I'm back in Finland.  Which means the blog is officially back.  :)  

This is how I remembered Finland: 

But this is what I came 'home' to:

I arrived last Saturday (May 19th).  When I boarded the FinnAir flight at the JFK airport, it finally hit me that I was headed back to Finland.  And this time I felt like I was headed back home, rather than to an unfamiliar place half-way around the world.  I was so excited to hear Finnish again (it's been a few weeks since I finished my Finnish classes in DC) AND to realize that I understood many Finnish words.  "The captain just said 'minutes' and he used the partitive form!"

When I flew out here for the first time (last fall), I couldn't recognize the Finnish language when someone was speaking it and I didn't know there was such a thing as a partitive form much less when/how it's used.  I remember thinking, "What on earth am I doing on this plane?  Why did I decide to move to Finland again?  I really am crazy."  It's interesting that it was the language that was at the forefront of my mind back in September as well as during this most recent trip.

When I arrived in Helsinki I navigated customs in Finnish.  It felt GREAT!  Then I took the bus from the airport to JYV.  As we drove into JYV, I was sooo excited when I recognized where I was.  "We're going to drive right by the University of Jyväskylä--and we're going to pass my office!!  This is the same route we took the first time I came here.  But I had no idea where I was or the significance of any of these places."  You can see my office building (on the left) and one of the cafeterias where we eat lunch (on the right):

Jet-lag was a bit rough this go-round.  Perhaps that's partly due to the long summer days.  The picture below was taken my first night back.  Any guesses what time I took this picture?

Or what time this shot was taken? 

 

 9:30pm.  And 4:15am.

I think I've finally figured out how to insert pictures in the order I'd like them to appear.  But only after I inserted all the pictures that follow.  So, forgive the random order of the remaining pics.  :)

Friday night I was excited to be back with the youth group.  This week the girls were working on recipe books they are making.  From scratch.  Pretty amazing.  Milla is here gluing the first round of binding after sewing the pages together with a needle and thread.

I learned the word for glue in Finnish while listening to the conversations.  Liima.  I even guessed the spelling correctly.  :)

Meet my new Finnish teacher.  Tässä on Hilla.  Sä on super hyvää opettaja.  :)  When I mentioned to Sari (my PhD supervisor) that I was hoping to find a Finnish tutor, she suggested I meet up with Hilla (her daughter).  Hilla has been looking for a conversation partner who speaks Spanish.  Perfect!  Yesterday she rode 4km by bike to Eija's house so we could have our first lesson.  It's much less intimidating talking with a teenager in Finnish than it is with my colleagues.  We had a grand time!  Pretty awesome negotiating conversations in three languages. She is really patient.  And crazy enough to agree to a second lesson next week.  :)  Kiitos paljon Hilla!

This is the lamppost in Eija's garden that reminds me of Narnia.  (I posted a pic of the lamppost back in Dec. when it was covered with snow).  This is what Narnia must look like after the snow melts there, too.

Some of the summer flora in Eija's garden.

These look like Chile's national flower...only these ones are purple, not red.

Just when I think I've seen all of the flowers Eija's planted, I find new ones hiding.  These live next to the basketball hoop. 

KAI!!  This is the Finnish love of my life!!  I blogged about him several times last fall.  This kid makes my heart smile!!  His parents are so good to me, too.  Jyri came and picked me up from the bus station and Katie is always making sure I'm taken care of.  I was telling Katie that while I was back in the states I was often asked if I had left behind a Finnish crush.  Indeed I did!!  And it's great to be reunited with him again!!  :)

My first post back in Finland would not be complete if it didn't include a story about mushrooms, right?! 

Petteri:"Do you want to taste this mushroom?"  

Me: "No, not really."  

Petteri: "It's poisonous.  It'll kill you."  

Me: "Why thank you."  

I may or may not have checked to see if I was wearing a red hoodie.  Is there a Finnish version of Little Red Riding Hood?  Hmm...

These mushrooms grow only in the spring.  If eaten they destroy your kidneys.  It turns out, though, that if you boil them twice (10 minutes each time), it burns out the poison and you can then eat them.  Any takers?  I think I'll still pass.

 This is Eija's garden.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  Last fall Eija told me that during the summer months she spends all day outside.  I didn't think she was being literal.  But she was.  She spends the entire day outside.  It's no wonder.  She's a master gardener and who wouldn't want to spend their days enjoying the fruits of their labor?   

Me. After 24 hours of traveling.  I arrived to Eija's place and she had a delicious cake waiting for me.  Well, the story is actually even cooler than that.  There are two other pics below that tell the full story...

These are the worm-like droppings from the birch trees in Eija's yard.  She spent the morning raking them from the driveway and walking path.

She also raked up the fallen twigs and branches from the apple trees.  I came outside to lend a hand (I thought she was reading but in fact she had been mowing, raking, weeding, and fertilizing), and the only thing left to do was take the piles from the garden to the forest.  So, while it may appear as though I contributed to this project, it really was all Eija. 

Lunch.  On its way to be enjoyed outside on the patio.

The bus and train station in JYV.  It's commonly referred to as the "Travel Center."

195 lbs. of luggage.  And I only had to pay an additional $60.  First 50 lbs. free.  Second bag at 70 lbs. = $60.  My rolling carry-on weighed at least 50 lbs.  My backpack...well, for fear of being reprimanded by my yoga instructors...we'll say it didn't weigh much.  When I was boarding my flight in SAT, they asked for volunteers to check carry-on luggage.  Sign me up!  That rolling carry-on was checked all the way through to Helsinki which meant no hauling it around DFW or JFK...or impressing people with my weight-lifting skills hiking that thing up into the overhead bin.  Miraculous.

But, I did forget to take out the flan mix.  

The carmel packet burst.  Thankfully, though, it only oozed onto a few things.  It could have been MUCH worse.

So...there's a story behind this acorn cake.  Eija went to culinary school back in 1982 in order to pursue a career training in-home nurses.  There she met Riita.  One of their baking assignments involved making an acorn cake.  They took a picture of their masterpiece back then.  But neither of them had made it since.  Riita turned 50 the weekend I came into town.  Eija came up with this brilliant idea: make Riita the acorn cake.  Eija went back through pictures from their classes and she found the picture of the cake.  What a thoughtful way to celebrate Riita's birthday!

Riita and Eija.  And the acorn cake.

Eija was so excited to show me an article about Ella's art gallery.  She had it sitting out when I arrived.  Ella and Eija have been great friends for several years.  I first met Ella when Eija took me along to an opening of one of the new exhibits.  This spring, Ella was asked if she'd like to be featured in one of the magazines here in Finland. 

Eija helped plan what types of fingerfoods they'd have on hand for the interview.  Eija made brownies from the recipe I had shared with her.  I was given the recipe from Tarja Aalto who had received it from one of the missionaries.  Well, they featured the recipe in the article.  And the name of the brownie recipe is... "Sarah's Brownies."  AWESOME!  Thank you, Eija, for thinking of me and giving me credit for the recipe.  

Lunch out on the patio.

The sun is setting.  At...9:30pm.  But it's still light well after 11pm.

And...last but not least, pansies in the flower pots.  And the wreaths are those that Eija and I made from the birch tree limbs that fell during a storm last winter. 

It's been really, really great to be back in Finland and reconnect with so many friends and colleagues.  This feels like home.