February 2010 Archives

I seem to always luck out with landlords.  The landlords of my apartment here in Helsinki may rank as the sweetest ever.  (You may remember them, you met them before.)  Eero is really kind-hearted and checks in on me over email from time to time to make sure my apartment is warm enough, that I don't have the swine flu, to see how my Finnish lessons are going, etc.

He stopped by my apartment briefly last night to let in a maintenance worker.  I had told him I wouldn't be home to let the worker in, but I got confused with the dates so we were both very surprised to see each other.  Afterwards, he followed up by email....

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from    Eero
to    Halee
date    Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 7:55 PM
subject    today
   
Hello Halee agein!
 
Fortunatelly the replacement of the meter was not a major operation  ; no pulling down of any cupboard as anticipated.  I was so pleased  to  see you, hope you can limit your working hours somehow !  Winter can be a little depressing, but pretty soon the sun willl be shineing brightly and reflect intensively back from the snow.  Then folks get the natural dose of vitamin D !!
 
Eero

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from    Halee
to    Eero
date    Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 9:55 PM
subject    Re: today

Hi!  I am so sorry that you came all the way over to let the worker in when I was actually home.  I got confused with the dates, I hope it did not waste too much of your time.  The worker left a few minutes after you, he was very fast.

It was nice to see you, too!  I was happy because today (tänään?) there was sunshine (aurinko?), I can feel spring (kevät?) coming soon.  The winter (talvi?) has been beautiful (kaunis?), but I am tired (väsynyt?) of it and ready for a change!  Hopefully March (maaliskuu?) will be warmer (lämmin?).

ready for vitamin D,

halee

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from    Eero
to    Halee
date    Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 4:07 PM
subject    Re: today

Hi Halee,
 
Don t worry of my lost time. Would I be any wiser  watching instead Dr. Phil on TV yesterday, hardly.!  
 
Your two lines resemble poetry. Here comes translated version in finnish.
 
Oli hauska nähdä myös!  Olen onnellinen, koska tänään ( today ? ) aurinko ( sun ? ) paistaa, Voin tuntea kevään ( spring? ) tulevan pian.

Talvi ( winter ? ) on ollut kaunis, mutta olen väsynyt ( tired ) siihen ja valmis muutokseen!  Toivottavasti maaliskuu ( march ) on lämpimämpi ( warmer ? )
 
Eero

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A few weeks ago, I went to Sweden to visit friends and completely neglected to write about it.  I look the Viking Line cruise over to Stockholm (which was amazing to crush through the frozen sea and navigate all the thousands of little archipelagos), and took the train to Gothenburg.  It was sort of a low-key weekend, and we mostly just hang out at their apartment.  This was my third time to visit Gothenburg, so I didn't really need to see all the sights again, and I was happy to just have a quiet/giggly weekend with old friends.

Jeanette kept asking if there was anything special I wanted to do.  And really my only objective was to see them, but I did think up one little request.  You see, I am a huge fan of Björn Borg, the 70s tennis god.  Björn Borg is Swedish.  And Björn Borg is also a brand...they make shoes and bags and athletic gear and panties with his name all over them.  And although they have Björn Borg stores here in Helsinki, it meant far more to me to buy some Björn Borg goods in the man's home country.  So that was my only request: to visit a Björn Borg store to buy a new bag, or possibly....a headband!



So on my last day in town, we headed to a shopping area and went to an official Björn Borg store.  Here are the events as they occurred:

1. I immediately noticed there were no bags at this particular store, and tried to hide my disappointment.
   
   
2. I went to plan B to look for a headband, but there were none.  Disappointment was steadily rising.
   
   
3. Feeling pressed for time and like I was being annoying, I just decided to buy a pair of Björn Borg panties and call it good.  I found a pair of red boyshorts, and went to the cashier.
   
   
4. As the girl was ringing me up, Jeanette noticed a clearance table with a bunch of polo shirts...with bonus headbands attached to them!!  She asked the cashier for me if I could just buy the headband and not the polo, and the girl said no.  They were a package deal only.
   
   
5. Right after the cashier girl denied my request to purchase the headband separately, she grabbed some scissors, went over to the table and cut the headband off the shirt, and gave it to me with a little wink....for FREE!  Disappointment reversal!
   
   
6. After profusely thanking her, on the way out of the store we had to pass through the men's section, which I had completely ignored.  Near the front was a table of tshirts made to look like retro iron-on tshirts that said "I LOVE BJORN BORG."  I flipped out, grabbed one, and went back to the cashier.
   
   
7. Converted total disappointment into total elation!

For your review...