Porvoo, Finland - 17th December 2009
By: Delenna
This morning we drove to a park in the city. There was a Christmas party and Lucia came to sing! Lucia is more a swedish tradition - to bring light in the dark - but it origins from Italian Saint Lycy. Every year they choose one Lucia in many cities. Teenage girls apply and the public may vote for the most suitable (from 6-10 contestants). These girls then visit hospitals and retirement homes etc. to bring light to people's lives.
We listened to the Lucia (and her 2 "runner-ups") sing, ate porridge and gingerbread cookies and danced around the tree When we got home we noticed it was allmost -20 degrees Celsius! No wonder the porridge cooled down fast
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Posted Dec 20, 2009, 7:22 am
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Porvoo, Finland - 21st December 2009
By: Delenna
My host makes a different kind of gingerbread building/something every year - she got bored with the traditional gingerbread house years ago. This year was time to make a gingerbread carousel! We helped her with it and it turned out very tasty
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Posted Dec 22, 2009, 8:09 am
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Porvoo, Finland - 21st December 2009
By: Delenna
After the gingerbread carousel we helped the kids decorate the tree. It stands in a bucket because my host noticed (after all the hard sawing) that it didn't fit in the pedestal it was meant to... But it looks great this way too!
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Posted Dec 22, 2009, 8:11 am
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Porvoo, Finland - 22nd December 2009
By: Delenna
It's suddenly very snowy here Snowploughs have a lot to do. But everyone is very excited that it's going to be a white christmas!
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Posted Dec 23, 2009, 11:33 am
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Making plum pastries, Finland - 24th December 2009
By: Delenna
In the morning of Christmas Eve my host made Plum Pastries also known as Christmas Pastries also known as Star Pastries (see recipe here). My host prefers them fresh and warm so she makes them "in the last minute". They're very tasty!
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Posted Dec 30, 2009, 10:49 am
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New Year in Porvoo, Finland - 31st December 2009
By: Delenna
Happy New Year! Onnellista uutta vuotta!
We cast tin which is a tradition. They say that you can predict the coming year from the shadow of the tin. Our tins looked like Finnish birds but the shadows looked like australian animals! Or at least that how my host interpreted them... Although, last year they got a lot of travel/sea shadows and they did go on two cruises!
Later we watched some fireworks. The neighbours had quite a few of them. We just sat indoors (safe & warm) and enjoyed the show
Happy New Year! Onnellista uutta vuotta!
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Posted Jan 1, 2010, 2:37 pm
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Snowy Porvoo, Finland - 7th January 2010
By: Delenna
We're not in Argentina anymore... It's been snowing for 3 weeks now and this is what it looks like It's -15 degrees Celsius which accoriding to my host "wasn't bad" She started explaining how it's different when it's windy and cold and how in Lappland it can be colder in Celsius but still doesn't "feel bad" as it's not one bit windy I lost track after the "wasn't bad" - I was freezing my furry butt off! Oh yes, it is pretty and interesting but I was glad when my host put me back in her warm pocket...
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Posted Jan 7, 2010, 1:59 pm
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Helsinki, Finland - 15th January 2010
By: Delenna
Today arrived a new tv: a red haired girl named Meleca. We were just leaving for a Postcrossing meetup in Helsinki so she arrived but continued travelling at once We had a chance to get to know her in the buss on our way to Helsinki.
My host met other postcrossers at a café next to the main post office - as usual. They had coffee and talked - and wrote postcards. They seemed to have lots of fun but this time it didn't include taking many photos of us (sometimes my host does that).
There were other people's t-voyagers as well!
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Posted Jan 18, 2010, 11:57 am Last edited Jan 18, 2010, 11:58 am by Delenna
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Porvoo, Finland - 17th January 2010
By: Delenna
This was a busy party weekend for my host: her daughters had birthdays. I helped my host make cakes; Hello Kitty cake, 8 cake, rainbow cake... They turned out pretty awesome and tasty Outside my host made ice balloons She filled some latex balloons with water and put them outside to freeze (it took 1-2 days to freeze, depending on the temperature). they turned out so cool and festive that half of them were stolen! My host caught the boys who had done it and gave them a speech and told their parents. The kids apologized and filled new balloons. So it ended well - for us at least.
There was also a disco! We even had disco balls! It was a great party
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Posted Jan 18, 2010, 11:48 am Last edited Jan 18, 2010, 11:57 am by Delenna
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Porvoo, Finland - 22nd January 2010
By: Delenna
Wufff! I went on a walk on the Baltic Sea Remember the shore I went in the summer? Yep, this is it. Only that the sea was covered with thick 30cm ice and people were walking/skiing/skating on it. My host said people also drove on it!
It felt really weird. Walking on the Baltic Sea.
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Posted Jan 22, 2010, 10:21 am
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Porvoo, Finland - 6th March 2010
By: Delenna
It's still winter in here! We had a few days with + degrees so we were able to do a snowslide and this snow Totoro The hole in his stomach is for a candle
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Posted Mar 6, 2010, 12:30 pm
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Sauna, Finland - 12th March 2010
By: Delenna
Finally my host remembered to take photos of me in the Finnish Sauna In Finland every household has a sauna - or in case of a block of flats, then there usually is one sauna for the whole highhouse. Anyway. This is my host's sauna.
Sauna is a room that you heat up (there are saunas that are heated with wood and saunas that are heated with electricity), preferably 60-80 degrees Celsius (that varies, some people like it even hotter). Then you take a shower (just to get wet, it's not pleasant to be dry in a sauna) before you enter the sauna (naked!). In sauna you just sit and relax and maybe throw some water on the hot stones (to get more heat and steam). Sauna relaxes your muscles and opens your skin pores, which makes you clean from the inside
After a while (when you feel like it) you go to the shower again to get wet and re-enter the sauna. You can repeat it as many times as you want. In the end you shower to wash yourself.
In summerhouses people also have saunas. There it's tradition to make (or buy) a birch whisk with which you beat yourself gently in the sauna. The whisk has the leaves on so it won't hurt.
There are saunas in gyms and swimming halls but there men & women are divided in separate saunas. Otherwise, with friends and family, it's normal to go to sauna together.
Finns even have a Sauna Society!
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Posted Mar 15, 2010, 5:01 pm
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Porvoo, Finland - 30th March 2010
By: Delenna
The weather is now warmer and thus more wet too. We've been indoors playing - for example this Moomin Memory game. Moomins are one important part of Finland so we got to know them better.
It was one very interesting match! Unfortunately I didn't win... Leonard beat us all
Here are some of the Moomin folk names in English and Finnish:
Little My - Pikku Myy
Moomin(troll) - Muumi(peikko)
Moominpappa - Muumipappa
Moominmamma - Muumimamma
Snufkin - Nuuskamuikkunen (boy, that's one long name in Finnish!)
Snif - Nipsu
Hemulen - Hemuli
Snorkmaiden - Niiskuneiti
Snork - Niisku
Stinky - Haisuli
Mrs Fillyjonk - Rouva Vilijonkka
The Hattenfatteners - Hattivatit
And they live in Moominvalley - Muumilaakso
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Posted Mar 31, 2010, 8:47 am Last edited Mar 31, 2010, 8:51 am by Delenna
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Porvoo, Finland - 2nd April 2010
By: Delenna
Happy Easter!
Hauskaa pääsiäistä!
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Posted Apr 2, 2010, 8:42 am Last edited Apr 2, 2010, 8:42 am by Delenna
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