Late Christmas presents

I got Becky's lovely box of stuff from the post office today, and it was very exciting! Crisps, trashy magazines, sweets, some very exotic tea and a pretty card she made because she's a genius. I've already eaten all the crisps, which is very greedy of me, but they're so tasty. The magazines are so wonderful, I don't think Finland sells such trashy, horrible magazines but I'm addicted to Take a Break, Pick Me Up etc etc. I've got plenty to read now. The tea is Jasmine and Chrysanthemum, I think it's supposed to cleanse me out or something. I probably need it. It smells bad, tastes good.
I was in Tinatuoppi when I opened the parcel, which is a bar very similar to The Dev in Camden. For some reason lots of people seemed very excited by my box of English crap - an old man was reading Take a Break over my shoulder, even though he seemed to not understand English very well.
So I'm very grateful to lovely Becky for all this nice stuff. This evening I feel very rundown and ill, it might just be stress or a bug, or it might be that I ate the crisps too quickly.

A Finnish Christmas

I've had such a lovely day with my Finnish family. We went in the morning to see the declaration of peace, which is some guy reading some stuff in Finnish and Swedish, and then the national anthem playing. I didn't understand it, but lots of people were there, and it was quite nice to be in a crowd, it made me feel more christmassy. I even saw a dog wearing socks! I wasn't feeling too festive when I woke up this morning but that got me more into the mood because there seemed to be so much happiness and goodwill.
After that we just hung out and Tommi dressed up as Santa to visit Emma's neices, who apparently were a bit scared and shy, although I thought he was very convincing. I remember I was always scared of Santa when I was very young, and these children are only aged three and five. I'm sure they were pleased to get their presents though.
Once they were back home we started getting our Christmas meal ready. Emma's friend Katri was also with us, and she'd done most of the cooking. I'm going to have to describe the meal very well, it's so different to the Christmas food I'm used to having in my own country, but I enjoyed it very much.
First we had a salad course (the bottom picture.) Emma and Katri had apparently planned to keep it small and simple, but things got out of hand somewhere along the line. There was a great deal of food:
Mixed salad
Mushroom salad
Cod roe (not for me)
Salmon (again, not for me)
Herring (Again...)
Pickled onions
Finnish cheese
Boiled potatoes
Beetroot
Eggs
Olives
Bread
Onions
Cream (For some reasons, the Finns put whipped cream with beetroot. It wasn't that bad though.)

I think we overate seeing as it was all so tasty and there was so much to eat. We could barely manage the main course, which was:
Karelian pies and egg butter
Meatballs, made by Tommi
Vegetable balls for me
Porkkanalaatikko (Carrot casserole)
Lanttu (Turnip casserole)
Peruna (Potato casserole)

All the vegetable dishes were made by Katri and were really enjoyable. The usual meat is ham, but Emma never ate it as a child and had meatballs instead, which is why that's what was made for our little family. The food was so different to the English roast my mother usually makes, and this is the first Christmas I've spent away from my family, so it was a really new experience. After our meal we just hung out and drank; also we had a very civilised cheese and crackers course in the evening. I spoke to my parents too, which was really nice, and they are apparently having Turducken tomorrow. (Turkey stuffed with a chicken, stuffed with a duck!) I guess they thought that as the family vegetarian was out of the country they should go crazy with meat! the Finns laughed their arses off when I told them this, my dad was very confused about why they found it so funny! I usually have nut roast along with the potatoes and vegetables, but my dad certainly seemed to be looking forward to his lunch. It got a bit emotional with my dad telling me how proud he is that I've been making it here, despite things going a bit wrong for me. Being away from them at this time has made me miss them a lot more.
It's been so nice to see what Christmas is like in another country, although I still can't get my head around it being a day earlier. I've had a really lovely day, full of food and friends, and I don't think I'd have it any other way.
I hope everyone else has/had a lovely day, whoever you're with, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. I'm really grateful for the food and hospitality, and if everyone has as nice a time as I've had they should be very happy. Merry Christmas everyone!

Rakas Suomi

Hyvää joulua ja menestyksekästä uutta vuotta!

Suburbs and Forest

I just went with Emmi whilst she walked her dogs, and got to wander through a Finnish forest. It was beautiful, all covered in snow. There were a few streetlamps nearby so it wasn't too dark, and it looked so clean and glittering. There were even people skiing there. It was a nice experience, and the forests look quite different to the woods in England, so it was something new for me. I'm sure it would be even prettier when it's well-lit during the daytime, but it was impressive as it was. Nothing but snow and trees all around me.
I've also now been able to see the suburbs of Turku, which hasn't happened before because I've always been right in the centre. It was much snowier because there are fewer people walking around, so the snow doesn't get trodden down so much and there's less need for snow ploughs to clear the area. It was so quiet compared to the middle of the city, it was quite strange. On the bus it's only roughly a 15 minute journey to market square, so it's not in the middle of nowhere. It was a lot more peaceful, but as I prefer busy areas I think I'd rather be in the city centre. I guess it's much better if you have pets to think of though.
I also finally got the Christmas parcel my mother sent me! I can't get Becky's yet because I don't know the tracking code, but my mother's got to me. She thoughtfully sent me a lot of thick tights, my grandparents say it's such a surprise that I suddenly live in "Findland", and my aunty sent a set of gloves and a scarf. The gloves are fine but the scarf is way too thin for these temperatures. I suppose they're lower than she could ever imagine, and at least it's a thoughtful gift. Now I'm just looking forward to getting Becky's parcel - I know it's arrived but I need the tracking code for it.

Yoofs

The teenagers here scare me a bit. They're all a bit loud and lairy. I expect many of them just discovered alcohol. They tend to sing and shout and spit and dance. That's not so different to the English kids, maybe it's more intimidating when they're gabbling away in foreign.
When I was in the line at Hesburger tonight there were three boys, who were probably only 13 or 14, and I'm not sure why they were there because they made no attempt to get food, but they were noisy and it was a bit horrible. One of them liked to spit on the ground a lot. Fucking teenagers.

Finnish TV

Due to a Phil Collins hangover on Saturday I spent a lot of quality time in front of the tv. I discovered that Saturday afternoon tv here is mainly cookery shows and shows about dogs. I discovered the joys of Sikke Sumari, the happiest tv chef in the world. She was so happy and peaceful, it was very soothing. Her show needed to be translated for me, and it seems she was very frustrated when her pancakes weren't perfect, and yet she was still smiling and happy. I love her.
In Finland there are a lot of subtitled foreign tv shows, so I can understand a lot of stuff. Sadly I had to miss out on the German soap opera and Danish documentary about high speed trains in Japan. What a letdown.
There was some slight drama after this gentle afternoon when I found I'd lost my purse. We called Olkkone, where we'd been the night before, but they hadn't seen it. I asked my mother to cancel my cards, and went out to meet Emmi. After a while Petteri appeared holding the purse! The man sitting behind us had found it and given it to him, and he was sitting where we'd been at the start of the night before. It pissed me off I'd already cancelled the cards but it's a bit late now. Once my Finnish card is available and my wages have been paid I'll have enough money to manage with.
After that Suski, Emma and Tommi came to meet us from a party with some of their friends, and the rest of the night involved various people trying to teach my to roll my r's, so I can shout perkele in a loud and threatening manner. It didn't work, even after the Finnish army got involved with trying to educate me. Also, in a conversation with three Finnish people this came up:
"Tamsin, what's a curry?"
"What the fuck?"
"I've never had a curry."
"Yeah, me neither. What does it mean?"
"What? Someone get me some planes tickets, we're going to school."
Seriously, what the fuck?
Due to my massive hangover I didn't drink any alcohol until last orders in Olkkone, when I gave into peer pressure. Until then I couldn't have stomached alcohol but being sober in a bar made me realise how loud and annoying drunk people are. Not my friends but various old men who want to shout very loudly and argue and pass out. It was definitely a Phil Collins krapula. I remember leaving the bar on Friday, and then waking up fully clothed at 9am with an untouched Hesburger meal on the floor. I'd passed out before Emma even got back from market square with food.
I'd planned on a nice quiet night and ended up going to bed at 6am...

Today's news

I went to work and my boss gave me a bottle of wine as a christmas present. Sweet. Unfortunately, it tastes horrible. If I mix it with Karpalo Lonkero it's much better, and more alcoholic. Anyway, nice one Tatu!
Then I walked home in the snow and when I got back Tommi asked me if I'd got the text he sent me. I looked at my phone and the estate agents offered me the room I wanted in the flat I viewed! Which is a good thing but I'm also quite sad because that means there's no going back when it comes to Jussi. It's the end of an era, and it's difficult to accept. Maybe I need something definitive like that in order to move on. I'm happy but also sad. It would be nice to move out of limbo, but it cements everything, and that's hard to deal with. At least they didn't care about me being foreign, which was a concern for me.
I'm going to start looking for a second job too. This week I only had to work today, and Tatu doesn't think they need me at all next week, and I can't live on only one day's wages per week. We talked about it and he said he would understand if I left the company, but I do enjoy my job and would be happy doing that and another part time job. I hope I won't have to leave Suomen Filateliapalvelu but, like he said, if someone offers me a full time position I ought to take it.