Blueberry Diaries - Finnish Au Pair in New York

Helsinki.

2010-04-21T08:05:00.000-04:00

Man, it's been a while :)

Nowadays I live in Helsinki and I love my living here. There is not so much school for me right now and I'm living with my best friend. It's been the most awesome two weeks here and we have had so much fun. I'm doing music now and I have such a good feeling what all this will become. This university enviroment is so interesting.. so many people, interesting people.. culture and so many possibilitys.

I found myself my own appartment room too but it's no good. I think I will live there only for next month.. we'll see.. Luckily I think I found myself a job for the whole summer and it's in my hometown Varkaus. I certainly need some money right now for my investments and to pay next years rents. But everything's going to be all right. I'm sure :)

I'm not going to stop writing this blog, I hope! I have many things to say.

I'm out.

2010-03-28T17:26:00.000-04:00

Today I moved out of the house. It wasn't so hard to leave.. I will miss you Jake. You were such a good boy.. The only hard part was to get all my stuff together. It's just.. impossible to get all on these three bags. I really have to figure out something.

Now I'm living at my friend Katharinas house for this day and tomorrow I have to move on again.. Finnish Lutheran Churchs is waiting for me :) I'm so waiting for my sister and aunt already to get here! Tonight the farewell dinner with friends.

I'm gonna be free.

2010-03-26T18:32:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is going to be the last day in this house and it feels so good! I have two nights in between before my sister and aunt come here so I got to find a place to sleep.. I have had some troubles with that but now it looks like everything's gonna be all right :) Christ is my savior.

Sunny day Cowboy.

2010-03-25T18:48:00.000-04:00

I'm coming home.

2010-03-24T14:00:00.001-04:00

Lots have happened after I last time wrote here. Now it's certainly time to make this known. I write this here because I don't want to explain it again and again a thousand times to people who ask.

To make it short: I'm flying home, Finland, for good on tuesday 6th of April and should be in Helsinki 7th of April around 17 o'clock. The plan is to stay in Varkaus for few days and then move myself to Helsinki.

So what's going on? About three weeks ago I got an e-mail from my LCC (support person for au pairs) about how we have to meet and talk about serious stuff. On that moment I started to seriously think if I want to leave this family. I thought "If this is going to be the same shit they give me back home and now I have to drive there to hear the same: I'll leave." Well it was even worse and here we are. I thought about it for two weeks and decided.

When I decided to leave my host-family I was well aware that changes not-to-be-send-home are very little. And I was totally ok with it. If that's going to be my destiny it shall. And that's what happened.

Why did I decide to leave my host-family? The host-parents were thinking how I did't do my job well. That I don't clean well, that I'm rude and not helpful, that I don't interact well with the children.. I just couldn't agree with any of that. I think I did my job well. I was a good au pair. But it just wasn't enough for them. And I decided I don't want to work for them anymore if they can't be satisfied on me. The other big reason for my decicion was that I didn't feel myself comfortable living in this house anymore. The kids of this family are great, the mother one of the sweetest persons I've ever met.. but we just couldn't get along with the host-father. I don't really want to start specify this here but I just didn't want to live in a same house with him anymore.

After this came official the office decided not to replace me but to pay my flight home. I'm not dissapointed on this. It's been hell of a 7 months here and I'm happy to return home :)

So what now? I will move to Helsinki, first to stay at my best friends appartment and start to find myself my own appartment, start to study hard and try to find a job aside studying. It's going to be good life :) I'm confident in this. I've missed student life so much :D I gues you always ache for what you don't have.

OK, I gues that's it. There was so much info to write that couldn't make this a good text. But it's important you guys know what's going on :)

To friends: Please give me some time (at least a day) to calm down before you rip me to everywhere :D Want to meet you all when the time is right!!!

PS. I still have a lots to write about (critics on Cultural Care etc.) so keep on tuned on Blueberry Diaries!

All off..

2010-03-16T11:50:00.003-04:00

We are so off. No electricity, no heating, no hot water. It's so cold and dark!! Showers at the gym, internet in the restaurant, food from the Dunkin Dounuts. This is hard. Have tons of things to write about but don't have internet time. I'll write all later! Take Care!

Brooklyn Bridge.

2010-03-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Have you seen this cat..?

2010-03-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

... because she's awesome!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

2010-03-08T17:57:00.003-05:00

My host-family left to Colorado for a few days so I had some free time explore the city of New York by myself. On friday I decided to head to the Metropolitan Museum of Art . I didn't really know what to expect..

In advance I already had figured out that this is one of the many museums of New York where the ticket prices are recommendations so you can actually get in by just telling you want to make a 1$ donation. That is really nice for some low-lifes like au pairs :D Anyway I decided to pay the recommended 10$ student ticket and it was really worth it.

After getting in and leaving my coat to the coat check I didn't know where to go so I ended up to go there where my nose pointed. And my nose pointed to the Egypt sections. Absolutely my favourite subject in history! Soon after wondering around I notice there was a tour going on by one really nice old lady explaining all kinds of storys about the stuff they had there and I kind of sneaked in. And that is really the best way to see this kind of museums. You get so much more when there is somebody telling you what you actually are seeing. Afterwards I noticed there was a meeting point and schedule for these free tours near to the main enterance. So if you are planning visiting this museum I encourange you to check the schedule first and join some of the interesting tours. Not like I did and started to walk around by myself :P

The Egypt tour ended and I ended up to wonder furnitures from the Victorian time.. how boring!! But then I noticed again something awesome.. Is that really a knight armor?! I don't know if it was my inner little boy or the nature of man that woke up in me but I was very, very excited! I had found a huge section of knight armors, swords, guns, samurai stuff.. I remember all these books where I have seen pictures of all this stuff and now I saw them real. I was really happy. Maybe the best part of the museum!

The pistol/sword. How awesome is that!?!

Aside the historical objects the museum contained a lots of paintings. And some really great ones. From the middle-age to the modern art. And by suprise the modern art selection was even better than in MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). Smaller but better. The modern photography was awesome and I stopped to amaze this one piece for a long time. Finally I read the text and suprise... it was from Finland! I was so proud :)

The final section I visited was very interesting: Musical Instruments. Especially the old guitars (my passion) were awesome! Once again.. what I had before just wondered from the books came real now under my eys.

All together I recommend the Metropolitan Museum of Art for everybody who are interested in history and/or art! :)

Boy or a Man?

2010-03-02T12:54:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I have grown up here to be more a man or have I after all taken a step back to be a boy.. Here is some pros and cons (+ is for man, - for boy):

+ I've been repairing a motorbike.
+ I have visited a hardware store at least 4 times during last month.
+ I go to the gym almost every day.
+ I take care of 1-4 kids like I would be their parent.
+ I've been changing light bulbs and repairing other houset stuff :D

- I bought a Nintendo Game Boy.
- I started to love comic books!
- I like to play hide/seek and other stuff.
- Sponge Bob and Hannah Montana are my favourite tv-shows ^^
- I enjoy wasting my time :D

I don't know. Say you?

Chili Diary: It's Chily Time!!

2010-02-19T18:46:00.001-05:00

Just a moment ago I planted some chili peppers with my host-boys. They got so excited when I told them about my glorious victory on the grand chili eating contest on last summers crazy Mexican party we hosted with my good friend Sauli :D Dear readers.. NEVER do a chili eating contest! >:D So by the summer we should have our mouths burning and wishing we never planted these chilis. This is the Chili Diary.

American History.

2010-02-17T17:13:00.001-05:00

Cleaning our basement was like an expeditation to the history of American pop culture:

Literally a psychedelic boardgame :D

Old school Monopoly.. my gues is from the 80's.

This is some real retro shit.. I don't even want to gues what is the year.

The colours.. maybe 80's (70's?).

Got to catch 'em all! Who still has these?? o/

This paperback is from the early 70's. When I read it the cover started to rip and finally the whole book split in two :D

iPod from the year 2002. This brick is 4x fatter than mine, no color - only text screen and 10Gb.

Children say.. part. 1.

2010-02-16T16:38:00.004-05:00

Jake in the breakfast table: Olli.. you remember when you had that dance show and you threw your shirts off..?
Me: Yeah.. what about it?
Jake: That was completely inapprobriate. :D

Lately my relationship with my host-familys children has developed a lot. It feels good to notice they actually enjoy spending time with me and come to talk to me about anything :) Little Jake has always been very nice to me as he is to everybody. But his older brother Dylan hasn't always been like that. But now he might come to check anytime what I'm doing and tell me his storys. With the only girl the relationship is politely distant :D The oldest, Peyton (happy 13th birthday!), has been a tricky one from time to time. We haven't had such a chemistry together but I gues some of our difficulties are caused of his teenage.. But now he's been much more friendly and open to me :) Maybe it's because we build that awesome potato gun together. Now I feel also much more comfortable with my host-dad as we had actually done some stuff together. I't so much better now :)

"How do you wake up Lady Gaga..? You poke her face!" - Jake, 6 years.

Snow day.

2010-02-10T11:52:00.000-05:00

Today New York will bury on snow and everything closes.. Build your fortresses!

What I have understood is that this is not so especial after all. So why can't the Yankees just handel the snow like we do? It's like when it snows everything will automaticly turn out a chaos. Which propably causes big losses to the business. At least students are happy :)

Things I hate about NYC, part. 6

2010-02-09T19:52:00.001-05:00

Slooooow mailsystem.

You are so excited about this new band and you order their hot album from some internetstore because it's so much cheaper there, you are so excited... BUT you will find yourself receiving it in 7-14 days :( Of course you can get it in 2 days or even overnight: but only if you are ready to pay A LOT extra. That is really depressing. I sure understand this is a much bigger country than Finland (mail arrives over night) but still. Does not make any good. I remember how I two years ago ordered Lenny Kravitzs newest from California (free shipping and all) and it arrived to my mailbox 5 days later. How can this happen when here you need to wait two weeks to get it from CA to NY!? I DEMAND SOME JUSTICE! >:D

PS. I'm very sorry for those who received my Christmas cards at the end of the January. I sent those a week before Christmas!

Package.

2010-01-28T13:04:00.002-05:00

My first godchild should born in two weeks so I send her a package:

And wrote her a card (click to see it bigger):

I hope she'll like it :)

How are you?

2010-01-26T13:09:00.004-05:00

After next week I will start my 6th month here in the States. That means half is gone, half to go. It's time to ask myself: "How are you?"

I'm pretty good. And I'm kind of satisfied to my life right now. I have a lots of friends, I'm studying what I want (I started to take piano and guitar courses in the college last week) and my job is ok too. Though during last weeks I have found myself thinking: "I miss my freedom." It's not always so easy to live in a house where you work too. With a family that isn't yours and who is actually your employer. But I'm pretty happy for this family. Except I don't like the father.. Sometimes I think "Now I have seen this. I could go home.", but in the same time I feel like it's not my time to go back to Finland yet. I'm living now with my eyes on the summer. I try to save money to go California but it's really hard. Phone bills, school books, train tickets.. But I'm still confident I will find myself under the California sun before the summer is gone :)

PS. Last week I started to go gym again. Feels so good! (the gym is quite good, is really near, lots of girls, no commintment and it's only 10$/month!)

Things I hate about NYC, part. 5

2010-01-23T23:07:00.002-05:00

Hypocrisy.

Lots of rules. Nobody follows. That's the american way. In my house we have lots of rules. And usually I'm the only one who follows them. Maybe that is my part.

The other thing that actually made me think about these things today is how strickt yankees are about messing around with girls under 18. And still girls from 14 wear really sexy.

Lady Gaga @ Radio City Music Hall, NYC 21/01/10

2010-01-22T16:50:00.019-05:00

Last night I saw Lady Gaga. And for the the second time already. I'm so priviledged. On the first time last August in Helsinki she somehow managed to overcame all of my super-high expectations and it was absolutely one of the best concerts I've ever experienced. Last night I realized how huge she has grown. Instead of those 3 fantastic black male dancers she had now 10 (at least) and that was the case in everything else too. But still I liked the first time so much better. I missed that sweaty, dirty and hot as hell atmosphere we had in Helsinki. Compared to that Radio City yesterday was pretty neat and to say.. adult oriented. Sure it was nice to have a seat while waiting (the whole theater was only seats) and a place where to keep your water class but it just eats the vibe away.

Besides being maybe the hardest working woman in the music scene and the super-product of her time she really has a much deeper dimension. She's a Lady in a mission. Her world is about sex, fame and art BUT there is still something else. I really adore her devotion and the true passion to create arts in every form. And top of all this her input for charity is admirable. She's been campainging from homeless teens to rights of sexual minoritys and now Haiti. All the profits from merch sold that night went to Haiti and on 24th of January she gives 100% of the money from her concert and merch sold to help the catastrophe of Haiti.

Anyway and after all I have to say yesterdays concert was pretty good. She amazed us with her gorgeous and imaginative dresses and her better-than-recorded voice. She's really something special. For those who haven't seen any of her shows I tell you that she shows quite a lot of her own short-movies (a girl vomiting purple paint on still Gaga etc..) between the songs. And those movies are really.. avantgarde. They reminded me a lot of that stuff they have in museums of modern art. I can just imagine seeing Lady Gagas works at MoMA (New Yorks Museum of Modern Art) when I grow old, hihii.

It's fascinating how she gathers the masses to see her "weird" and disturbed world. Something you could imagine to intrest only a small group of people. But maybe most of the people came after those radio super-hits and were really suprised what they got. The show ended with a short movie of Lady with a strange cage in her head getting a tattoo into her back. People walk away while classical music is played hard. The atmosphere is almost religious.

Despite the cold weather there was quite a mass of people already waiting for the Lady 2 hours before the door opening

Olli-boy inside the Monster Ball.

My favourite costume of the evening: Japanese styled Cat Armor.

I'm really glad I got this photo. It's almost indentical to the one I took last time, just the piano, costume and hair is different :D

This is something I truthly love..

2010-01-19T19:04:00.003-05:00

Spring.

2010-01-14T08:51:00.001-05:00

Today it smelled different outside. Maybe it's a scent of spring. I've been planning my spring lately. School, traveling, activities.. I gues it's going to be a good spring :)

I have to go school here. 72 hours of 6 credits is the share of an au pair. And it's 500$ they pay of them. I have noticed it's not enough where ever you go. But I don't mind putting some own money on it if it's something I want to study. It's been so hard to find anything cheap but "beginner" level english. But now it looks like I found my place :) If everything goes well I will study History of Recorded Music and take guitar & piano lessons at Westchester Community College. It's not going to be enough but lets worry that later.

I have a dream: Road Trip California is the name of it. It should happen! I already have a friend coming with me and I hope to find another. So let me know if you're interested to join. San Fransico, Los Angleles, San Diego, Las Vegas.. It's going to be something unforgetable!

Olli in California spring 2010.

PS. Philadelphia story and photos coming soon!

Holga!

2010-01-06T10:42:00.005-05:00

This is my new camera: Holga 120 CFN! The absolute low-tech, fully made of plastic, 120mm film, 30$ price, flash with four different colors and a cranky character. Photos coming soon(er or later)!

2009, part 2.

2010-01-05T14:45:00.004-05:00

Summer 2009 was a good summer :) Lots of holidays, Crazy partys (MEXICO!), good times with friends and as a new thing I started to play football. Especially I remember the time when we had a lots of african guys playing with us and they made us finns look so bad :D I'm so waiting for the weather here to get warmer so I can play again.

Going to Provinssirock ("the" rockfestival of Finland).

That summer my friend relationships went even deeper. I really found my friends. After the winter of loneliness. And I gues I did some working too. I spend a week in the woods with kids and another week with the youngs and I was a church guide too. I have done MANY rippi-camps (confirmation camps) but this was without a doubt the best ever. It was something so special and I hanged out with those youngsters weeks after the camp. Never happened for me before.

Road trip to the secret location (which we never found :D).

The happiest day of the summer and maybe of my life (after felling in love for the first time, of course..) was the morning my mother woke me up too early with a phone call. I remember how I looked at my phone and though "haven't we talked about this.." but then I pick up the phone and: "OLLI! YOU MADE IT! YOU'RE IN!" Immediately I knew what she was talking about and I started to jump and dance around my appartment. They had accepted me in to Helsinki University to study theology! After the entrance exam I was absolutely sure that I don't get it. Thou I said then that if I get in it really is a miracle of God.. and there it was. God is real!

Lady GaGa <3

End of the summer was prepearing for the great move. I was really going to the USA. Farewells couldn't have been more warmer. Two awesome farewell partys, the prize from my hometown, all those news paper articles.. I was so grateful. It felt like now I'm good to leave. But still I was so sad. I cried all the way out of Varkaus. For the first time I was leaving this place for more than a two weeks. And that place had been my life for over 20 years..

Some really old friends at my farewell party.

The fall you can pretty much read from these pages.. After all it was a good fall. Time flew so fast and so much new was experienced. Now I have a "new" life here with lots of friends and things to do. I'm quite satisfied with my job.. thou nowadays I don't feel myself free anymore.. But this is my life now and I take it as a lesson for a life. After all life is quite same where ever you live..

My graduation picture from St. Johns au pair school (Rocky theme was playing in the background :D).

Spring 2010 is going to be awesome! I'm planning my road trip in California and I'm sure I will find myself in far away places ;)

PS. Comment me how your 2009 was. I'm interested to hear.

2009, part 1.

2010-01-02T11:44:00.004-05:00

New Years Eve in NYC was crazy (roof top appartment, perfect view to Manhattan, fireworks, girls, booze..) and finally I have slept more than that 3 hours and worked all day long. Now it's time to take a look back to what happened in my life in the year 2009. Some random photos may be included.

Tyyne and Olli shared some love with the Monkey Missile @ Vappu

(1st of May)

When year 2009 started one year ago I was quite happy.. I gues. There was still some things from the 2008 that haunted me but I was going better day by day :) I was still completing my non-military service in Varkaus congregation and I really loved my job. It was good times. I turned 20 and I lived my own life in my own appartment and I could do what ever I wanted. I loved that life and I miss it now a little bit. The spring was time of leaving the old and preparing for the new.

Sara and me having good times in Tampere.

The spring was time to getting known to new wonderful people. Girls came and left. And finally I got known to some people who I really consider my best friends now.. friends who are really important to me. I miss you guys so much now when I'm gone. I don't know if many know this but I have always been a little bit lonely.. I have always had a tons of friends and people who I know but rarely people who I have considered as a REALLY good friends.. friends who really know me and care about it. One of the best memories from spring are the times when I rode my bicycle to meet my Chinese friends. You girls made me such a good food and teached me a lot :) I hope we stay friends always.

My 20th birthday wasn't really this manly but here are the guys from the party :D

2009 was musically electronic for me. My taste of music moved to new directions and lots of things were discovered. Best cd of the year was without a doubt Akons Freedom. Still I get so good kicks when ever I listen to it. Album full of hit singles and wonderful melodies. The most memorable gigs I saw this year: Lady GaGa, Hyper Crush, Placebo, Veto, Isis..

Our band SOB released a hit single and played a couple of very popular gigs in the year 2009. Boys enjoying the last days of spring.

This was claimed to be the best buddy picture ever by the time it was taken :D

Soldier.

2009-12-27T22:12:00.003-05:00

e met a soldier today at the train to NYC. He had been part of every war USA had had in last 20 years and was going back to Afganistan in two weeks. We asked does he fear. He said he doesn't. He's been trained. All he really knows is war, he has been doing it since he was 17. I asked how it feels like to be shot. It hurts like hell, he said. We asked has he lost any close friends. A lots of them, he said. But he's trained..

New York City today.

Christmas Time photos part. 3.

2009-12-27T12:28:00.000-05:00

Chillin' with Anja and Kerstin in the Christmas Eve night.

My Austrian friend Gerhard also was filled with Christmas spirit.

Anja lolled :D

Something.. interesting.

My set for the "Muumipeikko ja Pyrstötähti" moment. Hot chocolate, Snickers and pistachio. Such a great movie. I felt like a child again!! ^^

I found this house one week when I got lost with the dog. The most amazing Christmas lights I've ever seen. There had to be thousands and thousands of single lights there. It was just ridiculous!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Christmas Time photos part. 2.

2009-12-23T21:31:00.000-05:00

Somebody made me really happy this week with this special Christmas card. It was dropped personally to our mailbox with a name "Ole" in the envelope. Now I already know who wrote it and she's a really nice girl.. ^^

Here are the rest of the Christmas cards I got this year. Thank you so much for every and each one who sent me a card. I love you all really much.

I think my moms card was awesome :D Don't you think?

This is how much snow we got.

My house.

Casio keyboard I got as a Christmas gift from my host-family. Erik Satiés Gymnopédie No.1 is almost done already :)

PS. First they cancelled my holidays in Georgia.. then Eveliina rejected me to spend Christmas with them.. I've been really down today thinking about Christmas.. But I'm not gonna lye down for this! Tomorrow I will bake some karjalanpiirakoita and mustikkakukko, go church and watch Muumipeikko ja Pyrstötähti.

Christmas Time photos part. 1.

2009-12-23T12:02:00.003-05:00

People have requested some more photos to my blog and well.. you get what you want. Enjoy ;)

Little Jake got some awesome Star Wars Legos for Chanukah present. We had so much fun to build them together! ^^

Legendary Christmas tree of Rockefeller Center, NYC. It wasn't so big after all..

You can find some angels in the streets of NYC if you care to look for them..

Georgia in my mind..

2009-12-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

If somebody didn't know I was supposed to go spend the Christmas time with the family to Georgia (the state of USA not the country). Now I'm told I'm not going.. the flight tickets were too expensive, they said. I'm sure they were if you tried to buy them for the Christmas eve only one week earlier..

Anyway I will be home alone for almost a week which is in the other hand really nice.. Holidays are what I need now. And Eveliina promised I can go spend the Christmas to her house. At least I won't miss the Christmas sauna now. Jihuu (and buhuu for the American Christmas I wanted to experience)!

World is a small place.

2009-12-19T17:48:00.001-05:00

Last weeks friday I noticed again how small world can be..

It's friday night and I'm dancing in one of the clubs of NYC. I see a really blond girl in the dance floor and think there is something special about this girl.. I keep on dancing and after 15 min I hear "Olli.. oletko se sinä?" ("Olli is it you?"). It's the same blond girl I saw before. I think I'm dreaming or something :D Lots of stuff spin in my head trying to get what the hec is happening. But then the girl explains me how she used to be in the same school with me back in my hometown Varkaus (Varkauden lukio) and I remember her. Now she's an au pair near by here and I saw here for the second time yesterday :)

Does anyone remember how I was filmed on tv on Halloween? Last week one girl came talk to me how she had met by accident this guy who turned out to be the cameraman who filmed me and somehow they started to talk about me. The cameraman asked the girl if she knew some Olli and she did :D WTF is going on here?

It's just freaky how and who you can meet in the other side of the world..

Things I hate about NYC, part 4.

2009-12-14T22:41:00.000-05:00

Gossips.

I have always despised gossips and here the machine producing them is in a totally different level.. Let's take this example "Tiger Woods".

Facts: He drove a car to a tree in the morning some time ago.
Consequenses: Tens of women announce they had sex with the Tiger during his marriage.
Conclusion: Tiger Woods loses his sponsors and forth-coming prices.

Americans sure love to hit the hero who is already in the ground..

New releases.

2009-12-13T17:48:00.002-05:00

I have found some amazing new music lately and I want to share it with you.

This amazing video drove me to pre-listen this brand new album of Shakira (even after the ex-girlfriend who sounded more Shakira than Shakira herself). The music video for She Wolf is so cool.. so hot.. and so magical that I don't find any words to descipe. It really has inspired me to watch my weight and move my center-section this fall :D I was suprised how good the whole album is. Really cool sounds, weird stuff and most of all: amazing songs. I'm really pleased for the state of international women superstars today. Lady GaGa, Shakira, Britney..

My friend Sonia reminded me the new one of 30 Seconds to Mars is coming and I remembered how terrific and powerful this band of Jared Leto is. The new album, This is War, is good. Very powerful lyrics and so much emotion.. Sweet suprise buying the album was when I got a t-shirt with it. That's something new! Does anyone know why Best Buy gives discounts for no reason? Is it for the new releases or something?

For first: Let's say Hyper Crush is my favourite band in the world. Me and my friend Aatu got our first touch on this new hot California phenomenon when they warmed up Lady Gaga last summer in Finland. They are so good.. so new.. and so hot. I'm part of their street team and last week they send me a cool packet with free cd's and stickers to share with the people. So if you want any just let me know :) Their new single just came out and the new albums should be in our hand before new March. Keep up!

Things I hate about NYC, part 3.

2009-12-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

Shorts.

Generally I think people can dress how ever they want.. But this is one thing I don't get. Why men here wear shorts for any occasion, anytime. I have watched men wearing shorts everywhere all fall long. I see kids wearing shorts outside the school even though it's minus celsius outside. This morning it was -7 celsius (freezing!!) outside and still our boy wore shorts for the school!

Fashion suicide.

Buddy pictures!

2009-12-08T10:41:00.000-05:00

Here is some photos from the backstage of our dance shows for those who haven already seen them in facebook.

Me with Ron and Bo. Ron wasn't drunk though it looks like it :D

Tami and I!

Olli, Roy, Tami and Justin. Roy was a tough dude.

My pack.

Lying with the girls :D

With the Italianos. Sweet!

Balloon heart the girls gave me after the last show. Awww! ^^

From the after party.

Snow is here!

2009-12-06T09:50:00.003-05:00

Last night we got our very first snow for this year here. New York City was a cold hell. But had a fun day with you girls!!

Things I hate about NYC, part 2.

2009-12-04T10:22:00.003-05:00

Being without a car.

In Finland I loved to bicycle and walk to places but here they have made it so hard to do.. Or perhaps they just haven't made it easy to do :P The attitude seems to be that everybody has a car and if you're a pedestrial you're on your own and have to survive your way through the cars alive. I mean it's so easy to walk in the NYC but outside.. well at least I don't feel myself safe in any way. Maybe somebody has an opposite opinion but I gues they haven't been in Finland.

Ok, now I'll walk the dog to the vet.

Thanksgiving sauna.

2009-12-01T16:40:00.006-05:00

On thanksgiving evening last thursday I went to Eveliina's place to start a new tradition: thanksgiving sauna. The sauna was more legendary than I ever had thought. This sauna was build in the 70's for Kekkonen himself (the most legendary president of Finland ever). Who knows who have been bathed in this sauna? Well now everybody knows: me at least ^^

Anyway it felt so good to feel again the heat and taste the beer. It's been a while..

Thanksgiving photos!

2009-12-01T07:44:00.009-05:00

I and my little Jake-boy liked the food at thanksgiving.

Some of the food we ate.

My lovely host-mother Sarah and Peyton.

Beautiful flowers from Sarah.

All of my host-kids (Dylan, Jacquiline, Peyton, Jake).

The Final: All-American Apple Pie

No photos.

2009-11-30T19:27:00.002-05:00

There is some problems with the blogger. I would have a lots of photos to release but they won't let me. I try to get it fixed soon.

Thanksgiving Day.

2009-11-26T17:06:00.000-05:00

Today is my first real thanksgiving day :)

Turkey-boy is in a oven and I can't wait to but him in my mouth! The atmosphere is like in a finnish christmas eve. Lots of food and family! Except here we watch (american) football from the tv. I have heard it's kind of an american tradition for thanksgiving.

In the evening I will go to my friends house for a thanksgiving sauna! Voi voi voi! For how long I have been waiting for this (three months!)!?

I will upload some photos later.

PS. I love my host kids. Little Jake climbed all over me today when we were playing Monopoly with the whole family. It was nice :) He thought my short hear feels nice.

Nights guilty pleasure.

2009-11-23T22:33:00.000-05:00

Ei oo hapankorppu maistunut ikinä näin hyvältä.

I bought today Vaasan hapankorppuja (finn crisps) from the local grocery store and I couldn't be happier. Home sweet home! (nyyh!)

It's on next week, hyrrrr!

2009-11-21T13:30:00.001-05:00

Next weeks weekend will be THE weekend that I'm been heading to for last two months. Finally we are going to have our three dance performances at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. I'm getting nervous. This weekend we will have the final rehearsals and I hope from all of my heart that we will be able to offer a decent show.. Especially now when I hear we are going to be the closing act!

I can't wait when those shows will be over. Then I can chill a little and party on weekends :)

Oh and if somebody wants to come watch us the tickets will be sold here. Only 15$/ticket and 13,5$ for the students.

Things that I love about NYC, part 3.

2009-11-15T14:48:00.000-05:00

How people let you know if they like your style.

In NYC it's not absurd at all for people come to make compliments about your cloths and maybe even to ask where you got them. And I like that. It's always nice to hear something nice even from a stranger. I have tried to pass it on by letting people know if I like their outfit.

Thanks for the girls from yesterday who came to tell me how they like my hairstyle. You made my moment :)

I GOT THE TICKETS!!!

2009-11-13T13:19:00.003-05:00

I'm SO, VERY happy now! :)) I just got the tickets for the final show of Lady Gaga's MONSTER BALL tour in Radio City Music Hall, NYC. There is a rumour tickets were sold out for the both NYC shows in just 30 seconds. That's crazy! But I'm so happy I made it to that 30 seconds.

The new album FAME MONSTER is coming in two weeks and I'm excited about that! I have started to like more and more Bad Romance..

First day in the new family.

2009-11-11T22:26:00.001-05:00

First day is behind and it was wonderful! Kids were off the school so I had time to get known to them.

Jacqueline is a strong 12 year old girl. She feels to me like older than she really is and she definitely know what she's doing.
Peyton is a goofy 12 year old boy. He also feels to me like older than he is and sure likes to talk a lot. He seems to be a really nice boy and I'm sure we will have a fun year.
Dylan is 10 and looks like a baby-Bob-Dylan :D I'm glad how the kids took me to their plays and things so well. They want to play with me and have been very friendly.
Jake, six years old, is my little star-eye. He's so so so cute and I love him already. I love it when he comes to tell me things and most of the time I have no idea what he's talking about. You just can't be sad when he smiles. His favourite thing today with me was to catch a piece of paper.

Sarah, 30, seems to be a wonderful, kind and a loving person. I enjoy talking with her about everything and I'm really glad for the respectful atmosphere we are having. I have a really good feeling about this family and I bet I will have a good year here :)

a New start.

2009-11-10T19:12:00.001-05:00

Tonight I will be moving to my new host-family in Scarsdale, NY, just a 15min drive from the place I used to live. I'm so happy to get this new change with a new family. I want to thank everyone who have supported me!! :)

My new family includes a doctor father, spa-owner mother and four kids (girl 12 and boys 12, 10 and 6 years old). The house seemed to be big and very good with some amazing details and colours. My rooms walls are purple, JESH! I will tell you more when I have settled down.

Halloween

2009-11-05T10:11:00.001-05:00

alloween was definitely a bigger thing here than in home-Finland but everybody knows that. Still I was at the same time happy and sad to notice some people couldn't care less about it. Anyway we decided to celebrate it once we are here in the US.

I was lucky to have my friend Rike helping me doing my makeup/hair. I have to admit it felt good to sit there being maked up. I was a lucky boy before that day too when I was allowed to help girls to find costumes for them. And girls costumes here, they are.. well you'll see.

I designed my costume by myself. Even though many people, including hilarious drag queens in the subway, named me a mime but I prefered to call it just "White". I was very proud of my halloween costume but at some point of the evening I got a bit irritated in the everlasting conversation:
"Are you a mime?"
"No."
"You talked! Mimes don't talk!" :D

Evening started for me with a costume rehearsal in my dancing school which was fun. We danced, eat threats and laughed for each others costumes. Best ones were definitely Bows "Blueman" and Anthonys "Pikachu". Unfortunately I don't have pictures of those. After that I went to the Downtown just to see the Halloween buzz. People there were really like "ellun kanat" like we would say in Finland :D It was so funny. And on one point I ended up to be filmed in TV. I can't wait till it comes out!

My guide to everyone who are planning to visit NYC some Halloween and go clubbing: buy your tickets two months earlier and go to the club early. Every place had a HUGE line and tickets from the door climbed up to the prices 75$. That's just madness! But again, we were so lucky. We wondered a huge line in the 8th avenue that blogged all the way and went to the middle of the line just to ask what was it for. The guy had 3 extra tickets and sold them to us for 30$ each and asked us to come there to line with him. So 45$ saved and half of the lining time. It was a shame that the club wasn't good at all. I don't know what's up with these yankees but I haven't got used to the "sex on the dancefloor".

After all it was a all right Halloween. Thanks Rike, Sherin and Kay!

Good Day.

2009-11-04T21:40:00.001-05:00

Dear readers,

I just want to share this good feeling with you :) I just came from the dinner with my possible next host-family. I have a really good feeling about them and I hope they will choose me to be their next au pair. I will tell you more when it's for sure.

PS. I love my singing lessons. They have taught me many things about singing that I would have never thought. He said I have made some progress and I think my "My heart will go on" doesn't sound bad at all.

Russian haircut.

2009-11-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

Today I went to have a haircut and the hairdresser was.. again(!) a russian. But this time he knew where Finland was and I was really happy about that. But when he heard I was going to study myself a minister (priest) he totally freaked out. Followed a 10 minute preach of how I'm making a big mistake. My "blood is boiling hot" beacause I'm a young man and I need to meet and treat girls, he said. Every now and then I tried to make him understand we can have wifes in Finland even though we were ministers :D

After a big topic of how I need to feel myself a man by having a wife and kids and being a grandfather, he finally understood that it doesn't mean I'm going to miss those things even though I was a minister, he came really happy. You should have seen his face how relief and happy for me he was :D

Now I'm having the shortest hair since I was 15 years old. He made it a little bit too short but it's going to grow back really quickly!

This is it! part 2.

2009-11-02T09:58:00.000-05:00

Just something I forgot to write on the previous text.

The antmosphere in the theather was quite a different than I have got used to in finnish movie theathers. As you can suppose it was quite lively and frisky :D People talked to Michael, sang along and after a good part we gave applause. I think in some movies it is just a good thing that people take part on it. It's a communal experience.

This is it!

2009-10-29T21:57:00.001-04:00

The new Michael Jackson movie "This is it" premiered yesterday around the world and now I've seen it already twice. It's a good movie! If you like MJ you have to see it.

The shows here in the USA have been sweet. When we entered the movie theather they asked us to exchange our paper tickets to cool plastic cards to wear in neck (you know, kind of cards they have in concerts for special people, like backstage-passes). And then at the door of the actual room for the movie there was this big gorilla in black suit asking for a pass. So cool :D

"Why?"

2009-10-29T00:53:00.000-04:00

Today was the day for the "exit interview". So now it's official-official I'm going out of this host-family. Today was also the day host-mom dared to tell the childret that I'm leaving. She wanted some time with the boys so I had to leave the house. I was going to see a movie anyway..

I came back home at 0:30 and I found Graham in the stairs staring at me. "Why?", he asked me. "Who's going to play wrestling with me..?". He told me he doesn't usually cry for the people he had known for 6 weeks.. But I was the best au pair he had had. We hugged and he cried.

I don't think I will miss this family but still it's not easy to break a kids heart...

"Sori oot sä suomesta?"

2009-10-26T23:47:00.001-04:00

I was so happy when I finally met some finnish people in my dancing school! JIHUU! I have met there so many swedes and I have always wondered if any finnish people go there. And today I made a COMBO by not meeting a pair of finnish girls but two pairs. Unbelieveble!

The words just came from my mouth: "Sori oot sä Suomesta?". Just when I said those words it reminded me about something.. And then I remembered: when I was about 5-6 years old my family got our very first cd-player and we had a collection cd with this awesome song from Leevi. I hope my sister (HANNA!!) remembers this :)

Things that I love about NYC, part 2.

2009-10-26T13:10:00.002-04:00

Helpful people.

Have you ever heard that New Yorkers are too busy and rude? At least that's a rumour that stands strong here in the USA. That's not true at all..

Everytime I have needed help and asked for it I have got it. People have been so nice and explained me the ways or what ever I have asked as many times as I have wanted. Like yesterday I went to pick up my two friends from the airport and on the way home we got totally lost. And I can tell the highways of the USA are like a labyrinth without a map to a finnish boy. So finally I found some smaller streets where to park and I saw two guys walking away. I yelled them to stop for help and instead of running away for their lives (what they are teached to do) they stopped and explained me the way home. God bless those two nice guys.

I'm changing the host-family.

2009-10-22T22:33:00.000-04:00

It's kind of official now. Last night I told my host-parents I want to change my host-family. They took it quite stone-faced. I wasn't suprised.

Why I want to do it? There's no big drama on this. I thought what I really want to do and it is to take care of younger kids, aged under 8. That is absolutely the main reason. Secondly I didn't feel myself so welcomed in this family. Most of the time I had a feeling they don't really care about me and my work isn't appreciated. And that's just something I miss and need..

I hope everybody prays for me to get a good family next time. Thank you if you will.

Helsinki Vampires rocked the NYC!

2009-10-21T23:47:00.002-04:00

Finnish goth rock band the 69 Eyes started their North America tour from the NYC on tuesday night and as a patriot (which I have almost become here) I, of course, was there to cheer our boys up. Finally when I found my way to the Gramercy I was stunned. So many people that the line went over the corner and continued to the other street. I didn't know they we're so popular here! Everything went so conveniently. Ticket I bought from the guy I met in the line for a cheap price of 15$ (about 20$ from the door). Yankees were so amazed when I told I was from Finland! "You sure have come a long way!" I didn't bother to tell them I really didn't come here just for this gig. They would be playing in Kuopio in one month or so :D

When I decided to go see the 69 Eyes I didn't know I would actually get to see three excellent bands. The Becoming started the night and I was amazed. Man these guys were good! I just love low male voices and good chorus melodies. After they finished I went to buy their cd and it definitely was worth it.

Second band of the evening, Dommin, was quite good also! I loved their cover of evergreen I just died in your arms tonight and the rose theme. The guys had obviously took example from my hair style ;)

Main event of the evening was quite good. During the gig I started to wonder how many records these dudes have done because they sure have a LOTS of hits. The music isn't so gothic anymore but still I wondered why the stage was so lighted for most of the time. By the way have anyone else heard that guitarist of the band, Timo-Timo, is from Varkaus? Me and my friends Rita and Sonia tried to catch the bands attention by shouting "PERRRKELE" and "HYVÄ SUOMI" in any possible times but we didn't manage :D

After the gigs I went to see my friend Saara again and we found a restaurant named "perse" in the Columbus Square. You can just imagine the amount of giggling in caused :D

On that night encouraged by Saara I tried sushi for the very first time. This evening was truly a golden night of the first times :D Those gigs I saw before were the first ones for me here in the USA and now I found myself eating this japanese threat for the very first time. It was such a nice moment to eat sushi high above the ground in Time Square by night. We came up with an idea for a book called "First time". It would be a photobook of some some persons first times in any possible things from baby to grave. Bad idea? Huh, I don't know!

PS. I gues there is nothing I can do with my nature. I'm still sooo weak for the gothic girls :D

Saara came for a visit

2009-10-21T13:06:00.002-04:00

Last sunday my old friend Saara Kivelä started her 13th au pair month as known as "travel month" from NYC and we decided to spend a day together in the Big Apple. Back in Finland Saara and I spent all of our 12 school years in the same schools in Varkaus and 6 of them in a same class. I never was so close to her but I have always liked her very much :)

In the City we found and lost a lots of things and one thing was this.. thing. We were really looking for SoHo but I gues my compass just failed me that time.

One thing we wondered about NYC was how freaking cold it was that day!! The coldness drove me to make an allowance to buy some other jacket than the perfect biker jacket I've been endlessly searching. So I bought this classy Tommy Hilfiger jacket (kind of bad picture but it really looks good). Though expensive it was! Price of 225$ made me think twice or maybe even four times if to buy this jacket.. And of course the tax. The common enemy of all in the USA. But everything ended up quite well when I made some small talk with the salesman and asked how much the price would be WITH the tax. He told me it would be 248$ and I made a bad face. Then he started to talk me with a really low voice mumbling something about "fixing" and finally I bought the jacket with price of 220$. And that's with a tax! Fixing prices seems to work in top-name stores too.. :D

In the evening we went to see a broadway classic Chicago. It was the very first time to see a musical in the NYC for both of us and quite a good start kick for me. I gues broadway musical can't get much more classical. We really enjoyed the show! I recommend to everybody who likes musicals. And we were very lucky to get the tickets for such cheap price. We went to buy the tickets in the afternoon of the same day and got these "RUSH tickets" for only 31,50$ each. In the evening lining to get in I asked the ladys behind us how much they had paid for their tickets: "My husband paid 141,50$ for each." And for the most of the musicals it doesn't really matter which seat you have. The theathers are so small that every seat is a good seat.

Sometimes it can be hard to find a place who serves me beer but this time we got lucky in a third. I gues this cute baby faced finn didn't help on that :P

PS. Saara said that she looked like she would be going to the Ruka and I basically looked like a jew. So we were the jew and the eskimo for that day. What a dual! Oh man we laughed a lot for that. Later on that night some real jew walked by us and the old man looked me for long. So I decided to greet him and he greeted me back so eagerly :D

Wonderland USA.. part 4.

2009-10-20T00:44:00.000-04:00

Today I was doing some shopping in the local grocery store. There I was in the cheese section trying to find some low fat cheese for myself and just when I was leaving my eyes stuck on something.. "Does that really say Finlandia.. and is that a Suomi leijona?" That's what it truly was. I had found some finnish cheese. Is Finland really a cheese country? I didn't think so..
When I showed the cheese to my host-mom she told me that Finlandia is actually a really common cheese brand here. What's up with that!?

Things I hate about NYC, part 1.

2009-10-16T22:40:00.003-04:00

Huge masses of people who blog my way.

On the same street that my dancing school is (45th street) there is also a lots of musicals and drama. And they are musicals and drama where happens to act some names that even I know for example, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and James Bond (Daniel Craig) or Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). And that again means that there are a lots of people camping on the doors hunting for photos or autographs. And that again means that I have to defy death by running between the cars to make my way to the train in time because there is no room on the sidewalk. AND THAT PISSES ME OFF :D

My first evening in the New Yorks Finnish church

2009-10-14T22:30:00.003-04:00

My mysterious contact from the facebook lead to a very pleasant invitation e-mail. I was invited to spend a monthly evening of finnish au pairs/youth to the finnish church of the NYC. And there I was last saturday!

After a 10 minutes of wondering around a beautiful Greenwich Village I finally found this white and a little bit orthodox-alike church in the street full of flats. There it was like any other building on the street. That's what I call tight city planning! When I got in it felt straight away like home. A pack of blond (and other haircolour) girls wished me tervetulleeksi. The evening was actually just like a youths night in my home congregation in Varkaus. I'm glad someting stays the same even though you move on the other side of ocean! :)

Afternoon/evening included chatting, baking some Carelian pies (karjanlanpiirakoita) and later on the evening girls watched a finnish movie. At that point I was already in my dance class (and I was so lost!!!).

(Me and the girls at work. You know she's a finn if she's shy..)

(Man, I made something like 40 of those with my own hands!)

("Piirakkahan se siinä!", someday told it looked like a kajak...)

PS. I'm still a little bit bitter for that girl from Helsinki who made such a beautiful pie! First timers luck, say I...

Change.

2009-10-14T20:05:00.002-04:00

My name is Olli Olenius and I'm seriously thinking about changing my hostfamily.

Wonderland USA.. part 3.

2009-10-14T00:23:00.001-04:00

Church arranging saturday night dancing? Why not! This advertisement was found in the wall of Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in Upper East Side, NYC. Some ideas for the congregations back home ;)

Things that I love about NYC, part 1.

2009-10-10T23:50:00.003-04:00

Talking to the people in trains.

Happened tonight:
I sit in a train and this cutest girl comes in and sits opposite me, her mother sits next to me. I watch a movie from my iPod and check out the girl time to time (of course!). After a while I decide to check out the mom. I take a look on my far left and I our glances meet. The mother starts to laugh at my face :D We all laugh together and there starts a conversation that really cheered me up.
....
GIRL: Do I look tired?
ME: No... you look good.
(good line, huh? :D)
.....
GIRL: What was your name again?
ME: It's Olli.
GIRL: Such a cute name..
(hihihiiii!)
.....
You can find everything in a train from NYC to North in saturday nights. Sometimes you can laugh your lungs out listening some woman trying to hush her dead drunk boyfriend or you can just meet a nice girl who starts to go dancing lessons with you every week. You never know what's next..

TV

2009-10-08T23:24:00.001-04:00

Now let me tell you about American TV. Over 900 channels. "Wow! Sounds great.", but I tell you: It isn't! Let's but this in a form of a tiny story:

Once upon a time in America there was a bright boy called Olli who loved Lady Gaga so much. Olli had heard there would be a spectacular show in TV called MTV Music Video Awards 2009 and what else: Lady Gaga would perform there, live from the NYC. Oh boy, they had even but a 10 feet high Lady GaGa on Time Square to promote this event. So the day came and Olli sat in front of the television set and.. "Hey wait just a minute!", Olli had no idea which channel MTV was.

The actual story ends well and after a 10 minutes search I finally found the right channel and Lady GaGa's performance was.. really a performance. Sometimes American TV can give you a pleasant suprise. If you get lucky you can find something quality entertaiment like Hannah Montana even in the late night! And tonight I got lucky..

Noise is here again.

2009-10-08T12:12:00.007-04:00

Last tuesday we went to buy an electric guitar for my host-boy Graham. Man, it feels good to play some rock'n'roll again! Haven't done that in some time.. Whole Lotta Love, Fly Away, Purple Haze: it's all here again! I'm going to teach my boy to play some. I'm glad he has now some more reasonable thing to do than play just playstation all day long.

Saw a dream last night. Girl who looked a lot like my ex-love sang a beautiful song. I woke up straight away with agony and remembered the song. Tried so hard to remember if I had heard that song somewhere berofe but came to conclusion I hadn't. This was one of my own. At the time of 4 am I recorded that song to my minidisc. I'm really happy I didn't lose it.

"I'm in love with you... yes I do."

Just Dance!

2009-10-06T21:55:00.004-04:00

For those who don't already know it: yes.. I have started to dance here in the New York City. And it's been so much fun (and a killer workout)!

Finally I get to fulfill my long time dream of learning to dance. And in a quite good enviroment I would say! I take my dancing classes in Broadway Dance Center. The very same dancing school where Madonna and Britney Spears took their classes in the heart of the NYC. Despite this I keep the other star, the best dancer ever lived, in my hear: Michael Jackson. Everybody who really knows me already knew that, hahaa!

Every monday night I point my nose to the direction of NYC to learn how to make this ironbar move like never before. Though it tooks averange of 60 minutes to get into the school, it's all worth it. My business is basic hiphop/funk and I love it!

I truly consider my teacher, Bev Brown, one of the most inspiring person I ever met. I've never seen a mama move like that in the age of 46! And all this knowing she is a two time cancer survivor with only one lung.. Honestly one of my happiest moments here in the USA was last week when she spoke to me.. and not only spoke to me: she said I'm getting better. I was so proud! In some strange level I love that woman.

Even more excited I was when Bev invited me to her unofficial performance workshop. And I took my change! So from this on I will go to sweat my cloths all wet every saturday evening too during next 8 weeks. And at the end of November my group will have two shows at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater where we perform. I'm already so excited! I love performing. Got to work hard 'cause I really want to look cool there.

And now I can reveal this is the reason why I had to "deliver a super confidental envelope filled with money to the mysterious woman" last saturday. I just paid my classes to Bev.

Wonderland USA.. part 2.

2009-10-06T00:22:00.002-04:00

Just few hours ago I was walking my way on the 45th street to my dance class when I saw Mariah Careys (the most popular female artist of 90's in the USA, one of the most sold female artist ever etc.) tour bus parked outside the hotel. The door was open for a while and I got a quick peek inside: from inside the bus looked like a fancy club! They had a bar counter, lights and everything.. That was cool :)

Wonderland USA.. part 1.

2009-10-05T14:16:00.002-04:00

Check it out what I found in the 45th Street one monday night..

Weekend in the city

2009-10-04T23:33:00.002-04:00

This weekend, like the ones before, I marched (took a train) my way to the Big Apple, NYC. Saturdays mission was to deliver a super confidental envelope filled with money to the mysterious woman but that's another story I will tell you some other time.. anyway the other reason was just to spend time in the city, look around and of course: SHOP!

On saturday it rained like hell in the city. God bless the man who had left his umberella to taxi, from which my host-mom picked it up, which she borrows to me! It's actually pretty nice to walk around the city though it's raining. Everything looks just a little bit different when it rains. For the very first time I headed outside the Manhattan.. I had heard that there might be just a leather jacket I was looking for in Queens.

And there I was.. after just a little bit longer subway ride than usual, in the Queens. And again: I was far away from home. I gues I was almost the only white man in the big street of Roosevelt Avenue. Everybody else seemed be latino. This is something you can't experience back home! Except if you are a foreigner. This is something I have been experiencing a few another times here too. Usually I'm one of the very few not-black guys in my gym. This is how my african friends back in Varkaus must feel. Expect in second potens... Didn't found a proper leather jacket. The salesman spoke only spanish but we got along quite well. At least he knew what 'leather jacket', 'small' and 'large' ment. And that's enough!

If it rained like hell in the saturday, the sunday was sweet as a summerday! Sun shined and this time I wasn't alone. I went to tour NYC with serious shopping in my mind with my friends Sherin and Rike. And we had a real good time!

During these few weeks here I have started to love NYC more and more. All the different people, the skyhigh buildings of Manhattan to bohemian atmosphere of SoHo, the endless shopping possibilitys, street performens, art-gallerys, beautiful women.. the list goes on and on and I'm sure it will be a size of a novel when this year is gone.

My first impression of the city was: "Sniff! Everything is so expensive!!!". Now I know it really isn't so. It doesn't matter with how much money you come here with.. I'm positive you can spend it all easily! But it doesn't have to be so. Sure it is easier to find shops with 1000$ jackets and 300$ t-shirts but with a little touring and trying you can find good looking and fashionable, if you will,cloths with reasonable prices. I can be proud of myself as I didn't bought the 180$ leather bag yesterday (which actually is quite cheap here!) but I bought quite the same bag today just for 40$. And I saw a same kind of bag in SoHo for 999$! And I'm not kidding!

A new Michael Jackson movie "THIS IS IT" is coming with a force and I'm just waiting how big it will really get here. I'm going to buy some tickets for it next week. Luckily I have a lots of friend who are glad to come with me. And one them is my Baby G, as known as Graham the host-children of mine who by the way is the best 13-year old MJ singer I ever heard. He REALLY is good. We have had some great time playing around the the beats of Billie Jean and many others including my new personal favourite: You are not alone. And what comes to the new information about MJ's condition before he died: I told you so, don't trust the media.

The most coolest thing in our house.

2009-10-02T21:30:00.001-04:00

Overload

2009-10-02T00:04:00.001-04:00

Life is a mystery.

I just read an amazing story from my facebook mailbox how this girl from Leppävirta, living now in Scarsdale (quite near to the place where I live) found me. What are the odds.. what are the links.. I JUST WANNA ASK!? :D

Seems like congeregations and newspapers of Eastern Finland and someones mom is related to all this.. hmmm.

Now you're in New York, congrete jungle where dreams are made of...

2009-10-01T22:32:00.001-04:00

Finally I got my lazy ass down to this chair and am blogging for the very first time in a long time. Name crisis is defeated and here we go. First writing of my Blueberry Diaries, blog about my life, USA, ambitions and everything I like. I hope this will serve especially my finnish support team to keep up what their own Olli-boy is doing these days.

How are you? I'm doing fine these days! Life in USA has been good by far. It isn't the fairyland of the glamorous movies but it's at least something like that. It's actually suprising how USA really is like we see in the movies. My neighbourhood seems like it would be captured streight from the movies like American Beauty or Scream. Everything really is big: car's, houses (like palaces!!!), prices etc. I've been here for 4 weeks now and still I sometimes feel like "I can't belive this.. I live a movie!"

I guest it's true when they say you can find anything in the New York City. But usually it's quite hard to find what you are looking for! But it's somewhere there. By far I have found almost everything I have searched for. Almost :) I'm still looking for a leather messengerbag that isn't in the humbel price of 999$. I gues it will come my way someday. I gues I have to by a jacket soon. I don't have any and it's getting cold! I still haven't got used to these fahrenheits but today it's been chilling +10 celsius. Hrrr! I wonder how it is in Finland these days.. Maybe someone can light me up about that.

This was just a carefull opening for my blog. I will be telling you about everything little by little. You are welcome to ask me questions and propose any topics I should be writing about. I can tell you that right now I'm very, very excited about one dancing thing but I don't really want to shout it loud in the rooftops now when it's not official. Maybe on saturday I have something goood to tell...

PS. Topic is quoted from Jay-Z's newest hit Empire State of Mind which is nowadays an anthem of NYC. They play it everywhere.. That's anthem!