Meeting Friends in Unlikely Places

(Christmas trip 2009, part 6)

The possible audiences a blogger writes for can easily put into two categories. “You” and “not you”. Neither is really the optimal target group for a blog – if you write for others, you might end up in a situation where it starts feeling like a chore. You only aim to please a fickle reader you never really meet and get frustrated when you’re not getting the response you wanted. The other option is writing for yourself, which is good for the morale, but might degenerate the quality, possibly to the levels of “dear diary, here’s a picture of my cat sitting on my laundry, ain’t he funny.” So, neither path is really good, but you have to choose. I’ve usually gone with writing to an audience route, but I’ll admit here and now that this blog will be something I’ll be doing for myself. So you’ll probably end up facing cat-pics at some point. Sorry.

I haven’t been fully linear about my Christmas Trip. There is a bit that I skipped earlier, because it would have been sort of a pointless distraction. But I’d like to return to it now. Remember back when I was drying my hair back at the Hotel Ilves before heading out, chatting with friends online. I had this brief conversation with Ni, a friend from Helsinki, back then.

“Tampere? Weren’t you going to spend your holidays in Helsinki? What are you doing in Tampere?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, ”not a clue, really.”

“You’ve probably seen all our friends who live there, right?”

“Nope, none. They’re way too clever to be around when I come knocking.”

“Oh, so what’s on your program next?”

“Probably hitting the bars or something. Not much to do here. It gets worse tomorrow when I’m continuing to Jyväskylä.”

“Seriously? What on Earth are you going to do in JKL?”

“No idea about that, either. I’m going with the flow here. Last I heard there was nothing but snow there.”

“Sounds about right. Want to come get coffee tomorrow?”

“Whuh? I’m going to Jyv… Wait… What are you doing in Jyväskylä?” I was quite surprised, I admit.

“Oh, my folks live here. Visiting them for Christmas.”

We agreed to meet the next evening.

So, to return to the linear narrative and the 26th December (the “next evening”).

I bid Tampere and the wacky adventures I’ve had here a fond farewell and climb aboard the train to Jyväskylä. Not many people going my way, so no-one to talk to during the trip. Doesn’t really bother me this time, I have some work to do anyways. I try and enjoy the view for a while, but it’s a bit too dark outside and there’s only so much enjoyment one can have from random glimpses of snow in the darkness.

The train makes a stop at Jämsä and I get a sudden flashback from the previous night. It’s the bathroom of Groove. I’m taking a leak. And for some reason chatting with the DJ who is doing the same. He recommends that since I’m going to the direction of Jyväskylä, I should stop at Jämsä and go to some music venue there. He tells me there’s a famous Finnish band playing there on the 26th, that’s tonight.

I’m almost out the train when it hits me. I remember which band it was and quickly retreat back to my seat. Cold sweat rises on the thought of being stuck in Jämsä for the night, listening to this:

So, Jyväskylä it is.

The rest of the train ride is nice, smooth and quick. And in no time I find myself out in the brisk winter air of the vibrant university town, Jyväskylä. A sole reindeer statue is there to greet me, covered in untouched snow, reminding me how I’ve just moved further up north, and how things won’t be getting warmer any time soon. The vibrancy of the town quickly becomes apparent as it dawns on me that it’s the Christmas vacation and no self-respecting student would miss on the family Christmas dinner back home. And usually home is not in Jyväskylä for these people… Cue the frozen tumbleweed rolling along the empty street and some ominous harmonica music playing.

I start dragging myself through the snow along what probably is one of the the main streets of Jyväskylä and making my way to the hotel. After spending a night at Ilves, I have my hopes up for Jyväshovi (both being Sokos hotels after all). And while the place looks and feels okay, the difference is notable. Ilves was high-tech, steel and glass, and Jyväshovi is probably best described as “cozy”. Couple of floors, wooden interior, interesting placement of structural beams inside the room (no idea how you can see the television through a concrete pilar). The receptionist is friendly, but distant.

I have finally reached the low point of my trip. I actually want to go back to Tampere.

Saved by a phone call – Ni is parking her car nearby and asks if I’m ready to go get something to eat.

We head to Amarillo, order food, drink some glögi. It’s strange to meet Ni here. I can’t say that I know her at all. She’s still sort of a friend of a friend to me – We’ve seen only a couple of times and the only really common thread between us is the love for Brad Warner’s Hardcore Zen (the book). But we get along. And I guess I’ve missed a familiar face. So time flies.

At some point after I’m finished eating my Giant Barbecue XXXL Burger (or something, can’t remember the name. Big-ass burger with bacon), Ni decides that I should get a grand tour of Jyväskylä. She’s here by car, so we wouldn’t have to freeze our ears off, and I don’t see a reason why not.

I must admit that seeing Jyväskylä like this makes a nice impression. It’s a small town and there’s not much to see, but it has a lot of open space and the architecture is modern. I feel privileged because of how much Ni can tell me about the place and sorry because I’m so tired I can’t remember what she tells me the next morning. I don’t think I could live here, it’s too quiet. But at least I’m no-longer longing to get away as fast as I can.

Ni drops me off near the hotel when I start dozing off in her car. I get to the hotel safe and sound, decide that I’ll have to put on something more party-appropriate, head to the closest nightclub, meet new people and have another great night.

But first, I need get out of these winter shoes and rest my feet a couple of moments.

I wake up the next morning.

Also. Dear diary, here is a picture of my cat, sitting on my jeans. Ain’t he funny.