Onward to Finland

My stop in Minneapolis lasted longer than I intended; thanks to bad weather in Chicago my flights were delayed and I left a day later. The trip to Finland was miserable for various reasons, but I finally made it late Saturday night and am now suffering from jet lag, as usual.

I'm looking forward to having some down time. Even though my time in Minneapolis was vacation, I was quite busy meeting up with people and travelling around. The nice thing about vacationing in Finland is that I feel at home, but I don't have to worry much about work or meeting up with people. Basically I just go wherever Inari goes, but only if I feel like it.

It's interesting how one's perception of a place changes with time. Each time I've come to Finland I've come with a better grasp of the Finnish language, which isn't saying much, but more importantly, I'm less ashamed of saying something stupid. Also, certain things become familiar and "normal", but that's not to say they make sense. For example, why are the light switches for the bathrooms on the outside of the rooms? Is it so that kids can turn the lights off on their siblings while they're sitting on the toilet? Why don't strangers who pass on an empty street say "hello"? And if they do, why are they considered drunk, crazy, or American? Why do Finns always wait for a walk signal when crossing an intersection, even if there aren't any cars for miles? Maybe someday I'll have the answer's to these deep questions of life.