Song of the day: “Foolish Games” by Jewel. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve
been having it in my head off and on while working at the sauna. I’d completely
forgotten about it, actually.
So, the weeks in flashes, then. It’s been rather busy, and I’m ashamed
to say that I missed a day in my diary, so some of the dates have become messed
up, with me being unable to figure out where I went wrong. Grrr.
First off, finally…FINALLY all the registration stuff has been dealt
with, and I am a citizen once more without any errors this time (I hope, knock
on wood and all that) . Took forever, didn’t it? Well, apparently it is harder
than it seems. I mean seriously, how hard is it to sign someone in at townhal.
Grrrrr. But anyway, none of that matters.
Work is now official, yay! Both big brother and I were hired at a local
sauna as the early morning cleaning crew of a local sauna. Not a bad job, all
things considered. In fact, we were pretty lucky in regard of being in the
right place at the right time. I get a lot of people asking me whether I like
the job, which I find odd, considering it is cleaning after all, but all in all
it is vastly doable. At the moment we’re a little overworked, considering we
were hired for four hours per morning. Instead we’re working 6 to 8 hours
because the sauna is relocating at the end of the month, meaning that our time
is split up between the two locations…the new one being incredibly grimy
because it is incredibly new. Added to that, the work is a sweaty one. Nothing makes
you sweat like a sauna. Hah. Nothing like a sauna showing you how dirty people
can be, thank you very much. You get to think about where you drop stuff, in
particular when you are in places where you know a cleaning crew cleans up
after you. I am never going to drop another wrapper on the floor, I tell ya.
I’ve scrubbed toilets (eeewwwww, the stuff I’ve found. I can write
horror stories!) vacuumed football fields of salons and lounges, mopped those
same floors, washed windows, wiped horizontal surfaces, and cleaned out three
hundred lockers (almost half of those that still need doing) and basically
realized that for as far as I’m concerned I will never use a rag or vacuum
cleaner again. Hah. Can’t, of course. It’s a good job, that pays well, so we’ll
schlog our way through it. Big brother is lucky. He gets way more variety,
because our manager is overworked and loves having a dude around who can help
him out. Ha.
Still, we have a nice team working together. Land lady’s daughter works
there, too, and a variety of fascinating people, ergo characters.
It is not easy work (in part because it is boring, to the point of mind
numbing) but I keep reminding myself that it is not at all like the last job,
and the atmosphere a lot less stressful. In fact, the mind numbing bit is
rather good, I think, because it also means that I have less responsibility,
which is good in my present state of mind. The moment something reeks of
responsibility, I start to panic. Or when I hear disturbing news…
Like the other day I got a
semi-upset/angry message from Spain, about the dogs having dug up the bones of
what we think was Jelly. Turns out the body wasn’t buried deep enough (poor big
brother, what with him catching everything while I was incapacitated that last
month, he did dig as deeply as usual, didn’t in fact think of it all that much
until we heard of the latest problem), so the dogs had a field day, scattering
bones all over the place. Distasteful, I know. Was a tad nauseous, and seriously
upset myself for several days, so I can
only imagine what it was over there, but I had to not be in contact after that.
Especially not since there were several more events that day that, all
combined, had me seriously hyperventilate for five minutes, and my heart running
up so high that I felt it in my ears, or something. Not good. Had land lady all
worried, not to mention big brother, who agreed to field any messages for me
from then on, just so it wouldn’t happen again. At least for now.
Am also still working at the thrift store. Very nice that, am getting
along with my colleague well there, and thought pay is very, very minimal, I am
able to get clothes for free, a bed couch and other things that I might need. I
also like it. I still get to play with displays. Hah.
Had some serious trouble with my knees. Had to take it really easy for a
while. I guess my legs were no longer used to all that biking, so the biking we
did was a bit too much. The fact that I almost fell while walking land lady’s dogs, didn’t help
either. Had to catch myself on my right leg, because the left still wasn’t
working properly yet, and popped my hip, and in effect dislocated something in
my knee which made walking difficult for more than a week. Didn’t feel better
until many days later when I was turning my bike around somewhere, that
something snapped inside there (rather noisily) and the pain slowly started
disappearing.
Have been doing our research in regard to where to get the cheapest
food. I hate spending too much, and so far, that stuff we have found, makes it
that at least we’re not spending more on food than we did in Spain.
Spend a nice Sunday on a river boat this past month. Our land lady’s ex
lives on a boat and needed help putting new air tanks under the floating deck
behind his boat. Big brother was still staying with grandpa the first bit of
the day. So the others and I already started. First we had to find out a way to
get the partly sunk deck up high enough to so we’d be able to take out some of
the old tanks, or at least drain them with a small submersion pump. So, using
any flotation device we could get our hands on, we actually managed to get the
float up high enough by the time big brother arrived. In the end we managed to
add two more tanks under the float, having wrecked a rubber boat, and Land lady
nicely cold from going in the water twice to assist (she insisted, hah) with
the placing. It was all very difficult, but we had fun doing it, mainly because
stuff kept going wrong while we were busy. Hah. Seriously, I hadn’t laughed
like that in months. Here Ruud (the tenant) and I were balancing precariously
on a ladder stretched on floating metal bars, trying to submerge a tank into
the water that didn’t want to go down no matter what we did…well, we did manage
in the end, but I was sore for days after. Afterwards there was a barbeque,
which was very casual and nice.
Went to visit grandpa, cousin Ed and Tenant several times, big brother
more so than I, in fact (partly due to my knees), or grandpa’s state of mind,
as much for his state of mind as to make sure that he didn’t spend too much
time alone on the days that cousin Ed needs to work. He’s having a hard time of
it, and we are worried. He is so tired so often, and his fingers and toes, and
lips turn so very blue that it is scary to see. On the 18th they are
going to go through the procedure with him, and after that he’ll have to wait a
little longer to hear about when his operation will be. It is getting closer
now.
Oh you don’t know yet, but I’ve been to Finland last week. Yes I was. I
can hear you think, what on earth was she doing in Finland, well, that’s a
really long story, which I will try to put together for you in a short
explanation. First off, remember how Pim, grandpa’s dog traveled to this really
nice family in Finland? Well, turns out they took him to the vet for skin and
ear problems, after which the doctor tested his blood for some unfathomable
reason. Apparently he has ESBL, a bacteria of sorts, and the vet was refusing
to treat him due to the fear of creating some super bug. Instead he wanted to
put the dog down, which is downright ridiculous. We’ve been doing some reading,
and there are so many people and animals who have it already that this was just
insane. Luckily the people who had adopted him, didn’t want to see him dead and
were happy to hear that I offered to fly over to come pick him up.
After talking with tenant, cousin Ed and grandpa, we all agreed that he
is going to try to take him after all, meaning that I was indeed going to fetch
him. So within a week of hearing the dreadful news, I was on a plane, and arriving
in Helsinki. Luckily E, a friend I still know from Spain, who lives in Finland,
had offered to let me stay at her place during my two day stay, where I was
kindly offered the use of her couch.
Helsinki, and Finland in general is definitely a strange place for me.
Very foreign, the atmosphere not at all like I am familiar with, but it was
absolutely beautiful. The nature was absolutely unbelievable. So much green.
Gorgeous. I arrived late, so I only saw Helsinki by night. It was Friday, so it
was bustling with activity. And the next day we went to the meeting place where
the woman was going to bring Pim. Was a very emotional moment. At first, upon
seeing me, he was merely friendly in greeting before going right back to the lady.
He was so different. Then, at a certain point we were face to face, at which
point he licked my face, and suddenly he recognized me and started hopping
around, all excited, the way he used to be. Didn’t get to talk with the woman a
lot. She was (and according to her, her family too) heart broken. They had been
so fond of him, and in the week that had passed since I booked my ticket, she
had (belatedly) looked up the bacteria and realized that the vet had definitely
made it sound worse than it was. So I think she regretted it a little, but didn’t
feel she could turn it back. I would have agreed to let him stay if she had
told me they had changed their minds, but I guess she didn’t think that it was
possible. So instead E and I took him with us in the car, and went out to
explore the forests of Finland near the coast, in what used to be Russia.
Had a wonderful walk that afternoon, had lunch at a local pizza place to
repay her for hosting me those two days. Again, the atmosphere was very
different from all the countries I’d ever been. Odd how that works, eh?
Another nice bit is that recently I went into a lunchroom/catering
company to see if they had any vacancies, and got to talking with the owner,
who wasn’t looking for anyone, but invited me to send my CV anyway. I sent it
right away of course. But didn’t hear back from him until many weeks later. In
the letter he repeated that he wasn’t hiring, but that he is looking to expand
in the catering area, and if I can create a spot for myself there, he would be
interested in such an initiative. Hah. We shall have to see if I can put
something together. It is a challenge, isn’t it?
And now, at the moment big brother are staying at the new place on our
own. Land Lady is on a short vacation, so we’re house sitting and dog sitting.
There is quite a bit to do, in particular since we’re also working…not today,
today I’m free, free, freeeeeee!...sorry that just popped out, hah…but that is,
thankfully, over at the end of the month after the grand opening. Did take the
opportunity of today’s freedom to actually do some cleaning around the house
and in our attic (got two nice red rugs for ten bucks, by the way) which are
looking remarkably nice with land lady’s zebra rug…I know, I didn’t believe it
myself until I saw it either. Hah
Also took the opportunity today to bake some lentil veggie bread, which
was a big success, taste wise. Gawd, I needed some serious veggie bread.
Well, that’s it for today. I need to get in bed on time. Tomorrow we’ll
go visit grandpa, which has been more than a week, and stuff get to him, so a
little company is good. Won’t be able to stay long, in particular not because
we can’t leave the dogs here for too long, but luckily we can use land lady’s
car as long as we fuel up afterward. Gotta go.
