Terve :D
Aah! I can't believe that I have been in Finland for two weeks already! Last week, after language camp, I met my host family. They are soo kind and impossibly nice, which has made the transition into their family as easy as it could ever be.
My host sister, Sini, is so nice. She has quite similar taste in music to me, which I love, in addition to her amazing style :D Sini's older sister, Anna, also came from university in Helsinki to stay at home for the weekend, when I arrived. Anna went to Australia on an exchange in 2006/ 2007, so she has been really good to talk to and has been really welcoming. My host Mum, Päivi is so sweet and has been so kind to me: I have never felt uncomfortable in the whole time I have been in her company. Osmo, my host Dad, is absolutely lovely. He always educates me about the Finnish way of life and tries so hard to explain things, so I don't feel left out.
Although my high school had exams this week, I went in for a few days, once to talk about subject selection and another time to take an English exam. The other days I went with my host Mum, Päivi, to the school where she teaches and I talked about my life in Australia and shared some Australian music with her classes and helped during the English classes, which was fun. The students were quite shy, initially, but I could see their confidence grow after I amused them with my limited Finnish and they soon warmed to me and asked me soo many questions. I had the best time :)
I also went food shopping with my host family, which was fun. They have an entire isle of the supermarket dedicated to cheese and they have eleven different kinds of milk... they even have one type where the cows have been milked at night, which supposedly helps you sleep better :D I love Finnish food. I have just been trying absolutely everything and that way it has been very easy to work out what I do and don't like. One night we had warm berry soup for dinner, which was delicious. I also have been helping Päivi cook. On Thursday we made Runeburgin cakes, which are a traditional dessert to eat on Runeburgin Day, which celebrates Runeburgin, a famous Finnish poet. The cakes are made from old bread and have jam and white icing on top. The homemade ones we made were soo good!
I have also been riding a bike to school, which has been amusing. It's soo different riding on ice. It can get quite slippery in some places and in others, where the snow is too thick, it can become difficult to pedal. My first time cycling was okay, but I managed to take almost every corner too wide, which resulted in me ploughing into the metre-high piles of snow surrounding the road :)
My Finnish is actually going pretty well... I have been doing homework and I went to a beginner's Finnish course last week, which I will be attending every Wednesday. I have also learnt useful phrases such as "Sun tyttökaveri on söpö" and "Sinulla on kaunis nenä", which translate in English to "Your girlfriend is cute and "You have a pretty nose" :D'
I had my first skiing experience in Suomi last night, which was pretty hilarious and equally fun! One thing people should generally know about me is that I am ridiculously uncoordinated, so I was quite excited, but also vomitously nervous when my host parents suggested that I go skiing for the first time.
The first thing I learnt is that skiing is not as easy as it looks. As I struggled to prevent myself from sliding down the rapid decline, four-year-olds breezily snowboarded past me. I felt so guilty for my host parents!
I don't know whether it was the uplifting Star Wars music blaring in the background, or the entire Finnishness of it all, but after about three hours, I eventually made it all the way to the bottom without stacking it. I had soo much fun!
Moi Moi from Suomi:)
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