Job Rotation, Day 29
For my leaving Tornio event, I was invited to a ‘secret location’… I was told that it was Terho’s friend’s sauna that he had made himself. He had bought a shell of a barn from Tervola (I think) and brought it to Tornio. He has renovated the inside, it has a bar, seats and sofas, a changing area and then a sauna for 4 people (any more it would been a bit close)… Then outside he had a deck with a table and chair set for about 8, and there was decking all the way through the trees to his house. It was in a really nice setting, the houses I have seen in Tornio are all located in really nice areas; they are set back into the trees and there is not many houses packed into an area like you get in Sheffield.
He invited us up to his house where he showed us an old Chevvy gangster car (can’t remember the year), but you could tell he was very into cars and bikes because he had a lot of posters and tools. There were also 2 motorbikes and another 2 cars in the garage… They were really nice, I just wish I knew more about cars to be able to talk more about them - I guess I am a bit of a girl when it comes to cars. He also showed us around his attic… He likes to collect things, he had a really nice display of toy cars and motorbikes, tickets to concerts (rock and blues), old transistor radios, and then about 7 or 8 guitars of different types. He knocked out a quick tune on a stainless acoustic which was pretty impressive.
We started with some beers (Sandles), and we cooked some sausages on an open fire with a long cooking fork. I wasn’t so worried about getting covered in smoke since I old had 2 days left and I had now mastered the washing machine…! We moved the party inside and started in the sauna, it was a wood burning one (unlike the electric ones I had got used to on this trip) and the heat was so different, it was a lot nicer and I could stay in there for as long, I noticed the temperature was around 80-90 degrees at waist height, so might have been warmer higher up… I stayed on the stool because I am a newbie and don’t want to have to get out first :-)
We had a nice discussion about work and about the things I had done while I had been there, it was nice to hear that I have had a positive impact while I have been here and it was nice to hear about the people I have worked with lives’. We were drinking more sauna beers and we started on some shots called ‘tar’. It’s similar to the stuff you waterproof your boats with…! It was really nice and smokey and went down very well with more beers.
We finished in the Sauna about 10.30 and made our way to Kemi to see the nightlife, unfortunately on a Wednesday evening there isn’t much, so we had a quick drink in one of the bars and then made our way back to Tornio. I could feel my eyes drifting to sleep, but I fought it off until I got back into the apartment and don’t remember much after that.
I woke up with a bit of a headache, but good memories of the night before which is what the aim of the game is… I am very grateful to be treated so well while I have been here, even though it was for a relatively short time. I have been entertained all the way through, with things to do at the weekends and the hospitality has been excellent!