Deaf Club, Helsinki Temple and Light Festival

This week I went to the local Deaf club. Joni, my Suomi 1 and Finnish Sign Language III classmate from Holland, was kind enough to bike with me to show me where the club is located.  It's in this building that I pass everyday.  Joni and I were signing to each other (she's Deaf) as we were biking through town.  I'm pretty sure signing while biking is more dangerous than signing while driving. :)  It was awesome!  When we got to the Deaf club, we were warmly received.  The best part was when Joni and I were asked to introduce ourselves to a packed room.  Joni went first and then it was my turn.  I was able to practice my Finnish Sign Language and I got a lot of chuckles as I was trying to describe that I'm 1/4 Finnish.  I basically divided my body into 4 parts and said, "This quarter of me is pure Finn!"  This was my first time at a Deaf club as they don't have one in San Antonio.  I still get chills thinking about what an honor it was to be there.  I'm excited to spend many more Wed. evenings here!!

This is the Helsinki Temple, built in 2006. I remember talking with Lisa and Mom about wanting to attend the Open House before it was dedicated. I didn’t make it then, but I made it now! If I hadn't helped build the San Antonio temple, I would want to be married here. It is so beautiful. I am grateful for a temple that is only 3.5 hours away and in the country where my ancestors are from!

There's a hotel at the base of the hill where the temple is located where visitors can stay who travel long distances to come to the temple. I used the computer to translate a letter I was writing and was excited to find a keyboard that had an alphabet I didn't recognize. :) People from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Finland attend this temple. So many languages represented!!

Speaking of languages, I started labeling objects in my room. My mom said my great-grandmother taught herself English by labeling everything in the house. My Finnish teacher asked us what we were doing to learn the language and I mentioned this method. "Very good method!" My dreams agree. I dreamt in Finnish this week. In my dream (which was very vivid) I was studying Finnish and I said to myself, "Sarah, what are you doing studying Finnish when you're sleeping? You're supposed to be SLEEPING, not studying Finnish!" I woke up and for a second couldn't figure out if I had actually been studying or was dreaming that I was studying. 

This week was Jyväskylä’s annual Festival of Lights (Valon kaupunki means "City of Lights"). It started a few years ago. The city lights up various buildings and monuments around town. The best part? The photographer who takes the pictures for the festival's official brochures stayed here at Eija's place. It was really great to meet him. I feel like a super star living here. Eija was a great tour guide as she took me around to check out the lights.

My first view of JYV from a fairly high altitude (this was taken from the base of the city

's ski jump).

This is JYV's ski jump. You'll notice the name "Matti" appears in the windows. Matti is a very well known ski jumper who's won several Olympic medals. The jump here is named after him.

This is the base of the ski jump. It was already too dark to get a good shot that would give you an idea of how huge and steep it is. 

These are new sculptures that were erected 2 weeks ago in preparation for the Light Festival. The building in the background is a college that used to be an elementary school. Across the street (you can't see it in this picture) is the Kioski (corner store) that Eija's mom owned for 10 or 15 years.

Thank you to whoever figured out how to put timers on cameras.  :)

The church in the middle of the city center.

The JYV bridge.  If you look closely, you'll see a guy swinging below the bridge.  It's actually a dummy.  The swing and the dummy were added a year or two ago as a piece of artwork, but it wasn't lit.  So, it scared lots of people who thought it was a real guy swinging from the bridge.  This year they decided to light him.  Perhaps it's less expensive to pay for the electric bill than to respond to 9-1-1 calls about a guy swinging from the bridge.  :)

That's right.  It's in the single digits here now.  Thankfully, the temperature listed is in celsius.  The cold weather has arrived. 

We ended the night enjoying McFlurries at McDonalds.  My first time to McDs in Finland and Eija's first time trying a McFlurry.  They use the Djam chocolate here instead of M&Ms.  So yummy!