Helsinki

June 29th
Helsinki

Today was a day I’d been looking forward to all cruise, not just because I’ve never been to Helsinki, but because I have friends from my first ship who live in town that I was looking forward to seeing again – and luckily, everything worked out great!
I actually got stuck with having to do a training session in the morning, but it ended just in time for me to get off and be downtown at the originally planned time, so that wasn’t a problem. My friends who I met up with are both ice skaters that I knew from my first ship and managed to keep in touch with. The first, Tytti (pronounced too-tee), lived next door to me for 4 months and was always great to hang out with. The second person I met up with was actually Tytti’s friend Henna who had come on a cruise as a guest way at the beginning of my first contract, and another person I’ve kept in contact with via Facebook. Anyways, they’re both ice skaters, both Finnish, and let’s just say I enjoyed making my friends jealous telling them I had this date set up.
After a little while of looking for each other, we eventually met up downtown and started a walking tour of our own through the city. My friends didn’t really have anything planned for me, not to mention their recovering status from a wedding the previous night, so we just walked and caught up on some things. We stopped at a café for a little while in the downtown area, walked through some parks, hopped on a tram to the water, got some soft-serve ice cream, and eventually made it back to my original drop off point. We also walked through a market where I tried this really strange fish. It was about 3 times the size of a sardine, and grilled up in some strange way in which you were supposed to eat the entire fish, head to tail. Tytti grabbed one for herself and one for me, and after I got over the initial shock of watching her bite he head off without a second though, I tried mine. It was actually really good, and not nearly as crunchy as you might think a fish skull should be. They called it something like a “white fish”, but I’m not entirely sure. Anyways, that’s just one more thing to add to my list of strange foods. I do have a picture of it, so maybe I’ll remember to put it up when I get around to posting some pictures again.
Fish aside, we just had a nice 3-4 hours walking the city. It’s really a great experience when you can visit friends in their home towns, and when they are people that you weren’t sure you’d ever see again and wouldn’t miss the opportunity if you could, it really makes for a wonderful day. I feel so lucky to have a great array of friends and to have the opportunity to see them, despite the fact they live in Finland or wherever. It just reminds me that I work these ships for the sake of meeting these people, even more so than seeing the world.
That evening I went up to the gym again, this time for self defense training. My Elite Australian Military roommate teaches self defense classes on the ship every so often, and after asking him about them a number of times, managed to get a time worked out and a few musicians up there for the class. It’s a free class he does for fun, or so I assume, and I’m thinking it’s going to really be an interesting experience. This first class was more or less basic boxing techniques, blocks, and knee use. We work with gloves and pads, but I can’t say it makes much of a difference. We actually practice getting hit in the head (while in a blocking position) and I have the bruises right now (couple days later) to prove it. It’s kind of intimidating work, and Gordon (roommate) is a little scary when he demonstrates the moves, but it should be a good experience. It’s something I’ve never really done, and to have the opportunity to learn for free from someone who really knows about fighting is a something I can’t pass up, even if it does mean damage to my brain cells. Anyways, I’m looking forward to the next class and am excited for what he has in store for the group.
That about does it for Helsinki. My friends and I are planning a picnic at the zoo when I return in a month, or so is the plan right now. But I had a great day today and am excited about the next couple days I’m about to spend in Russia, so keep reading!