We had plans to meet up with Alex' relative Tanja so we took the BART to Civic Center, and walked to City Hall from there. Tanja picked us up and we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge, a first for Anna and Harju. Even though Alex had seen the bridge before she was also amazed by its red beauty, and all of us were thrilled to cross the bridge and drive up the hill on the other side. The view up there was astonishingly beautiful, you could see the whole bridge, far out on the sea, Alcatraz and the San Francisco skyline. We enjoyed it up there for a while, and then drove down the hillside and back across the bridge.
Yep, soccer outside City Hall. For F's sake!
Tanja then took us downtown to visit the crystal store Satin Crystals that Sheila and her sister Lisa (from the dinner the night before) own. Lisa was working that day, so we got to meet her one more time, and talk a bit. We got thrown away by the amount of different crystals and their powers, and had a hard time choosing pieces as gifts and for ourselves. Eventually we picked out the right ones, said goodbye to Lisa and headed back out.
Tanja gave us a ride to the BART station, and in a few minutes we were back in Oakland. We got back to Andrea's and started preparing for our trip to Berkeley where the Open Mic at Freight & Salvage was about to take place that night. We met Tommi's girlfriend Liis who had arrived in San Fran that day, and together with her, Tommi and Aksel we took the BART to Berkeley. When we arrived we gave the three others directions to Telegraph Avenue, and when they set off we walked the other way to check out the spot for the Open Mic. Freight & Salvage wouldn't open until 7pm so we sat down at a café/juice bar, and walked a few blocks up and down to kill time.
We didn't expect the Open Mic to attract an awful lot of performers, so we went back to Freight just before 7pm. Oh, how wrong we were. A long line had formed while we were gone, a line filled with only performers. When we got in and Anna signed up we noticed we had gotten there last minute, they stopped the sign-ups at performer no. 33, Anna was no. 30. Tommi, who had planned on doing a song just for fun, didn't make the list. He was first on the waiting list though, and eventually got to perform anyway.
The show started around 8pm, and the audience got to see a lot of different performances. Some weren't very impressive or interesting, but in the crowd a select few really stood out with either their talent, their message, or both. For example we really enjoyed the music of a singer/songwriter from Louisiana, Kelly Love Jones and her little kid Sky whom she had brought with her on stage. Alex even bought a CD from her and connected a bit for future collaborations. Another act that really impressed us was a group of five young people from Seattle and their guitar, violin, upright bass, banjo and mandolin. They were called the Blackberry Bushes and stunned the crowd with their extremely fast playing, beautiful harmonies and fantastic energy.
During the show our new friend Salome, who was about to stay at Andrea's together with us the next night, showed up and introduced herself. She is a really nice young girl from Switzerland that we liked even though we got to spend so little time with her.
The Open Mic show was very long, and unfortunately some people eventually started to pack up and leave. Anna had to wait four hours to get to perform, and was by then really tired and not really in the mood to perform. But she did "Oh James, when all's lost in confidence" anyway, and even though she didn't think she played too well she thought it was fun and attracted excited applause and a few cheers. Tommi played a cover after Anna, borrowing her guitar, and after rewarding him with our applause and compliments we ran off to catch the last BART. We got to the station just in time, and back in Oakland we eventually went to sleep.
Wednesday morning (well, more like afternoon) we woke up, not as well rested as we would have wished but still up and going. We said goodbye to Andrea who had to leave for work early, and left the other Finns a note since they took off without goodbyes (we figured they probably thought they'd see us before we left). Packing our stuff logically was a fight, and after brutally losing the battle we began our next one: getting our painfully heavy load to the BART a few blocks down. That trip seemed to last forever and resulted in lots of sweat, bruises, sore muscles and a really bad mood. Unfortunately those symptoms returned to us many times during the rest of our trip, but I guess that's close to fair since our trip home would take three days which we would spend with heavy bags, irregular eating and almost no sleep at all. In other words, we didn't look forward to it the least bit.
Andrea taught Tommi a bit of hula hula, while he taught her to change bike tires. Nice trade!At the Millbrae BART station relatives Greta and Vicki picked us up and drove us to Greta's place. Spending our last hours in San Francisco together with them, Tanja and Rob got our moods up and we shared a few conversations and laughs together with them. We also ended our stay in San Francisco the same way we started it: with takeout from Chef Wang's. Yummie! Thanks for the food and the company, guys!
An El Rancho shuttle picked us up, and after hugging everyone goodbye we got on it, and were at the San Francisco airport in a few minutes. Checking in and walking through security went smoothly, and on the other side we bought some water and snacks, and waited for our 10.30pm plane.
New Jersey airport, with a view of Manhattan!
ZzZzzzZZzZzZ!This flight would take us to Newark (the New Jersey airport) where a twelve hour layover waited for us. The flight was five hours long and we lost an additional three due to the time difference, so it was night during the whole flight. At least Anna didn't sleep a single second during that flight (well, any of the flights for that matter) and the situation wasn't much better for the other two either. On that flight we were also disappointed in a few important matters and are planning on contacting United Airlines to tell them off.
First of all, we were sitting in the emergency exit row, which meant that we in case of emergency would have a huge responsibility that the other passengers didn't have. So of course we had to read a separate safety card to get the information we needed in how to operate the exit and so on. So we were instructed to read no. 1-10 on a list of actions to be performed in case of emergency. Here's the thing, though; Alex noticed that right beside those 1-10 were requirements that pointed out who had the capability to perform the emergency actions. If you couldn't fulfill those requirements you had to move to another seat. So you wonder: why the hell weren't we instructed to read that part of the manual? Isn't it a pretty essential part of rescuing a hundred people being able to do so? For example, one of the requirements were that you had to know English and understand everything on the manual. Well, beside us, on the other side of the row, sat a woman who clearly didn't know English since she had to ask someone what all of it meant. No one payed attention to this and this woman, who didn't know the languange, was one of the people who held the rest of the passangers' lives in her hands. Comforting?
Another thing that was very disturbing was the fact that another woman in the exit row was seemingly drunk already when she got on the plane, and continued drinking during the flight. No one payed any attention to her condition, and you can also ask yourself if it is okay to serve alcohol to people required to take action and be aware if needed. System failure? Definitely.
Another thing United Airlines will hear about is a certain, very unfriendly, flight attendant. This was a woman who took advantage of her supposed power and position and obviously put us passangers below herself when she eyed us or talked to us. She constantly gave us rude looks and seemed to hate doing what she did, serving and helping us. When you have the job she has common courtesy is not too much to ask for. A concrete example would be her serving us drinks; she spilled water all over Alex and Anna, and didn't give a crap about it.
She was also the one who, with a horrible attitude, commanded us to read the manual. When Alex couldn't find the Swedish translation for a word Anna hadn't heard before we asked her, and she, instead of just giving us an obvious synonyme that Alex thought of a second after, started explaining the word slowly as she was mocking us, as if we were 5 years old, or stupid. It felt really undermining. Being around her was very unpleasant, she didn't smile at all, not once during the entire flight. Quit the attitude, woman! If you have a bad day and let your bad and grumpy attitude affect your passengers of clients, then you have the wrong job.
On top of everything we noticed a disturbing thing about the general safety on board. When the safety belt sign is lit the flight attendants walk down the aisle checking that everyone has fastened their belts. Only they don't check. On this particular flight (though this has been the case on pretty much every flight we've ever been on) the stewardesses cast a glance to each side now and then, missing whole rows and not seeming to care the least bit. We even tested this by hiding our belts so there was no way they could have seen we had fastened them if they didn't stop to check. No one did, they just walked by.
Okay, so it is your own responsibility to have you safety belt on while flying, and if you're stupid enough to ignore it then well, sucks to be you when you fly around the whole plane during turbulence. Only, the fact is that you not being tied to your seat actually is a danger to everyone else on the plane too, which is why the cabin crew shouldn't be so careless when making sure the possibility of people getting hurt because of someone's stupidity doesn't exist.
You either take away people's responsibility and then take care of them (not recommended), or you leave it up to them but also take care of them as they will of you (recommended). What they practise now is neither. We call it fake safety. And it makes you wonder, what else is fake safety on board? Scary thought.
So the San Fran-New Jersey trip was tough, and it wasn't comforting to think that we weren't even close to coming home yet.
The first thing we did when we got to Newark was finding our gate, getting a bite to eat and laying down on the carpeted floor to desperately try and catch some sleep. We actually succeeded and slept all in all about three or four hours, but we still weren't very rested since the hard floor and horribly strong and cold air conditioning woke us up several times during that time. But it still paid off in some way, cause when we woke up we were in a pretty good mood considering the circumstances, and after that the rest of the waiting time didn't seem too long. We spent our last dollars on some pizza and, in Anna's case, a donut (hey, I had to try a Dunkin' Donut when I had the chance!), and got on our second plane to Copenhagen.
This time all our seats were not in the same place, Anna's was apart from the others. Now, this flight would be seven hours long, of course we all wanted to sit together. Anna kindly asked a young man who was in the (aisle) seat next to Alex if he wouldn't mind swapping seats with her so that she could sit with her friends. The guy's answer was no, because he wanted an aisle seat. "I go to the bathroom a lot" he said. Anna also, and kindly, asked the man with the seat next to her if he could consider sitting in the middle, giving this young guy his aisle seat. He rudely said no without hesitation or explanation. It almost looked like he really enjoyed watching Anna having to sit down away from her sister and friend. A stranger who had nothing to do with the situation even dropped the comment "We like the aisle". The unspoken answer in Anna's head sounded something like "Well, I like my sister, and seven hours is a friggin' long time. But if an aisle seat really is that damn important then I guess there's nothing I can do." So okay, fine. We figured these two aisle-sitters had really good reasons for their no's.
We later learned they didn't. After seven hours of, in Anna's case, not being able to sleep and having no one to talk to, we were getting off the plane, all three of us deeply pissed. The young guy sitting beside Alex not giving up his seat slept beside the damn aisle the whole trip and got up to use the bathroom ONCE. He even looked really mad and disrespectful when Alex had to get up to use the restroom. And the guy sitting next to Anna also got up to use the bathroom twice, tops. People are really selfish these days. If any of us three were travelling alone a long flight and saw someone sitting apart from their group, OF COURSE we would give up our seat so that they could sit together. What good would it do to have them sit apart when they don't have to if you just find a little generosity in you? And seriously, if you travel alone, how the hell can it matter so damn much where you sit? So yeah, the second flight wasn't much of a success either.
In Copenhagen we had another 8 hours worth of waiting before our last flight to Helsinki would take off, so we decided to take the subway to downtown Copenhagen to look around and maybe see Christiania. So we bought 24 hour tickets so we'd get to downtown and back at any time, and got on the subway. When a ticket cop (heh :P) came over to check our tickets he told us to get off at the next station; apparently you had to stamp your ticket. At the airport we looked at a stamp machine and thought we didn't have to since it told people to only stamp ten trip-tickets, which was not the kind of ticket we had. So we got off the subway train, stamped our tickets and waited for the next one. You would at least expect stamp machines not to have the wrong information on them, resulting in you having to get off the train during your trip. System failure, Denmark. Not cool.
We got downtown and walked a long ways, saw a little street market and sat down on a bench to rest our legs. Harju had been feeling a little dizzy and had a headache for our whole trip, and suddenly realized he had a fever. Poor guy.
Do the Danes really need this info? And we thought the Americans were stupid!
Hmm...
We then decided to try and find our way to Christiania. We eventually did although we sadly just had a short time there. Christiania is a safe haven for hippies, which sadly is losing its independence. We were happy to see it before it's just tourists and no herbs. See, here marijuana is grown pretty much everywhere, and the houses are hand-built and the people generous and kind. This is something that works - but of course the State wants to tear it down. We enjoyed ourselves though; the people, the colours, the beautiful plants, and a quick coffee at Woodstock café. No smoking for us, this time. ;)
And for you people who think this is a "bad" neighbourhood with violence and hard drugs - you're way off! This is peaceful, and violence, hard drugs (which marijuana is NOT!), weapons and theft are all illegal. You have to be accepted by the community to get to live there, and no weirdo's (by their and our standards) are let in. This is a place for people with real moral standards. Real values. We like!
After enjoying Christiania we headed straight back to the airport to get something to eat and search for our gate. We stopped to eat something at a place at the airport called Kitchen & Co. Anna and Alex had some pizzas and were fairly okay with the outcome. Harju on the other hand was really disappointed with his meal. So due to expensive prices, bad service and the food not tasting good, Harju, after evaluation, instead of giving points TAKES four garden chairs from Kitchen & Co.
After eating we tried to sleep on another carpeted floor for an hour or so, and then got on our last plane. Alex and Harju fell asleep, those lucky bastards. Anna could, once again, not sleep for a single second. Damn. After the flight we went to claim our baggage, and Anna noticed in horror that her guitar was missing. Damn you, United Airlines. Her guitar, man! Hopefully it will arrive in Kronoby next week, though.
We left the airport to take a bus into the city. At this point we were really frustrated with our luggage and not having slept properly, and tried to hurry our way to get some train tickets for the train the next day. After getting them we took the tram to Alex' friend Hanna's apartment where we would get to sleep one night before finally heading home by train. Thanks Hanna for giving up your place for a night, the good night's rest and cuddling with the cats did us much good!
Yesterday morning we took the train up to Bennäs and the waiting family. Now everyone is a bit more rested and are slowly landing on this west coast. We still want to give everyone that have helped us out a big thank you so here's a list and we hope no one is forgotten:
Petas, Emma, Hanna, Inga & Julia
Vicki, Greta, Rob, Tanja & Allie
Ryan Fikejs
Maureen Whittaker & Brandy
Ramona
Asana Tea House
Bad With Names
Amanda West & Pete Coates
East Village Coffee Lounge
Mason Smith (+ the other frat dudes!)
Scott Kosits
Jeff Cleland at Hyde Street
Lynn Gentry
Mama Buzz Café
Steeltown Coffee & Tea (especially Adrian!)
Tragic Ends
John Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone
John Mount
Andrea Donnelly
Tommi, Aksel, Liis, Salome
Sheila & Lisa Satin, Matthew, Lisa & Paul and the others!
And of course our sponsors:
Musikstationen
ÖP
Svenska Kulturfonden
Kronoby kommun
Kronoby Andelsbank
Medwind läkarmottagning
Högnäs
Café 13
And just to sum things up we would like to quote some people:
- It's like a well-orchestrated, but very depressing puppet show.
(John Vanderslice about the American government.)
- Look, dude.
- Nice, man. It's like a flower. It's like a rose.
- Yeah.
(Frat boys, summed up!)
- I can feel her spirit around.
- Her spirit is a walker.
- No, your spirit is a walker, man!
(Heard on the corner of Haight and Ashbury. The hippies are still around spreading the truth.)
Articles about the trip can be read on ÖP and Musikstationen shortly! So be sure to follow up on our adventures. We on the other hand will head out on a new one - roadtrippin' to hippie festival Burg-Herzberg (and NO, we won't be blogging about that!).
Stay peaceful and stay in touch!
//the phoenix crew signing out.
