Once upon a time there was this girl...

After a while of posting about random stuff, let's get back to my favorite subject.

Writing. 

Remember how I told you there's an idea I've been working on for a couple of years now? Well, I'm so close to start working on it on paper instead of just in my head. Stoked! It still requires some polishing, but I think I'll get it started this year :) Now, don't be too harsh on me! It's already July, so I'm giving myself only five months. That's such a short time, when you really think about it. And with everything that's going on and everything that I still have ahead of me, I would probably be wise to give myself more time, but I'm too excited to wait anymore. 

All this planning has gotten me thinking about what would make it easier for me to start the writing process. Some say it's useful to draw from one's own experiences, but that's something I want to be careful about. It's only natural that some characteristics and story lines come from my own life, but I wouldn't want to have everything ready, you know? I've noticed that, when writing, sometimes the story writes itself. I love it when that happens. Even I don't know, what will happen in the end, and I'm the writer! 

Let's say I wanted to write about... me. A girl with a dream of becoming a writer, who loves to travel the world and be herself, no matter what others think. That's kinda.... boring. Beentheredonethat -stuff. There's nothing new to it. I would have to color it up a bit. I have this heart-condition that's really not a big deal, but on paper I could make it a big deal. The girl could have some serious problems in her life despite her health. At this point, it's not me anymore, that I'm writing about. It's just someone who's loosely based on me. As I add more to her, she becomes a totally different person, and that's my point here. Autobiographies are one thing, but when it's fiction we're talking about, I think the best way it works is to just keep it that way. Fictive. Real life is where the stories come from, but everything doesn't have to go by the book ;) Am I explaining my view in an enough complicated way?

Let me know what you think! 

xo

Y is for YOU

...if you've stuck with me through good and bad, awesome and lame, happy and sad. 

<3

The day when the thunder storm didn't come

My day off was supposed to be rainy and stormy. 

Everyone's kinda pissed, because the promised thunder storm never came. It might storm later at night, but still. Finns are crazy, we look forward to a good storm. 

Well, it was promising for a while, hot and humid. +28°C/82°F. 

We decided to go to the harbor. 

I love the old fashioned lemonade bottles!

The harbor is my favorite place in my hometown. It's very beautiful. I don't live in the coast, but Finland's filled with lakes. 

Tomorrow I have to go to work for a little while, and then I have two more days off. Life's tough :)

Btw, I ended up on Twitter! Ask for my username if you're interested :)

I can't think of a title!

I can't believe it's July already. I'm living in May. Fall seems so far away, and yet it's right around the corner. Summer's almost over (this up north it starts to get cooler in a month). But I'm happy cos I have something to really look forward as you know :)

My summer job ends in a month, too. Then I have almost all of August to prepare for being away for the following three months. The amount of cleaning up that's waiting for me... I wish I had enough money to hire someone to do it all for me. I hate cleaning, in case it's not obvious. 

I have my first day off tomorrow since last tuesday or monday.. I'm so happy. I hope I get to gather up some friends and we could do something together. I'm under the impression it's gonna rain tomorrow, so maybe a movie? Yesterday I went to see The Amazing Spiderman, and it was uhmazing!!! Seriously, go see it. It's so much better than the previous Spiderman -movies. Can't wait for the sequel!

I'm gonna wrap this up now, but first I have to share this picture with you. 

The-best-chicken-salad-ever! This is what I had for lunch today and yesterday!  My job is aaaawesoome! 

Haha, that was so random. Have a great night y'all :)

Every cloud has a silver lining. Mine was FedExed to me.

I guess the heat has reached the arctic as well. Dammit. 70° and sunny is all I ask. Especially when I'm working. Like today. But no... It's way more than 70°.My uniform is all black, and the AC at work isn't the best. Sometimes it's nonexistent. Today, in the heat, I kept running between the kitchen and the outside terrace, where all our customers decided to eat. The terrace is big, if I didn't tell you that before.

Sooo.. I'm kinda dead right now. Two more days of work and then I'll have a day off. AH! <3

And today was made better when I received a package from my friend in Abu Dhabi. She sent me a new case for my phone! :)

Bling<3

Hope you all had a good day! 

X is for X-FILES

Oh my goodness, you have any idea how hard a letter an X is?! 

Thank you to my friend, who came up with the idea of doing a post of my own X-files. 

Here are things you might not know about me:

*I never drink milk abroad. I don't know why, but I have this insane fear that it'll taste weird and I'll end up vomiting all over the place. Hence, I can't even have cereal anywhere else but Finland. Crazy!

*Public restrooms gross me out. I rarely use them, unless I absolutely have to. The same goes with airplane lavatories; I can sit still during an 8-hour flight without having to go to the bathroom. I have no problem waiting to get to the airport. 

*I've never understood the fuss about The Beatles or Elvis (Sorry, Linda). They have some good songs, but so do a lot of other singers and bands. 

*I'm a plant-killer. Seriously, don't ever buy me a plant, unless it's plastic. I've killed two of those mini bambu's you get from IKEA. I have a third... I have no idea how it's still alive, when I never give it any water. Freak of nature. 

*I can't eat mashed potatoes unless they're home made. You buy it ready from a store, I won't eat it. Yuck. 

*I like to fish, but I can never touch the worms that I use as baits. Someone else has to put the worm on the hook for me. Someone else also has to get the fish off the hook once I've caught it. 

*I've never had a chili-cheese dog. And last summer was the first time I had cheese fries. But have you ever had salty licorice? 

This will probably only increase your doubts about me being a loony. 

 Don't worry, you're not alone. 

12 months shrinks down to 2

For an adventurous person like me, there's a vast range of opportunities to travel and see what's out there. I was looking for one when my senior year in high school started. And I found one.

I had never been to the States before, always wanted to go, so a year as an Au Pair seemed like a perfect thing for me. I liked being with kids and I wanted to explore America. Right on! 

It's relatively cheap to go to be an au pair. The application process may not be the easiest one, but it's ok. You have to get a background check, go see a doctor who'll see that you're fit to go, fill in the papers (lots of them -including making a photo album of yourself and your life (that was the fun part)), do some personality tests (I know...), get an international driver's license... I hope I didn't forget anything. Anyway, after all of that you wait for the organization (which ever you use) to find you a host family. In my case, it was family number 22 or 23 that first contacted me, and after graduating high school I set out to go on what was supposed to be the greatest year of my life. 

Things didn't really work out, though. 

After two months the family let me go. The policy is, that when things don't work out, the family is obligated to keep the au pair for two weeks, while the organization works on finding a new family. The current family can decide whether or not to let the au pair work during this time. If the au pair works, they are of course entitled to get paid for the entire week. Four years ago the pay was something like 150-160 dollars a week, I think by now it's more like 200/week. I didn't work anymore. I didn't see much of the kids anymore either, which was a shame, because I'd gotten attached to them, especially to the little 2-year-old. 

You're probably wondering what went wrong. 

It was a communication problem. There was no problem with the language, as my English is fluent, but  I wasn't always aware of everything I was supposed to be doing, what were my responsibilities. I was hoping for more instructions, and the family wasn't happy with me. I'm not blaming everything on them. I was insanely home sick and I know it affected on my working, so there was fault on both sides. Still, I wish the family had realized I wasn't a mind reader. After two weeks I went to stay with a friend for a couple of more days and then I flew back home. 

It's been four years, and I haven't had any contact with the family since. It wasn't a nice good bye. In fact, they didn't even say good bye. Oh well. I was mad at them for a while after coming back home, but now I'm just hoping they're doing well. I hope the kids are all right, and I wonder what they've grown up to be like. Sometimes I wish I would run into them, when I visit my friends in the States, so that I could just have five minutes to talk to them, and make sure there are no bad feelings anymore. I actually wish I would see the dad, since he was always fair to me. 

I have absolutely no regrets. I didn't get the greatest year of my life, and the two months wasn't the easiest period of my life, either. But I'm so, so, so very happy that I went there. I met such great people there, and I made friends for life. I was so blessed to have found friends who took me in and took care of me when I really needed someone to be there for me, when my own family was only on my computer screen. If I hadn't left, I probably wouldn't be going back in the fall. I wouldn't have all the great experiences from my vacations afterwards. 

I've heard all kinds of au pair -stories. Some bad, some great. Don't be afraid to go, just because it didn't work for me. I worked out for a lot of people, and you can really have the greatest year (or two, if you want to extend!!) of your life. If you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to ask. 

Any other au pairs out there who would like to share their stories? I'm more than willing to post your stories here! Just say the word :) 

Have a happy July everyone! <3