Meeting my family tree

I'm in Helsinki right now. Have been here since Friday night after 10 days of rest, and cold weather preparation in London with Jeni.

When I got out of the taxi, Susanna was at the door to greet me warmly with hot wine and some bread with cheese. They are a few hours ahead of London, so it was midnight when we finally called it quits, but earlier in my mind.

Its so Finnish here. Its snowing, and the Christmas decorations are all adorably red and wooden, or they are paper lanterns and there are candles perpetually glowing. Yesterday morning I greeted Juha in the living room after he had come in very late from a work Christmas party the night before. We all had breakfast and then I headed out to archery class with Susanna, where I was very kindly invited to come and join! So I tried shooting bow and arrows, Robin Hood style for the first time. It was really fun. And I have the bruise on the my upper arm where the string from the bow hit to prove it. After class we met up with Juha and went to a choir performance in the church where Juha's parents got married and afterwards they treated me to a fabulous Finnish dinner at a restaurant by the bay. Very fancy. We ate herring and salmon for appetizers, and REINDEER for our main course, and finished with a mouth-watering chocolate lava cake with cinnamon ice cream and cloud berries.

Today I accompanied Juha to his judo exam. He was tested today for his blue belt, and succeeded! Very good. One of the other guys who was also getting his blue belt told me he goes to San Francisco about every year or so and plays in a band with people who live in the Sunset. But wait - the world gets even smaller. Last summer he stayed with friends in Sebastopol! Yeah, as he drove us over to Juha's daughter, Viveka's, kindegarten, he asked, "do you know this town north of San Francisco called Sebastopol by any chance?" Jeez.

So we went to Viveka's Christmas party at her Waldorf school, and then walked in the snow to meet up with little Emil, Juha and Susanna's son, who was performing in a little Christmas play. The snow started to fall steadily and the sky turned from a slate gray to a dark hazy purple that the trees made black silhouettes on. It was really beautiful and only 4pm. Everything you'd imagine Finland to be. So we joined the crowds of families and gathered to watch the final show, which was an impressive display of fire jugglers set to the musical backdrop of a famous Finnish heavy rock band called Night Wish. They are very melancholy here. None of the Swedish Abba feeling! And then it was really cold so we made our way back and crowded into the car that Susanna thankfully came to pick us up in. My fingers and face were completely numb. I'm way too Californian for this Finnish winter business! We had a lovely traditional dinner of potato and rudabega casseroles with baked salmon and these pinwheel-shaped pastries for dessert. After dinner, Juha and I researched exactly how we are related and found out that his grandmother is my great grandmother's sister! So, Nancy if you are reading this, I am working on the family tree!

Tomorrow I go to the west coast, to Noormarkku where my relatives on my grandfather's side live. I will stay for 3 nights and visit Tuomisalo siblings and their parents who remember meeting my mom when she came to Finland in 1969. (oh and by the way, I brought along her vintage mittens from Finland that I'm positive she must have bought here during that very trip).

Ok, going to finish my beer in the living room with Juha while Susanna gets some work done here in the kitchen. Over and out.