Merry Christmas, From Finland

This was the first Christmas, I have spent in Finland without any of my family members. The first year, my brother came to visit me. The second year, my sister & brother came to visit me. The third year, the Finn & I went to California to be with my family. Finally, this year, the Finn's mom invited us to go there, to Anjalankoski and spend it with her and her sons.

So, we packed up the gifts, extra food, the cat and the dog and headed out there. It is about a one & half hours drive from Helsinki. We ended up driving part of the way in the dark which really sucked. Much of the way is on a two lane highway without any road lights. Additionally, there are many Russian trucks driving along the road and if that weren't enough, there is the danger of a moose running on the road. During this time of the year the sun is setting around 3pm and by 6pm it is pitch black.
The family celebrated Christmas much in the same way as my Mexican-American family do. We have a dinner and open the presents on Christmas eve. The traditional meal consists of casseroles (carrot, sweet potato, rutabega) and meat (roast pork, smoked salmon). My palate is geared to salty foods, so these are too appetizing to me. I had mashed potatoes, corn, cauliflower, no salmon, and I heated my pork. I am used to eating tamales, rice, beans, & the traditional yankee meal (turkey, mashed potatoes stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberries.)
The activities started with me making riisipuuro (rice porridge) which we ate for lunch. Later, we had päiväkahvi (afternoon coffee) with pulla and cakes. Around 6pm we went to the cemetary to leave a candle at the grave of the Finn's father. That graveyard was packed. There must have been a hundred people roaming around lighting candles. We stumbled to the gravestone and the Finn's mom lit the candle and layed out some Xmas tree branches for decoration. It was so dark at that time but there were so many lit candles, like a sea of lights.
We went back to the flat, watched some tv shows and heated the oven. When the joululaatikot were ready, I heated my food and we ate. After that, we opened the gifts. For the rest of the evening, we played games, watched tv and nibbled on cakes. This is a film I made about that experience: Merry Christmas, From Finland. Clicking on that hyperlink will begin the movie. To download it, right click and select Save As. Hmm. I am having technical difficulties with this right now. So, I uploaded it to youtube, and that seems to be taking time to be available.

I finally finished my clinical practice.

I had been in this hospital ward doing a four week clinical practice. It was really enjoyable and satisfying work. I saw a wide range of nursing styles, some which have been burned into my memory and will forever be the way not to do things and some which were graceful and stylish. This is my classmate who was on the ward with me. I was feeling a bit jealous that she seemed to get the nicer of the two tutor nurses. However, I think the one I got actually let me do more things. I still didn't get to do as much as I wanted especially when I compared my experiences to the others. I did get to do experience something that was interesting to me. Death. I mean, I didn't die but two people did. One was expected and the other was a surprise. I was never hoping anybody would pass. I just find it interesting. Flashback to 28 years ago, I am in grade school sitting in a large Roman Catholic church wearing my green catholic school girl uniform. I am watching a funeral. It is my weekly hobby. They have them every week and we are allowed to go to church whenever we want. We are sitting in the school bus turning into the driveway of Forrest Lawn Cemetary in the Hollywood Hills. I think how lovely all the pretty tombstones are. When I found out about these passings I felt sorrow for the suffering they may have had and for their relatives. I felt very annoyed at the flippant way the other nurses seemed to be taking it. I guess they have experienced it so many times. I don't think I will ever get to that point, I will always be solemn when it happens. I am one that can make that final journey with those who are leaving. So, if they don't have family close by I'd like to be there. One was already off the ward by the time I found out about it. However, I was able to accompany the other to the last place he would be in the hospital before being taken away. As it turned out, I was still finishing my time on the ward while my classmates were already enjoying their vacation. After Amsterdam, I got terribly ill with a heinous vatsatauti. We, also, attended an autopsy, which only fed my morbid sensibilities. I haven't decided how to refer to these dead. That person's body. That person. The body. I keep changing. It is like talking about a trannie. Him, her, that person, she, he. It is like the wheel of fortune, I don't which word will fall out of my mouth. Anyway, I finally finished. I enjoyed the clients on the ward. They were elderly. It was a psychiatric ward. So, there were some with such things like, Alzheimer's, dementia, depression, schizophrenia.

Final Highlights from Amsterdam

 

Additional Highlights from Amsterdam

 

More Highlights from Amsterdam

 

Highlights from Amsterdam

 

Highlights from Amsterdam

 

Futsal Foul

The Finn was invited to play Futsal. She was all excited and bought her shin guards and knee socks.


In this photo in this first game, you can see two players in black double teaming her. Does that term mean what I think it means. Anyway they gang up on her.




In this next frame she gets taken down.

Here, play resumes without a whistle and she is holding her mouth where one of those chick's elbow had smacked into it. Six days and one MRI later, the Finn got off lucky without needing surgery. She has to use crutches to help her about, though.