More about snow

First of all, I do realise that three entries in a single day about snow is slightly excessive, but I really don't care. I've very rarely seen proper snow; growing up in Plymouth, wedged between the sea and some hills meant I only saw real snow three or four times in 18 years. The past couple of years it's snowed in London, and apart from that I've only seen hardcore snow in Paris and Helsinki. And today.
Outside it now does look like the picture below. It only went on for a couple of hours but it was thick. Everything is white, and the light outside is a strange colour. I hear there might be more overnight, so I wonder how it'll be tomorrow. Especially as I have an appointment with the employment agency in the afternoon.
I just went outside because I needed some things from the shop, and my god it was cold! I was wearing two layers, a cardigan, a coat, a hat, and a scarf, and I was still freezing. I wish Jussi hadn't worn my gloves to work today. The wind was really bitter and market square was almost deserted, even though it was only around 6.30pm and a lot of the shops were still open.
There was a little bit of rainy/sleety/icy stuff whilst I was out, which you know is going to settle on the snow and make it really slippery. I wanted to walk really fast to get inside quickly, but the snow was too thick and slippery to make that possible. Jussi text me from work earlier and said this'll be it until March. I can't wait four months to be able to go outside without getting brainfreeze! It's really beautiful when I look out of the window, but less pleasant to be walking in it. And I was only going down the street!
I remember now how uncomfortable the cold was for me in Helsinki in March. By then most of the snow was over but it was still very cold. The first day I was there was particularly cold in the afternoon, just walking down the street made my back ache and made me shiver, just as it has tonight. This certainly isn't the coldest it's going to be, really this is still autumn, even though it seems like deepest, darkest winter to me. I knew this was coming, it's all part of the experience, but I really hope I can adapt to the climate here.

Snow

As promised, the snow has arrived! It's not too thick yet and is just starting to settle. Pretty soon it'll look like the picture. Right now it's very nice but I'm sure I'll be sick of it soon. I've heard some conflicting ideas about how this is gonna go, I've been told it'll be heavy but I've also read that it'll be light this afternoon and overnight. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.
For now though I'm thinking beer, food, bed, and tv.

Cold

We have the internet again now, which is nice. It's getting colder every day though, which sucks for me because I'm really not used to this kind of temperature. In market square there are two clocks which tell you the temperature, date and time. One reads 4 degrees, the other 0.3. I think 0.3 is more accurate.
On Sunday it did snow, but it was a mixture of hail and sleet, nothing that would settle. Both yesterday and this morning it's been quite icy outside, and yesterday I almost fell flat on my arse in market square. The weather forecast is predicting coming snowfall, and I think it might have already begun in more northern areas. Things are starting to feel more Finnish. The problem is that I'm so cold when I'm outside that I'd rather be indoors all the time.
Also, financially things are going to hell. Turns out I need to pay 45 euros for a residence permit. When Jussi came to England there was no bullshit like this at all, he just turned up and showed them an EU passport. It's frustrating. I can't imagine how difficult it would be here for someone outside of the EU. Also I expect that fairly soon I'll have to face the credit card bill that paid for my flight. I'm screwed.

10 things I miss from England

1. Greggs
2. Roast dinners (especially roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings)
3. Vegetarian English breakfasts (such as the one in wetherspoons)
4. Wetherspoons generally
5. Lucozade
6. Green relentless
7. Salt and vinegar crisps
8. Primark
9. Cyberdog
10. Decent cheese

Miserable day

Today's been shit. I feel a rant coming on. It's the first day I've really felt homesick, for my friends and my family. When I got the sim card yesterday I really wanted to call my mum and one particular friend, but it still isn't working now. Jussi gave me his phone to speak to my mum. I haven't lived within 200 miles of her for more than 3 years now, but we usually speak every week or so, so I've missed talking to her. As it's so expensive the phone call was short anyway.
I wish I could meet someone familiar or go somewhere where I know exactly what I'm doing, but everything's alien to me. Jussi's friends have all been very nice to me and made me feel welcome, but they're not MY friends. I completely understand how he felt in England when he wanted to have his own friends, not just rely on mine.
I don't think Jussi realises that going to shops etc still makes me feel quite uncomfortable and I'd appreciate some back up. I don't think he considered how much he would need to help me before we came here. It's hardly as if I want to feel like a child all the time. Of course I want some independence. I do try, but I'm scared and I'm shy. At least when he came to England he could already communicate with everyone; I think he's forgotten what it was like to be in a strange country where everything is new and confusing.
He got a job today, which is great, obviously, but he seems to think I won't be able to cope once he has that taking up so much of his time. Now he's put doubts in my mind, even though I had no concerns beforehand. I'm now trying to make the point to him that I am capable of doing things, even though I'm anxious. I've really been dragged down today; I feel like absolute shit.
I would hate to leave Turku, and I really don't want to quit and be a failure. It seems like no one, including myself, has much faith in my capabilities. I have to go to the police station tomorrow to sort out my social security, and I told Jussi I'd go on my own to prove a point, but I'm absolutely terrified. I'm not even sure what I'm so scared of, apart from the unknown. I don't think that I'm being unreasonable to expect his help in his country. He certainly expected mine in England.
I really hope that things feel different tomorrow, that my sim card works and that I can actually speak to English people. Elisa (the phone network) won't allow you to take out a contract unless you've lived in Finland for at least two years, so Jussi had to do it for me and is lauding the cost of international calls over me a bit. I don't know why it didn't occur to him yesterday that I'd be making international calls - who the hell am I gonna call in Finland? He knows I'll be giving him the money for everything, so surely it's my problem. As I have no money and he's complaining about the phone it's just another thing to wind me up and upset me. I really want tomorrow to be a better day because I'm so miserable and fed up now. This has been the worst day since I got here.

Silly Finland

So the building we live in, which has at least 72 flats in it, has a little laundry room with a single machine, which I am required to book a time to use. I have hardly any clean clothes, and the earliest slot was for tomorrow afternoon. Does anyone else think this is a bit stupid? I assumed the laundry room would be like the one in Gubbay Hall, for those of you who were "lucky" enough to have lived there. But oh no. The laundry room is in a bizarre underground labyrinth, much of which is without lighting. Not happy.
Also, near the laundry room is a very strange place, where any tenants can put old furniture/ornaments etc that they don't want, and other tenants are free to take the items there. There wasn't actually any good stuff, but it's apparently quite common in blocks of flats.
I've also finally got a Finnish sim card. However, the network is having technical difficulties activating new sim cards, so I'm still waiting for that to work. I understand that random people are reading this, so I won't be putting the number on here, but my friends will be able to find it on Facebook when it starts to work and I know what my number is.
Also our internet contract is due to finish any moment now, as we've been using Jussi's friend's contract. Jussi arranged our own today, but it won't be installed until the 17th, so hopefully I can get an iPhone app to continue writing, should my sim card decide to work. But if I briefly disappear, rest assured that I'm still alive and well.

Finnish weekends

I've noticed a pattern when it comes to Saturday nights. Both weekends have started with meeting Emma and Tommi, and finished with Jussi falling asleep on the living room floor whilst I talk to his friends. This weekend was very good, we met a lot of people on Saturday,and at one point we were with literally everyone I know in Turku, which was nice. It's cool to go to some new bars and stuff here. It's good for me to meet more of Jussi's friends too. Everyone seems quite happy to meet me, and obviously they're all glad to have Jussi back here.
Sunday was very bleary and lazy, I don't think either of us were feeling that great. Saturday had turned out to be quite a big night. In the evening we went to Saara's house to play a game that the Finnish people seem slightly obsessed by. It's called Carcassonne, and I really wouldn't know how to explain it that well, but essentially it's an overly complicated board game with complicated scoring. And a dragon. We played it with Emma and Tommi on Friday, and when Saara heard about this she insisted we must play with her too. I'd never heard of it before, I don't know if it ever broke England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne
We watched some of Finnish Strictly Come Dancing too, which was lovely, even though Jussi complained the whole time, and the lady who presents it is a bit overenthusiatic about exposing her breasts...