Just a quick little Christmas Newsletter From the Desk Of Matthew
Once at the resort, we dumped all of our stuff in a community gathering room at the lodge until our rooms were free. Then we hit the slopes ASAP. I had my snowboard all waxed and ready to go. We had to wait for some of the supervisors to see our skills before we hit the slopes, so me and Mac, my Canadian buddy were bus ripping up the bunny hill for a goof half hour. After that, we went to buy our lift tickets and up the (cough) mountain (cough) to see what Finland has to offer. Obviously nothing compared to our Rockies, but still it was amazing. Oh by the way, since we were so far north, there was very little daylight. I remember asking my friend the time, I guessed about 18:30 or so and he said 15:00. IT was already dark out and you could see the ski town in lights. The sun rises at about 11 and sets around 2, so it’s an interesting time.
After our 3-hour shred session, we made our way back to the lodge for some diner and to find our rooms. We had a nice little get together afterwards where we received some info on the rest of the weekend and then we had some fun. Every country is supposed to prepare something to do in front of the crowd. I did my Finnish version of the I am Canadian Rant. Then they tried to get us to bed before 12, but for some reason it never worked out that way. :-D
The next day, the Hill opens at 10 , so we were waiting at the ticket office at 9 45. We went all day (even though it seemed like night). It was a great day in the snowboard park. I was showing some Finns the Canadian Snowboarding skills and later on I transformed into Captain Canada. I had the Canada Flag tied like a cape as I was doing 10 metre jumps. It was great.
I staggered off the hill at about 16:30. Went for a nice Sauna and decided to try out the Turkish Steam Bath. I walked in, nude, as the fins tend to do, and see a door at the opposite side of the room similar to the one I came in. it was a White washed glass door so I could tell that there was other people there. I assumed that it was just another side to the Men’s change room. I walked over to the door, and opened it up….to my surprise it was the woman’s Shower! Now I know that Turkish steam baths are actually Co-ed. This is something that I will remember. It doesn’t matter so much to us really. Later on we went in with 4 guys and 4 girls and its really no big deal here.
After my little adventure in the sauna, I went for a nice diner of reindeer and potatoes with all the fixings- a true Finnish meal. Later that evening we headed up on the bus to the top of the mountain for a quick Finnish Independence Day celebration. There were a few fire works and a speech…and lots of snowballs. (I don’t know how that could have happened ;) heh heh).That night we had another info session and another party. I can tell you about that when you’re a little older. Don’t worry, it was all good dirty supervised fun.
The second last day was dedicated to a truly Lappish experience. We got off to an early start, jumped on the busses, and set out to experience the Lappish culture. My bus' first stop was at a Lappish camp, where I had my first ever encounter with a live reindeer, they are like tiny elk. The biggest ones’ heads are at my chest. I even got to go for a little reindeer sleigh ride. They also gave us the chance to try our hand at lassoing a reindeer (the Finnish way). We got bored with lassoing the antlers in the snow, so I lassoed my other Canadian buddy Tim. We also tried a little snowshoeing and tobogganing. After warming my toes around a smouldering fire in one of the tents (just like a tepee) we were off again.
This time we made our way to a tiny Lappish village. Population: 30. We visited an old reindeer farm where we ran through a quick slideshow and had a chance to feed the deer a little bit of tree moss. Before taking off to our next destination, we stopped in at a little hut for some downtime with Santa, along with a little tea and poula (coffee bread- like pastries) and makkara (sausage) to warm up.
The next stop was absolutely unbelievable. The view out of my window on the bus took my breath away before we'd even come to a stop. The sun didn't really rise at all for the entire five days that we were above the arctic circle. Instead, it just sort of hovered along the skyline between 11 in the morning and two or three in the afternoon. But the beautiful sunsets (or sunrises, same thing an Lapland) I've seen in the prairies were absolutely nothing compared to what the sky looked like from the top of that fell on Sunday afternoon. I was standing there staring in awe at the landscape of small fells and hills and trees whose branches are ALWAYS covered and bending in snow. All of this is covered by a light mist that still let through the awesome colours of pink and orange and red, blue, yellow and purple. Fixated. and Captivated. The entire atmosphere of the place just added to awesomeness of it all. There was an older hotel there with snow on all of the windowsills and huge icicles hanging off the roof. Behind it was a huge fell with no trees. Everywhere you look there is huge snow banks and hills and just …wow. After we all fell asleep during a 20 minutes slide show of Lappish nature, we went back outside and the sun was almost gone. A bit sad.
We all loaded back into the bus and headed back to Levi for a nice swim, and sauna, and steam bath. Went for some food, and had a little free time before the Dance started. Fun times, and a little bit of dirty dancing; some Canadians were showing how it’s done. It must have been about 10 30 when Mac and I run into the place wrapped with our bed sheets yelling ‘TOGA TOGA!!!’ There was an immediate stampede for the cameras. All I know is that there is some incriminating photos of me circulating somewhere. It was a really fun.
Monday was another early day. We had to be packed and on the busses, ready to roll by 9:00. We made a magical visit at the Santa Claus' Village on the Arctic Circle. We had about 3 hours to wander around this amazing place. To visit all the shops see some sites and of course go and visit the Big Guy.
This is no ordinary Mall Santa. This is as close as you are going to get to the really thing. After seeing him though, I don't doubt one bit that he's the closest living thing to be the real Santa Claus, anywhere on the face of the planet. This jolly old guy's got a true to life white and grey beard down to his belt and is unbelievable with languages. He was speaking everything to everyone. German, French, English, Finnish, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish. He spoke with every one of us in our mother tongue. The rest of the village was just as astounding. There was 2 slides in the middle of the village, completely made of ice. There was little kids no higher than my waist running around everywhere, laughing all the time, all dressing in red with Santa hats. They were Santa’s elves. The rest of the place was full of ice sculptures and lights and music and it was so nice. I have some really great memories of that place. The Best part of the whole visit was the Post office. I didn’t know it but everywhere else in the world besides North America, Santa Claus lives in Lapland. Here is where all the letters from EVERYWHERE end up, all countries in all languages. There are so many of them that they let you help open and sort them. It was very nice, and sometimes very sad to read them. Like when a little 5-year-old girl wants her daddy for Christmas. The letters were addressed to ´´Santa´s village, Somewhere Cold´´. -- sweet things like this
After the visit, we went for diner, and had a very sad goodbye because all of the Students from Australia, Brazil, South Africa an Argentina were leaving in a month and this is the last time they will be together. Lots of tears and hugs and pictures and prayers. It was very sad. We all loaded back on the bus for the not-so-quiet ride home. We do many things to fill the time in the bus. Everything from movies, army crawl races along the bus aisles, sleeping but my favourite is when Gustavo (Argentina) pulled out his guitar and we sang all of the really nice and sometimes sad songs. 20 of us in a big circle on the bus, singing together all of the great songs by Eric Clapton, Alanis morrisette, Beatles..etc. The trip home was long...but not long enough. It was a great Time, and I want to go back. I will be back in February, I can’t wait.
Throughout my life here, there will be many epiphanies, even more so than the average teenager. These are the times where we learn the most and find out the most about ourselves and the rest of the world. Here is something I wrote during another ski trip last weekend. It was with my School, and my Finnish friends.
As I sit in this Cabin, in the middle of Finland snowboarding, having the best time in my life, I realise that I have no idea what my life is about, and what plans God has for me. This time one year ago, was the date that my exchange application was due. I remember feeling as if this would never happen to me. It was a shot in the dark, and I didn’t know if I could handle the pressure if it did happen. But I never thought I would be here, in this amazing log Cabin, sitting alone while my Finnish friends Arttu and Marko get something to drink. I am sitting here soaked in wet snowboarding wetness as Tarzan with subtitles is playing on the TV and some terrible Finnish radio program with terrible folk music playing as I am contemplating why God put me here. Some people may say you control your own destiny, but I don’t believe that. I believe God put me here for a reason. When I was in Vermilion a year ago I never planned to be here. I was busy playing pool, and going snowboarding at the home hill, with the same faces, same runs, same food, same bus, same schedule, same language and same monotony as I lived my whole life, but now I’m here. It sounds so simple to say ‘ok now I’m here’ but its so complicated. God is amazing and always changing. He saw that I had a need for an escape, to live up to my potential and I have more experiences and shock my view of this world and this life I live (or lived). God wants big things for me and I know that this life in Finland alone is just one stepping stone in an entire path of my life where I discover what, who, why, where, and how I am.
This Christmas is one time where I am feeling a bit homesick of course. I ask whoever reads this, I ask for your support in whatever way. Email, postcard, letter, phone call. All of the contact info is at the bottom of this letter. It’s a very scary thing what I am doing now. I have a bunch of best friends leaving this country to continue their lives. I have to say goodbye having no idea if I will ever see any of them ever again. That is a very scary thing to do. Not many people have to do that in the world and it would make it a bit easier knowing that I have a great bunch of people that I will come back to. I wish you a very Happy Christmas. Hug a lot, and stay close with you’re families if you get the chance…could you think of me.
Hyvää Joulua (Merry Christmas)
And have a wonderful New Year.
God Bless
Love Matthew Michael in Finland
Matthews Home address:
Porslahdentie 23 G 40
00980 Helsinki, FINLAND
Matthews E-mail: jonnycakes2@hotmail.com
