lucky number 13

Today felt like a rollercoaster literally. A four hour boat ride in the open Baltic Sea, it’s a good thing there was lots of wind and cold air or lunch would have been provided by me. We went to Nina’s cousin’s house for his son’s eighth birthday. It took approximately two hours each way and over 10 people on a boat. The waves were enormous, something I have never experienced before and it was a lot of fun going up and down and bouncing uncontrollably. When we arrived we all said our hellos and did our European kisses and chatted for about an hour and ate lots of goodies. I got talking to the three oldest cousins who speak English really well. We asked them how they learned English and they started in school and most of the English they learned was through TV and movies. In Finland all the TV shows are played in English with Finnish subtitles, and the girls only read English books. It was nice to have a chat with them; we talked about everything from Twilight to Harry Potter to cell phones all while playing with their pet rabbit. On the way home the roof on the boat was closed and I’m so glad that when we got past the huge waves because I was honestly starting to feel sea sick it was not fun. As soon as the roof was opened up, I was good as new. Other than that nothing major went on today, just spent time with the family and met new people. It was a lot cooler today, which was a nice break from the hot weather we have been having lately. Since coming here today and one of the first days when it was super cold, I have sweat my ass off the entire day so it was a nice relief. As I am typing this I feel like I am on the boat and rocking back and forth.