Sunlight in the City of Lights

The dark season is officially here.  It doesn't sneak up on you.  Rather, one day you wake up and it's a normal fall day.  The next, the dark period has made it's grand entrance.  But, who doesn't LOVE the up sides to the darkness?  Like...

 

 

admiring the church in the city center.  This year the city added spotlights on benches located on the four corners of the square.  If I'm lost, I'm most likely sitting on the benches on the southwest corner between the church and...

 

 

City hall.  It was recently restored.  And it's beautiful.  (The flags on the opposite side of the road could stand to go, though.)

 

 Y'all are always...

 

 

to join in on an evening stroll...

(Sis. Baliff came up with the design on the spot and carved the pumpkin completely freehand!!)

 

 

along the harbor of Lake Jyväsjärvi.  In a few short months, I'll be able to lay on the frozen lake and stare up at the star lit sky.  Can't wait!!

 

I love, love, love this city.

 

 

Katie and I biked down to the city center before we headed down to the lake. 

(Notice the dry street.  The snow will be here before we know it.)

 

Fortunately, the law of oppositions applies to darkness as well.  Just as darkness exists, so does light.  (I remind myself that even when it's cloudy or dark outside, the sun is ALWAYS shining.) 

And there were many bright mornings (and moments!) this week. 

They included...

 

 

A clear morning to greet the SUNrise.  Ahhhh.  Sunshine.  Oh how I love me some sunshine.

 

 

 

The buildings are even smiling.  And yes--that is my shadow hugging the sun.  :)

 

 

Morning strolls to work. 

 

Halloween party at the church (which included American treats like Rice Krispie treats and pumpkin bread).  Thanks to Kirsti, it was a HUGE hit.  All of our American friends we know in JKL came.   Crystal is a PhD student in the Dept. of Education at JYU.  She and Weldon (her husband) were invited by another American couple (Brent and Catherine) to a Halloween party on the same night.  Turns out, it was the same party. LOVE how small JKL is.  :) 
(More pics to follow next week.)

Kati and Henry are now officially in JKL!!  Henry was en route (by car) from Germany when their things arrived (in the morning on a work day).  Who's available to help move at that time?  The missionaries, of course!  :)  They were so great to come lend a hand (8, to be exact).  What we found waiting for us when we arrived was...

a wonderful breakfast feast.  YUM!!  She even had a gluten free fruit dessert just for me, along with gluten free rolls she baked.  Aww!!  My friends are the best.  Kiitos Kati.  :)

For Halloween I dressed up as an expert on the status of Finnish Sign Language in Finland, waltzed myself into this lovely hall, and delivered a short talk on the subject to a gathering of 40+ members from the community.  Our research team lead discussions about the (in)visibility of a variety of minority languages in Finland.  We each had a colleague from each of our fields of research who work in these respective communities to present the current state of affairs with respect to the status of languages like Finnish Sign Language, Swedish and Sami 'on the ground' in various education and workforce sectors.  I had been looking forward to this event for quite some time. 

It was down right awesome, thanks to my colleague from the school for the deaf here in JKL who raised awareness about many timely issues with respect to sign language in deaf education.  It was a privilege to work with her on this kind of project.

 



The venue was  held at Martalo in the city center.  Martat is a women's home economics organization founded in 1899 in Finland.  It is still a very active organization that teaches about food and nutrition, cooking, gardening, and a wide range of other skills.  More here: http://www.martat.fi/info/in-english/

 I've passed this building numerous times (it's on Yliopistonkatu 'University Street') so it was a treat to be able to see what it's like on the inside.  It was an excellent venue for our seminar.

 

Loving the sunlight, dark nights, and AMAZING opportunities this week in Jyvaskyla (which is known in Finland as the City of Lights).