Alright, I said I would finish what is left to be finished, so here it is, my Lapland trip, the highlight of my November, which included only hours of November, but I cannot say highlight of December, because there is still a lot left of that to go.
So Rogério couldn't go on this tour, so it was just the five of us, Arik, Gustavo, Katie Luisa and I from Estonia. We left on a ferry at 3 on Thursday (Nov 30) and the ferry ride over was thrilling in itself. It was really windy, so big waves and the boat was wobbling around, which was fun for Katie and I, but everyone was not so happy about it. we got over to Finland and two Rotarian people were waiting for us to take us to pizza. dinner was good, we hung out at their host for a while and then the husband, Birger (i think) and the five of us got into a cab, a big van really, and went to where we were being picked up, which was the Helsinki Olympic stadium, beautiful place in the middle of the night, i wish i could have seen more of it. For the next 14 hours we were on the bus, catching up with the people in our district, who i hadn´t seen in 6 weeks, and as we went farther north, people who I hadn't seen since august.
We finally got up to Lapland, tired and cramped from the bus ride, but pretty excited, got some food, and then we were of to our choice of skiing, downhill or cross country, snowboarding or sledding. I had borrowed these little tiny trick skis from my last host family, which they told me were easier than the longer ones, but they lie!! the boots were a little too small, so my legs hurt most of the day, and although they were easy to turn with and i didn't trip on them, they went soo fast and had so little surface area, the whole first day i fell down every time i needed to stop. Needless to say, i was wet. it was frustrating for many of the people who had never skied (spelling, i don't know) and most people went home a little bummed out, but that night was a lot of fun, we hung out with friends, and went for a campfire thing, and we had a good time. This was also the first time we had met a lot of the ´oldies´, as they had come in January, and weren't at Karrku with us in August. They are a great group, mostly Australians with a girl from New Zealand and 4 people from South Africa.
Saturday was also skiing, but this time it went WAYY WAYY better. the two y´s were needed as it was that much better. Got the hang of stopping, and managed to be able to play a little more with the skis, and because of the length, i was always the first down the hill. I even skied down backwards at one point, because it was fun, and easy, and i wanted to say i did it. Point of Clarification at this time, this was more of a COP hill than a mountain, but it isn't really their fault they have no mountains. End of the day came, and we went home, sauna´d, and rolled in the snow, which was great, but sorta hurt at the same time. we had dinner, and went into town to hear a concert prepared for us by some Finnish kids, which was fun, but also got a little tedious when we just wanted to hang out and chat.
Sunday we went to a reindeer farm, got to feed some reindeer, and then we heard about the wildlife in Lapland, which was interesting, but due to lack of sleep, i may or may not have fallen asleep during the taped slide show, but in my defence, the mans voice was very soothing.
that afternoon was probably the most Finnish one we had. first we got out fitted with snow shoes, and wandered through the woods, which turned into an extended, moving snow fight, where no one was safe. the Brazilians especially could not get enough of the snow. we got to a place where we traded our snowshoes with another group, and got to go in reindeer pulled sleighs. it was like something from a fairytale, although a little bumpier and the reindeer have to work on their consistency. After the reindeer, we walked to where they keep the huskies for pulling the sleds, and we got to hold the puppies, which was really cool. we then got into little carts behind snowmobiles and got taken to where we rode the sled dogs. well, at least behind them.
that night we had more talent type things, but then we just sorta took over our wing of the hotel and talked, and hung out and at one point the Brazilians were trying to teach us how to dance, but i am afraid that those people derived from former British colonies are incapable of moving their hips in a dance like manner.
The next day we left Lapland and headed south, first stop, the arctic circle and Santa Claus´village. It was really neat to think i had spent 72 hours above the arctic circle. We didn't have the patience or the time to wait for Santa, so instead we recruited a bunch of little Finnish kids dress as elves, and took pictures with them, which was pretty fun.
that was the last important event on our trip, and we set ourselves for another 14 hours on the bus, which wasn't long enough, because the next time we would see each other was in April, and we would maybe never see our oldies again, as they all leave at the beginning of January.
That is my Lapland trip, typed out for the convenience of those at home, but also so my dwindling memory can have some sort of written recollection in the future.
Hope everything is going well where ever you are, and MERRY CHRISTMAS, and all those other holiday´s, but I am not going to be politically correct. Hope Santa is nice to you all.

FACT OF THE DAY:
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeers grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeers retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.
Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.
We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat-ass man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

not my words, but I thought it was interesting.