hmm, here's a novelty. a purely written post. the weather in finland has been decidedly horrible the past month or two. winter was off to a promising start with the first snow on october 21st followed by a few weeks of good snow coverage. then, in mid-november, something changed and everything melted and we were cursed with about 5 weeks of cold, grey raining weather that never went below freezing. the sky is always overcast, a good day is when the sky has a muddled blue/grey overcast sheen instead of pure off-white/depressing grey. oh, the sun rises around 9:00 and sets at about 2pm. very uplifting

i like winter and i like snow, but i absolutely hate RAIN in DECEMBER. it just feels perverse. but, a couple nights ago we had some snow and today is one of the first days it's been below zero (celsius) in a while. so, if we're lucky the snow will stay around here and we'll have a white christmas. for christmas matti, kaitlin and i are taking the train down to vantaa (suburb of helsinki) where minna and big matti (aunt and uncle) live. mom and dad will arrive in vantaa around midnight on christmas eve and then we'll get to have christmas together. matti and i, unfortunately, will only get to see mom and dad for a couple of days because on the 27th we take the train to kuopio where we will have a JOB (gasp!). i know, you think it's not possible, but we will actually work for two weeks even though we are free loading half-breed foreigners. we'll be working at a husky farm taking care of sled dogs that russian tourists fork over money to see... i just hope there's no baby-talking to dogs involved (i can't stand that). but yeah, matti got us this job through his army doggie connections so we can make some money during the finnish winter.
so, i hope all's well with you as this christmas season continues

note: if all you atheists, agnostics, muslims, jews, buddhists, animists, and other non-christmas celebrating people are offended by my numerous references to christmas i guess you're going to have live with it. i claim no responsibility for any emotional suffering, depression or overall feelings of marginalization or oppression that may be triggered by the word 'christmas.' i'm just happy that i don't live in the states where i might have to face penalties for my WASPy bias