Icelandair

My trip back to Finland was done with Icelandair. It is the cheapest way to cross the ocean to Finland at the moment. You will need to pay the food (with credit card only) but you can take your own food into the plane. The food prices weren't too bad, about the same as it would be at the airport. You do not need to worry about drinks as non-alcoholic drinks are usually free on long trips (charter flights were a different). You can take two 23 kg bags with you which helps if you are moving to another country. 

The entertainment system works with your own headset, so you do not need to buy one. The entertainment system has a big screen (biggest I've seen so far) and quite a good collection of movies, TV series and music. Unfortunately I had seen most of the movies already, so on my second flight I had to opt for an classic movie (that I had seen before) Singin' in the rain. One other good part is that the entertainment system does not stop before you start to land, but it is carried out after landing. No need to get bored in the last 20 minutes! Very good feature indeed. 

I do recommend Icelandair on all european travel, as it is cheaper than the others and with one layover to Iceland you can access all of Europe. The one hour layover was plenty of time to go through the security check, passport check and toilet. I even had to wait a bit before the boarding to the next plane started. All my bags were on board and I collected them from Helsinki. So no luggages were left behind. 

Last weekend

Saturday morning we slept "late". During the day we hunted down a DVD box set which seemed to be sold out in all the stores the day before. We were in luck as the first store we went into had one copy. I don't think we shopped around that much during Saturday as we had plans to go to the birthday party later. Keep in mind that driving around took quite a long time compared to Finland. It would be the same as driving from Lahti to Kouvola to pick something up and return right away. So hence while we did not do much, it took us time to do the little things. So thinking of the the day before, and all that we did then, you can imagine that on Saturday we were feeling a bit tired. 

In the evening we went to the Birthday party, where we stayed for about three hours. Just before we went there I was given a warning that the greetings might a bit more welcoming than what the normal Canadian or Finnish way of greeting is. It is good to have such a warnings so you will not be startled when someone suddenly hugs you. I do have experience of that too. Not going to describe the celebrations too much, most of the time would go describing a friend of a friend of a friend etc. When it was time for us to leave, it had started snowing. The roads were all white, with tire marks. Because of that we drove slowly back to my friends place. Her husband got worried as we had not informed yet that we were back home, so he tried to call us. Unfortunately we were still on the road at that time. We did make a pit stop at Tim Horton's which delayed us a bit more, but we did arrive safely albeit very late.

Sunday morning came on its own accord. I made some last minute changes to my bags and then we went to buy some Icewine for my sister. My sister had asked to have it as soon as I had told that I had bought some for my aunt. I did not have any room in my old luggage, so I had not bought it earlier. I had thought of buying it at the airport, but I did not want to loose it in Iceland. So now that I had bigger luggage, I was able to squeeze the bottle in, so I had to go and buy it. When we were in LCBO, the teller asked ID. She was not able to find an end date from my drivers license, so I showed my passport. At first look, she said that my passport is not valid anymore, as it is past its validity by two years. I almost laughed at her, but instead I pointed out that the date she was looking is the date it was given to me and the date next to it is the date she is looking for. Then she said that there is no end date in my drivers license unless it is the one ending in 52 (she was saying it like a joke) to which I replied "Yes, that is it".  So I almost did not get the Ice wine because the teller thought I looked younger than 25. (They check your ID if you look under 25.) 

Back home we went. After checking that I have all I need, we packed the car and off we went to find last Tim Horton's. I could not believe that I was actually leaving. My brain refused to believe it. I did not feel like I was moving or even traveling. First time ever, I did not expect and were not exited of flying. The closer to the airport we got, the funnier the idea of leaving came. We even joked that it was not me actually who was leaving but it was my friend. I was hoping for bad weather, as that would mean that the airport would be closed. I did not have such a luck. Minute by minute, hour by hour the time came closer when I had to board the plane and leave. 

Last Friday

The Friday was so action packed that I am sure I am forgetting something. In the morning we had breakfast (me, my friend and her husband). I ate my own food, that we had brought from my fridge. We had such a fun time with it. After that it was time to pack the items we had brought better as now they were just in smaller bags and boxes. We carried the boxes downstairs and left shopping. My bags were all full, so we decided to try to find a new luggage for me, one that would be a bit bigger than my medium luggage. Also I needed to find something for my nephew as a souvenir. 

First we bought two vacuum bags for my linen and then we hunted for the luggage, and we were in luck. We found a luggage that was about the same size as my bigger luggage. The colour was perfect, and it had four wheels. So I bought it. This now meant that I had more room for my stuff and that I would be able to buy more stuff if I needed to. Then we went to find a birthday present for my friends nephew-in-law (? not sure if that is a real thing or not). As we did not know the item right away we had time to go shop in other stores. I found a jacket in Old Navy for my nephew, while almost having given up with the size when my friend found xs for 5 years. The 5 years in the xs size was bigger than the 5 years toddler size. 

After that we went to Toys-R-Us to buy the toy. While my friend picked up the toy she needed, I found some hot wheels for my nephews. They were light and now I had room in my new luggage, so I could buy them. Then we headed back to her place and I switched my bags. Then I think we packed even further, with all my plates and bowls going into my now empty luggage and all pillows and blankets into vacuum bag. 

Then we might have eaten something. Oh, no we went to Tim Horton's to pick something up and went to see my friends hubby. We ate there and then I was promised that I could drive a bit. So we went to pick up another car for my friend to drive while I drove her car. Due to the traffic, we had to drive around a bit and we decided to go check if there is a store near by to find second part of the birthday gift. We were told in the store that the item we were looking was online only and not in store. Off we drove to see if the traffic was any good. My friend has some car trouble so we drove slowly through the smaller roads, and dropped the car off her hubbies work to be fixed. 

After that I think we went back to her place. I think that might have been it... At least that was it outside her place :) We did enjoy some chips and watched TV in the evening. I am just trying to remember if we did something after driving. It was such a busy day, that when we talked about the day before it seemed so far away. 

Moving out

Last days in my apartment were full of action. I did a post of the leak and because of it we had to cut the water. The water was cut for the night and in the morning the pipe was fixed (for the first time). I turned the water on after 30 mins and closed it right away. The second time the pipe was fixed and we agreed that I would wait 1,5 hours before turning the water back on. Well I did that and turned the water back on. And turned it back off. The pipe was still leaking. At this point I had to go out to meet with a friend. While I was gone the third and I think the final fix was carried out. When I got back the water was still cut. I did not touch the water but waited until someone would come and tell me to put it back on. I think the water was off about 5 hours and then my landlord's mom came to tell me to put the water back on. I complied and turned the water back on. We were glad to see that the water did not drip anymore, sadly there was no water coming through. The kitchen and shower did work, and the only pipes not giving any water were the leaky one (the hot pipe was the leaky one, but the cold pipe did not give any water either). 

After meeting with my friend I informed my other friend that I will take her offer to pick me up that day. I had not told her and others that the air mattress had stopped working couple of days before and the last two days I had slept on the floor. So all this made me change my mind and I decided to move out the day before I had to. My landlord did say that I could stay till Sunday as at the moment there was no-one coming in. When my landlord came home from work, she invited me to eat with them, and we broke the news to her mom that I was actually leaving that night and not the next day. I got fed and I got a present from them. Best Landlord ever!

When my friend arrived, my landlord came down to help us pack. She said that we did not need to take the garbage out nor clean as they were going to do it. She went back upstairs while we did a bit of dishes and packed the last items. Then she came down to help us pack the car. Her brother arrived from work just in time to help with the last few items. Then I said my last goodbyes to them and off we went. It felt so wrong to move out. To keep at least some of the traditions alive, I took my friend to Hortons (well she drove us there) and bought little something to eat. After that we went to her place and unpacked everything from the car. It was just a few minutes before the midnight when we were done. 

This was my last official day in Canada with permission to work. The next few days I was just a visitor. 

Lärjungen

This is the movie why I was going to downtown in the last post. The CFF (Canadian friends of Finland) organizes movie nights once in a month or so I think. This month the movie was called The Disciple (in Engllish), Lärjungen (in Swedish and the original title) and Oppipoika (in Finnish). The premise of the movie is set in an island in the Baltic sea (I think it is Baltic sea) in 1939. There a lighthouse keeper is sent a disciple. In the island lives also his wife, son and daughter. The movie reveals how difficult the life was and what obstacles people had to overcome. 

It is not a feel good movie. I would say it is quite basic Finnish drama, but if you are not used to it, you might consider it as borderline horror/thriller movie. I would recommend you all to see it, just so that I would hear what you think of it. As it is a Finnish movie I do not think quite many of you have the opportunity to read it unless you live in Finland. Not too shabby movie, a bit slow at moments, but if you are interested in the history it is worth watching. It is not a true story, but it will give you a quite good idea of what the life was like.