Yes you read that correctly. Autumn. I waited and waited for summer and warmth here in Helsinki, ... and it never came. They are telling me now that is just going to start raining more and more and getting cooler and cooler. Damn, ... at least the sun is beginning to set at times I am used to.
I will start off clearing something up to appease myself and my mother's side of the family. I am not half gypsy. Gypsies, or the Roma originate from the Asian sub-continent region and immigrated to Hungary, Turkey, and Romania hundreds of years ago, hence there name Roma. They are not in any way related to the indigenous Romanian ethnic group to with I am 50% a member. The Romanian ethnic group descends from the Romans of Italy, who settled and colonized Romania over a millenia ago. The Romanians DNA and Romanian langauge is closest to that of the ancient Latin Romans then any other ancestry in the world, .. this includes modern day Italians. Thank you Wikipedia.
Check out these to videos too. One of makes you smile and want to travel. The second makes you think and realize you should travel.
1st. (first video at the top) http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml
2nd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4
Okay now on to what has happened over the past week.
After Tallinn earlier in the week I had a football game in Tampere which is the second biggest Finnish city outside of the Helsinki area, and is about 3 hours north by bus of Helsinki. It was raining when I woke up, it raining the whole bus ride and it poured the entire game. The Tampere Saints are 0-9 but it was important we ddin't take them lightly and won well. Our passing attack wasn't faded by the rain and after the defense let up scores n the first two drives they pulled it together and shut out the Saints the rest of the game. It was nice to not have to win the game in the last minutes for the first time in months. I even got to sit out a bit towards the end of the game to rest my tender shoulders, and I didn't have to play defense at all. The final was 55-21 at Tampere.The weather is noticeably cooling, and the sun setting early every night. The seasons don't waste any time here in Finland. I am not going out after the game, because I am not trying to have a repeat of last weekend's Finnish everclear blackout and the feeling like crap for the next 2 days. Next two games to finnish out the regular season are at home. Oh and by the way I am now wearing number #56, because in the Butchers game number 75 got destroy by the D-line ripping it off. They play pretty dirty over here.
I went to Tallinn, Estonia or in Estonian, Tallinna, Estee ,for the day today. My cruiseliner laft the harbor in downtown Helsinki at 10.30 this morning and as we left I took some photos. After a two and half hour ride we pulled into the port city and I walked the kilometer or so in the soft rain into Tallinn's Old Town.
The Old Town in Tallinn is supposed to be one of the best perserved medieval cities in Europe and I could see why. It is entirely self-contained and away for the modern hotels and office buildings Tallinn also has. Steeples and towers rise all over the place and the narrow, cobblestoned streets combined with the rainy weather took me right back to ancient times.
It being a Wednesday afternoon and rainy, there weren't many tourists out and about, and I had my pick of what I wanted to see and I didn't mind getting a little wet to do it. I got to check out Europe's oldest pharmacy, as well as the the ancient town hall, and climb the 70meter town hall tower which gets narrower and narrower as you climb.
The town hall is in a wide open expanse of cobblestone named Raekoja plats, and it serves as Old Town market square. It was full of touristy trinkets and goods, and a lot of ugly patterned sweaters. The rain had picked up and I stop for a bite in a little cafe. Because I had only 3.5 hours before the ferry went back to Helsinki, I braved the rain and checked out the extreme impressive Russian Orthodox St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral atop Toompea Hill in the Upper Old Town.
I found a little ledge that overlooked Old Town and snapped a few photos before I humped it back to buy a Estonia sweatshirt and hop on the ferry. The Estonia currency is the EEK. 15EEK=1 Euro. I thought that was funny
Anyways miss you all.
John
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Yes you read that correctly. Autumn. I waited and waited for summer and warmth here in Helsinki, ... and it never came. They are telling me now that is just going to start raining more and more and getting cooler and cooler. Damn, ... at least the sun is beginning to set at times I am used to.
I will start off clearing something up to appease myself and my mother's side of the family. I am not half gypsy. Gypsies, or the Roma originate from the Asian sub-continent region and immigrated to Hungary, Turkey, and Romania hundreds of years ago, hence there name Roma. They are not in any way related to the indigenous Romanian ethnic group to with I am 50% a member. The Romanian ethnic group descends from the Romans of Italy, who settled and colonized Romania over a millenia ago. The Romanians DNA and Romanian langauge is closest to that of the ancient Latin Romans then any other ancestry in the world, .. this includes modern day Italians. Thank you Wikipedia.
Check out these to videos too. One of makes you smile and want to travel. The second makes you think and realize you should travel.
1st. (first video at the top) http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml
2nd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4
Okay now on to what has happened over the past week.
After Tallinn earlier in the week I had a football game in Tampere which is the second biggest Finnish city outside of the Helsinki area, and is about 3 hours north by bus of Helsinki. It was raining when I woke up, it raining the whole bus ride and it poured the entire game. The Tampere Saints are 0-9 but it was important we didn't take them lightly and won well. Our passing attack wasn't faded by the rain and after the defense let up scores on the first two drives, they pulled it together and shut out the Saints the rest of the game. It was nice to not have to win the game in the last minutes for the first time in months. I even got to sit out a bit towards the end of the game to rest my tender shoulders, and I didn't have to play defense at all. The final was 55-21 at Tampere.The weather is noticeably cooling, and the sun setting early every night. The seasons don't waste any time here in Finland. I am not going out after the game, because I am not trying to have a repeat of last weekend's Finnish everclear blackout and the feeling like crap for the next 2 days. Next two games to finish out the regular season are at home. Oh and by the way I am now wearing number #56, because in the Butchers game, number 75 got destroy by the D-line ripping it off. They play pretty dirty over here.
I went to Tallinn, Estonia or in Estonian, Tallinna, Estee ,for the day today. My cruiseliner laft the harbor in downtown Helsinki at 10.30 this morning and as we left I took some photos. After a two and half hour ride we pulled into the port city and I walked the kilometer or so in the soft rain into Tallinn's Old Town.
The Old Town in Tallinn is supposed to be one of the best perserved medieval cities in Europe and I could see why. It is entirely self-contained and away for the modern hotels and office buildings Tallinn also has. Steeples and towers rise all over the place and the narrow, cobblestoned streets combined with the rainy weather took me right back to ancient times.
It being a Wednesday afternoon and rainy, there weren't many tourists out and about, and I had my pick of what I wanted to see and I didn't mind getting a little wet to do it. I got to check out Europe's oldest pharmacy, as well as the the ancient town hall, and climb the 70meter town hall tower which gets narrower and narrower as you climb.
The town hall is in a wide open expanse of cobblestone named Raekoja plats, and it serves as Old Town market square. It was full of touristy trinkets and goods, and a lot of ugly patterned sweaters. The rain had picked up and I stop for a bite in a little cafe. Because I had only 3.5 hours before the ferry went back to Helsinki, I braved the rain and checked out the extreme impressive Russian Orthodox St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral atop Toompea Hill in the Upper Old Town.
I found a little ledge that overlooked Old Town and snapped a few photos before I humped it back to buy a Estonia sweatshirt and hop on the ferry. The Estonia currency is the EEK. 15EEK=1 Euro. I thought that was funny
Anyways miss you all.
John
I will start off clearing something up to appease myself and my mother's side of the family. I am not half gypsy. Gypsies, or the Roma originate from the Asian sub-continent region and immigrated to Hungary, Turkey, and Romania hundreds of years ago, hence there name Roma. They are not in any way related to the indigenous Romanian ethnic group to with I am 50% a member. The Romanian ethnic group descends from the Romans of Italy, who settled and colonized Romania over a millenia ago. The Romanians DNA and Romanian langauge is closest to that of the ancient Latin Romans then any other ancestry in the world, .. this includes modern day Italians. Thank you Wikipedia.
Check out these to videos too. One of makes you smile and want to travel. The second makes you think and realize you should travel.
1st. (first video at the top) http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml
2nd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbvKrH-GC4
Okay now on to what has happened over the past week.
After Tallinn earlier in the week I had a football game in Tampere which is the second biggest Finnish city outside of the Helsinki area, and is about 3 hours north by bus of Helsinki. It was raining when I woke up, it raining the whole bus ride and it poured the entire game. The Tampere Saints are 0-9 but it was important we didn't take them lightly and won well. Our passing attack wasn't faded by the rain and after the defense let up scores on the first two drives, they pulled it together and shut out the Saints the rest of the game. It was nice to not have to win the game in the last minutes for the first time in months. I even got to sit out a bit towards the end of the game to rest my tender shoulders, and I didn't have to play defense at all. The final was 55-21 at Tampere.The weather is noticeably cooling, and the sun setting early every night. The seasons don't waste any time here in Finland. I am not going out after the game, because I am not trying to have a repeat of last weekend's Finnish everclear blackout and the feeling like crap for the next 2 days. Next two games to finish out the regular season are at home. Oh and by the way I am now wearing number #56, because in the Butchers game, number 75 got destroy by the D-line ripping it off. They play pretty dirty over here.
I went to Tallinn, Estonia or in Estonian, Tallinna, Estee ,for the day today. My cruiseliner laft the harbor in downtown Helsinki at 10.30 this morning and as we left I took some photos. After a two and half hour ride we pulled into the port city and I walked the kilometer or so in the soft rain into Tallinn's Old Town.
The Old Town in Tallinn is supposed to be one of the best perserved medieval cities in Europe and I could see why. It is entirely self-contained and away for the modern hotels and office buildings Tallinn also has. Steeples and towers rise all over the place and the narrow, cobblestoned streets combined with the rainy weather took me right back to ancient times.
It being a Wednesday afternoon and rainy, there weren't many tourists out and about, and I had my pick of what I wanted to see and I didn't mind getting a little wet to do it. I got to check out Europe's oldest pharmacy, as well as the the ancient town hall, and climb the 70meter town hall tower which gets narrower and narrower as you climb.
The town hall is in a wide open expanse of cobblestone named Raekoja plats, and it serves as Old Town market square. It was full of touristy trinkets and goods, and a lot of ugly patterned sweaters. The rain had picked up and I stop for a bite in a little cafe. Because I had only 3.5 hours before the ferry went back to Helsinki, I braved the rain and checked out the extreme impressive Russian Orthodox St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral atop Toompea Hill in the Upper Old Town.
I found a little ledge that overlooked Old Town and snapped a few photos before I humped it back to buy a Estonia sweatshirt and hop on the ferry. The Estonia currency is the EEK. 15EEK=1 Euro. I thought that was funny
Anyways miss you all.
John
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Butchers and Hyvaa syntymapaivaa, Hilarity does not Ensue.
I am not feeling to clever right now so I apologize for the straightforward manner of this email.
Well it is Sunday night in Helsinki and have been sore and hungover all day. We had a big win yesterday against the Porvoo Butchers in Porvoo, a town 30 mins. west of Helsinki. They are the 2-time defending Finnish champions and in first-place in the league this year as well. The final was 37-35, but finishing the game on a 23-0 run, for the win. We are now 6-3 and tied in second in the league. We are pretty much locked for the playoffs, which are the first 2 weeks of September.
Again I had to play the entire game both ways and it is really starting to wear on my body, especially my arms and shoulders. I am only about 255 lbs. right now, so I have to struggle to not get pushed back against some of the bigger guys in the league. I also had to long-snap this game, and luckily I didn't botch the game-winning field goal snap.
The funniest thing I think about the amount I've been playing is that I am 2nd in the league in sacks, and leading the league in blocked kicks. Here I am an undersized offensive tackle, just playing football... I guess this is what I remembered most about what I loved about football from high school.
After the game the team had a gameroom rented out at the Finnair Stadium that includes a locker room, sauna, pool tables and entertainment area. Finnish moonshine was involved, and of course they all make the American drink a lot of it. I was so tired from the game, it wasn't long before I was done for the night.
Anyways, I will briefly catch you up on what's happened up until now.
THINGS I'VE DONE SINCE LAST EMAIL
We had a couple weeks off in the middle of July and I went to Stockholm for a couple days with a few guys from the team. The Roosters biggest sponsor is Viking Cruiselines so we get free crusies to Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia. Cruise leaves in the evening and you arrive in the morning spend the day in Stockholm, and take the boat back the following night. The cruiseliner is pretty large, and houses a casino, a few restaurants, nightclub, and huge Duty-free shop.
I've been sailing out and around all of the islands and penisulas that make out the coastline around Helsinki. I attempted to wakeboard and I realized that it is something that looks much easier to do then it actually is. I could stay vertical on the board for more then are few seconds, I guess I need to work on my balance.
The weather has not been great. I got above 80 one weekend, but it mostly hovers in the mid to high 60s. Everyone says it usually isn't this cold in the summer, so I guess just lucky me.
I turned 25 this past Thursday. A quarter-century. Enough said.
A bunch of the guys from the team took me out to dinner after practice and it was a good time. Here is a link to a youtube video I didn't realize was being taken while I get sung Happy Birthday is Finnish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLQa9KFSURk. The lighting is bad, but I think you can get the idea.
Beyond that I've been taking it easy. Trying to stay healthy and in shape. The gym they have for me here is great, and I've gotten used to the kilograms. The novelty of living in a foreign city has wore off, but I am definetly still having a great time.
You can visually follow my shenannigans and hiijinks by looking at photos on myspace and facebook pages. Hilarity will most definetly ensue.
myspace.com/jtmckeon and http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=11808224
I am sure I am leaving things out but I am tired. How go things in Raleigh and New York??
Is keg room in dissarray??
Did someone forget to roll in the awnings??
Lindsay and Tanya have gave me a bit of low down, but I thirst for more.
Before you know I am gonna be back, miss you all.
John
Well it is Sunday night in Helsinki and have been sore and hungover all day. We had a big win yesterday against the Porvoo Butchers in Porvoo, a town 30 mins. west of Helsinki. They are the 2-time defending Finnish champions and in first-place in the league this year as well. The final was 37-35, but finishing the game on a 23-0 run, for the win. We are now 6-3 and tied in second in the league. We are pretty much locked for the playoffs, which are the first 2 weeks of September.
Again I had to play the entire game both ways and it is really starting to wear on my body, especially my arms and shoulders. I am only about 255 lbs. right now, so I have to struggle to not get pushed back against some of the bigger guys in the league. I also had to long-snap this game, and luckily I didn't botch the game-winning field goal snap.
The funniest thing I think about the amount I've been playing is that I am 2nd in the league in sacks, and leading the league in blocked kicks. Here I am an undersized offensive tackle, just playing football... I guess this is what I remembered most about what I loved about football from high school.
After the game the team had a gameroom rented out at the Finnair Stadium that includes a locker room, sauna, pool tables and entertainment area. Finnish moonshine was involved, and of course they all make the American drink a lot of it. I was so tired from the game, it wasn't long before I was done for the night.
Anyways, I will briefly catch you up on what's happened up until now.
THINGS I'VE DONE SINCE LAST EMAIL
We had a couple weeks off in the middle of July and I went to Stockholm for a couple days with a few guys from the team. The Roosters biggest sponsor is Viking Cruiselines so we get free crusies to Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia. Cruise leaves in the evening and you arrive in the morning spend the day in Stockholm, and take the boat back the following night. The cruiseliner is pretty large, and houses a casino, a few restaurants, nightclub, and huge Duty-free shop.
I've been sailing out and around all of the islands and penisulas that make out the coastline around Helsinki. I attempted to wakeboard and I realized that it is something that looks much easier to do then it actually is. I could stay vertical on the board for more then are few seconds, I guess I need to work on my balance.
The weather has not been great. I got above 80 one weekend, but it mostly hovers in the mid to high 60s. Everyone says it usually isn't this cold in the summer, so I guess just lucky me.
I turned 25 this past Thursday. A quarter-century. Enough said.
A bunch of the guys from the team took me out to dinner after practice and it was a good time. Here is a link to a youtube video I didn't realize was being taken while I get sung Happy Birthday is Finnish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLQa9KFSURk. The lighting is bad, but I think you can get the idea.
Beyond that I've been taking it easy. Trying to stay healthy and in shape. The gym they have for me here is great, and I've gotten used to the kilograms. The novelty of living in a foreign city has wore off, but I am definetly still having a great time.
You can visually follow my shenannigans and hiijinks by looking at photos on myspace and facebook pages. Hilarity will most definetly ensue.
myspace.com/jtmckeon and http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=11808224
I am sure I am leaving things out but I am tired. How go things in Raleigh and New York??
Is keg room in dissarray??
Did someone forget to roll in the awnings??
Lindsay and Tanya have gave me a bit of low down, but I thirst for more.
Before you know I am gonna be back, miss you all.
John
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