...I got in touch with my wild side

And by 'wild' I mean feral.
Yes, this is kind of about Japan again but this story takes place in quaint little Finland. Let's go back in time to the year 2014. It was August and I had just returned from Japan (and also Hawaii). I remember this because while returning the airline managed to lose my suitcase so I had lost a year's worth of clothes and memorabilia and I was pretty broken up about it. But there was something that made my day a bit brighter: I was going to meet a bunch of my friends in Finland. See, one of the Finnish girls, Reetta, had invited me, Tytti and Mary to her summer cottage in the Turku archipelago. Mary was doing a Euro-trip with her family and she had convinced them to join us for a few days. I couldn't miss this opportunity so I gathered what little clothes I had left, stuffed them into a duffel bag and headed to Finland.
The trip to Turku wasn't too exciting so I'm going to summarize it in a few lines: I got on a boat, a train, was confused by the language (so much like Estonian but so... not), met up with my friends and took a quick trip around Turku. It was great seeing everybody again and I almost felt as if I hadn't left at all. The next day we headed off to the summer cottage to enjoy the end of Summer as northerners do: with sauna, barbecue and beer - a winning combination. I have a distinct feeling there was something other than beer being served at the cottage but I honestly can't remember.
Anyway, the day started off pretty tame. We had lunch on a small open terrace next to the house, took a little walk around the forest and just enjoyed the beautiful (although a bit chilly) weather. As it got darker we popped open our first beers and heated up the sauna and the grill. I'd been away for a year and realized just then how I'd missed the little things I love about Estonia: the forests, the clean air, the food, sauna and just the general atmosphere. I guess that's what made me get in touch with my more... primitive side.
It all started with dinner. We'd gotten some steaks and started to grill them as the sun was already set and it was almost pitch black outside. The crowd that was with us in the cottage had split into smaller  groups with some of us in the house and others outside. Me and Tytti were outside, waiting for our stakes to cook, staring at them with ravenous eyes. We were pretty hungry and the meat looked just so delicious... As soon as the stakes were ready we grabbed some plates and...
'Uh... where are the knives and forks?'
We were both trying to find them on the wooden table on the terrace but they weren't there. They were supposed to be but apparently someone had forgotten to bring them outside. Or perhaps they weren't even supposed to be outside. I guess by that point we had had a few drinks because neither me nor Tytti realized that it would have been incredibly easy just to go inside and grab some utensils. Instead, we solved the problem in our own way.
'What are we supposed to eat these with?'
'Our hands?'
'What...? Should we?'
'Why not?'
....
......
'Yes, we definitely should.'
It was a sound plan. A sound, disgusting plan. See, this is why I'm 100% sure there was more than beer involved. Perhaps vodka. Perhaps tequila. Perhaps both... simultaneously. In any case, the next moment I found myself with a huge chunk of meat in my hands, ripping it apart with my teeth like some kind of feral animal. I'm pretty sure I growled. In hindsight, it was one of the most unfeminine things I have ever done. I would've been ashamed as well if it hadn't been for the cover of darkness and the fact that I wasn't the only one going primal on a piece of meat. In the dark no one could see the grease running down my fingers or the BBQ sauce covering my face. They could hear the animal noises I was making but they probably thought it was a rabid bear or something. I'm pretty sure I sounded like that. I've got to say though that it must have been one of the best steaks I've had in my life. It was gone in a matter of minutes and I was left with greasy hands, a full stomach and an overwhelming sense of shame... which disappeared relatively quickly with the help of a bit of Salmiakki (the only drink in the world made of demon bile).
Next was the sauna. It had been a long time that I'd been in a real sauna and I was loving every moment of it. It was hot, dry and there was a lake just a few steps away. Jumping into the ice cold water after a ling stay in the sauna I felt alive and full of energy. I didn't even realize how much I'd missed that feeling until I experienced it. I felt... strangely free. Everything was amazing. And the weird part: I don't usually enjoy dipping into cold water after sauna. I'm more of a snow girl myself.
I wasn't the only one who was really feeling the sauna. Even the Hawaiians were on board with it, even though the whole concept must have sounded insane to them when they first heard it, and Tytti was doing flips when jumping into the lake. I don't remember how long we stayed in the sauna but it must have been one of my longest sauna sessions. I don't even remember when I got to the small cabin I was sharing with Mary. All I know is I had an amazing night that made me feel truly... Estonian again.
Aaaaand then there was the morning after.
Well... yeah... I remember the ground felt unstable hours after waking up. I didn't feel sick, just... unsteady. I wasn't the only one suffering though. We were all tired, groggy, a bit sick and very, very slow... Oh, and Tytti's face looked like she'd had a one-on-one with Rocky Balboa the previous evening. Apparently, while doing her flips she had miscalculated a bit and attacked the lake with her face. The lake won. The bruises didn't disappear for a few days but hey, what doesn't kill you...
I had to head back to Estonia that very day and the trip was... not really as bad as it could have been. I survived and by the time lunch came around I felt like a human being again. Despite the morning after being what it was I don't really have any regrets. Not about eating meat with my hands or taking a topless dip in an ice cold lake. Nope, it was a great night and remembering it makes me miss that Summer more than ever. Oh, to be young again...

...I was on a road trip with roaches

This happened a while ago, waaaaay before I became Dietrich's owner. Oh yeah, that's the name of my car. Because he's a Volkswagen... Anyway, it was during my second trip to Hawaii, when I went there for two months... for 'tourism'. Back then I didn't have a car of my own so the only time I had the chance to drive was when my mom lent me her car. And that didn't happen very often. So by the time I reached Hawaii I hadn't driven for over a year but I didn't think about it too much. After all, the likelihood of me having to drive there was relatively low.
Little did I know...
I went to Hawaii with my sister and her best friend and at first we hung out together on Kauai. They decided to go island hopping while I decided to mooch off my friend Mary and try to find a 'volunteer' job. While they were island hopping my sister and her friend decided to turn to couch surfing for accommodation. If you aren't familiar with it... google it. Basically, it's a website where people offer housing for travelers for free. It's a great way of meeting new people and traveling when you're broke.
Long story short: after my sister and her friend started island hopping they had some issues with one of their couch surfing hosts. I don't remember what happened there but suddenly they found themselves on Kauai with no place to stay and no way to get to my friend Mary's place. They called us and asked for help and that's when it was decided that since everybody else was busy I should take one of their cars and go pick them up.
That was... wonderful... (I'm being super sarcastic here). I hadn't driven for ages and I had never enjoyed it. Besides, this was a completely unfamiliar car (a PT Cruiser) and a completely unfamiliar place. Thankfully Kauai only has one highway that goes around the island so it was unlikely for me to get lost (although I can be pretty gifted at getting lost when I want to be) and Mary drew me a nice little map of Lihue (where my sister-guys were currently stranded). Okay, I was panicking a bit but I had to do it. It was my job to help them out and besides, the car was an automatic so it couldn't be that hard, right?
'Oh, by the way, there's a roach infestation in the car. Just thought you should know,' were Mary's parting words as she waved at me sitting in the car, 'And the AC doesn't work.'
Lovely. This was getting better by the minute. Not only was it hot as hell outside, I also had to deal with roaches. It's not that I'm afraid of roaches - I can handle them if I need to and they're nothing compared to spiders - but I don't particularly like them. Anything with more that four legs is an abomination in my eyes (well, maybe not butterflies but everything else - yes, even ladybugs).The AC was a bigger problem because - guess what! - it was really hot outside. Well, I guess I could just roll down the windows... except there were parts of the island that smelled like week old roadkill. Whatever, I just needed to suck it up and get to the airport. How hard could it be?
The first five minutes were terrifying... and then it got worse. I realized the PT wasn't a very powerful car. Driving uphill was a nightmare because the car moved like a 60-year-old morbidly obese grandmother about to have an asthma attack, whereas going downhill it moved like an Olympic skier. It rattled a bit and it got really hot and stuffy inside in a matter of minutes but hey, I'd driven worse. At least it wasn't stick shift (yeah, I've still not gotten on to that bandwagon). The really horrifying part came when I saw a sight that told me that the speed limit was 25 m/ph.
Why was that so scary? Well, I realized I knew nothing of the rules and regulations of the area. Was my driver's licence even valid here? I mean, it should have been but one can never know. And how would I prove that the car wasn't stolen if someone decided to pull me over? How fast was I allowed to go on the highway? How fast could I go in town? Was there anything else I needed to know? I felt like I was driving blind. I had a faint idea of what I was doing but it still felt like I was lost. My only hope was that no one decided to pull me over. Until then I decided to go as fast as the people in front of me and act as if I knew what I was doing. That's kind of how I go through life anyway so I hoped it'd work for me this time as well.
The one highway thing really worked to my advantage here because it is like a conveyor belt - you don't really have many opportunities to pass the car in front of you because the road is curvy and there's a bunch of hills. That way everyone moves at almost the same pace. I just got in line with everyone else and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible until I reached Lihue.
Once I got there... well, by that time I'd gotten the hang of driving on the island but now I was faced with another problem. The map Mary had drawn me was... well, I can't say it was confusing but I felt as if it didn't represent the actual area all that well. Also, I met Rodney. Rodney the Roach. That's what I named him. He popped up when I was almost in Lihue. I don't know where he came from - he might have been crawling up my leg the whole drive - but one minute he was on edge of the windshield on my left, just happily crawling along, looking like he was one second away from jumping at my face.
As I've said, I don't mind cockroaches that much and I can leave them be if they're doing their thing in a dark corner somewhere. But Rodney was huge and he was in my face - almost literally. I tend to be a jumpy person so I was somewhat concerned that if he did decide to do a leap of faith and jump at me I would probably crash the car... and Rodney would survive that.
I think I don't need to say that I was pretty jumpy the whole time I was driving through town. I didn't know where I was going and Rodney didn't make things easier for me, being in my field of view the whole time. I did almost drive past the intersection where I was supposed to turn right but a last minute maneuver saved me from doing a lap around town. I did break some laws doing that but nobody seemed to mind. The sudden motion startled Rodney, however, who let go of the window and tumbled down... into my lap.
Gross. So, so gross...
In any other situation I would have jumped up and thrown him off of me. But I was driving so I didn't have an option to do that. Instead I just sat there while he squirmed and tried to get back on his feet again. It felt disgusting and I couldn't help but feel a bit... violated. In a few moments, however, Rodney got to his feet and jumped off of me, landing god knows where. Almost at the same time I arrived at the airport where my sister was already waiting. I traded places with her promptly.
The drive back was better because I wasn't sitting in the front seat anymore and even if some roaches found their way to me I could swap them off. I remembered again why I disliked riving so much and hoped I wouldn't have to do it again in a long while. A fool's hope. A few days later I took the car again to drive to my 'volunteer' job. It got better after a while and at some point the roaches were exterminated from the car but the memory of Rodney still stayed and I couldn't help but feel a bit squeamish every time I got in the car.