Rather late...

I am deeply sorry for the mass delay in updates. I've been feeling pretty miserable about the whole experience recently and ready to call it quits early next year. I'm not enjoying the diet or the job I am doing here in Finland. It breaks me to admit my big dream has come crashing down around my ears as I realise the golden bubble I had built for this country has popped. Please excuse my numerous metaphors. I miss my family, my friends and my mother tongue too much to make it even close to a year so I think I may settle for 6 months or so. I don't enjoy spending 30 hours a week with two children, as much as they can be lovely and their family has been very welcoming. 
I want to find my career path, and sooner rather than later. I want to be with my family, they are my world and I feel lost without them around me. And I want my friends. The loneliness I have experienced here is often overwhelming. I'm not the kind of person to start chatting to a stranger and the Finns are definitely not that kind of nation either. But they are certainly a hard social group to breach when making friends outside of school or work. And especially so for someone who has trouble making the first move and breaking the ice.
This has ultimately been the killer for my experience here. I want to be with people my own age as much as I used to, and spending so many hours alone far from others is not ideal. Especially when you're earning a pittance in a very expensive country. 
I need that closeness I had and have to people in the UK. I feel like everything I thought I lacked at home is now exactly what I want back and it's taken me leaving, for me to see what I had and took for granted. This is a bit rambling, and I apologise but I think you ought to hear from me why there have been no posts in so long.

Long Absence

My apologies for not having posted in a while, not a great deal has occurred which might have warranted a post. I have been rather homesick of late and tried hard not count the days. I have started National Novel Writing Month and sort of temporarily given up after 5 days but hopefully I'll start up again soon and not declare this year a total failure.
The good news is that I am very excited to have a (very expensive) ticket to see Nightwish here in Jyväskylä in March. So at least I keep telling myself there is something to look forward to, even if that means I'm now not applying for The Great British Bake Off 2012. 

Travel & Ikea

One other observation on our journey was the amount of ABC rest stops, which include a supermarket, a Hesburger and a large selection of hot or cold food. There were also some shops, like a tourist trash one, a book store and an Arabia factory shop. There are about two or three of these an hour as you travel throughout Finland, it seems a little ridiculous to me.


Now, I should have included more about Ikea. Yes, Ikea products feature heavily in Finnish homes. Alone I could count about 5 or 6 things in my room, like the rug and the curtains. At home, we rarely visit this home furnishing superstore because my parents detest the idea of a visit as much as one to Argos, and our nearest one is rather far away. But in Finland it could be a like a morning or afternoon visit, since we arrived at the right time for the kids to have lunch in the restaurant before we commenced shopping. There was a delightful array of cheap cakes and interesting meals, like meatballs with mashed potato, lingonberry sauce and some other beige sauce that might have been like a gravy. My personal favourite is the bright orange orange drink. 
I love the way you have to follow a trail through a labyrinth of 'rooms' set out like your dream home with some of the products dotted here and there, but then a mass of them all in another maze in the basement of this huge raised building. I was continually but gently mocked for my excitement over children's things, like a castle style window set in the wall that opens to be a mirror. 
I did in true Sophie style manage to make an utter fool of myself at least twice though, once by knocking over six glasses in a box and then by not realising how to print a ticket in the self-service fabric cutting section. I like how the Finns are big on self-service (and also being a very cashless society) but if you can't read the signs, how can you possibly cope? Like the other day I went to buy some pick n mix sweets - these are EVERYWHERE - and because the machine didn't work printing a price sticker I had to shamefacedly abandon them. Whilst it's fun to weigh and sticker up your loose produce here, I much prefer supermarkets at home where they weigh them on the till for you. You're wasting a lot of paper in stickers here!

Helsinki

So last weekend we took a marathon journey of 3 hours to Helsinki, to spend the weekend with host mum's non-identical twin brother and his family, with a party for his youngest daughter's second birthday on the Sunday. Never had I considered how awful a car journey could be, squashed between two child seats in the back. Not only that but there was the delightful background of Peppa Pig playing on either side of me to keep the kids quiet. I really don't want to experience that again any time soon! Though worse was to come on the Sunday morning. We popped out to Ikea and because the elder daughter and cousin was coming along, guess who was in the boot of the car? Yes, twas poor me. The return journey to the house was worse because I was literally packed in with our purchases, effectively trapped, so much so that I joked if the car crashed I would definitely survive. 

Anyway, Helsinki. I'd been there before with the previous family who did not want me.  We did a very quick drive by of some of the sights and then I spent the evening shopping there with the mum, but it was much nicer this time by myself. I took the bus from the brother's house, about 30 minutes from the city centre. The bus stop is in a central square by the train station and from there it's pretty easy to find the landmarks, like Stockmann and the three blacksmiths statue beside it, a famous meeting place. I also returned to beautiful Senate Square with the magnificent white church overlooking the square, atop a good 50 steps. It was marvellous to stand in the light rain and look out over the city towards the sea from those steps. 

Helsinki could definitely be added to my favourite cities list. It has fewer people, wider streets for ease of walking and a light, beige sort of colour unlike the perpetual grey of London. And let's not forget that wonderful harbour. You can watch the ferries come and go between Stockholm, explore the huge market for food, furs and handicrafts and look up at the Russian Orthodox church set against the sky in the distance. There's also the parliament buildings and the president's 'palace' or 'castle' - a small square building at the end of the block. Not exactly inspiring. 

I enjoyed walking through some of the endless streets on my quest to find the Natural History museum - it had been closed an hour by the time I got there, but there were some great giraffes drinking tea on the roof - and sitting by the harbour watching the people around me for a time. 

I was somewhat loaded with purchases coming back on the bus, including a fantastic reindeer skin from Roveniemi for my floor, in its own special drawstring bag. But altogether it was a great day despite the frequent downpours, which had people sheltering in shop or mall entrances for ages. 

Wildlife

Just a little something to mention. Today we went to the little park next door to us and as I approached the box, which once must have been a sand box, a hare darted out! It's the first real wildlife I've seen beyond birds. I'd really like to see a wild moose but I guess this is as close as I am gonna get in the neighbourhood. 
Quite often there are dragonflies around this box too and today one actually landed on the front of my youngest charge's coat! It was simply beautiful. 

Post (Office)

So for my language class at the city's library every Tuesday night I have to have a small, not even 200 page textbook. Why are these points so relevant? Because in a bookshop I would have had to pay nearly €40 for this book! Luckily we found it online for just under €30 but still, I expected it to be the equivalent of about £15 not double that! It's insane how expensive this country is. 
Anyway, I am getting off topic. This evening I had to walk to the local post office to pick up my new textbook, just in time for my second class tomorrow night. Finnish post is very interesting.
You need to include a 'Priority' or 'Economy' sticker on everything. 
Everyone has a tiny post box but you have a note or letter telling you where to collect your parcel, unlike in the UK where you have to be home to hear sometimes a non-existent knock of the postman with your package. 
You can buy boxes and packing envelopes with the iconic blue Marimekko poppy pattern or various images of the Moomins. This I found amazingly cool and wondered if it would be truly sad to buy one of such boxes for storage at home. Perhaps not. 
Also, I like the easily spotted blue or bright orange 1st and 2nd class post boxes. Not as awesome as the Royal Mail red ones but hard to miss. The postal vans are white with blue and orange spots to match, though you don't see many. The post always seems to arrive very early. Oh and last week I had to collect a parcel from a shop! Our nearest shop, for all your minor conveniences and more, also acts as a collection point for packages not sent through Posti, the blue and orange service generally recognised. 
Pretty cool right?!

Expense

Like a lot of Scandinavia, Finland is generally considered an expensive country. For example, yesterday I spent 32 euros on an apron. Yes it was Marimekko and therefore in some ways a designer apron, but that is about 28 pounds. Which is a lot for an apron. Need I even mention the nice ankle boots I saw which are 110 euros, that's about 97 pounds for a pair of boots!!! Now I know I read that there is no cheap shops like Primark in Finland because these are quality items made to last, but the most basic and cheap looking items cost a fortune!

It's no wonder people have such well paid jobs in business and technology here, there isn't much choice when the cost of living is clearly so high!

Ruska

Autumn is definitely in the air and it is now 'ruska', which I think means the time of leaves turning gold and orange and autumn being steadily upon us. The air is crisp and fresh, and you can smell wood from people's saunas, as opposed to that lovely bonfire smell I love in the UK. It's a beautiful time of year.

Foreigner

Well I've been into the city a few times now on my own. It would be an understatement to say I stand out. Last weekend I went out on a nice mild, sunny day in a tee shirt. Literally everyone stared as I crossed the bridge into the city. They all had at least two layers on. Now this I don't understand. When I am freezing, all the Finns seem to wear little and when I think, okay this is quite mild, they all bundle up! What is with that?
Also, I now have a fear of being spoken to at the till. If it's not just the total price to pay, I have to stammer "Sorry, English" in an apologetic tone and then the nice young people switch or the older indifferent people either ignore me, or carry on in Finnish. Last week I decided against my purchase based on this fact, since the only person serving was much older and likely to ask me something I didn't understand. 
Also, the fact that I am not afraid to meet people's eyes and hold it marks me out. Finns seem terrified of holding your gaze out in the street. The same can't be said of host family. Host mum and her sister have rather wide eyes and I find myself unable to look at them too long when I speak, which seems horrible but it's like when people don't blink for ages....


Also my obsessions with Moomins. Well to be honest the Finns have a fair obsession too, although my host mum admitted she wasn't helping mine by giving me more stuff. I have moomin sheets, a new bowl for my daily cereal.... I feel fully initiated now though. I have sampled some fish (hated it) and been to sauna a few times. I am learning that you must stay on the right hand side of footpaths to avoid bicycles!

Forest

Okay so as I mentioned before, host mum's family lives in the middle of this amazing forest. Finnish forest is totally different from British. The trees were all tightly packed skeletal pines or silver birches, and I enjoyed a magical moment when leaves began fluttering down like confetti in the wind. The silence too is incredible. If you go quite far there's no sound at all, aside from your own footsteps or branches moving in the wind. 
Now Finnish forest ground is pretty bad. Since it's so wet this time of year the grassy areas are really spongy and squishy, and beneath the trees it was worse. The ground is littered with rotting wood, twigs and lots of moss clumps. Full of mushrooms. Words cannot describe how many damn mushrooms there are. I pass many on my way to and from nursery during the week but there are literally thousands in the forest. The conditions are perfect for them and it's amazing the variety too... tiny white ones, big red ones with white spots, even an orange cluster! Shame I don't like mushrooms.
I also sampled some lingonberries off the bush. These are tiny red berries with a decidedly sour and slightly bitter taste. Delicious with meat or cheesecake! But not as they are, trust me. 


I kept thinking as I walked through the forest that I was going to get charged by a moose or a crazy man, but you really are totally alone. I was some distance from the rest of the family and no one was in the cottages - this is where various members of the family spend their summers. So if you get totally lost it would take a while to find you! I felt very inspired I must say.

Family

Wow, it's certainly been some time since my last post and I apologise to my readers. I have several topics I will now post about, strangely a lot seem to begin with 'F'. Perhaps I should have kept to that theme... Oh well.

Family is a very big thing here, although I am sure this can apply to most countries. My host mum has 4 siblings and that makes for a pretty big family. Her parents and youngest brother live in the most amazing house in the middle of a forest, about half an hour from where we live. It's a traditional style wooden house with I think at least 3 floors - sauna in the basement, natually - and a huge expanse of woodland they own right beside the lake. There is another tiny sauna right beside the lake's edge, several cottages hidden among the winding paths through the trees and even a couple of tiny wooden toilets tucked away. I left them to go canoeing/ sauna in favour of a wander back along the paths and off them, including returning to a cluster of rocks which stretch out a little way onto the lake and provide the most beautiful view of the landscape. 

Well I am going to do a separate post about the forest so let's get back to family. 

Despite all the older children now nearing 40, an elderly brother of host mum's father attended dinner with us and I noted that an entire collection of Moomin mugs lined the wall, with one allocated to each family member including grandchildren. That's a lot of family! I sampled some more delightful and traditional Finnish food, including a mushroom and cabbage pie, gingerbread cheesecake with lingonberry topping and a variation on the Karelian pie. I know the Finns had no access to spices for a long time but why does their food have to be so bland?

The family is clearly very close. There is a big family get-together next weekend. Photos of all the children and grandchildren can be found all over the house and there are some very old looking toys in the playroom, not to mention the set of trapeze-like bars hanging in the main room. Although I could understand little of what was said during our visit, it's clear that the bonds between family members are extremely strong. 

Sauna (hopefully not x-rated!)

Well whilst I technically should have embraced the culture and gone in naked with the mum and children, I think I just had maybe 10 minutes on my own. The sauna is nothing like the ones I used to create at home with a boiling bath and the heater on, smelling like a toaster and the sweat pouring off me and enough to have me light headed after... The air is dry, though host mum said with wood instead of coals it would be different. You shower first so I couldn't tell if the water droplets were water or sweat, probably the former. It's very relaxing, to lie or sit and just let your mind drift with the occasional flick of water on the coals to increase the heat. I think it was nice to go outside afterwards and feel the crisp autumn air on your skin. Definitely something I will be enjoying again and great research for my novel!

The People

Yesterday I walked the 40 minutes from home into the city centre to do some shopping and explore a little. This gave me plenty of time to reflect upon the Finns themselves. I have drawn 3 main categories the people I could see would fit into:

• Metal heads, Goths or similar - there were a vast number of teenagers with badly dyed black or bright hair in black clothes with big boots. Took me back to my more Gothic days and I enjoyed visiting Underground, a punky shop full of black clothes
• Nordic Walkers/ athletic types - these are people who go out trussed up like their on the slopes and 'power walk' with those two sticks skiers use to help them move and change direction. This is a stereotype I was told about and it's amazing how many there were out on a hot day, as if they were in the depths of winter. The athletic types were all the joggers who passed me, trying to look hardcore with their little MP3 players clutched in one hand and their clenched faces. 
• Stylish well dressed snooty people - like the Swedes you see on TV there were loads of people who could only be described as well dressed - let us not forget how expensive Finnish produce is and the amount of stuff that must be designer is pretty high. These people also had that snooty air of being rich and successful. I chatted with my host mum about the British class system recently, and she said that if you earn a lot of money regardless of your background, you automatically become revered and on level with the upper classes or upper middle classes in the UK.

I should also mention the sheer number of people on bicycles of all ages. There is a bridge you cross to get into Jyväskylä and it was full of joggers and people on bikes. Oh and the occasional punk rocker dude with a blank expression on his face.


From where I live you have to walk a good distance to get anywhere apart from the local park and it gave me a good opportunity to observe the landscape. I passed a park exclusively for dogs - just a quick side note here. No cats have I seen here, not one. Loads of people walking their dogs and these are almost always little dogs like pugs. Handbag pooches. I saw a greyhound and a mini greyhound plus what looked like a rather Lappish hound but mostly little dogs. Very odd - and a fair few roads with massive pavements and two zebra crossings on one road. But you know you're not in England because aside from all the space and general cleanliness, there is plenty of forest creeping in at the edges. As you get over the bridge and are still buzzing from the breath-taking view, you can walk right along the edge of a beautiful lake (yes the one you just crossed). The sun was shining, making the water sparkle and there were loads of boats just waiting, tethered along little wooden jetties. It was gorgeous. 

Carbed To Death

Finns seem to eat bread with every meal. I've had some nice homemade malt and rye rolls. Sliced and 'processed' rye bread and the rye square 'rolls' like for open sandwiches. The only meal I don't have bread is breakfast, the most typical meal for it at home. But Parma ham and salad on their own aren't very filling and I'm loathe to have pasta either. I don't enjoy it with only pesto or cheese. 
I miss chocolate and crisps and sugary biscuits or cakes. What I wouldn't do for a nice Victorian lemonade or icy Coke, wrestled from my sister's hands because she's already had her day's quota. We do enjoy Diet Coke in my house. Dad never gets a look in although mum has one waiting for her in the fridge. My big sister drinks it by the gallon because it's 'no points' on WeightWatchers and boy does she love it. I do like them after about an hour in the freezer, when they're deliciously crisp and cold and the liquid has started to freeze inside. Oh God I'm torturing myself. 

Let's Go To The Library!

It has rained all day to day without letting up once. Thankfully this is only sort of a constant drizzle, nothing that could drown the Finns out under their umbrellas and bright hoods. This evening the family - minus daddy - went out to the library and picked out 21 children's books. Plus two adult English ones for the au pair. Not only was the library huge, it was really well stocked with music, audio books and books. Lots of books. There were sections within sections with a selection of books in English, Russian, Swedish, French, German, Albanian and Spanish among others. What British library offers you that?
I was delighted to find Finnish versions of some of my beloved children's books, like Brambley Hedge and Elmer and Wilbur and even what must be a sequel to Princess Tarzana. Anybody else remember that delightful book? I made sure that we took a copy of Owl Babies for me to read to the children, which was a helpful English copy and another story I remember enjoying endlessly with my parents and elder sister.
The library appeared to have no limit of books we could take out and the best part was of course that. In England I know my mum said she always wanted to be a librarian just so she could stamp the books. Here, you put your card into a slot and swipe the bar codes on your book yourself, with a receipt at the end so you can check that you have them all when you want to take them back. The whole process is made even better by the loud doing! the books make when they have swiped successfully and the animated library character - a very shady and rough looking dragon in blue overalls - who you see on screen putting his card in the slot and then carrying a book to be swiped. Of course this is just so you know what to do but it makes it so much cooler for the children and brings a whole new meaning to self service.


Oh and one more thing - to quote Grandpa from Jackie Chan Adventures - when it hits 8 o'clock in the summertime in Jyväskylä, music plays from a big tower in the city with a beautiful melody on the French Horn which was written specifically for the region. Listening to that with the windows open on a cold day in the drizzle - simply amazing.

Food (Part 1 Of No Doubt Many)

Prisma seems to be a big Finnish supermarket chain, much like Tesco and Sainsbury's. A combination of food and all manner of other things, so perhaps more of an Asda. 

Although I have to question the logic of a supermarket who has a McDonald's or Hesburger - the Finnish equivalent of the Golden Arches - inside their shop. Is it just me or does that seem wrong?

Also, why put cellophane around a pepper? What a waste of plastic! You seem to have other single vegetables loose in crates so why not peppers? It boggles the mind. And who knew there were so many different types of chicken breast? Here we have extra thin slices for less than 3 minutes in the pan! Ooh and let's not forget fat free milk! My mother would love it. I think I read in From Finland With Love by Roman Schatz, a delightful piss take of the Finnish people by a German, that the Finns have a borderline obsession with fat-free. And yet the children have to drink it all the time. They need the fat right?

There certainly isn't any fat in the majority of their traditional food, like wholesome rye bread and fresh fruit. Not to mention delicious (salty) but fat free reindeer! Yummy.

I think I'm going to have trouble when I come home. This diet of bread and salad will do wonders or disasters to my poor British body, so used to lots of fat and sugar. I'm torturing myself watching Nigella Feasts on YouTube at the moment, God knows I love that woman. She reminds me of my lovely Mummy.

Finnish Brands

List of common Finnish brands:

• Moomin
• Finlayson
• Arabia
• Iittala
• Marimekko

EVERYONE seems to have Moomin mugs and Marikmekko towels. I have been assigned the 'au pair mug', which is pink and features Mymble, Little My's sister from The Moomins. The children have a whole host of Moomin toys, including a plastic Moominhouse with mini characters. My big plush Moomin was immediately very popular. I also have been given a small blue Little My towel and a big - I use the term loosely - pink flowered Marimekko towel. The children also have Moomin bed sheets, of which I must admit to be a little jealous. My sheets have ships, flags, anchors and ship's wheels. Alas I cannot find a label but I bet they are Finlayson.

(For the record Arabia makes all the Moomin crockery and Iittala makes beautiful glassware, including lovely small glasses. Universal size like the mugs and plates, naturally).

Temperature (And Weather)

Yesterday (Saturday 3rd) I was cold. All day. (On the way from Helsinki to Jyväskylä we experienced frequent downpours of rain so heavy you could barely see out the windscreen). And yet whenever we went out my Finnish companions barely noticed the fluctuating temperature - in the evening when it had plummeted to 11.5 degrees, my host mum actually unbuttoned her coat! Am I missing something? When I had previously met two Finns at home on a mild day, during that oh so brief English summer, one kept complaining that she was cold. Do Finns simply not notice it on home ground? Also, they go on about Finnish houses being so warm with no less than triple glazing. Why then am I so cold in my bedroom, on a day that started rather warm?
Still, I'm not wearing out my lovely new winter coat until one of them does, for fear of looking pathetic in the face of a mild day, which to me may feel like a full British winter three months early.


Bring it on Finland, bring it on.

Small Things

This may not be true of all Europeans but it certainly is of the Finns. They like small things. My bed had a single small pillow, that is a good 10cm short of a UK one. The kitchen roll provides sheets half the width of UK ones. The mugs and plates are practically child-size. Don't get me started on the green toilet paper.