What I love

Well, got my viscera moved.  I like talking to the therapists, they are always very interesting, and they like to talk about diet and alternative healing practices and therapy. Took a sauna after, because even though it was hot out, it only costs $5 w/massage and I thought it might be good for me.

A year ago tomorrow, I left for Finland. And that was where I had my first sauna, in Eluvori maybe? I'll need to look up the name. Near Sastamala, a ski resort in the winter. I was nervous about getting naked with people I knew casually. I didn't know how saunas worked. As it turned out, one of my roommates had an extra swimsuit which she loaned me, and which fit, and we went separately by gender, so it was very crowded with the women. The older women kept dumping water on the fire, so it was super hot, and then we beat each other with birch branches (which, while it might get out aggression, doesn't actually hurt much when they are wet.) Ended up being a great bonding experience for all of us, I think. (This would be with the Finnish Choral Society, we were on a choir tour in S. Finland for a week.) I later went in a second sauna with my cousin and a friend the last night I was in Finland. While trying to stay as long as possible in there today, I thought with great affection of everyone that made that trip possible, everyone I spent time with, and everyone I encountered on that trip. It was pretty wonderful. Magical. Picture is from a day trip I took with my cousin to Estonia. (I had no expectations before I went, I didn't even know I was going until pretty close to the time to leave. I didn't think I could afford to go.  I had just gone to Portugal the previous autumn, which had used up any extra money I had.)

Tallinn, Estonia/L Herlevi 2012

This will be more gushy than articulate, but what I love about my country is that it is a great melting pot, and every wave of immigrants made our country greater than it was before.  I love the potential. The possibility of what we could be if we weren't so afraid, could embrace each other, learn, grow.

I love the Fourth of July. It's my favorite holiday. I love being in a crowd of people waiting to watch the fireworks, and looking around and seeing people from 20 or 30 different countries, just in my vicinity. Not tourists, but people who are building a life here. And we're all happy, and hanging out together and getting along. And while I know this doesn't happen all the time, the fact that it does, and that it can, and that we can share in one another's cultures is a beautiful thing. Feels my heart with joy.

Happy birthday America!