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.

Sekavin tunnelmin...

Oooooookei. Tässä voi olla hieman totuttelemista. Olen siis muuttanut nyt uuteen kotiini ja kaksi yötä uudessa sängyssä (sohvassa) on takana. Monet asiat ja säännöt ovat tulleet hieman järkytyksenä, kun kävimme läpi ensimmäisen illan kysymykset. Tässä talossa on melko tiukat säännöt ja minusta tuntuu, että minulla on aivan samat säännöt kuin pojilla, jotka ovat kuusi ja kymmenen. Muutamia esimerkkejä: En saa tuoda minkäänlaista ruokaa missään muodossa huoneeseeni. En edes vettä lasissa. Jos haluan katsoa elokuvan huoneessani, en saa ostaa karkkia ja tuoda sitä itselleni, vaan minun pitää jakaa ostokseni muiden kanssa. Jos äiti lähettää minulle salmiakkia tai suklaata, en saa säilyttää sitä huoneessani ja syödä milloin huvittaa. Minun pitää säilyttää sitä keittiössä, sillä keittiö on ainoa tila talossa jossa saa syödä yhtään mitään. Jos syövät minun Fazerin suklaat niin sitten olen kyllä vihainen...

Jos minulla on kaveri kylässä, hän ei saa tulla huoneeseeni. Saamme olla kellarikerroksessa ja alakerrassa, mutta minun huoneeseen hän ei saa tulla ollenkaan. Nämä kaksi asiaa ihmetyttävät aika paljon. Ja kun niissä oltiin aivan ehdottomia. Minulla ei myöskään ole lupaa lukita oveani.

Muuten he ovat hyvin mukavia, säännöt vain ovat tiukat. Eikä niistä ole varaa keskustella. Yksi asia mikä minun pitää oppia myös on huoneen pitäminen aivan täysin siistinä koko ajan. Siitä ei tosin ole haittaa! Mietin vain, että mihin ihmeeseen saan tämän kaiken tavaran tungettua... Vaatteet mahtuvat kaappiin, mutta mihin laitetaan kirjat ja piirustustavarat? Mihin saisin laitettua omat kehystetyt valokuvani ja muut jutut, jotka haluan esille? Haluaisin niin kovasti tehdä tästä oman huoneeni. Ehkäpä se tässä ajan myötä!

Kapinoin heti pakenemalla talosta - menen viettämään uuden vuoden ystävieni Christinan ja Courtneyn kanssa. Tutustuin heihin kirkossa ja he ovat mielettömän mukavia. Christinalle minä lupasin opettaa, että miten tehdään suomalainen herkullinen täytekakku ja hän haluaa tehdä minulle juustokakkua, sillä juustokakku on parasta ikinä. Minusta. Ja Christina on todella hyvä leipomaan kaikkea kivaa. Joten toivottavasti tulee hauskaa!

Puolet tavaroista on jo purettu kaappiin. Yksi tärkeä asia vain puuttuu: puhelimen laturi. Olen käynyt kaikki tavarani läpi useaan otteeseen, mutten löydä sitä mistään. En ymmärrä missä se voi olla, pitää ehkä vielä käydä katsomassa entisestä huoneesta josko se olisi jäänyt sinne. Hassua.

Täällä lämpesivät säät ja tuntuu ihan keväältä. Näinkö lyhyt se talvi olikin? Enhän minä kerennyt edes laskettelemaan. No kyllä sitä lunta vielä ehtii tulla myöheminkin. Tällä hetkellä pystyy olemaan ulkona ilman takkia!

Kohta minua tullaan hakemaan. Ei tunnu yhtään uudenvuodenaatolta. Ei sitten yhtään, ei millään tavalla. Hyvää uutta vuotta kaikille kuitenkin, may all of your wishes come true!

Anniina kiittää.

A new day has come...

The day is here. Me moving to my next home, the Cole's. These are the last hours I'm living with Skoric's. I packed most of my stuff yesterday and realized that I have SO MUCH STUFF. How on Earth am I going to bring it back to Finland when June comes? I don't even know where I got all those new clothes, I don't think I have been shopping a lot. I brought 2 pair of jeans with me and now I have 5 pairs!!! Olivia gave me some of her old clothes though.

I've probably been acting super weird lately. Just wondering around, laying on the floors, staring at people and talking to the dogs. They just laugh, C'moon Anniina, you're only moving two houses away, you can come over, the only difference is that you won't sleep here. And I know that. But the thing is, this won't be my home anymore. They won't be my brother and sisters and mommy and daddy. This won't be my room. And that makes me feel weird. It's bittersweet.

Okay so my Christmas brake has been super boring. I've just stayed in the house the whole frigging time, watching movies with Olivia or drawing. We watched Donnie Darko the other day and I thought it was so confusing until we watched the Mulholland Drive. Donnie Darko is nothing compared to that movie. I mean, both of them are just awesome but I think if you're just a normal person you can watch the Mulholland Drive for ten times and still not understand anything. Which is cool.

I've done pen and ink, colored pencils and charcoal drawings. I drew Michael Bublé with ink! Then one day I made crepes (lettuja) and they liked them. Maybe I should start baking and cooking more often. I think I will at Jack and Laura's. I got me yeast so I can make Finnish sweet bread (pulla♥).

Now I'm going to have the last dinner with this family. Sniff. I'm probably going to update again soon though, I need to tell you how it's going in my new home.

Anniina kiittää.

PS. My dearest camera is broken. I'm so lost without it, it was my whole life here! I hope I get it fixed soon somehow, I'm so lost without it.

Mitenniin materialistinen joulu?

My American Christmas. It was different. The main difference was that everything happened on Christmas day, not Christmas eve. Everybody in Finland celebrates Christmas the 24th.

It came so fast and passed so fast that I'm confused. I've probably said this about hundred times but I can't believe how fast time goes. You don't often just stop and think about it. There's just day after this one and then another after that one. Today you're going to meet new people, and have conversations with them, but does it matter? Do you remember who you talked with a week ago, and what you talked about? I don't. Now it's Christmas. This was a day that I will probably remember forever. I had fun, it was great, but it was also hard.

Friday was the hardest day. First of all, I was the only kid in the house. I always feel lonely when Olivia isn't here! So I woke up and started the morning by skyping to Finland. We had planned that I would be a part of their Christmas dinner there. Baba and Didi were at my mom's house and of course my sister was there too. They sat in the dinner table and I saw all of them there in the candle light, I saw the food and the beautiful Christmas decorations. And it was just too hard not to cry. Our tradition has always been singing Enkeli Taivaan and then reading Bible before Christmas dinner. Didi started playing piano and they started singing and I wasn't the only one was crying. After the call I just laid in my bed and cried.

Later after they had eaten I called them again when they were opening presents. I felt a bit better. I'm so happy that I got the opportunity to be a part of their Christmas too. For too hours I just watched them opening presents. Usually me and Emilia (my sister) share all the gifts from under the tree and then everybody opens one gift at a time, when others are watching. I don't know how to describe how it felt to watch them to do it without me. It was nice to watch them read my letters. Me and Baba are always the ones who are crying!

I also called to my aunt Johanna, who has lived in Scotland for several years. It is so funny how it's easier for both of us to speak English! We started in Finnish though, then I couldn't explain something and I switched to English. She couldn't stop laughing to my accent. I BLAME YOU AMERICANS!! I seriously couldn't finish one sentence without her laughing her butt off. It was funny though!

After that we went to church with Sarah and Mark. It was nice. At the evening we went to some of their friends. I was the only kid, I didn't know anybody and I was the only one who wasn't drunk. Compared to that it was nice! After Mark had told that: "Yeah, the Finn can be friendly too, you just need to push her a bit." people started talking to me. Haha. So I had a nice time there.

And then, today, Christmas day. I did well, I wasn't sad at all and enjoyed the day! Mark made breakfast, cooked the last things for the dinner and then I finished the cake I made earlier for dessert. While I was making it Jaclyn, Theo and Olivia got home and soon we started opening presents. Now it was my family's turn to watch me opening presents through Skype. I got SO MUCH STUFF! I was shocked that they got me so many presents, I kept saying thank you over and over again. Here some pictures of what I got!

Me opening my first present.

Speakers (♥), a video camera, and one of those things that you put on an iPod and you can connect many headphones to them!

All the clothes I got!

Charcoal and water color pencils! I got my own pencils because I've been borrowing Olivia's. Yay, now I can start actually doing drawings with colors!

All the other small stuff that I got.

Jaclyn with her presents.

And then I got a watch, but I don't have any pictures of it because I forgot to take them! Everybody also liked my presents. I took pictures of them, made a collage and put it here. I'm going to have another Christmas when my mom's, grandparent's and Juuli's packet comes. I really hope it's going to come on Monday. It's unbelievable how long it takes them to come... Can't wait.

After opening the presents people started coming over and we started to eat. The dinner was good, as always when Mark cooks. I still missed my lovely Finnish Christmas dinner. Everybody loved my cake! Rest of the night we spent playing with our new cameras and being retarded with my dear host sister. Later Sarah, Shelby and Duane came and played Just Dance 2 with us, Olivia got that. It's such a fun game, I liked it even though I'm seriously the worst dancer ever. It was sooooo much fun. And Jaclyn singing and dancing at the same time is the funniest thing ever!

That was my Christmas. Next week I'm going to move.

Anniina kiittää.

PS.

Nostalginen olo.

Tekee mieli kirjoittaa ihan vähän vain välillä suomeksi. Viimeinen viikko tässä perheessä. Viimeisiä iltoja yhdessä.

Haimme tänään Markin veljen, Paul-sedän lentokentältä. Hän on ihan kuin Mark, mielettömän hilpeä ja nauravainen. Sen jälkeen minä vietin hieman laatuaikaa Mark-iskän kanssa, juoksimme kaupoilla. Hän ehdotti, että menisimme kahdestaan, kun emme ole pitkään aikaan saaneet viettää aikaa kahdestaan. Se oli mukavaa. Hoidimme asioita ja puhelimme kaikesta.

Nyt illalla aikuiset menivät syömään johonkin ravintolaan ja me lapset jäimme kotiin. Tilasimme pizzaa ja nyt olemme vain istuneet ja kuunnelleet musiikkia. Siitä se nostalginen olo varmaan tulee, musiikista. Coldplay soi tällä hetkellä.

Minä leivoin kakun. Se jäähtyy parhaillaan jääkaapissa ja odottaa, että menisin täyttämään sen. Kaikista ihanista jouluherkuista, jota olisin voinut tehdä, Mark halusi että teen perus täytekakun. Hän taisi todella tykätä siitä!

Niin, eipä minulla paljon muuta. Joulu tulee, ihan yllättäen se onkin jo tässä. Suomessa se on jo jouluaatto! Hyvää jouluaattoa kaikille, nauttikaa omista rakkaista perheistänne kun voitte!

Anniina kiittää.

Disney World

Finally I have some time to write about this. I know, it has been a long time without new blog texts and it has probably been really hard for you guys, I hope you somehow found a way to continue your life normally.

So I spent a week in Florida, Orlando, Disney World. First: I love Disney movies. I absolutely love them. I really need to start watching them again, most of them I just watched when I was a small kid. Lion King, Pocahontas and Mulan are my favorite ones. I don't know how to start about Disney World... I think you need to see it yourself to understand. I'm going to try my best to explain all the things I experienced.

I went there with Jack, Laura and their kids Cameron and Colton, who are my next host family. I'm just so thankful for the opportunity that they offered. I had so much fun, I took like 700 pictures and gained like 962969218967609 pounds.

So it was AWESOME. For you, like me, who know/knew nothing about Disney, first I need to tell you that it's humongous. It's not just a amusement park, it's like a city. There are six (?) parks, the main parks are Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot and Animal Kingdom.

We flew there on Saturday, so that was pretty much just a travelling day. That evening we went to a buffet called Chef Mickey's, at the hotel. Disney Characters were dancing and taking pictures with kids. The food wasn't that good there, but the experience was great. Everything was just so overwhelming, everywhere. I really don't know how to tell anything about it.

Sunday was supposed to be the warmest day of the week so we decided to go to Blizzard Beach, one of the water parks. It would've been great without a sudden storm that hit. It started pouring down rain and the temperature dropped suddenly. Of course we were wearing just shorts that day. It was literally a blizzard beach that day. It was freezing cold. The boys didn't care about the weather, they had fun swimming and playing. We were like the only ones in the park that day. I couldn't swim, it was just too cold. I did the Summit Plummet (super crazy water slide that almost killed me) though! And that was the only thing. So I jumped up and down and tried to keep myself warm by dancing until I discovered that there was a hair dryer in the dressing room. So I spend the rest of the day literally standing under the hair dryer not to freeze. Laura and Jack thought it was funny. Yeah, yeah, I'm from Finland, I should be used to the cold, I get it. But I'm not.

On Sunday evening we went to Downtown Disney to eat with one of Jack and Laura's friends that were there too. We ate in a Rain Forest Cafe that was... awesome. That's the only adjective I can think of when describing Disney World. The whole restaurant looked like a huge rain forest, there were fake animals that actually moved and made sounds. Every half an hour "a storm" came, it became dark and there was a sound of thunder.

At this point I could probably tell you that it is super expensive there. And they charge you for everything! They really know how to make money, because people come there and pay for all that. Because it's cool.

On Monday we started visiting the main parks and started with Epcot. Epcot is a bit like Heureka in Finland. By a bit I mean Epcot is like 1000000 times cooler and bigger (it was around a lake). All of the parks are just huge and full of different things. They really have made it cool. We started the day with a ride that talked about energy. Yeah, sounds boring, but it wasn't. Ellen DeGeneres (who is absolutely one of my favorite celebs ever) was talking about it, and if she is involved with something, it just can't be boring. Many of the rides started with some kind of introduction video or movie. After that was the actual ride, in this one we went to the world of the dinosaurs. It felt so real, they had somehow built dinosaurs who moved and made sounds. I have know idea how. And the whole jungle was so real... I still can't believe it. You should have seen me there, wondering around like a kid in a candy store.

It was freezing the first days of the week. We were wearing our winter coats, I had my scarf and gloves and I was still cold. The wind made it even colder. We rode many rides during the day. There was an opportunity to "fly to Mars" with "a real spaceship". I was just talking to Christina and Courtney (my friends from the church) and they told me that the effect was made by spinning the thing around. There was a video that gave you the image of going forward even though you were just spinning around. I didn't know that until today! It felt like a real spaceship, it really did. Because I know exactly how it feels like to be in a real spaceship. I ride them every day to school.

The coolest thing of the park (maybe even whole Disney) was Soarin'. It was a ride where it really felt like you were flying. It was awesome. I kept thinking that Didi (my grandpa) would like it so much. We have always been talking about dreams and flying with him, just floating in the air! I loved Soarin'. I think it was Jack's favorite too.

The other half of Epcot was full of things from other countries. There where like small parts of different country's cities. For example from Paris there was Eiffel tower. They were full of small shops and restaurants from the countries. It was really neat. I could've spent many days there if it wasn't that cold! Colton got really tired that day of all the walking. The whole trip was for the boys so we just basically went where they wanted to. And I was completely okay with that, there's really not much to whine about when you get to go to Disney for free...

This was either Chinese or Japanese, I can't remember...

It's crazy how it felt for me like the whole place was full of people, even though it's not even close as busy this time of the year than it is on summer. I'm really glad we went now, I'd rather take a little bit of cold than even more people than there was.

Cameron (I like this picture a lot!)

Colton

In the evening there was a firework show. It was just awesome. That's all I can say. I've never seen anything like it before. Here's few pictures.

There are Disney Characters walking around in all parks and taking pictures with people. I met so many of them but Laura has most of the pictures on her camera. I'll probably have to write a new text just for those pictures and videos when I get them.

I really don't know her name in English... But I like the movie!

Stitch! He started kissing me, it was really ticklish and that's why I'm giggling. He was so cute!

Mary's kids, Cameron, Colton and me.

Me kissing Donald Duck!♥

"Will you marry me, Anniina?"

Tuesday was another really long and tiring day. We spent it in Magic Kingdom. I think most of that park was for smaller kids. There was few nice roller coasters. Nothing was like in Hershey though! I was so scared then and I never thought I'd ever ride them. But I did and now something that would've been cool earlier doesn't feel so cool anymore. I guess I have to go to Hershey again!

I love how all the rides have some kind of story behind them. It's not just a ride or roller coaster, it gives you a meaning when they tell the story. The best roller coaster of whole Disney in my opinion is Space Mountain. It was like the only one that felt like something! One of the rides was Pirates of the Caribbean, it was done like that Dinosaur ride. Amazing. The boys wanted to dress me like a pirate...

The castle was absolutely phenomenal. I didn't even know it really existed! It was beautiful in the daylight, but at night when the lights on it turned on it was just amazing. I took probably about hundred pictures of it. You're only going to see few though. On Tuesday evening there was Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party and parade. We stayed there almost till midnight and you can just imagine how tired I was. It was all worth it though. There was fireworks all around the castle and later Disney Characters singing and dancing on the stage.

The Parade was absolutely one of my favorite things of the whole trip. Again, something that I've never seen before. I just stared at it my mouth open and took as many pictures as I could. All the Characters were dancing and singing Christmas songs and performing to people. There was like a path and people had gathered around it to see the show. I think the pictures tell more than my words.

That day was amazing, but too long. All of us were exhausted and cranky when we went to the hotel. And then I couldn't sleep because Laura was snoring. Next morning we all slept in, even the boys who usually start playing at seven a'clock in the morning. That didn't stop them playing later though. The boys are so wild. I've never had brothers, so it's going to take some time to adjust. I had Theo here though, be he's 14 already and behaves really well. It's different when they are younger, in this case 6 and 10. I'm glad I got to know them before I move over completely, it won't be such a shock then. This is my last week with Skorics. Sad, sad, sad.

Wednesday was Hollywood Studios day. If I'd had to pick my favorite park, this would be it. It's not a surprise - I love movies, plays and all that stuff. It was pretty freaking awesome. The weather was nicer also. At first we saw Indiana Jones stunt show. I don't know enough adjectives to describe these things. It is so big and... miraculous. All the stunts were so cool, they have planned every show so well and worked on them so hard.

The next show we saw was Beauty and the Beast, it was a 30 minute version of it. Do I really need to say that I liked it? It could have been longer tho!

On that day we also saw a thing about Disney animation, how they make the characters and things like that. That was really interesting to me. There was a shop with all the Disney art things on it. If I'd have money, I know how I would've spent it. Those art works were amazing. I wish I could be as good as them. Just need to keep on practicing!

I ate so much during that week. I though I'd never get enough of cheesecake, but I was wrong. I ate way too much of that during the week. On that Wednesday Jack and Laura (and me) got bored of all the fast food we had been eating. Laura made a reservation to a fine restaurant. That food was good. I've never eaten in that fancy restaurant. For you who don't know: We don't go out a lot to eat in Finland. In my family we mostly just cook our own meals every day. So fast food and going out to eat often have been something new for me.

That was like the best pork I've ever eaten, gosh...

After Monday and Tuesday we were so tired that we decided to go early (8 PM) to the hotel. It felt good to chill out for a minute before going to bed.

Thursday was the first warm day. The first day I didn't need my thick winter coat! That of course also means that I got sun burned. My skin is still dry because of that, ugh. I don't want to know what I will look like when the summer comes here and everybody gets beautiful and tanned and I get ugly and pink because I'm so pale. The sun is so much higher even in Pennsylvania than it is in Finland. Anyways...

The last main park we went to was Animal Kingdom. I've always liked zoos a lot. Of course that was way too better than some boring zoo, duh. We started the morning with a real Safari ride thing. We were in a car and actually drove through a Safari, seeing animals like giraffes, lions, antelopes, and elephants.

ROAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR

Giraffe (obviously you didn't know that so I just had to say it)

Me holding a real snake... I was horrified (even though I don't look like it). Please ignore my face and look at the snake, he's the point of this picture!

Later that day we saw a Lion King show. That was other favorite with the Parade. It was truly phenomenal. All the songs and dances and characters and oh, I was in heaven. I cannot describe the show. All I can say is it was awesome. It's like Broadway shows, you can't realize how awesome they are if you haven't seen them.

One of the roller coasters was around a thing that looked like Mount Everest. I can't believe that they actually built something in the shape of Mount Everest and made it a roller coaster.

We saw some kind of bird show also. The birds were flying among the audience, it was really cool.

That day we came home even earlier. The boys chilled at the hotel's pool and I was drawing. Friday was a rest day. We slept in and went to Downtown again to do some shopping. Then we just chilled out at the pool the rest of the day. That was the warmest day of the week and a really nice ending of the amazing week. The whole week was so perfect. It was so tiring though, that 6 days was enough, just perfect.

And then it was from Disney World to normal world. Now all I have left is memories, many pictures and the smell of chlorine in my hands. Sniff.

I feel like everybody has been in a Christmas mood this week at school. Well, Christmas is only few days away. My week was really busy, the whole Monday evening I was cleaning up and studying for the few tests I missed while I was gone. The whole evening. On Tuesday I finished few drawings and wrapped my Christmas presents. All of the other presents were already under the tree. I have my own pile, I was so happy! I didn't think they'd get me that many presents. I love whenever I feel like I really am just one of the kids.

I got a packed from Finland the other day, from Janica and my other school friends. Thank you guys so much, you totally made me happy! I got so much salt liquorice and some chocolate. The chocolate I ate the first day. Fazer's chocolate won't last long if it's near me... I think I'll get some more though with my mom's packet. I hope it comes before Christmas!

I took one of the salt liquorice boxes to school and shared it with my friends. It's funny how many people wanted to try it, even though I said: "Do you wanna taste a Finnish candy that you won't like?" to everybody. Maybe you should have believed me! Well, now you can say that you tasted a Finnish candy that you didn't like. Hahahaha, it is hilarious to watch people's faces when they eat it. Some try to hide it and pretend it's okay for a moment, then they just break and spit it out. Some will just make a horrible face and spit it out right away. Jaclyn is the only American I have met who likes it!

Wednesday, the last day of school was just pointless. The periods were like 20 minutes long and we didn't do anything anywhere. I spend half of the day in the choir room. Then after that we had a "party". Wohoo, so much fun, party at school. So I basically ate chips for 1,5 hours and then went home. I ate way too much cookies and chocolate and now I have been shaking for about 10 hours for all that sugar. It is kinda disturbing.

ANDDDDD THAT'S ALL, FINALLY I'M DONE, I swear, I seriously wrote this text for more than five hours. With adding all the pictures and stuff it takes so much time... Now I'm off to my lovely bed.

Anniina kiittää.

Four months in U.S.

Today I have been exactly four months with Skorics. Isn't that crazy... Four months in America. That's pretty long time without family and friends. I'm quite proud of myself. Who would've thought I'd make it this far. It isn't easy, not at all. The days before my flight here were probably the hardest days of my life. I thought this was my worst decision ever, one year is way too long to be apart from my family. But I left and here I am now. Four months down, six to go. I wish I could stay longer!

Now you can really see that Christmas is coming. It's so close already! There are beautiful lights everywhere and Christmas songs are played in radio. I just love the Christmas season more than anything! When everybody is on that holiday mood. Teachers are more relaxed also and school is more fun. They play music during classes and we have Christmas crossword puzzles and stuff. For me the best thing has always been family getting together. That won't happen this year though. I would like to go home for Christmas more than anything. Too bad it's against the rules. And costs a lot of money. I know I'm probably going to have a lovely Christmas with Skoric's, but it still isn't the same as in my dear home country with my own family and own traditions.

We had out winter concert yesterday and I think it went pretty well. I just feel really weird after things like that. I mean, you work for something for a long time and you do you best and then, in one short night it's suddenly over. I'm so happy my mom and grandparents in Finland got to see it. Technology is pretty great if it is working... For the first half it wasn't. Well, it's going to be on YouTube soon hopefully. That way everybody else can see it too!

Here I'm singing together with Marta. I wasn't at all as nervous as I was at the musical auditions, even though I was singing for so much more people. It doesn't mean that I wasn't nervous at all, because I was. I was ready to go lay down at the half time before our "solo". Too bad there's not any places to lay down and relax in the crowded auditorium...

Okay I look kinda creepy in this picture but I just thought I'd put it here because there hasn't been a lot of pictures to put on lately.

Tomorrow I'm off to Florida! I'm so excited. Mark said this was the first time he ever saw me excited. I think I've been excited before around him! Maybe I just didn't show it. But I can't believe I'm going to DISNEY! I'm so lucky I've gotten all these wonderful opportunities. There's four school days left when I come back home from there. If the spring goes as fast as the fall did, I'm going to be home in a little bit! It's unbelievable how quick time has past.

Anniina kiittää.

PS. You all in school (I don't even know if any of you are even reading this though, cause you won't comment!) make sure you enjoy this week without me. There might not be a lot weeks like that after holidays...