Freezing

Christmas tree hunt, -20 Celsius. Hence the white mascara.

Wedding day

Again some time has gone by since I had something to write. These last weeks have been pretty boring, but I have still done some fun things as well. I have been to my friends’ summerhouses a couple of time, once we went to one summerhouse by boat. It took us 1.5 hours to get there and the weather was awesome, so that was a blast. Last Thursday I participated in my first orienteering competition for this summer. I did not do very well, but I was pretty tired that day because I had been at work before I competed. I have many more excuses too if that one is not good enough..

Yesterday my cousin got married so my whole family was at the wedding all day. I don’t know if Finnish weddings are very different from Canadian weddings, so I’ll tell you about what a Finnish one can be like. The couple was wed in church, the ceremony was maybe a half hour long. The priest said some words, the bride’s sister sang a song and everyone sang a wedding hymn. There were two bridesmaids and a bestman. The bridal march was composed by a Finnish composer, Toivo Kuula. I tried to find it on youtube, but I could only find a version with strings instead of organ, so I guess it will have to do. Here is the link if you want to listen to it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNLXeyHt9Q&feature=related

The reception party was held at some sort of small theatre. The guests sat at long tables and the bride and groom had their own table on stage. We had dinner, dessert and a weddingcake. There was some program as well, for instance, at one point the bride was kidnapped and the groom had to come up with 17 words (because it was the 17th yesterday) to describe the bride to get her back. After the dinner there was a band and we danced. It was a nice wedding, but a little too hot right now to be wearing suits and dresses.. I was pretty sweaty before the night was over.

Me and my sister getting ready for the wedding

At the wedding ceremony

Helsinki

Last weekend I went to Helsinki, took the train down on Saturday and got back on Sunday. It felt really good to be back in the city again. The purpose of my trip was to go and get some summer clothes and shoes from my apartment (the stuff I didn’t think to pack in December..) and visit some friends. It was so good to see all my things again and my apartment! It really felt like coming home. And it was nice to take the trams again. I go almost everywhere by tram. I like them, even though they are slow and you meet lots of weird people on them. I spent the night at my friend’s apartment, a couple of my girls were there. We cooked, drank some wine, sat at the beach and then watched a movie. There was both a heavy metal festival and the pride festival in Helsinki that weekend, but I didn’t go to any of the events. Just chilled instead, and enjoyed the atmosphere of the city. I think it will be alright to go back to school there when the autumn comes.

Evening sun by the sea

The green trams of Helsinki

The house I live in

Heat

The weather here in Finland has not been the nicest, +15 degrees centigrade has been pretty normal. But today we had sunshine and between +25 and +27. Awesome! It was a little sweaty when I was biking at work today, but it was absolutely worth it. When I got home today I took my bikini and a book and was just chilling in the sun for a while, and later I did yoga on the lawn with my sister. Also very nice. I hope this hot spell will last! We are not used to this kind of heat here, so I had better make the most of it while it lasts.

Other than that, not much exciting stuff going on here. I went shopping yesterday and bought a tunic and matching leggings, so now I’m all set for summer events. One day more of work this week, then it’s weekend. A non-working one.

I didn’t bring my flute with me to Canada. I’ve been playing for close to 15 years now, and have never had a break. Now I had a 4 month brake, and I was a little nervous as to how that would work out. Would I be able to play again the same way I used to? Would I even want to play? I don’t even know why I left my flute in Finland in the first place, maybe I just wanted to test myself somehow. But the last month I had rented a flute, so I did play a little. But I didn’t have any sheet music, so it was mostly improvisations I was playing. It still felt great to play again after so long, like meeting an old friend. And now when I got back home and found all my old sheet music and tried to play again, I realized I still remember! My fingers still know how to do many of the songs I’ve played so many times. It felt great. It must be almost like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it. You may be a little bit insecure in the beginning, but it will get better with some practice.

Midsummer

This weekend is now slowly coming to an end. Finally, I say, I have only been working when other people have been partying. Tomorrow I will have a day off, nice! I didn’t really do much on Friday, I went to a party where they had bbq, sauna, drinks and music. I only stayed for a little while, I had to get up early the next day. And yesterday evening one of my friends had an engagement party, so it was good food and sauna by the sea all over again. And again, home early to go to bed.

Midsummer has always been considered to be somewhat magical. One thing people used to do (and still do sometimes) is to go and pick seven different flowers, and during the time you do that and until you wake up next morning you are not allowed to talk to anyone. You then put the flowers under your pillow and then you are supposed to dream about the one you are going to get married to. This only works on Midsummer. My grandmother told me she has done this, so it’s a pretty old thing. I didn’t remember to do this this year, but I have done it some years ago. I didn’t dream about anyone then, I think, so maybe I won’t get married at all, haha..

Next week I don’t have much planned. Some zumba and orienteering of course, and hopefully seeing some people I haven’t had time to visit yet. And next weekend I think I’m going to Helsinki.

Hope you are all well!

Swamp Soccer

Yesterday me and some people from my orienteering team OK Botnia drove out to a nice swamp, we had decided to go play swamp soccer! The only kind of ball game I like. You get very muddy, wet and dirty, the ball is a hundred times more unpredictable than in regular soccer and you can for sure count on crash landing in the mud a couple of times. And it is so much fun.

So as you can tell from the name, it is actually soccer, but you play it on a swamp. There are actually world championships held in swamp soccer every year. They play in northern Finland, and teams from other countries as well participate. I’ve never been to the WC, but it would be pretty cool to go some year.

We played for 3 x 30 min. We were four people on each team. My legs are jelly today.

In this picture we had actually stopped playing soccer already, but some of the people wanted to play swamp rugby for a while too.. My sister is in the lead with the ball. Looks fun, eh?

Solstice

Tomorrow Monday it is solstice, the longest day of the year. The nights, because I live relatively far north, do not really get dark at all. If you go even further north, past the polar circle, the sun doesn’t set at all.  The weekend after solstice we celebrate midsummer, so I have a long weekend coming up. I am working all weekend though, but hopefully I will still get to participate in some of the festivities going on.

Midsummer celebration goes back a very long time in Scandinavian history. In Sweden midsummer represented a time for sacrifice before Christianity came along, so it is really a pagan holiday. In Finland it is also known as the birthday of John the Baptist. But these days, really and truly, midsummer is just an excuse to party. Everyone who has a summer house by a lake goes out to it, those who do not have one goes to visit someone who does. There will be lots of barbequing, dancing, bonfires, and, of course, vodka.

On Tuesday I am going to play the only kind of soccer I like, swamp soccer! I will write something about that afterwards.

One week

It’s now one week since I landed in Helsinki again, wow. It feels like a very long time actually. I’ve done lots. Seen many people, old friends and relatives, went to a concert, worked for four days.. And now it is weekend again. A much needed weekend. Maybe I would finally have time to sleep in a little bit.

This is a picture of my parents’ house. I live here during the summer break, in the end of August I’m moving back to Helsinki to go to school again. I still have my old room in Helsinki, but I have subletted it to someone else for the time I’m away.

So I mentioned I work in Jakobstad. I work for the home care for elderly people, so during my work day I go home to old ladies (mostly) to held them with food preparations, laundry, grocery shopping, medication and just keep them company. I like it actually. It’s not so stressful and very independent. And meaningful too.

Yesterday I went to a summer Zumba class in Kronoby. One of my friends is a Zumba instructor, and every Thursday she keeps classes outdoors if the weather is good and indoors the other days. Yesterday we were outside, and it was just so much fun! There were lots of people too. My muscles are aching quite a bit today I can tell you..

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday

Today has been a pretty good day. It was my second day at work (still not really comfortable with getting up at 6 AM, but I don’t think I will ever be), and I think I’m doing well. It’s the same job as I did last summer, home care for elderly people. It’s in Jakobstad, a city nearby my hometown. It takes 20-25 minutes to drive to work every morning, so it’s not too bad. I’ve left my bike at work, so once I’m there I take my bike instead of the car. Workout and job on the same time, that’s what I call multitasking!

After work today my grandma had made a real Scandinavian delicacy for dinner, the first, tiny potatoes of the season dipped in a butter/ spring onion marinade and salted and seasoned herring, yum! It’s still too early to dig up the potatoes here, but you can already get them from the stores. That taste means summer to me.

After dinner my sister and me went out on a photographical expedition in the forest.

We don’t have a tower like Pisa or a bridge like San Francisco, but if nothing else at least you can find some peace and quiet in our Finnish forests..

Transformer

This blog will go through a transformation. It started off as my Canadian blog for my Finnish friends; now I’ve decided to make it into a Finnish blog for my Canadian friends. Since I got back from Canada, this blog sort of lost it’s purpose, but I liked writing so I didn’t want to shut it down. Then I got the brilliant idea to write about Finnish everyday life for all my new friends in Canada, and other places in the world. And old friends in Finland.

Got home safe and sound early Saturday morning, the train arrived at the station 5 AM. I had been traveling for more than 20 hours by then. The trip isn’t really that long, we just had a very long lay over in London, and I took a train instead of plane for the final leg of the trip. So now I’m slowly starting to adjust to being in Finland again. The weather here is typically Finnish: wind, rain and +12 degrees. Brrr.. Hope it will get warmer soon. And I’ve got a warm welcome from a whole swarm of the secret Finnish airforce: the mosquitoes.. I forget about them every year.

But apart from that it is really good to be home with friends and family again.