The Summer Cottage

When I first arrived at the summer cottage, on Friday June 13, I was surprised that it looked more like a house than the cabin I was expecting. It had a very modern look and Eero told me that Heli's father had designed the cottage with the environment in mind.

Heli's father designed the house with large windows that faced the sun, in order to reduce the use of indoor heating

My room at the summer cottage

I walked into the cottage, took off my shoes (as usual), and greeted Maria and Heli. Oskari was already downstairs watching the FIFA World Cup on the TV. It was already about 8:00 p.m., but of course, the sun was only beginning to set. I had mentioned to my host family earlier in the week that I love to kayak, so as soon as I brought my suitcase into my room downstairs, Eero handed me a life jacket and told me Maria was already preparing the kayaks and I could go with her in a few minutes. By the time I had changed into my shorts, Maria was finished cleaning out the kayaks and we were ready to go. The lake that their cottage was at was very large and I really enjoyed kayaking in it. I had only been kayaking in the ocean at the beach during vacation a few times, but I learned to love kayaking on the lake just as much. Maria and I first went to a rock called "Dog Rock" which got its name from a dog that used to live by the rock. It was a beautiful area and a few seagulls were perched on top of the rock. It would have been great for a picture but Maria and Eero had warned me not to take my camera because it would probably get damaged due to all of the water that splashed onto us from the paddling. We then paddled to the other side of the lake to look at the scenery there. However, just when we arrived at the other side of the lake, it began to rain. So, before it started to pour, Maria and I desperately paddled back to the summer cottage. I had epic music from Mulan playing in my head, to make things more exciting. Once we returned to the cottage we had dinner and then went to sauna. Eero said he preferred the sauna at the summer cottage because it was heated by fire rather than electricity like the one I went to at the house. After the sauna, we went outside to the hot tub and dared each other to jump into the freezing lake. Maria was the first one to go, followed by Eero, and then by a reluctant me. I jumped into the lake and stayed there for about 10 seconds before I ran out again and played ball with Hetya who happily ran into the lake to retrieve the ball. I then went into the hot tub again and we all Oskari because he chickened out and didn't jump into the lake. I was the last to leave the hot tub and dry off. 

The lake and the hot tub

I changed back into my clothes and we watched the next FIFA game before I went back downstairs to go to bed. I have to admit, I was a little scared because I was the only person on the lower floor in a cottage in the empty countryside. It didn't help that it was Friday the 13th either. However, I ended up falling asleep anyway and woke up at 10:00 a.m.

After my now usual breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt, I packed my bags and headed to the car. We were going to drive to the summer cottage of Eero's parents, on small island near Turku called Nauvo. To get there we had to take a 3 hour drive and had to take a car ferry that would take us to the island.

The car ferry we took to go to the island of Nauvo

During the ride we talked about the different kinds of wildlife in Finland and Alabama. Finland doesn't have many dangerous animals and only has one kind of snake which has a zig zag pattern on its back. They also explained that the next summer cottage would be a more typical kind of summer cottage complete with an outhouse and no WiFi (gasp!). 

The outhouse...

On our way we stopped by the super market (the most common are K Market and S Market) to buy some drinks and snacks for our stay. I bought Muumi juice. The Muumin (plural form) are very popular animated characters created by a Swedish speaking Finnish artist. They are in comic strips, on mugs, t-shirts, posters, foods, and almost anything you can think of. They are also very popular in Japan for some reason so most Japanese tourists come to Finland to go to Muumin World (near Turku) or see the Muumin Museum. When we arrived at the summer cottage, we were received a warm welcome from Eero's parents. His mother didn't speak very much English but his father spoke pretty good German. We had a very nice lunch consisting of steak, chicken legs, potatoes, and salad. Their summer cottage was at the sea, so the water was much colder and it wasn't really possible to swim there. We didn't even try because a mother seagull was keeping watch over her babies at the dock and attacked Eero when he walked by to try and catch a glimpse of the new born birds. Eero's parents were a bit too old for water sports so we did most of our activities on land. Maria and I explored the area a bit and went on a trail that went by fields where deer were hiding in the grass. When we came back, Eero's mother had set a table outside with jelly filled donuts and Pepsi Next (my host family was very excited about this new product). We talked a lot about university and collage in Finland and the U.S. and how different our two systems are. As the evening began, me, Oskari, and Eero decided to go to the sauna (I wasn't joking when I said every family has a sauna). We went for about 45 minutes, after which I put on some warm clothes and walked back to the main house to watch the FIFA game and eat dinner (Oskari and I slept in the room next to the sauna which was separate from the house). I was still baffled that I could easily walk back to the house without a flashlight at 11:00 p.m. 

What time is it? Midnight.

We had a nice dinner and then Oskari and I went back to our room where we talked a little before crashing into bed after our long day. 

The room I shared with Oskari at Eero's parents' summer cottage

I woke up the next day feeling a little sad. In a few hours I would be leaving my temporary host family and meet my permanent host family that I would be staying with for the rest of my time in Finland. I really liked my temporary host family but I felt that I had only just begun to get to know them and would have liked to spend more time with them. I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and headed for the house so that I could brush my teeth. I was just casually walking along the path when suddenly there was a loud hiss and a green snake quickly slithered across the path only about a foot away from me! Thankfully, the snake was a solid green color and it didn't have a zigzag pattern on its back so it wasn't poisonous. However, I had never been so close to a snake in the wild before and I literally ran to the house constantly whispering "oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh" under my breath. I told my host parents about the snake and they seemed equally surprised as I was. I brushed my teeth but decided to wait until Eero decided to go to my room to wake up Oskari before I started down the path again. 

The "house" part of the summer cottage

I packed my bag for the last time for 5 weeks, said my heihei's to Eero's sweet parents and we started off towards the center of the island where I would meet my real host family.