The biggest week of my Finnish life

This blog post will be a bit upside down.  Why?  Because there are so many pics that I wanted to share that it's become quite difficult to put them in chronological order.  So, please bear with the hodge-podgey sequence of pics.  :)

Rice porridge!  A traditional Finnish dish at Christmas time.  Um, I could live on this stuff.  It's covered in a sweet sauce that has dried fruit (plums, raisins and other fruit).  It was served at the church Christmas party.

Finland's Independence Day was Tues. (Dec. 6th).  This are mini-mannikins of the first couple along with one of the judges from the Finnish version of "Dancing with the Stars".

Pepinos!  In FINLAND!  This was the first fruit I was introduced to in Cerro Alegre, Chile when I arrived as a missionary almost exactly 9 years ago.  On Monday night I walked downstairs to see Eija.  She had been baking and it smelled EXACTLY like Chile.  Random, right?  I wish I could capture aromas and post those, too.  Someone should work on that...  At any rate, we were at the grocery store and my eye caught this fruit that I've only seen in CHILE!  What are the odds?: the sights and smells of Chile in Finland all in the same week.  Totally made my heart happy.

Are you hoping to buy butter this week?  Well, if so, hopefully you don't live in Finland because there is a butter shortage crisis.  I'm still not sure how that happens.  But people are traveling to Estonia to buy butter.  Eija is standing by the sign that talks about the butter crisis.  The store had brought in butter from Estonia but there were only a few packages left.  Rough timing with the Christmas season upon us.  Makes you stop and remember how fortunate we are to be able to have all the luxuries we enjoy. 

Eija makes her Christmas cards every year.  This is how this year's card turned out (this isn't quite done as you can see).  The birch branches are those that fell from the trees in the garden. 

What could be more fun than making cards on a Saturday night?  Then we watched Blindside since Eija hadn't seen it before and the true story that is presented in the film was one of the things that inspired me to pursue my Ph.D.  Random.  But pretty awesome to be watching it in FINLAND and remembering the moment when I knew that the Ph.D. course was the right one to take.

The lingonberry and blueberry bushes stay green all winter.  I didn't know they were evergreens.  It's surprising that the forest is green even during the winter.  Eija and I gathered enough of the plants to make small bouquets that we used as decorations for the Christmas party at church.

This is the lookout that is maybe 500 yards from our house.  Eija was telling me that Tuomas and Lauri (her sons) used to cook sausages here at this lookout point when they were teenagers.  It's one of the best places to see the lake and city (as you can see).  Beautiful.

Independence Day lunch/dinner.  It felt like we were dining at a 5 star restaurant.  It's amazing to me how you can see the bluish glow from outside.  How is it possible that it can truly be that blue?!

We've had some pretty stormy days/nights this week.  This poor guy didn't survive. 

It really IS blue outside.  I'm not kidding.  I'm just amazed.

Lauri and Elle, Tuomas and me.  I was wondering what I could contribute to the meal.  Then I remembered that one of my professors had given me Sibelius' (Finland's most cherished composers) CD before I left for Finland.  So, I brought down the CD and everyone was surprised that I knew about his work let alone had one of his CDs.  (Thank you Dr. Hult!)  We enjoyed listening to Finlandia which isn't Finland's national anthem, but perhaps more loved than even their anthem.  One movement of Finlandia will be familiar to everyone who knows the hymn "Be Still My Soul."  It's those moments when I wish everyone I knew could be present to enjoy such incredible experiences.

The main course: mashed potatoes, lingonberry sauce (that I made! :) ), carrots, beet casserole, and salad. 

Dessert: smoked cheese with cloudberry jam.

Then came baking.  Flaky pastries with plum jam in the middle.

Gingerbread cookies!  The scent of one of the spices in the dough is what reminds me of Chile.  The odd shaped cookie is a pig.  Pigs are very popular at Christmas time.  Maybe because it's the traditional meat served at Christmas...?

Documented proof that I studied at least one day this semester.  :)

Finns spend the evening on Independence Day watching the president greet 2,000 guests for the royal dinner/ball.  The Finns look forward to this like we look forward to fireworks on the 4th of July.  Here is the president greeting one of the guests.  This year I watched it on TV.  Next year, I'll work on being there in person.  :)

Roll out the red carpet!  I only watched about 15 min of it as I had to finish a lecture I had to give this week.  But, during that time I saw two deaf guests arrive and an interpreter stand next to the president and interpret for them.  Um, I'll volunteer for that job!  :)  Actually, I'd rather be one of the chefs that had to stand at attention at the other end of the red carpet as the guests entered the dining hall.  I tried uploading the pic to show you but it didn't upload. 

Another Finnish Independence Day tradition is to place 2 candles in every window and light them from 6-8pm. 

Next year I hope to attend the annual parade and then see all the windows lit up. 

I was at the deaf club again this week.  This sweet couple gave me a nice overview of the history of Finland.  The husband is an American history buff. 

This is the bridge I cross on my bike ride home.  I love the lights.  No wonder JYV is called the city of lights.

This picture makes my heart SO HAPPY!  This was taken after my first lecture at JYV.  These are some of the participants who attended and were kind enough to indulge my wish to document this moment.  There's a remarkable story behind each of the individuals present in this photo. 

After the lecture, I lead a seminar on family language policy.  These are some of the ideas we discussed as part of the seminar.

Our ward Christmas party!  They called up 5 people from the audience to compete in various kinds of activities.  This one was to see who could wrap a present the quickest.  Elisa, one of the girls in the Young Women's organization I work with, WON!  She won the whole competition, even winning the gingerbread cookie eating contest.  Way to represent Elisa!  :)

The missionaries had a skit that was a magic show gone awry.  Here they are sawing one of the guys in half.  Um, I laughed my heart out.

The deaf club is at the end of this street.  Can't get enough of the lights.  I could do without the slush, though.  All week I kept thinking, "I love drinking slushies but I don't love biking in slush."  There have been a few close calls, but the bike and I are 4 for 4 this week in saving ourselves from drinking the slush.  :)