Where's the key?
Well it finally happened. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later before the summer was over. We locked ourselves out of one of the rooms. It was me actually. We were going to get some pizza, so I ran in and grabbed my wallet and went to the pizza place. When we got back, I went to go into the other room and couldn't find the key. Then I remembered that I didn't grab it on the way out just my wallet. Luckily I didn't lose it till 11:00 at night. So I called the guy in the morning and he came and unlocked the door for us. I hope this is the last time that it happens. But you never know....
Pimp a ride
In order to tell this story, I'm going to give you a definition of "pimping a ride." Earlier in the summer, Thomas decided he was going to sell his car because he already has a motorcycle. So Scott and I pleaded with him to wait until the end of the summer to sell his car, because Thomas usually gives us a ride almost everywhere. Well that day came last week and he sold his car to a guy in Helsinki. So Thomas drives to Helsinki in his car and sells it while he is in the city on Friday. Now Thomas is in Helsinki with no car. We have a game Saturday in Porvoo which is not too far to the east of Helsinki.
By the time he left on Friday, he still didn't know how he was getting to the game. He ended up calling the gang that was coming from Pori to come pick him up. After the game, the guys from Pori don't want to go out of their way again to take Thomas back to Helsinki. (Thomas had a date in Helsinki on Saturday night after the game). So he has the team bus go out of its way to drop him off in downtown Helsinki. How is Thomas going to get a ride back to Turku? This is where "pimping a ride" comes into play. Thomas had met a different girl on Friday night at a bar that happened to be riding back to Turku on Sunday. So Thomas, being the slick gentleman that he is, asks if he can ride with her back to Turku on Sunday and she says yes...... Let me reiterate what just happened. Thomas had no way of getting back to Turku early Friday night. He goes into a bar and picks up a girl that just happens to be heading to Turku on Sunday. That is what I call "pimping a ride."
Credit Card Chaos
After we got something to eat on Friday morning we were getting out of the car and Thomas takes his credit card out of his wallet and puts it in the glove compartment. "I don't want to lose this, so I'm putting it in there... its a safety precaution," he said. Friday went on and Thomas got wasted. It was a little after 10 when Thomas said he would be right back and he disappeared for the night. Scott and I were sleeping in the tent about 4am and Thomas comes rolling in. He lays down and even though we were sleeping he says out loud, "Guys.... I lost my credit card, I lost my credit card." Scott and I were just knocked out, but I woke myself up enough to say, "Thomas you're retarded, you put it in the glove box this morning." Then he says, "Oh yeah I did," and kinda laughs to himself and then he adds, "I already called my bank and cancelled it." I was dead asleep and I started to laugh, that was some funny stuff even in the middle of the night. So not only did he think he lost his credit card but also called the band to cancel it... thats funny.
Midsummer Karaoke
It was Friday night about 9pm and we had just got done watching a band. Thomas suggested we go back over to the Playstation house. The Playstation house is a room with a bunch of systems set up for kids or whoever to try out the new Playstation games. Playstation was one of the sponsors of the festival. Inside they were advertising one of their new games, which was a karaoke game for Playstation.... All we have ever heard from the time we got here was how good of s singer Thomas was. So this was his time to shine. He had a few "Pepsis" in him so he grabbed the mic and picks no other than 'Pretty Woman' by Roy Orbison. He sang it well for being a little wasted. The game is pretty cool because when you sing into the microphone the Playstation can tell if you are hitting the notes or not and gives you a score. Thomas had the 5th best score of the day so he got a T-shirt and a soccer ball for his performance. You all know that I am a sucker for free T-shirts, so I had to try it. When there is a free T-shirt on the line, I'm fearless. I picked 'Boys and Girls' by Good Charlotte, one of the only alternative rock songs on the game that I knew. I did pretty bad, didn't really hit any of the notes, but I had some people jammin with me. I obviously didn't score as well as Thomas, but the lady still gave me a free 'Rockstar Roadie' T-shirt, so I was happy. There wasn't that many people in there and not too many people were paying attention, but it was cool.
Best Comback
We were driving somewhere and Thomas just got talking to his parents on the phone. So Scott quickly jumps the gun and responds jokingly, "Thomas tell your mom to stop calling me all the time, she calls in the middle of the night and during the day. Just tell her to stop calling." There was a short pause and Thomas responds seriously, "Well... your... mom... called........." and then nothing. He sounded just like Chris Farley in 'Tommy Boy' but he sounded so serious even though he denies it. Scott and I just started to die laughing, because he had no better comback then, " Well... your... mom... called..."
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Now for some notable stories during week 1...
After the first practice, our head coach was telling us what a great time we are going to have here in Finland. Since summer in Finland is such a big deal. (During the summer the sun doesn't always go down... even at midnight the sun is still setting, more on this later). The Finns have many festivals during the summer months. Our head coach was telling us about the Pori Jazz Festival in his hometown that we will be attending. He was mentioning some band names and some famous performers that will be at this festival. One night there will be Stevie Wonder and on Saturday night Alicia Keys, Sunday Macy Gray, and then he said Outkast will be there. Scott and I exchanged looks in astonishment upon hearing Outkast. He said, "Outkast, yeah lots of good bands." So we were pretty impressed and went back and told some of our friends about it. At the next practice our coach came up and said, "you know what I was wrong, the band that will be there is not Outkast but Outlandish." So our coach made a mistake and we thought we were going to see Outkast and it was really Outlandish. We were a little dissapointed but we thought it was funny that our coach got confused and told us that Outkast was coming.
Another story worth noting is that here in the grocery stores not only do you have to bag your own groceries but you also have to buy the bags as well. They only cost 17 cents but you still have to purchase them. The first time I found out was the first day we got here and Thomas told us about that, but I forgot that Scott got in another lane and wasn't there when Thomas explained that to us. So a few days later, we are in line at the grocery store. Scott has a lot of groceries and goes through the lane and pays the lady. Meanwhile, I'm putting my groceries on the counter and Scott says to the cashier, "uh, where are the grocery sacks?" I immediately knew that he either forgot what Thomas told us or wasn't there. So I started to laugh and the lady says, "They are in the front of the line and you can have one." So Scott walks to the front of the line gets one and starts packing his groceries. As I'm paying I see Scott go around me to grab another one and I start to laugh again because I know he has no idea you are suppossed to pay for them. The lady gives him a dirty look as he grabs his second and he goes back to bag the rest of his groceries. I hurried up and got out of the grocery store before I busted out laughing. When we got outside I told Scott that he is suppossed to pay for his bags and told him about the dirty look the cashier gave him. We both had a good laugh on the way back from the grocery store. The look that lady gave him as he grabbed the second bag was priceless. ... more random stories added later.