Well. My family is in comatose till 10:30. But hey, I'm not complaining. For once in my life, I'm the first one to grab my robe and stumble down to breakfast. (which is also different, as I don't ever remember eating breakfast during the summer)
Finland is the number one consumer of coffee per capita in the world. They are like coffee binge drinkers. And so, naturally, on the first morning I was here, I was offered coffee with my breakfast. "What? You don't drink coffee? Well, you drink tea?" And so. Without fail, I drink tea each and every morning. I drink it with porridge, I drink it with open-faced ham and cheese and cucumber sandwiches, I drink it with rye bread, I drink it with berry soup.
Sometimes, I miss my pancakes.
There is a lake right by the house, and we go swimming more often than not. Errr..actually, what we do is probably closer to dipping. A swim is usually just slipping on your bathing suit and staying in the water for 15 minutes, then running back to the house before you are eaten alive by mosquitoes. It's fun, and the lake is sparkling clean. Many people around the island actually have the lake water pumped to their house.
Here, nature is inescapable. As we drive in the car, we are either flanked by forrest or saphire lakes or fields of sunny yellow canola flowers. We took a walk around the island two days ago, and for four miles, we saw only five cars. If that. Shopping centers were replaced by forrests and fields, and cars turned into cows and horses. This is all rather surreal for me; a city girl stuck right in the middle of the epitomy of countryside. It reminds me of the Hidden Valley Ranch bottle--it's all green and peaceful. If you look carefully, you might see a little blue house somewehre on the bottle. And that is where I live.
Every night, I discover new mosquito bites and shove the sleeping mask on my face. The sun doesn't set here till midnight(ish).
Dearest Aima: The sun doesn't set until midnight?? So, Finland is like Alaska? WOW!
ReplyDeleteAs for the coffee... Since Missy Bobo & I are the co-chairs of the FC Coffee-Drinkers support group (FCSDSG for short), please rest assured that should you actually start drinking coffee during your stay in Finland, we will be here waiting - coffee mug in hand - to support you & your newly-acquired habit, immediately upon your return home!
with much love & Ghiardelli chocolate-raspberry coffee, gena