Elias investigates: Finland is my Home

Round Reading Room

5.6 Thursday - I am home. I am lying in my brothers bed. I am ill and I've been ill since Monday. I caught the cold when I went to the isle of Arran. I didn't wear any socks after the swimming and not either during the one hour ferry trip to Arran.

Home is like before, except that I am still writing in English. The house is the same, the garden, my parents and my brother. So far Finland is only where I have been so far. That is here home. I've only met family members and the only place I've been to outside our garden is to get the newspapers from our mailbox. One paper in Swedish and one in Finnish. My mother told me that a lot of things have changed here since I've come back. There are more taxes, it's more expensive and times are changing.

My day so far. I woke up 11 and had breakfast with Titus. Dark bread, roasted, with cheese. No more plain white toast for me. Then we had some white wheat bread called Fransbröd (Swe). With cheese and jam. By the way here I write more for all my friends I've met in Glasgow. I'll try to treat home as something new, just as Kelvinhaughs Street was for me during the first night. I think it's good for me as well. I will discover things. I'll also make a collection of photos of home. With my brothers Canon Ixus 40. I have not Samuel's Nikon D70. I miss the camera. But not only the camera.

After breakfast and during I read newspapers. I messed up a Sudoku. My brother left home at one to go to a picnic in Sveaborg(Swe) in Helsinki with friends. I was home alone. My father away to Lammi were he was preparing the place for coming guests. My mother working in Library. And my brother eating Strawberries, chicken, salad - NOT. I slept twice. From 2:30 to 4:40. I woke up and a bit later my mother came home. I am still lying in my bed writing this and the sun is on my right hand.

4.6 Wednesday - I woke up around three thirsty. I put on my new second hand pink slippers I've got from Maria and walked to fill my bottle at the tap. The ferry was sailing through Åland's Archipelago. The sun was already rising. I got my water and drank the whole bottle and filled it again and went back to the sleeping seat compartment and slept. I woke up again around six and went to the toilet and brushed my teeth and dressed. I packed and went out on deck and looked at Åbo and the water looked brown and stagnated in comparison to the fresh seas of Shetland.

7:30 the ferry arrived and the last new friend of mine woke up because a man started to vacuum clean around him. I walked to the train with the four other people I met on the ferry the last night. We got good places in the train. Half an hour we waited and then the train departed. In Åbo city we bought tickets and got back on the train. I read newspapers for the first time in Finnish, The Metro - Haha. As bad as before.

I arrived to Kyrkslätt 10:30. I've jumped of and strolled lazily along the platform when I discovered that my brothers and mother were on the station. We greeted and it felt good. My mother walked of to work and my brothers and me walked, to help the gradual integration back to Finland, to Lidl. There we bought 6 kilos of melons and walked back to the station and took the commuter train to Jorvas where our house is. We walked along the same paths and roads and I was home. It was the same. It was summer already, which made it less valuable, because I had not experienced the painful change from spring to summer. It was too easy. Home was nice and my brothers and his wife's garden was almost nicer than my parents. Sorry parents.

I played some football and enjoyed the gardens. I ate Borsch soup that Isak made. Then Isak left for work and me and Titus spent the next 3 hours in computer room.

I ate more Borsch soup when my mother came home from work at 8. I felt more I'll and went to sleep around 12.

3.6 Tuesday - I woke up 5:40 when Samuel knocked on the door. He was leaving. I said good bye after 10 mins of talking. He left with Fernando to the bus station. They left and I slept for an hour more. Then I woke up. I ate breakfast and finished the packing. I was ready 8:30 and called for a taxi at 8:40. I hugged goodbye with all my flatmates and Marco helped me to carry down my stuff. I had a friendly taxi driver. He asked questions and said good bye when I stepped out at the Buchanan bus station.

I took the City Link to Edinburgh. I got of at the Edinburgh Airport. I checked in and waited for one and a half hour. I ate a baguette and watched a man polishing shoes and giving remarks to people with shoes in need of care.

I got on the plane and I got of at Arlanda. I took the bus to Cityterminalen. I walked from there after having a lunch at McD to the harbour through the old city. At the terminal I had to wait again before checking in. I checked in and entered the ferry 19:30.

I got a seat in the seat compartment. I dumped my stuff and met four young Swedish speaking Finns from Ekenäs. We dined together at the buffet. It is expensive indeed so the only objecitve is to eat as much as you can. Preferably only expensive stuff.

Around 12 we went to sleep. I made a bed of my cloths and realised it wasn't too pleasant to sleep with such a heavy stomach. I fell asleep.

2.6 Monday - My last day in Glasgow. I had a strange breakfast I am sure. I walked with Samuel to the library via a shop where he bought adapters. At uni we took photographs and walked to the library. I copied all files and then walked to the book shop and bought for my voucher a book by Camus, The Myth of Sysiphus.

From there I walked to Hillhead Library and returned my last book and made sure there was nothing on my card. I changed my address at RBS. A girl from the Politics of Labour Law was behind the counter.

I was walking home, passing Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum when I remembered that the world famous Harry Benson had his pics on display there. I watched and I found some pics I liked. It was not too good anyhow. Then I remembered I hadn't bought from the uni shop. I bought a navy blue hoody. The girls asked me from where I were and I said uni of Helsinki and she didn't know much about about geography. She was embarrassed and excused herself. I walked home and there I started cleaning stuff and packing. I finished around 8. We had our last dinner with us flatmates. A pasta Andrea made. It was good.

Around 9 the first people came and said goodbye. It lasted until around 12 and wasn't a very joyous occasion. I went to sleep.

1.6 Sunday - I woke up after Arran. I was slow in the morning and wrote blog. I saw a parade. Catholic or Protestant I don't know. I ate a pasta. Then I started packing. I packed. In the evening Fernando, Ifa, Marco, Samuel and me had a dinner. I boiled all fish I had, with tomatoes and more. We ate it with potatoes in different shapes and sizes.

Then I slept. And I felt fine.