One Monday after school, Georgia, Emily, and I walked down the Suomalainen kirjakauppa for a book signing.
Sofi Oksanen is a famous Finnish/Estonian author. Almost everywhere you go here you see posters up with her picture. Her new book just came out so she is doing touring for that, but I didn't get that one since it hasn't been translated into English yet. I did buy a copy of her book "Puhdistus"
and the same book in English, the "Purge." The "Purge" has won many different awards and has even been made into a movie.
It was so cool to actually see her in person and get her to sign my books. How many people travel to Finland and meet a famous writer? That was a great surprise, and I can't wait to read her book in Finnish and English. (Image above; Georgia (left), Sofi (back), Emily, then me).
On Wednesday instead of having class, I was on the lentopallo (volleyball) team representing our school at a tournament. Since there are no school sport teams, these small groups for tournaments are the only real teams there are. There were origionally nine of us, but two of the other girls decided not to stay and play, so there was just seven (half of the team being exchange students).
We only had one practice the previous day and then played the next day at a sports center. There were five different teams and we played three games, rotating in and out. In the end, we came in fourth place, just off the podium.
I'm not much of a volleyball player, but I did pretty good and got better as time went on. It was a lot of fun playing that day.
After the tournament, Georgia and I walked down to the harbor to our favorite coffee place.
Why is it that I always spill my coffee when I go there? Oh well, it was still very good, and they have the best pulla.
We also walked to the Wood Architecture Park and looked around at the different things inside. Back at school, we are both in woodwork class, so it was interesting to look at the new designs and maybe even find some ideas for our own projects.
Since Helsinki was the 2012 World Design Capital, there are a lot of special places showcasing works of art all around Finland. There were tools, swords, tables, figurines, etc., all made from wood ("puu" in Finnish). Some of the things were really beautiful and must have taken a lot of time.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. It is finally 5pm here, but the sun has already been down for about an hour now. Christmas is also begining to come to Lahti's city center as I learned this morning.
Winter is coming. Soon there will also be the tree lighting ceremony and a Christmas market, and it's only November.
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