finally settled in.

at least i feel like i am. i've created a nice little routine for myself (no, it isn't followed to the letter - my routines never are). i told john, the assistant pastor @ the church, that i'd like to practice three days/wk & he mentioned getting me a key so i could w/o his assistance every time - people just love giving me keys to things, it's so awesome! so, mon., wed., & fri. mornings/afternoons are reserved for that (i actually practiced for 4 hrs. on mon.; i haven't done that since college). tues. & thur. mornings/afternoons are specifically for folk music research either through the websites i know or at the music library. mon.- fri. evenings, i'll be training, which is coming along great. they've pretty much accepted me & outi, the pro female fighter, looks forward to having me in the mma classes (she's fighting march 17th along w/ some of the other fighters out of the gym in helsinki & i hope to be able to go). sat.'s, of course, will primarily be church related & sun.'s for chores & sleeping.

i tried to do my laundry this last sun., but eno only has a very small washing machine & no dryer. he assumed that i could use my key to access the complex's laundry room, but you actually need a specially assigned key for that. he doesn't really understand why i need a larger machine & a dryer (well, at least a dryer) since he hangs up his clothes around the apt. & they're dry by morning....not only will my laundry go from taking a couple of hours to a few days, but i don't want to leave my clothes hanging up all over his apt....by the way, i have yet to see wet clothes hanging up, so he hasn't done laundry since i've gotten here either. hopefully, he'll take the time to go to the manager's office by this sun. 'cause that's when i'll run out of clean clothes.

i plan on doing most of my other travels on weekends as well. this thur., i'm going out to turku (west finland) to see a friend's band & am going by train. while purchasing my ticket, i found out i can take a train to st. petersburg, so i'll take a weekend sometime in the later future & go there via train....i think i'll actually take a week in april to visit the other scandenavian countries (& maybe germany). not sure how to plan that trip yet.

also, the sim card in my rental phone stopped working, so i purchased a local sim. my new # is: 00 358 44 969 5287.