September 29, 2007

SIRPA IN WONDERLAND . . . MORE ON TIME . . . and  . . . LIVING ALONE . . .

I get up early. I just seem to wake up at 6:30, and I usually leave by 9:30, on my bike. I’ve been planning to go to see a new movie or do something at night, but it’s so tempting to return to my pretty and comfortable apartment; thus, so far my nightlife has been nil.
Also, there are so many new things to do at home. On Thursday, I decided to do laundry. The machine is in the kitchen, next to the dishwasher. It’s very shiny, high tech and efficient looking – German. I read the booklet extremely carefully, started the wash around 11 PM and managed to do it. It takes around two hours. The machine heats the water, and it washes and washes. I was sure I had broken the whole thing, but not so. Everything came out clean – all the spots I had tried so hard to get rid off in California were gone. When the machine kept going and going, I was a little worried about the noise. This is after all an apartment building. But nobody came to complain. I think the buildings are very well soundproof. So far, I have not heard anything – and seen only one single occupant – and it is a big building! After the washer finally stopped, I hung my laundry in the balcony. I felt very Finnish!

Wednesday was another first for me. I had my sauna from 9 PM to 10 PM. I had it scheduled so that I wouldn’t miss a new TV-show, A Fiancé for a Single Mother. Yes I know – it sounds bad – but it’s all a part of my cultural study. Well, anyway, I had a sauna alone. And it was a great sauna: moist and hot, with a nice washroom and dressing room. But I did think: who would know if something happened to me. Nobody! I guess people do live alone, but I never have. My friend, Tuija laughed at me, called me Sirpa in Wonderland - and promised to check every Wednesday, after 10 PM, if I was OK. After the sauna, I had a Finnish beer while I cooled off in the balcony!  Oh, yes,  I do have to pay for the sauna – 5, 50 a month!