga is a small city. Similar to Tallinn, the city is centered around an old town area. However, unlike Tallinn, Riga surrounds the old town with canals and beautiful gardens!

** Gorgeous!

We walked all over the city and eventually settled down in one of the cute town squares to have a pint of cider and (beer for Sven).


It was sunny and beautiful. And I could feel the ocean air. I always forget how important the sea is to my state of being. It was strange in Moscow because, obviously being inland, the only body of water it had was a river that ran through the center of the city. Unfortunately, a river is not enough for me. I was glad to be by the sea again.

The next day, we traveled to the beaches about 45 minutes outside of Riga. Growing up in San Diego, I had no expectations of what the beach was going to be like. All I have to say about it is... go there. It was amazing. The shoreline stretched for miles and was covered with beach goers. Monna pointed out how it felt like Spain but more green. Crazy.


*** Don't check us out! Check out the beach behind us! :)

Not only was it a great beach day, but this day was a very special day for another reason. It was Monna's 25th birthday! And the last leg of our trip together. Fortunately, and unfortunately, both cameras ran out of batteries. So we have only a few pictures of the events that followed our day on the beach. What I can say of the evening is this(sorry to be so cryptic):
- Champagne with a cherry in the glass?

- The trip: In Review
- "Two for one" at the Cuban Bar
- The Orange Bar and the New Yorkers
- The club (what was the name?) and the South Africans
- The walk home, "What was his name? I think it was Alex." and the poor guys walking behind us, at least they were entertained!

Monna and I woke up the next morning in the worst states I think I have ever seen us! The day was rough. Our flight did not leave until 11:30pm so we had to figure out what to do with ourselves until then. Let's just say Monna wanted to check into another hotel. For the day.



Needless to say, as awful as we felt that morning, our time in Riga was definitely a success. Monna had a wonderful and absolutely unforgettable birthday which was all we could have hoped for! :) Happy birthday honey!!!

Murky Moscow and the "Beautiful" Square

I know all of these posts are popping up a bit late and in sporadic increments but it is important to me to try and flush out the stories that made up my adventure in Scandinavia and Russia. I only apologize that I could not make all these posts while traveling.

Where did we leave off? Oh yes, we were tired, hung over and sweltering in Moscow's heat.

After disembarking the train, we quickly made our way over to the hostel. We stayed at a place called Godzilla's hostel. Nice place. Friendly staff. It was a delightful change to our dreary St. Petersburg residence, although not quite as cool as Euphoria in Tallinn.

After some much needed showers, we walked from our hostel down to Red Square. And all I could do was stand there. Floored, flabbergasted but mostly just stunned. This was it for me. The reason I had pushed my friends so hard to go to this country. It was all standing in front of me. At that moment, I really wished my dad was there with me. He was the one that got me into history in the first place. He was the reason I enjoy the history channel and documentaries on war. And he was the one who influenced my decision to become a world traveler. If he could only have seen this! One day I will take him back there!


**Can you tell that I was excited???

The Kremlin and Saint Basil's Cathedral were more massive and impressive than I could have ever imagined. I think the layout of the square only enhanced their magnificence! I could not believe that I was standing in a place with so much history. History that I only slightly understood. How would I have felt if I were Monna and I was in the country that had controlled and shed the blood of my ancestors? I am sure it would have been quite a different feeling. Or if I was Sven, who's ancestors had fought and died horrifically during World War II on this countries soil? Again, I couldn't image.


** The walls of the Kremlin

I am really glad my friends came with me though. I could tell that there were many moments in Moscow when we all wished we were back on the island in Finland. But I am grateful that they pulled through and appreciated the experience.

Fortunately, we didn't try to push ourselves in Moscow. It was so hot and completely different from any place we had been in Scandinavia. Instead of being uber tourists and walking every road in the city, we took our time. We would stroll to a local park. There we would sit in the grass, reading books, eating Finnish food that was imported to our local market, listening to music and observing the passersby.


** Monna and I sunbathing in a park in the center of the city. Don't worry we were not the only ones!

We left Russia on a Latvian train to Riga. It was another overnight train but this time it was completely different to our previous experience. The train had bottled water, tea cookies, a cream-colored doily, and a small little vase with a couple fake flowers in it on the center table. We skipped out on the Lonkero and the shots of cognac in favor of sleeping the fifteen hours to Riga. And this time I actually slept!

Interesting fact: Did you know that the "red" in Red Square has nothing to do with the red bricks of the square or even Communism? As it turns out the Russian word for red has a double meaning. It translates as "red" and "beautiful", however, the latter is an archaic meaning.

St. Petersburg to Moscow - Train Journey Part I

I will never be able to capture the debacle that was our train journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It began with shots of cognac and ended in a plethora of noises, emotions, and ultimately Moscow's heat!

The duration of the overnight train journey was ten hours. At first, Monna, Sven and I anticipated taking a five hour "express" train early in the morning. As it turns out that train didn't exist so we had to leave the night before, much to Claudio's chagrin (He wasn't scheduled to fly out until the next morning). So we said goodbye to Claudio at the hostel and headed to the train station.

We left St. Petersburg as the thunder clapped, the rain poured and the lightening lit up the heavens. Typical.

We decided to celebrate our first Russian overnight train journey with nothing other than Finnish Lonkero.

It was a good decision given what was in store for us.

We boarded the train and settled into our separate cabins (Sven in one and Monna and I in the other). The other people in Sven's cabin (four per cabin) did not speak any English. Neither did the two Russians in our cabin. Sven was only able to communicate with his group through sign language. And the only sign language they understood was the sign for taking a shot. Four shots of cognac later, I happened to walk in to his cabin. Now I was forced to "engage" in the conversation with them!!!

Needless to say the party ended up in Monna and my cabin. Again typical. :) We hosted about half the train til around 2am.

By three, after Russian folk music and debauchery, we all called it quits.

6:00 AM: A.k.a. not time to get up. Suddenly I am wide awake. Not sure why, I turn over to get out of my bed. Wrong move. Two of the Russians from the evening had decided that they would enjoy fornicating in our cabin. Thus making the noises that inevitably woke me up. Awesome.

We arrived in Moscow with a hangover, not a whole lot of sleep, and 32 degrees Celsius. Ouch.

Now obviously this is only the outlined version. Like I said before , the full version can only be found inside the heads of Sven, Monna and myself. Which is probably a good thing! :)

"Venice of the North" - St. Petersburg

As was common for most of our trip, we were sent off by Finland and the island with a bout of rain!

Thankfully, Henrik was prepared and gave us all rain gear for the boat ride to shore!

We traveled St. Petersburg directly from Finland via train. Interestingly enough, we had no issues crossing the boarder into Russia. I was prepared though. I had my little piece of paper in hand that explained (in Russian!) my purpose in the country as well as the reason my invitation only list Moscow as the singular destination. Thank you Spoonde!

In the afternoon, we arrived at the train station to this....

Калінінградская вобласць з'яўляецца анклавам, і асноўная тэрыторыя Расіі пачынаецца ўсходней, пад 27°17’ у.д., на мяжы Расіі з Эстоніяй, на беразе ракі Педэдзе. Такім чынам, працягласць тэрыторыі Расіі з поўначы на поўдзень перавышае 4 тыс. км, з захаду на ўсход — набліжаецца да 10 тыс. км. Агульная працягласць межаў Расіі — 60 933 км

.....well not exactly but I think you all get the picture. (Yes, Claudio, I know you can decipher a bit of this and yes, it is the wikipedia entry for Russia in Russian. :) Thanks.)

Russian has a completely different alphabet structure. So all of those times in France and Spain when you can deduce the meaning of a word based on a Latin root become completely irrelevant.

Fortunately, Claudio picked up on the language pretty quickly. He was able to find cafes and read menus. Which in our group are two very important skills. Sven, with Claudio's help, was then able to navigate the subway, which enabled us to reach our hostel and ultimately travel around the city! :)

On our second day in St. Petersburg we had the best luck possible. This fabulous little website called Couchsurfing sent us a welcome gift in the form of Dasha Safronova. She is a native of St. Petersburg and speaks German and English sublimely. She gave us one of the best and most comprehensive tours of a city I have ever had. She told us that due to all the water ways in the city, St. Petersburg was known throughout Europe as the Venice of the North. Pretty cool, huh? We ate traditional Russian food and went with her to watch Zenit FC beat some random team from Moscow. She spent 10 hours with us, culminating in a Russian dance party at a local bar! Now that is a way to get to know a city!

Some pictures of the city, the people and the events that transpired:


** Monna and I in front of the Hermitage Museum


** Dasha and Sven at the bar where we watched the football game

* Monna and I on the dance floor in the bar that evening. Dark? I know. :)

"Ankka, ankka, ankka" - The Finnish Island

I am sitting in a hostel in Riga right now. It is called the Tiger hostel and compared to all the other hostels I have ever stayed in it is like a hotel. For one, it has Internet in every single dorm room. Meaning that, unlike Russia, I can update my blog. Unfortunately, I am very far behind. I have left Finland, traveled through Russia and now I am in Riga. So now I have the arduous task of recounting previous events.

First up, the Finnish island!

Located an hour and a half north of Kouvola, the island is truly isolated in the middle of a lake. Monna's sister, Sanna, was nice enough to take all four of us down to the lake. There we meet Johan, Monna's cousin, who swiftly put all our stuff in a little boat and drove us out to the island.


**View on the island from the beach

From the water, you can barely see the three cottages that belong to Monna's family. They are all somewhat hidden by the trees. Each has its own sauna and outdoor toilet.


**The sauna, also the sleeping quarters of Sven and Claudio

We stayed there for two nights and needless to say, on the first day, when the weather finally turned sunny, none of us were too keen on leaving for Russia.

Monna's relatives made sure we felt very welcome on their island. The evening we arrived Annika, Monna's Aunt, and her husband Henrik hosted a family dinner for us at their cottage. Johan grilled a delicious leg of something (I believe it was lamb) for us and Annika and Minna, Johan's partner, prepared salmon lox and herring with new potatoes. We were also joined at the table by Patrik, Monna's cousin, his son, Leon, as well as Johan and Minna's son Peik. It was truly a lovely meal!

The next day Henrik took us on a boat tour of the lake. It was massive. I enjoyed riding around in the boat and peering into the lives of the various Finnish households on the lake.

Every evening we went for a sauna. Girls and then boys (they have their saunas quite hot!). The deal was that after the sauna you had to run and jump straight into the lake. Well let me tell you, that lake is COLD! But after a sauna it feels oh so refreshing! Either way it was a great way to end the evenings!

Weirdly enough I have been traveling for awhile now and this was the first place that actually felt like a vacation and not just another backpacking trip. Which was good. It left our spirits high in anticipation for what was to come... Russia!

COMING TOMORROW..... Our trip through Russia!

P.S. "Anka" means duck in Finnish! Sorry for not including that the first time around! :)

In the middle of Finnish nowhere!!! :)

It has been a couple days since my last post. Let me assure you I am still alive and well, but I am simply out in the Finnish countryside enjoying my very limited access to the internet.

I am currently staying at Monna´s parent´s house in Ristiina.



You can see how remote their house is in the picture above. It is lovely. Quiet. Serene. We have been relaxing all week doing only the things we love. For example....


Fishing


Acrobatics


Sunbathing


Baking


And target practice!!!!





But most importantly, going to the sauna!!!!



Overall, it has been a very enjoyable couple of days!

Next plan on the agenda is to travel further into the countryside and visit the family island before we take a train to St. Petersburg! No more posts until Russia.