Catching up! Or at least trying to keep up!

Well...my summer is rapidly drawing to a close...I cannot believe that I am approaching the one year mark soon!! Really, I feel like I am just getting to know the culture, the land, make some good friends....oh yes and the language!  Don't get me started on that rant again...hahaha.  Although, I have been wondering how the English language can adopt a word like sauna and have saunas built around the world....but there is no word for löyly or even a decent description of it!  Every Finn knows that sauna is impossible without löyly...so how is is possible that, as anglophones, we can have a sauna and not a löyly.  Löyly is defined by sanakirja.org as "steam and associated heat in sauna," or, "generated by administering water on the hot stones placed on top of a sauna."  But, anyone who has has Finnish sauna, or is familiar with Finnish culture, knows that löyly is so much more.  So...if you come to Finland, you will have a sauna (this is not a matter of choice), and you should become familiar with löyly.  Ok...that's the end of my language rant!

I have not updated this blog nearly as often as I initially planned to, and it's nothing against you or against the routine of blogging...I have just had little, if any, contact to the world outside of Finland for the entire summer!  The biggest problem is that I use a computer about 1 hour a week and blogging doesn't always make it into that valuable time!  So...what have I been doing? Counting and measuring trees...it's endless!  I have been working long days steadily since the beginning of June (including some weekends) and I think I may finish my field work on Tuesday...if everything goes according to plan!  Then...I start to live out of a suitcase for the foreseeable future. Actually, just until September, when I will be returning to Canada to go to school in Edmonton.  I can't say I'm entirely excited about that...but change is good! ...right? I know I'm going to miss it here! A lot!

Other things I have been doing....This weekend I went to a music festival in Kuopio and that was an awful lot of fun!!!  It's called Rock Cock...yes, seriously.  And everyone understands that this can mean something totally different in English.  It's not something that's lost in translation, It's totally on purpose.  The weather actually turned out to be warm and calm.  I think it was the first sunny day that did not include a massive thunderstorm.  I found myself running from marble-sized chunks of solid, clear ice falling from the sky two weeks ago...not impressed!  We also found time to pick chanterelles this weekend, which some of you may know is something that I will go well out of my way to do!  It has been pretty much steadily raining since May, which has lead to a phenomenal year for 2 things:  bugs and mushrooms! ...and maybe rubber boots too!  This summer is definitely missing sun-sweetened berries (there are more than enough sour ones!), beach days, and quality fishing.  After some very successful ice fishing last winter, I have come to realize that while Finnish ice may hold many fish, Finish water contains no fish...they must grow in the ice or something! ;-)

Anyways, now I'll add a few photos and that's it for this post!  Also...interestingly, most of the people who have viewed this blog in the past month are located in the USA...thanks!