i'm back in class again. it's another class of 16 people (me, a german, a swede, a salvadorena and 13 russians) and we have 4 hours of class a day 5 days a week. i have the same teacher as last time (she's really good, tough but well liked) but at the moment we're stuck in review (i want to move on!). in addition to that, i have spanish class on wednesdays, a spanish-speaking group once a month, ultimate frisbee on mondays, snow football occasionally, the gym whenever i manage to get motivated (not too often lately) and i've just recently signed up for a football (soccer) group (a bunch of us foreigners getting together to play on tuesdays).

oh, one kinda big event is that i've applied for grad school at the university of jyväskylä. i'm trying to get into a intercultural communications program. it looks really interesting and it would probably help me get a job in an international huminatarian aid organization (my goal at this point). i spent a couple of months researching and writing a master's thesis proposal that was required as part of the application. yeah, a thesis proposal BEFORE i study anything. i had to read up on a lot of bachground material, theory and methodology since i have NO academic experience in communications. i wrote my thesis on the importance and influence of social status hierarchies in the communication of kyrgyzstani villagers in their communication with people perceived as outsiders. wordy, but i think it's a good paper. the uni will tell me before march 19th if they want to interview me. from a group of 30-40 interviewees they will select 15 people to be in the program next year. so, it is fairly competitive. i do, however, feel relatively confident about my chances of getting in (let's hope i'm not far off the mark here). i feels nice to have written the proposal and sent out my application, but the waiting weighs down on me

we've managed to continue being social and hosting as many get togethers as possible. having a big place right in the town center has made our place the default spot to be. i don't mind that, but it's kind of a hassle cleaning up every now and then. overall, we like hosting and people generally have a good time here. here's adam and i and a few other friends just hanging out. we don't have any large events planned in the near future, but i'm sure we'll manage to think of something

snow football! some of my friends wanted to play snow football and we were lucky enough to round up 8-10 people for the last couple of weekends. the good thing is that we've had a good mix of people so far - americans, amerifinns, finns, boys and girls. here are a couple of shots. one action shot and another of me looking dejected after my request to allow one blitz per five downs was rejected (i like rushing). matti wasn't able to play at the second game because he fell off his bike and managed to strain a shoulder ligament. he's out of commission for three weeks or so... anyway, tackling in the snow isn't that rough so we've kept our injuries down to one (besides the usual small bruises and such). i almost broke my nose last weekend by running headfirst into my teammate's head (we were both tackling the same guy). i managed to bleed from my nose for almost two hours straight but there's no lasting damage (though due to my obsessive worry at why it's still sore i've managed to convince myself that the cartilage is 'loose'). enough of the drama, football is fun and it's another sporting event that keeps me on the track of being somewhat active

it's been quite a while, yeah i've been lazy in addition to being busy. so. first things first, mom and dad came over here for christmas (it was really wonderful to see them) and then matti and i were sleddog dog handlers and occasional drivers. we worked for the company that petteri, one of matti's friends from the army, runs with his dad. petteri's dad was in charge and we helped out. working tassu taival was a lot of fun. we woke up early in the morning, fed the dogs and then got ready to go to where busloads of russian tourists were literally shipped in to us. then we gave rides (about 400m rides) and they paid 20eur each... talk about spending money liberally. the job included room and board and we got along really well with petteri, pekka (the dad) and yevgeny (the russian helped guy). we tried to have runs at two separate sites but the weather was poor overall so after a while we concentrated on one spot where we could take snow from the piles in the parking lot and shovel where we wanted to go... talk about a sad winter in finland