Gotta love 'Murica

Wow... What a week. What a weekend. I will not do that again anytime soon. Huh.

My week was absolutely crazy. And busy. Let's just say that I was freaking out A LOT because of certain things and certain people. Have I told already how much I hate American teenage girl's gossiping and rumoring? Things that you didn't tell anybody, or things that you didn't necessarily even know about yourself. Suddenly everybody knows something and everybody is talking about it. In this school, if you tell a random person something interesting, the whole school knows about it in an hour. I swear.

So this and few other things led to a thing called Anniina's total freak out, which probably was rather amusing to other people in choir class on Friday. Besides screaming out "I HATE AMERICA" so loud that anybody within a mile couldn't miss it, I expressed my feelings by writing it on the board in Finnish. I bet many people guessed what "Vihaan Amerikkaa!!!!!!!!!!" meant on that day.

I can just thank God that I have the most awesome friends who made my day better. We had a sleepover at Shelby's house that Friday. Somehow we managed to spend our time pretty fast doing absolutely nothing instructive. They made me taste some really weird American things. Like this.

If you can't see, it says: Okay. Whatever. I'll taste it since you want me to.

Hmm... This must be interesting.

Really guys? I mean... It's chocolate. On bread.

SO AMERICAN.

Then we """"baked"""" cookies.

And then they were being retarded.♥

We really didn't plan to stay up that late, but somehow we just did. The four of us; me, Greer, Shelby and Clairesa (Britt wasn't there) slept all on Shelby's bed. Or we didn't really sleep, we talked. About stupid but fun stuff. We stayed up until 6 a'clock. It feels so good to be able to totally just be yourself around your friends. That is one of the things I've missed a lot.

Next morning we realized it was the worst idea ever. It wasn't hard to wake up. Just felt like I didn't sleep at all. But Gosh it was hard to actually get up! And then just in the car and dancing on the stage for three hours, after one hour of sleep, man I was happy to do that. I literally slept during the warm ups and fell asleep few times during the breaks just laying on the stage. I was leaning on other people's shoulders and taking mini naps.

After that I got home and went straight to bed to take a nap. I really didn't have a lot of time to sleep, because I had planned to go to Christina's house later. I was so tired, that I didn't hear my alarm at all and Laura woke me up just before they came to pick me up. I was so tired that night. So tired that my whole body just hurt and I couldn't function, at all. It still was fun! With Christina we actually baked, I mean real stuff.

Sugar cookies.

Lady locks. SO GOOD.

Then next morning I had to wake up for church. I can tell you, it wasn't easy.

Today I cooked meat balls. Now can you believe this. Colton didn't even taste them because he didn't feel like tasting something that a Finnish girl had made, and something that might be slightly different from what he is used to. So he ate a peanut butter - jelly sandwich. C'moon, it's meatballs! All kids should like meatballs. And he does: the American ones that are bought from a store. I'm helpless, I can't think of anything I could make that he'd like. I haven't even done anything with vegetables (even that's hard enough!) because he wouldn't eat that for sure. I've done basic food that kids should like. And the meatballs were good! Ugh, maybe I'll just give up and start cooking nothing but mushroom and vegetables. Just for myself.

During this weekend's nights together I slept less than I usually sleep in one normal night. No wonder I've been so extremely hyper today. Again. Gotta love my moods. Gotta love 'murica.

Anniina kiittää.

And just because I think this is super cute.

Yes, it does remind me of home...

... Only there I would still be sitting in school at 1.30 PM, because we don't get out early if there's a little bit of snow. No, we don't get delays either. Or cancellations. If it is -30 F and there is 5 ft of snow on the ground, yes, we still go to school. I have been doing that for ten years and haven't died yet! Can you believe that? Neither have my friends! I think it's funny that they do this here. I mean... They know that the snow is coming at some point, it is coming, every year! C'moon, it's winter, it probably is going to snow a bit. So I probably won't have to go to school tomorrow. Of course it's nice to sleep in and stuff, I just don't like the thought of making up these days in summer! I'll have to spend my last days in America sitting in school. Nice. I apologize for saying this for the hundredth time.

Thank you. I'm done.

Valkoiset hanget hohtavat.

Joskus rakastan noita poikia. Joskus en. Tänä aamuna Colton keksi hänen mielestään erittäin hauskan tavan herättää vaihtarisisko. Koulu oli peruttu tältä päivältä (lunta♥) ja olin höyhensaarilla ja nautin siitä, että saisin nukkua pitkään. Sitten joku (Colton) koputti oveeni. Tietysti heräsin siihen ja huusin, että what?, vielä puoliksi unessa. Vastausta ei kuulunut, ja nukahdin uudestaan. Viiden minuutin päästä ovelta kuului toinen koputus. Huusin: WHAT IS IT?! Kuulin kikatusta ja pois juoksevat askeleet. Olin kuitenkin liian väsynyt nousemaan ylös huutamaan hänelle. Kun se tapahtui kolmannen kerran, huusin WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! ja ryntäsin Coltonin perään. Hänen mielestä se oli erittäin hauskaa kunnes aloin naama punasena huutaa, että anti olla viimeinen kerta kun herätät minut unilta tuolla tavalla ilman syytä. Olin todella vihainen, ja näytin sen kyllä hänellekin. Toivottavasti uskoo...

Aamuni alkoi siis huonosti, mutta parani vanhetessaan. Olin yksin kotona, ihanassa hiljaisuudessa ja päätin taas paistaa lettuja. Kermavaahdolla ja mansikkahillolla tällä kertaa, nami! Kokeilin ensimmäistä kertaa letun kääntöä heittämällä, ja se onnistui hienosti! Käänsin joka letun heittämällä. Hihi. Yhteen tuli hauska ilmakupla!

Eilen tein koko perheelle tomaattista katkarapukeittoa, josta pitivät kovasti. Kuulemma pitää alkaa kokata useammin. Sopii minulle! Maanantai tosin on ainoa päivä, jolloin on aikaa, kun tiistaina, keskiviikkona ja torstaina tulen kotiin niin myöhään, että muut ovat jo syöneet ja perjantaisin (jos en mene kavereiden kanssa jonnekin) menemme mummolaan syömään. Tykkään kuitenkin kokata!

Eilinen torstai-ilta oli kyllä yksi Amerikassa olon ajan parhaita iltoja. Joku fiksu keksi, että facebookissa voi olla ryhmächatteja ja aloitti sellaisen meidän musikaali-inforyhmän kanssa. Siitäpä saikin sitten yksi kavereistani idean tehdä suljetun ryhmän meidän kaveriporukalle. Niinpä päädyimme juttelemaan Facebookissa monta tuntia. Minulla oli niin hauskaa ja tulin todella iloiseksi, ensimmäistä kertaa täällä tuntuu, että on joku jolle voi kertoa ihan kaiken, huolet ja murheet, salaisuudet ja ilot. Ja ei pelkästään joku, vaan monta ihmistä! Kyllähän se kestikin viisi kuukautta saada tosiystäviä. Me is happy now.

Jack ehdotti joku ilta viime viikolla, ihan yhtäkkiä, että haluaisinko ottaa pianotunteja. Minä olin ihan kummastunut. Hän sanoi, ettei minun tarvitsisi huolehtia mistään maksuista, hän maksaisi kyllä, jos minä vain haluaisin. Totta kai minä haluaisin! Ihan huippua. Minä todellakin haluan oppia, inhottaa olla vain keskinkertainen kaikessa. Olen kamalan innoissani.

Huomenna aloitan taas aamuni tanssimalla kolme tuntia. En malta odottaa.

Anniina kiittää.

PS. Vihaan sitä kun vahingossa aivastan läppärilleni.

The American Way.

Me: "Mm... I feel like baking something..."

Cameron: "Make cookies! We have that dough."

Me: "That's not baking. Baking is when you MAKE something, not when you use something that is already done."

Cameron: "Lemme show you something." *opens the oven* "This is American baking. Putting things to the oven."

Me: "Oh my gosh...I though putting things to the microwave was American baking."
Cameron: "No. That's American cooking."

I wonder why obesity is a big problem in America. Hmmm....

My weekend was pretty nice! I was at our school's basketball game on Friday with some friends and had fun. Saturday morning started with musical practice again. Why is it so much harder to get up on Saturdays, than it is on school days? I'm just dead tired and then I have to get up to dance. Yay. I like the singing part of musical. I would like dancing if I was good at it. In singing I don't care if I'm good or not, I still like it.

Later on Saturday Laura had a candle party. Lots of her friends came over to buy candles. I thought listening them talking about how super awesome the candles were was so boring that it was much more fun to watch the Steelers game with Jack. Then I realized football is actually pretty fun! Again one serious warning sign of me turning into an American. I'd say I'm lost for good when I start calling putting things to microwave cooking.

The party got better by the evening, I went to the basement with other kids. I almost beat the guys (Laura's nephew and his friend) in wrestling. I'm tough, hah! I hurt my shoulder though. At some point one of them was holding me on the ground and other one punching my head with a ball. Fair.

On Sunday I went to the movies with Tamara and her family. After that I went to her house to sleepover. We watched more movies, as always. We didn't have school on Monday, so we decided to build a snowman. Tamara had never done that so I taught her how to do it! This is our beautiful snowman.

When I came home I started doing my homework. I wrote my English essay and started doing the history project. I interviewed Didi on Saturday about my family history. Now I have to translate all that in English and then write an essay about it. Believe me, that's going to take some time. Ugh. I don't feel like starting to do it.

There has been two hour delays a lot lately. This morning I didn't know about it and didn't even think there was going to be one, so I walked to the bus stop and then wondered why is the bus not coming. I was kinda pissed when I called the school and found out about the delay. I walked home, went back to bed and fell straight to sleep. That's how tired I have been lately. I've been sleeping 8 to 9 hours a night and still I'm just dead.

Nothing special should happen this week. You will be hearing from me if something cool happens in my life. I really don't know what to write about anymore. I don't know if you think that it's boring just to read about my life. Well that's your problem I guess, not mine! Just tell me if you have any ideas what I could write about.

Anniina kiittää.

PS. I love Josh Groban('s music)

Pakkanen.

Tuntuu, etten ole kirjoittanut pitkään aikaan. On vain sellainen olo, että ei ole mitään kerrottavaa. Mitään mielenkiintoista ei ole tapahtunut tällä viikolla. Olen vain nukkunut niin paljon, että se on saanut minut entistä väsyneemmäksi.

Täällä on vihdoin satanut lunta ja sää vähän viilentynyt. Ja kyllä siitä valitetaan, voi että. Keskiviikkona oli minun ensimäinen "lumipäivä". Koulu peruuttu lumen takia. Sitten tänään oli kahden tunnin viivästys. On se vähän naurettavaa kieltämättä. Kymmenen senttiä lunta ja kaikki ovat ihan paniikissa. Vaikka he tietävät, että se tulee joka vuosi! Ainot kiva juttu on, että saan nukkua pitkään ja viettää vähän aikaa itseni kanssa. Keskiviikkona heräilin sitten ihan rauhassa, paistoin itselleni lettuja ja söin ne viinirypälehillon (YÄK) kanssa. Sitten soittelin pianoa, piirtelin ja katsoin elokuvan. Sain jopa siivottua huoneeni!

Päiväni täyttyvät musikaalista. Tänään istuin siellä kuuteen asti ja kaksi tuntia tekemättä yhtään mitään, kun eivät huomanneet sanoa että voit mennä kotiin, sinua ei tarvita enää. Noh... Eipä täällä kotonakaan olisi paljoa tekemistä ollut.

Englannissa meille sanottiin, että pitää valmistella ja pitää puhe. Mietin jo että oho, oikeastiko muka, tällainen haaste näille oppilaille. Myöhemmin kävi ilmi, että meidän pitää kirjoittaa essee, jonka sitten luemme luokan edessä. Olisihan se puhe ollut vähän liian haastava 17 vuotiaille nuorille. Minä olisin paljon mielummin pitänyt kunnon puheen, kun kirjoittanut esseen.

Löysin muuten jonkun aikaa sitten netistä hauskan artikkelin suomalaisista. Mielettömän hauska mielestäni, aivan liian totta monilta osin.

Eipä tässä nyt taida muuta sanottavaa olla. Taidan mennä huoneeseeni tuijottamaan seinääni. Heippa.

Anniina kiittää.

FIVE MONTHS AND STUFF

And again one of these days. Exactly five months in U.S today. I left Helsinki-Vantaa's Airport exactly 5 months ago. Now because of that I've decided to do something different. I'm going to list you the good things about America and things I like here more than in Finland and then the things I like more there. I have to admit that it was kind of hard to find the good sides of America. It's so weird, because I like it here so much but I still can't find a lot of good things. Anyway...

America:

+ The absolute number one are the people. It is lovely how polite everybody is. You very often feel welcome and it is also easier to start talking to people when they are open and smile to you. I appreciate when you can smile to a stranger without them thinking that you are a complete lunatic! You can get great service in shops and stores, they say Hi, help you, and smile.

+ All the awesome places for example New York, Washington DC, Disney World... We have no such places in Finland and I have been so lucky to have the opportunities to visit them. Some day I'd like to see Los Angeles too!

+ Ranch. I have arrived to a conclusion that the two absolutely best things in America are ranch dressing and the way Americans use cheese in everything. It's also horrible though. No wonder I'm fat now...

+ The high school musical. It's just like in movies! Awesome. I wish we had that too in Finland. I think school sports are also a pretty cool thing.

+ The weather is so much nicer here. I don't miss those -30 weathers at all! And the darkness. When I'm in school in winters in Finland, I never see the sun because it isn't up almost at all. And then in summers it's shining at midnight and I can't sleep! Still I have to say that Finland's summer nights are something amazing. The feeling is something you can't describe.

+ Singers and actors/actresses. I have to say this even though it doesn't really have anything to do with my experience here. Many great people are from America. For example Meryl Streep!

Finland:

+ The School system. Oh my gosh it is just so much better. Don't even let me start to talk about it...

+ The fact that you can actually get to places even if you don't own a car! That means basically public transportation and sidewalks. I have my bike and I can get anywhere I want. I live about 5 miles away from the city center, where my school is too. I ride a bike to my school whenever it's not snowing or too cold. If I have to go to the store and buy bread or something I don't have to ask for a ride, I can just walk to the store next to us or ride a bike. In Finland you have to be 18 to drive a car so not many of my friends are able to drive yet. I bet it would drive my mom crazy if she'd have to take me everywhere all the time! And then if I need to get somewhere further from my home I can ride just a buss or a train.

+ FOOD. It's healthier and it's better. All of my family are good cooks! Finns don't eat out a lot. School food is free and it's actually good. There's always salad and vegetables with it, it's often like a home cooked meal. If you're a vegetarian there is a vegetarian option. If you're allergic to something, there's another option. The fast food I have been eating in school here is nothing compared to that. It's nasty. And then you have pay for that crap! The fast food culture is something I don't like. In Finland we don't have any Taco Bell, Wendy or Burger King. McDonald's we do have and I eat there like twice a year.

(+ Salt liquorice and chocolate. Finnish candy is the best thing ever.)

+ Free college is absolutely an amazing thing.

+ Sauna. Ahhhhh don't you just love sitting in a super hot room and then going for a swim in a freezing cold river?

+ The nature and the peace of it. Lakes and forests. It is beautiful here in Pennsylvania too, I love the mountains. But the thing is, you can't really go to the nature. In Finland I can just take my dogs and go walking to the woods. Or in a hot summer day I can start the day by swimming in the lake near us. With this comes also the every man's rights. You can go picking berries or mushrooms from the forest without worrying if you're in someones property.

+ Finnish. I think it's cool to have a language that is super weird and nobody understands it. It's neat! Finnish is one of the hardest languages to learn.

There are some. Okay I have to say that they put me in Uniontown and I bet this is not the exactly the greatest place in America (no offence)... So I may have some things just because of that. And I probably forgot something but oh well.

Then I'd also like to share with you the funniest/stupidest I've been asked during these five months.

Top 5 stupidest questions (and my answers).

1. Is the sky blue in Finland? (No. Of course not. It's purple. What did you think?)

2. Can you spell my name in Finnish? (Sure I can. The alphabet is the same though, so it won't be any different. But sure.)

3. Do you like speak English in Finland? No wait.... You speak Finlandisk? (...It's Finnish.)

4. Where is Finland?

-In Northern Europe.

Are England and France like near Europe? <-- I did not answer this one.

5. And the fifth place goes to all of these: Do you, like, have cars in Finland? What about televisions and computers? Do you have roads? Do you have stores? Do you have schools? Do you have dogs there? Are there like polar bears there? Are there Eskimos?

Yes I guarantee, all of those questions have actually been asked from me. I hope you knew the answer for the last ones... It's no.

And then about my name. No, it's not Anita, Aninia, Anninya, Annynay and certainly not Annalina. And it's not spelled Anina. It's fine though guys, I can't say your names perfectly either so no worries.

My last few days have been... weird. Today I acted so weird the whole day. I kept forgetting things and I couldn't remember anything, no information stayed in my head. I was also clumsy, what I'm usually not at all. After days like this I'm not surprised at all if people think I'm super weird. I don't really care though what people think.

I GOT MY MOM'S PACKAGE YESTERDAY!!! I screamed and jumped and my hyper-mood started (and actually I've been pretty hyper since then). I didn't open the presents yet, I waited till today so my mom could watch me opening them (skype♥). Half of the presents were from Baba and Didi and I also got some from Juuli. Thank you, all of you so so so much, they were wonderful and I loved them all. Now I have candy for like three months. I'll probably eat them in a week.

Tomorrow I have musical practice at 9 am. UGH. Then later I'm going over to Skoric's probably for a bit.

Anniina kiittää.

PS. hahahahah feel free to laugh, this is from Florida. I was "dancing" because it was so cold and I didn't realize at all that Jack was doing the same thing behind me.

PPS. All of the pictures are either taken by me, my sister or my mom (except the one of chocolate)

So from now on I'm just going to write in what ever language I feel like. Svenska, kanske! Nej, jag skojar bara...

It's a great feeling when you suddenly realize that you're starting to get a life. I mean, I haven't been bored in awhile. I like my new family, I feel like I don't spend as much time in my room alone anymore. And now the musical finally started AND I HAVE A SMALL PART , and it makes me so happy! Just perfect to me, not too much English pronunciation to learn but still something. I realized also that I suck in English. I can't say w in some words. In Finnish we pronounce w and v pretty much the same and it's really rare to have a w at all in words. So for example, when I first came and people asked me about my hobbies and sports I play, I told them that I played volleyball for 10 years in Finland, but I pronounced in wrong. I guess it sounded like wall ball and people were confused.

I hate it when I just don't get something like that. I know that I'm learning new things all the time, still, I feel stupid when I can't pronounce something at all. BUT HAHA, everybody else in choir is going to feel how I feel (and even worse) when we start working on the Finnish song (Postikortti♥). That is going to be so much fun (for me at least), you can't even imagine. And it's going to be cute too. I am going to laugh my butt off. It's going to be awesome at the concert, I hope we can broadcast it again so all of you there in Finland can laugh too. I can't wait.

In art we're still doing print making. I think it's boring (sorry mommy). Just when I got the black ink off of my hands - now they're orange. We are going to move on mosaics on Thursday. I'm going to love that!!

In history we have to do a project of how our families came to U.S and where they settled and stuff. What if you're from Finland? Just do a research of your family history. Oh well that's going to be fun. I'll have to interview some family member and then write an essay. Oh how I love essays in English. Maybe I should surprise everybody and write it in Finnish. Siinähän heillä olisi pähkinä purtavaksi, niin! Why do I have to speak English anyway, why couldn't somebody speak Finnish with me for a change? Anybody?

My back started hurting again today. And my legs wouldn't carry me, that hasn't happened in a long time, not in a year probably. I hope it goes away soon. I don't like taking medicine at all, but today I took Motrin when I got home and I have to say that it's almost a miracle how much it helped right away. It also made me even more tired than I was though. Sooooo, that means I'm going to my bed.

Anniina kiittää.

PS. Dear U.S post,

would you please get my mom's packet delivered to my house. It has only been A MONTH(!!!!!) since she send it (and even payed extra for it to fly and come fast). We know it arrived to New York the 26th. I want my salt liquorice and chocolate. :(

PPS. I WANT TO CUT MY HAIR REALLY REALLY REALLY SHORT BUT I DO NOT KNOW IF I SHOULD.

1/1/11

//NETTI LAGASI EILEN, JOTEN EN SAANUT POSTATTUA TÄTÄ, MUTTA TÄMÄ MERKINTÄ ON SIIS KIRJOITETTU EILEN.

Tänään on ihan pakko kirjoittaa vain siksi, että on vuoden 2011 ensimmäinen päivä. Pitäisi varmaan keksiä jotain viisasta pohdiskeltavaa tässä uuden vuoden kunniaksi. Pää kuitenkin lyö tyhjää kuuden tunnin yöunien jälkeen.

Ei tunnu oikein miltään. Tyhjää. Minulla oli todella hauska uusivuosi, mutta ei se tuntunut uudelta vuodelta. Aivan kuin joulun kanssa: ei sitä tunnelmaa saa ilman omia perinteitä ja rakkaita. Olen viettänyt tähän mennessä joka ikisen joulun ja uuden vuoden joko äidin tai isin kanssa. Ja sisko(je)n. Jokaisena uutena vuotena jonka muistan, olemme ampuneet joitakin raketteja ja katselleet muiden ampumisia. Muistan erityisen tarkasti kaksi uutta vuotta - toinen on viime vuodelta. Sari ja Nuutti olivat meillä ja me pelasimme Sing Staria. Ulkona oli jäätävän kylmä, meinasinmme jäätyä pystyyn kun nopeasti kävimme ampumassa muutamat raketit keskiyön aikaan. Toinen uusi vuosi jonka muistan, on Tuopanjoelta iskän kanssa. En muista milloin, mutta siellä oli muitakin kylässä meidän lisäksi. Remonttia ei oltu vielä tehty, sen muistan. Silloinkin oli aivan järkyttävän kylmä ulkona. Muistan, että raketit näyttivät upeilta. Muistan, että meidän lapsien piti nukkua teltassa ulkona paksuihin huopiin ja makuupusseihin käärittynä, muttemme pystyneet, kun oli niin kamalan kylmä. Lopulta tulimme sitten sisälle nukkumaan.

Luultavasti tulen muistamaan tämänkin uuden vuoden pitkään. Onhan se minun ensimmäinen (ja ehkä ainoa) uusi vuosi Amerikassa. Ja minulla oli hauskaa, se ei vaan tuntunut uudelta vuodelta. Olin siis Christinan ja Courtneyn luona. He tulivat hakemaan minua perjantai-iltana ja ajiomme ylös vuorille, missä he asuvat. Heillä oli upea iso talo keskellä metsää. Vietimme koko illan keittiössä kokaten ja leipoen. Ensin teimme ruokaa kaikille ja sen jälkeen aloitimme juustokakun ja täytekakun tekemisen. Niistä molemmista tuli mielettömän hyviä. Olimme ylhäällä kolmeen asti illalla vain leipoen. Täällä tuntuu olevan tapana katsoa televisiosta New York Cityssä, Time Squarella kuvattua "pallon" tiputusta. Se on iso tapahtuma, bändejä laulamassa ja yli miljoona ihmistä paikan päällä, New York Cityn sydämessä. Raukat varmaan joutuivat seisomaan siellä monia monia tunteja kylmässä. Minulla oli mukava olla sohvalla ja katsoa.

En ole ikinä tehnyt minkäänlaisia uudenvuodenlupauksia, en vaan ole ikinä innostunut niistä ajatuksista. Nyt voisin kuitenkin tehdä yhden: imen joka ikisen hetken itseeni tästä puolesta vuodesta ja nautin kaikesta niin paljon kuin vain pystyn. Minusta tuntuu, että olen tuhlannut puoli vuotta murehtimiseen ja kotona istumiseen. Nyt minulla on kavereita ja aion viettää heidän kanssaan aikaa. Soitan ihmisille ja viestitän ja pyydän heitä meille tai menen heille. Olen oma itseni ja jatkan hymyilemistä, sillä se on niin paljon mukavampaa kuin murjottaminen! Koulun kanssa minulla ei ole parantamista, sillä kaikki aineet ovat parhaat mahdolliset, A. Siinä on minun uudenvuodenlupaukseni. Silloin kun minä valitan jostain, niin muistuttakaa minua!

Anniina kiittää.