learning finnish

i just had to give a quick rave about the beaus and belles show that i attended on thursday night, since it really was one of the highlights of the trip so far. while the show itself was fantastic, there were a number of factors surrounding the event that made it so spectacular, which are as follows:

1) i attended the show alone, by choice, not realizing until afterwards that it's one of the very few times that bryan and i have been separated in the two months that we've spent in new zealand. when i returned from the show, i told him "i love you, but you don't know how nice it was to have some alone time," to which he quickly and emphatically responded "oh, i know". sounds like i'm not the only one feeling that way.

2) the film was screened at the suter theater & gallery, conveniently located next to the queen's gardens as if beckoning me to arrive early with a book and snag a pondside bench. hardly any pages were actually read, though, as the four squawking ducks working out some sort of family drama provided an entertaining distraction.

3) the 150 or so others in attendance were primarily sporting a head of white hair - no backpackers to be seen! when old pictures of nelson flashed onto the screen, the theater rippled with murmurs of recognition - "those must be the cathedral steps"; "remember when oysters were sold in bags like those?"; "look at the water levels back then". it was beautiful.

highlights of the 70-minute film were the self-conscious girls posing uncomfortably for a beauty competition, a skiier attired in what can only have been a predecessor of ronald mcdonald's classic outfit, and the surprisingly moving closing footage of the sinking of the tahiti ferry. a local pianist provided live accompaniment that perfectly fit the mood of the film. i walked home the long way, a happy little smile planted firmly on my face.

yesterday we found some leftover baking supplies in the free box and made 5 batches of chocolate chip cookies, which were partially shared with others but mostly devoured by the two of us and our new friend salla, an 18-year-old from helsinki who is teaching me a bit of finnish. i can now confidently say "moi!" (hi) and "mita kuuluu?" (how are you?) but won't be able to carry the conversation any further should the other person respond to my friendly greetings. we popped in at the farmers market this morning before work so that salla could pick up some supplies for her fruit crumble, an unfamiliar dish that she's adventurously planning to attempt this evening. from what i'm picking up, traditional finnish food includes the famously bland meatballs and mashed potatoes, which led to some enjoyment at the farmers market when she vigorously fanned her mouth and warned me "spicy!" about a very tame mustard sample. :)

bryan's out picking up dinner for us at the moment - naanwiches (salad and chicken tikki on naan bread), from the indian restaurant mango, which we actually had for lunch yesterday as well. tipping at restaurants is not customary in nz, so eating out can be surprisingly affordable, especially at lunchtime. ooh-he's walking in the door now and i'm hungry, so that's it for now. wish i knew the finnish word for "goodbye"!

-rachel