Finnished

 So yeah, I've been busy. But I can see on my statistics page that one or two of you check this page almost daily and finally decided I can't let my audience of one down much longer.

 A lot has happened since I last wrote. Packing the flat in Helsinki up, then a quick vacation in Barca, then a family visit in Mrs'. hometown, and then it was off to the Holy Land! Now I'm writing from our new rented flat in the City Put Together. After a long month of living in an empty apartment with 2.5 chairs and a couple of forks and plastic plates, our container finally found its way here and all our earthly belongings (give or take an item) are now unpacked and each in its place (thank you Rakas  ).

 Don't think I don't know what you're thinking - what's she talking about with this 'busy' bull? She's probably just sitting in front of the Internet 18 hours a day, as usual! Well, normally you'd be right, but now that I'm in a country where I speak the language, I actually found myself a job! And not a bad one, too. But I started in the middle of the high season and it's crazy busy right now, which means double shifts, aching feet, and reaching the weekend so exhausted I collapse on the sofa and try not to get up from it till Sunday morning (oh, also had to get re-used to the 1-day-weekend. Damn, those Europeans have it good). It does feel pretty good to be working again, even if it is hard. After two years of being a lazy student living off the Finnish welfare state, it's nice to feel like a contributing member of society (plus, I got my first paycheck today, which also helps ease the pain in my feet...).

 No, that's not the beginning of a joke (although I'm sure if I thought about it long enough I could come up with a good punch line, or maybe a reality TV show), it's actually what's been happening every morning this week in my new Finnish class.  I doubt the priest knows I'm gay, but since we had to introduce ourselves on the first day - everybody knows I'm Israeli, and since then the Palestinian has been avoiding me as much as possible (which is sort of a shame, he seemed nice before the first class and my outing as the evil Zionist, when me and him and another Swiss guy were wondering around the building together looking for the right room). I wonder if the priest would throw holy water or something at me if I happen to reveal my fondness for boobies.

 God, I'm so sick of language courses. Every time trying to come up with simple enough sentences that are grammatically correct, again the obligatory 'My name is Purple, I am from Israel', again the five sentence essay about my family, again discussing the seasons in autistic phrases (the sky is cloudy, in the winter it is cold, it is raining, in the summer we swim, etc. etc. ad nauseam..) Jeez, I'm so glad to be going to a country where I speak the language for a change (though, reading random blogs and talk-backs, I'm not even sure about that anymore).

 Fridays. So full of calm stillness. I'm sitting here, a little whiskey in my Coke*, breeze through the open windows, dog dozing off on the sofa beside me (when he's not chasing bees, that is). Old vinyls playing in the background - Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, and now Edith Piaf - framing my perfect evening.

 I'm sure my mind nostalgically idealizes them, but I remember these perfect Friday moments. Back from the army, allowing myself to fall asleep on the sofa in the living room, the sound of my mother cracking sunflower seeds and turning the pages of the weekend papers. From summers in Finland I remember distant lawn mowers and the smell of freshly cut grass and the lazy post sauna lethargy. From childhood and early teenage I remember faint music from neighbouring buildings. Classical music flowing through all the rooms of my grandparents' house.

 I know all these memories are not necessarily Fridays, but they all share that Friday feeling of worthy rest, of slow going indulgence.

(Press play before you start reading the next paragraph)

 Piaf reminds me of just such a perfect moment last year in Brussels. The weekend evening was so hot and inviting we just had to go out. We took the metro to an area we usually visited on Saturday mornings for the second hand market and the antique shops. We picked a small cafe and sat inside next to the huge open windows, as the tables outside were all taken. We were on our second drinks I think, when we noticed a woman had been singing outside. The whole of that little cafe, with its three inside tables and four outside, all went quiet to listen to this girl singing La vie en Rose. It was so romantic-movie-like, almost too perfect.

 Happy Friday, people!

*Yeah, I know it sounds farty, but what can I say - I forgot to buy beer. And anyway, it sort of fits my current mood..

 Well now. It's been a long break, but I guess the muse (what muse there ever was, at least) is back.

 Big changes lie ahead of the Purple family. Some of you may know already, if you don't then mail me. But the big move that's been brewing under the surface for the last couple of months has finally been officially approved.

 We've been talking about it just the two of us for what feels like such a long time, it's weird to start going over the reasoning from the beginning with everybody else. At least now that it's a done deal, and the stress of uncertainty is off our shoulders, we can finally start to get ready. So many things need to be done, and so little time to do it in.

 Decisions, decisions, decisions. Some easy like storage and housing and shipping. Some difficult, like leaving new friends. And old ones. Being a grown up can really stink. But I guess sometimes you really do have to do what you have to do.

 Gah.

And for something completely different -

 Heck if I know how it happened, but it looks like we'll be supporting Teapacks from up close this week. And when I up close, I mean we have tickets for the dress rehersal. And when I say Teapacks, I mean The Ark from Sweden and that crazy Ukraine song, both of which are much much better.

 I'll probably write more on this Eurovision Frenzy here in Helsinki later this week. But that's it for now from me.