Four years later, Iisalmi revisited

Friday I left with a couple of the girls from my second host family (they now live in Helsinki) to make the 7 hour trip to Iisalmi, the place I called home during my junior year of high school. Returning can be described as nothing less than an awesome experience. It was eerie, for sure. Everything was almost exactly the same. One new shop was built, two shops changed locations, but everything else was exactly as it had been the day I left, exactly as the map I've travelled through in my head many times since showed. It was very reminscent of "A League of Their Own," and I felt the whole time like Madonna's "This used to be my playground" was playing in the background.

Friday we arrived rather late. I visited for a bit with family #2, the B's, then headed over to say hi to the 1st family P. I walked back to the B's from there, wanting to see the town by foot. It was a bit longer walk than I remembered, but nice nonetheless, especially after having been in a car much of the day. When I got back to the B's, my friend Kartsa was there with his fiancee who just happened to be the best friend of one of the girls I had driven up with. Kartsa speaks english better than I do, so he and I started talking a "mile a minute" not realizing that no one else had a clue what we were saying until they asked us to speak finnish or slow down. After so long though, it's only expected. After coffee and the breads and desserts that come with it Kartsa and Hanne left and I headed to the sauna. The place was familiar, yet bigger than I remeber. That boxed room with its wooden benches and miniture plastic figurines is a place I'd spent much of my time during the core of the Finnish winter, the time I'd lived with this family.

Saturday was the day I thought I was going to explode. The day started around 9. I had a small breakfast, then we headed to see my host dad's new vet clinic that he'd set up since I'd left. It was unbelievable. That's about all I can say about that. The change from the small practice he had when I was there to this new teaching clinic is just incredible. After that we headed back to their place for an early dinner/late lunch with salad and breads, of course, and beef filets with sauce and blue cheese mushrooms.

From there I headed to meet my relatives in Finland who I was lucky enough to meet when I was here last time because they too were living in Iisalmi. There we had an amazing salmon and salads and breads and cooked vegetables. Desert was cloudberry yogurt... my first time having cloudberries since coming back to finland. It was great to see them again, though unfortunately their children were away at school. I'll hopefully see them soon. After visiting a bit and seeing a couple home movies of my cousin in the army drum corps (army service is require from all males in Finland), we had coffee and cakes. If you're keeping track, that's 3 meals in 2.5 hours.

I left straight from there around the corner to my first family's palce. Many of the aunts and uncles and grandfolks and cousins had assembled for an evening of feasting and visiting. The evening started with salmon and various cocktail foods and moose, beef, pig.... salad, breads, and a lot of other foods that aren't coming to mind at the moment. Seeing everyone again here was (as in the other cases) just an extraordinarily special experience. After dinner, we had fresh cloudberries and vanilla sauce, and a blackberry mousse along with some cloudberry liqour that my host mom had made herself. It tasted great. I looked at some pictures and spent some time with the host siblings and cousins and then we had coffee and carrot cake and cookies. Add those 3 meals to the count. Around 9 it was time to head back to meet some friends and get ready to go out. When I got back to the B's place a third salmon was waiting along with Karelian pastries and a variety of other things. Already busting at the seems, I ate as little as I could while still being polite. That evening we headed to the local "Irish" bar for a few, then over to the local disco. I ran into some old friends from school, along with the girl who was one of two partners for the Vanhojen tanssit. Again, just a great experience to see everyone, but maybe not as interesting for everyone else.

Sunday we headed back to Helsinki pretty early. The whole weeekend was much too short, which is why I am headed back Thursday:)

More interesting posts coming, I promise, but now I finally have work to do... for better or for worse.