Easter break

A five-day Easter break gave me a great opportunity to relax (and do homework) at my winter house. This is the best time of the year to ski in Lapland. The sun is shining and it's not too cold. This means the temperature is something around 30F.

I've visited my winter house since the year I was born. The entire family (my grandparents and cousins) used to gather together and spend a week at the winter house. Nowadays it's only my family and my cousin, Sanni's family who come all 1280 miles to Lapland in order to ski.

The Northern part of Finland is called Lapland. It's not a city or anything-kinda like a county or something. The Santa Claus lives in Lapland, on the Arctic Circle. It's only two hours away from my winter house!!! Many tourists from all over the world visit Lapland (and you should, too!)

This pic has been taken years ago, this year there was so much more snow!

My ex and I visited Santa Claus last summer

Our winter house was re-decorated a year ago.

Lisää kuvateksti

Thursday was a great day for skiing! The tracks were just damped down! I enjoyed the warm weather and sunshine! The sun doesn't really shine in the winter and it's really dark, so the sunshine it's a sign of spring.

This picture has been takes a couple years ago. My cousin, Sanni (on the left) is a skier and competes frequently. I skied about 80 miles. Saturday Sanni and I went snowboarding. There's a whole lot of snow here; I bet the snow banks are more than 2 feet tall!!

 We both have been snowboarding for years. We usually snowboard about three days in the winter. It's not a lot, because in Southern Finland there's too little snow for skiing.

I also wanna tell you something about Finnish Easter traditions. It's a religious holiday after all, but we also have some weird traditions. On Palm Sunday children dress up as witches and wizards and go from door to door doing a trick or treat kind of a thing. They give a pussy willow and get easter eggs for treat. I will make sure I audiotape the poem they say😂😂😂

Unlike in English, the Good Friday is Long Friday in Finnish. And hat comes to the name, Good Friday is really nonsense, just saying. It wasn't good at all as we all know. 

Anyway, we also have some traditional foods we eat on Easter. This includes lamb, rye porridge, limppu (bread) and Easter eggs. Rye porridge is made of rye flour, water and syrup. I find it really disgusting, though. Limppu is a Finnish bread and I'm not aware of the equivalent English word for it. It's usually soft rye bread with some syrup added.  Actually, I did eat that bread once in America at the Finnish Christmas dinner.
Including a small (and really unnecessary) toy, the Easter eggs differ from the American ones. But then again, the most popular Easter eggs come from German. I've heard you've tried Kinder chocolate, too. Ain't that good, though?

Some Finns grow a little piece of grass in a jar. Apparently that's called ryegrass(?). It's a signifies new life. 

 With warm and sunny regards,

Anette

My princess day

In Finland, prom is a tradition. The seniors get out of school in February and the juniors go to prom in order to celebrate the fact that they are the oldest ones at the school. So in Finland, prom is only for juniors, but many freshman and senior guys go to prom since there's not enough boys for all the girls (this is a huge problem at my school. Most of the guys go to prom three times. Dang, poor guys.)

The other thing, which is kinda funny, is that we have to learn certain dances in advance.This year we learned then dances. We take a dance class  before prom. As the prom day goes, we perform the dances to freshmen and teachers and our families. It is a lot of fun!

My prom day started at 6a.m. as I walked into the hair saloon. I did my own make-up and wore the same dress as I did last year in the U.S. 

We performed the dances at school, in the shopping center and the sport center. The dances weren't over until 8 p.m. so the day was super long! And my feet hurt so bad!! We aslo went to eat lunch at a buffet. The food was delicious!

My hair. It's a real flower. 

My date was my friend's boyfriend and he goes to a different school.

My returnee friend

My best friends

Hope you have a sunny spring!

Love,

Anette

Some things I miss about Oklahoma

Hello guys!

I've been five months in Finland. I'm so happy to have my rye bread and chocolate again but there are also some thing I miss about the States. Actually a lot. 

My Church

I miss my church family a lot. We were so close to each other. I got to talk with people at different ages. And I loved to sing and worship God with the band! And I miss Sunday lunch after church with the church family. That was so much fun!

Track

I miss running and I miss my team. I was gonna continue doing track here in Finland but I didn't have time for both track and school so I had to quit :( I miss our team bondings!

Choir

I miss choir as well. I miss singing. I loved the way we ended every concert by singing "The Lord Bless You And Keep You". It's such a great song. I'm thinking about starting to take voice lessons here in Finland next year.

English

I miss speaking English! I've already started to forget some words. It's horrible!! 

Christian radio channel

We don't have this one in Finland! It was great to sing and worship God in the car.

Watching TWD with my hostfamily

Every Sunday night we used to watch TWD (except for Jill). I can't watch it anymore, since it's not on TV here in Finland...I have no idea what has happened!!

My hostdad picking on me

Okay, I thought I'd never admit this one, but now I really have to do it. Scott, I really miss your stupid comments and jokes. The only thing I don't miss about you is you singing. No offense :D

Family full of singers

There was always someone who was singing at home. Usually it was either my hostsister or mom.

Braum's 

I miss the burgers and the ice cream (especially mint chocolate chip) even more! Could I just bring the chain in Finland?  

Biscuits and gravy -breakfast

Oh, Mimi's breakfasts are the best way to start Saturday morning. I just simply love the biscuits and the gravy and the pancakes! Mimi you're awesome!!

Bennett&Buzz

I miss my pets!! They are the cutest on earth (even though Buzz stinks...)!! I don't have pets in Finland because my mom is allergic to them. I'd like to have a cat once I move out but my boyfriend is allergic to cats. This is my typical luck...

Jilly's funny and silly ideas

No offense sissy,you are my favorite!! But I loved to hear your weird ideas and all the random stuff you were talking about :D And the way you laugh, omgsh, you're such a silly girl!! 

My hostmom's homemade food

She's such a great cook. I love her food, no matter what it is!! Can you just send me some? Maybe chicken pot pie? In Finland I have to make my own dinner at least three times a week and I do not like that. Isn't that what the moms are for...?

School with no homework

Dude...I'm nort even sure if this is possible. Last year it apparently was. This years, though, I have so much homework. Right now I have homework from Biology, Physics, German and Chemistry. Haven't done any of them :D

Real Texmex food

It's my favorite! Seriously, I'm craving it!

Cheap clothes and stores such as Ross

I wish I had bought more clothes from the States... Clothes in Finland are so expensive!! Why don't we have stores like Ross?

Football/Basketball games

I loved to go to our games!! The school spirit was pretty awesome even though we lost every single football game last season lol. And I loved to hear the band playing in the half time!

Sunsets/sunrises

It was great to go to school and see how the sun rises. So beautiful.

All the people

I miss you guys so much. I wish I could come back right now! You'll always be in my heart!

Have a wonderful Christmas time!

Anette

Hallo Berlin!

I visited my sister on my fall break three weeks ago. She lives in Berlin. It wasn't my first time in Berlin. Last time I visited Berlin and my sister was about two and a half years ago. She's been living there with her boyfriend for three years.

My first day in Berlin, Sunday was soo beautiful! I had brunch with my sister and her friend who is American. We spoke English, and I was relieved because I really can't speak German :D

After the brunch (which was stinking good) I went to explore the city. I went to a museum, even though I really don't like museums. But this one was super interesting. It was a museum of the history of medicine. Okay, I may be a little freak but whatever :D

I walked by the East side gallery. It is the place where the original Berlin wall still stands. The graffiti art is amazing.

For those who don't know or remember, Berlin was divided in four sections. Each one of them was owned by a different country (The U.S., France the UK and The Soviet Union). The Berlin Wall separated The Soviet Union section from the three other ones for 30 years. 

The House of Representatives

Brandenburg gate

The Berlin Wall

It is necessary to break down many walls

On the second day I had planned to see my friend from Finland who was also visiting Berlin. We walked around this lovely neighbourhood called Kreuzberg (meaning cross mountain/hill). It's full of nice restaurants and cafés and the architecture is so beautiful! We also tried to go to this viewpoint where you can see the entire city but unfortunately it was closed so we ended up taking photos of the city from a parking hall that was located on the 5th floor. 

 In the evening we went to a free concert of Berlin's philharmony. After that we walked through downtown Berlin and watched the amazing light show the city had set up for the light festival. 

The last two days I was really dissatisfied with the weather because it was raining all the time. I decided to go shopping and found some nice clothes such as new shoes and jeans. 

Hope I see you again as soon as possible, Berlin!

Love,

Anette