Deliverance

« Otava looks at me with boredom as I try to take a photo of him. »

Otava will turn 1 year old this coming Friday Sunday. It seems impossible that time has passed so quickly. The giant breeds remain puppies until they are 18 months so, though he is already about 70kg/155lb, he may grow a little bit more before he is finished. I'm thinking of making him a meat cake and having a little party to celebrate his solar year of life. He was born the day after HB died and I fancifully imagined early on that he might be HB reincarnated but, no, Otava is very different in spite of sharing many common breed traits and quirks that I've come to be unable to live without.

We went to dinner on Friday with a friend and a colleague of his visiting from the US and, as the evening wore on, my sense that I will experience extreme reverse culture shock when I go back home for a visit became rather acute. The guy was nice and all, but the only things going through my mind were; when does he breathe, can the people outside on the sidewalk hear him and how am I going to survive a few weeks of this? The first year or so I was here, before I started getting to know people, I'm sure that the few friends who suffered an evening with me having a chance to talk after spending most of my days alone thought of me in much the same manner. It's likely, too, that there are Finns who have defected to the land of freedom fries only to return for a visit and have a similar effect on their family and friends. I just have this feeling of dread that it's going to be absurdly overwhelming to reenter the US for any length of time.

Do Finnish vendors know how to party or what? A few of us from work are being taken up north for a few days for some wining and dining while the vendor shows us some of their new wares. I thought that this sounded pretty cool, in spite of my being the only female in the group of guys, but then there came the mention of cabins and canoes and ATVs. Uh, what? Cabins?! I was thinking a nice hotel and maybe some theatre or movies were going to be on offer but, no....it's all sauna and mökki. I swear, if I hear banjoes or hog calls, I'll run towards the nearest airport. Nothing like a bit of Finnish Deliverance to sell hardware.