So, I don't have a job. I can't seem to find anything at all. All of the higher qualified jobs where my English skills are beneficial deny me because I am only in Finland for the summer. What's the point of hiring someone for two months? The lower end jobs – i.e. service work, retail, and the like – that could use a worker for only two months won't hire me because I don't speak seamless Finnish.

Without a job and with no money to use, I ended up spending entire days without leaving my apartment. And what's the point of living in Finland for the summer if I stay inside all day?

Worst of all, I moved to Finland for the summer to get some writing done. I brought my clunky typewriter and convinced my mother that the weight of it was justified by all of the wonderful things I would write whilst away. But I hadn't been very active with that, and my typewriter didn't even leave its case until just yesterday.

What happened yesterday? Yesterday, I decided to kill three birds with one stone. I got out of the house, I wrote, and I made a little bit of money! How? I went busking, otherwise known as street performing.

I brought my typewriter out and sat in front of Ravintola Tori in Punavuori in Helsinki. My idea was that a person could order a story from me, go into the restaurant to eat and come collect their story when finished. My typewriter – a turquoise ancient named David – provided enough of a spectacle to attract people, and I had a sign clearly stating that I was selling stories and poems. My price: two euros a pop.

Within 20 minutes, I had my first customer, a young woman with an American accent. She told me to write her a story about two musicians. She handed me five euros. YES!

Then, an older woman approached me and asked me to write a very personal poem for her, about four friends spending Juhannus (Midsummer) together. The woman took a photo of me (to go along with the poem) and went into Tori to eat. When she came out 40 minutes later, I handed her the poem. She read it, began to cry, and handed me 10 euros! YES! (She later came back to hand a copy of the photo she had taken to me, which I have posted. The woman also offered to hook me up with a young man she knows haha.)

Another guy came around and asked me to write a story about an AC/DC party, inspired by a party held the night before. He came back, handed me my two euros and I gave him the story. He asked me to write for a magazine he works for. That's amazing! It's not like a job, but just a writing gig. Exciting, nonetheless. He came back later with two copies of the magazine he had been telling me about and said, "Here is some reading material." Then he commissioned another story, for his friend’s birthday.

My cousin Riikka and her boyfriend came to visit me. Then it got cold and windy, and I had to leave for my Juhannus weekend anyway. I packed up my stuff and went home.

In just over two hours, I made 19 euros. I got some sunshine. I made a woman cry from a poem I wrote. And – I WROTE!

When I get back to Helsinki, I will do some more busking. If you live in the Helsinki area, come buy a story from me!

SONG:
Passion Pit – The Reeling