Untitled 1

The spring, this being a particularly nice one, has brought me energy. Things that seemed impossible or hopeless only a few weeks ago have begun to seem, well, possible and hopeful.

It's amazing how that works.

I'll be taking a month-long intensive Finnish course in June. After that, I'll be free to spend July outside, perhaps at the mökki. I'll spend August in the US, and I'll begin teaching again in September.

For the moment, I've been teaching medical English to a group of nurses. I write dialogues for them, which, I have to admit, aren't half bad. However, teaching this stuff is not easy when you have an easily-tickled scatological sense of humor. It takes every ounce of will that I possess not to giggle when I teach them verbs like "to poop" or "to defecate". Send me back to peruskoulu.

I've been running between five and six times a week because I want to. I've lost some skinny fat and gotten a bit more svelte. Because the sunsets over Saimaa are so irresistibly beautiful, I've been taking long nighttime walks by the water.

Perhaps best of all, I've begun to imagine my future here. Finland is where I ended up, and it's where I intend to stay.

Has the coming summer seduced me? Yes, in part. But I think that's okay.

I've been quite lazy about studying Finnish, but I continue to progress anyway. I've noticed that my listening comprehension in particular has improved by leaps and bounds in the last six months or so. Perhaps working hard is the wrong tactic right now. Perhaps passive input is the way to go.

I've also decided to take the needle and get my first tattoo. It'll be a piece of text that reminds me of the sun - because sometimes all you've got are words to remind you.