10/8/2005
Hey all

okay... now I'm going to tell you all a story about a crazy Swedish guy. The Finnish exchange student--Salla's 18th birthday was Monday night. We all went out to Bola Seite which is a pretty sweet, outside restaurant/bar. We all ate traditional Brazilian food and were having tons of fun... We seriously laughed until we were all in tears... then the cake came... seriously, its chocolate goodness cannot be described!! it was so good! You guys should come here just for the sweets!

Anyways... Salla is holding the knife, she's just blown out the candles, and she's getting ready to cut the cake... Suddenly this Swedish guy walks towards our table with a friend. He opens his arms wide, and envelops Salla in his arms (while semi-shoving his hand down her shirt) and says in English "happy birthday darling!!, it is your birthday isn't it??" And we're all like, whoa, what is this guy doing? Well, he totally reeked of alcohol... so I don't even think HE knew what he was doing... anyways, this guy is like 30 something years old... then he asks Salla, "where are you from?" And she says Finland and he says I'm from Sweden! And then, not thinking Sophie yells-- "Sweden?!?! I'm from Denmark!"....

Ok, something you should know... Swedish and Danish are practically the same language (Sophie told me this on Sunday) and all Finnish people speak Swedish... So you can imagine this guy is pretty excited that TWO young, hot blondes are claiming to be his country neighbors and speak his language. And then he asks the worst question "how old are you?" not to Salla-the-b-day-girl... Because that would be a normal question-- no he asks Sophie how old she is... quickly realizing her mistake, she tells the truth "SIXTEEN!! I'm only 16! Too young!!" We laughed so hard because I'm laughing so hard at what a complete moron this guy is... Then Salla's host mom asks me who he is and I tell her that none of us know him... And she's like that's really weird... and of course I'm like, yeah it is! Well, eventually he leaves after a bit because we all ignore him... then he comes back later and tries to hit on Salla's host sister (who doesn't speak much English) and he knows about 3 words in Português... It was pitiful... (by the way, he also asks how old SHE is--she's also 16...and her mom is sitting right next to her)... Then he says in English "can I kiss you?" and she just looks away in horror... and again, I am peeing in my pants laughing at this guy... he went on and on about translating problems in Iran (he doesn't speak any middle-eastern languages) and I guess he does a lot of business in marketing there…I really don't want to know what... and then finally his friend came and guided him away from the table! And that was the end of the Swedish guy! How crazy is that story?! That does NOT happen every day-- not even in wild Brasil!

muitos beijos e boa noite, (many kisses and good night) Katia (that's my new name in Brasil... in Finland and Denmark it's spelled Katja)

ps- Tim, can you send me Stan's email address? Tell him I'm going to be living with Rafaiel (from Taiwan exchange)!!