Yksi vuotta

  OMG, today it makes one year that since I has been in Finland!!! This time goes by very very fast, now I realise why everybody says that life is short!! After all this time, I still miss Finland.

OST

  Terve,

  For a long time, that I've been thinking about showing you the playlist of my staying in Finland, I mean the songs that I'd heard more during that time (it doesn't nessacerily that I like all of them). It will appear both foriegn and finnish music. I usually listened the music in the radio of my first host-family a home a lot and in the car.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTbr77atD3M (this song reminds me to the trip from the airport to my new home, I'd listened a lots of times in some ad in the radio)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zg2vcm0rJQ
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Ejyr-ddgw
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9SeJIgWRPk
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pco91kroVgQ
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dtFZ8CFo8 (with this one I remember the first nights when I was on my bedroom watching the light at 10 pm)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjfVme5npco
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egUQju95vT8
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJcoRUqODJA
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Ykor-8MAM
  Now i will show some songs from a finnish band called "Haloo Helsinki!" that I love
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzBNIagJv3M
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IhnydCct80
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5UKLeMl9Uc

  And to finish I will show a song that I haven't listend all the time, but my host-sister showed me in the Independence Day of Finland, sung by the veterans that fighted against Russia. I think that's very powerful.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arKxCiTZoyQ

  Maybe I will add some songs in the future. Moikka

Final thanks

  Well, now I will write about my stupid thoughts.

  I've been missing so bad Finland, and for some reason the "not so good thoughts" come to my mind more often than the good ones. I don't know, I've spent a great time there, and I only remember when I'd caused a bruise on my youger host- brother, or when I dropped milk, but worst when in a night I completely forgot to tell my host-parents where I was, and they were very worried. But well, thanks good they forgave me. I didn't wanted to disappoint anybody, my host-families, my schoolmates and teachers, my friends, but I'm a human and I make mistakes, and make mistakes is important, because with them I can learn and grow up, to not repeat them. And I think I learned. I'm also afaird if I made some constraint to my host-families.

  Another thing is, that I'm thinking that all the thanks that I say, they are never enough to all that everybody made to me, and I want to thanks them like all the time, forever... So...

Kiitos paljon kaikille

The first days... (part 4)

   On my first Saturday, we started the day going to Panda factory, wich is a chocolate factory in a suburb of Jyväskylä called Vaajakoski. When I entered I just saw people with a shopping baskets full of candies and chocolates. The finns are crazy with all kinds of candies, even the adults, specially salmiakki, almost all the foreigners hate that creepy thing. That place was also good because it has chocolates for free to taste.

This black thing is salmiakki, also known as salty liquorice in English.

This is not salmiakki, thanks god!

  After that we went to a nice market nearby. I've tasted some kind of finnish army pea soup, that I like it, made in this sort of huge "soup cannon", like in the picture. The market was also near a channel, that we saw the gates openning. Because of the thousands of lakes that Finland have, there is a big channel network, also important for his timber industry. 

  One of the things that I was thinking a lot at that moment was about the weather. Since I was there it hadn't made any sun, I was thinking how I could survive 4 months on that way, but it finnaly made sun several days after.

  At afternoon, one of the things that I was expecting more to do, it happend. I WENT TO SAUNA. It was so weired, but the best time that I was in sauna. The house was of the host-grandparents of the spanish exchange student. Very nice place on the way to Muurame, near the lake. We lighted the fire to warm up the sauna and then we did boating. I was quite scared to be naked in the front of the other stangers in the sauna, but I went with swimming shorts. At first was weird to be there, i felt like my nose and my eyes burning, but then I get used to it. We also swam on the lake a couple of times. Then we went to a small cottage with a fire place with a grilling were we ate makkara. 

  I don't remember what else happend that day.

  The next day I went to an outdoor second hand shop market, next to the bulding of Keskisuomalainen, the newspaper of Central Finland, where they made a guided tour (in finnish!!!!) through their facilities. 

Those are the printing machines.

Ans this is the paper to do the newspapers.

  At afternoon I was at home, talking with my hist-sister about the school in Finland.

  The next day was my first day at school, that moment i've made already a post in the beggining of this blog.

  Moikka.

The first days... (part 3)

  Moi,

  The third day. The third day was nice, I met for the first time the Spanish exchange student. He was very shy and not very talkative. In that day, me and my host-sister, we went to his new house, because she and the host-sister of the Spanish guy are good friends. The way to the house was fabulous, on the shore of the lake and in the middle of the forest, omg, I was rapt with that, everything was beautiful there.
  Then after met them we went to the supermarket to buy some things to bake pulla and korvapuusti. Next to the supermarket it was the second highest building in Jyväskylä and it was funny because it wasn't very high and everything around it was small.
  Back to the house we went to the kitchen to bake, and the girls made almost everything, the boys only helped something, but almost nothing.
  After we were watching "Muumi" a Finnish cartoon, that everybody loves there and exists all kind if stuff with that. That it's one big memory of the childhood of the Finns. Also for the first time of my life I saw "Real Housewives of New Jersey" and it was one of the worst programs I've seen in my life. I also discover that the Spanish series "Los Serranos" is very famous here.

  Our lunch was the things that we baked, so very healthy. After we plaid cards. 

  And that's it of what I remember of the third day.

  See you later! 

  

The first days ...(part 2)

   Hello,

   The breakfast of the first days was very special because I felt like I was taking the breakfast of the rich people. I picked up some berries like blueberries, loganberries and another ones that I don't remember the name directly from the bushes that we had in the backyard, and I put that berries with cereals and yogurt. SO SO DELICIOUS.
  Because that day was the birthday of my youngest host-brother we went to the city center buy some strawberries to bake a cake to him. It was the first time that I ride a bike there (and I realize that I'm very slow riding a bike) and I saw the city. Before, me and my host-sister, we went to see Cygnaeus-lukio, my school. In the market were a lots of berries and mushrooms picked up by the sellers on the market, and another Finnish things like pastry with a nice look. It wasn't cold but it was quite rainy and stuffy. I remember that I took the camera with me but I didn't took any photos because I thought that the city wasn't very old, monumental, only with modern buildings, but i like it. In the way back home I saw that the city was very green, full of trees and parks.
  After, I don't remember much more of that day, only that I sang the happy birthday song in Portuguese and I still very confused with the hours of sun.

The first days... (part 1)

  Hello my dear readers,

  Here i am, writing to you all, about my first memoirs in Finland.
  It was a very special moment because it was the first time that i was flying in a plane and was also the first time outside of this little rectangle called Portugal. The first times are always very special for us, the discovery of new things, new realities.
  I remember the flight, 4 hours in a plane that never ended, I was reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" of Stieg Larsson and the food was bad. When we were landing I recieved a lots os messages of the finnish phone operators.
  At the airport the first thing that it came to my mind was the song "It's Oh So Quiet" of Björk. Before came to Finland i was really thinking that, that country is very peaceful and quiet. It's not so wrong that idea.
  The luggage of the flight from Lisbon was quite late, and I was despairing. But finnaly i crossed the green line and I was trying to looking for my family, but my host-mom called me after a little while and I saw her. She was with my youngest host-brother, and he was with the flag of Finland and a big paper with my name made by him. We embraced each other and I started my journey in Finland.
  First, I was very insecure about my English skills, but my host-mom understood almost everything that i wanted to say. I was asking a lots of things in the car and during the trip to my new house we stopped twice. The first time we stopped in my host-father's enterprise  to take him, and another time we stopped to eat. The first big difference: it was like 5 o'clock and we had a dinner in ABC (which is a company of sevice stations that exists all over the country), in a buffet. The food was good, but for me a little bit expensive.
I was looking for a lake in the trip and whan I saw one was like the proof that I really was in Finland.
  When we were changing the cars was raining a lot (my host-father said that until the previous day was sunny and warm and when i came it started to be cloudy) and i remember to see one plaque showing how many days that the enterprise don't have any knid of accidents and it was exactly 50 days (was also showing the record of days and was also 50). I saw, after the city and it was a strange feeling, because I was watching in real life what i was searching in the Internet.
  I was so excited to see my house, my other host-siblings and my room. I still thinking that I'm so lucky for the family that I had. They recieved me so well. And so, I put the clothes in the wardrobe and after everybody sit on the table and we ate. First big mistake: I always have heard that you should see what the others do and after you do what they did, but I'm very smart and I didn't did that, and so what happend? There was the dark dry bread with two slices together and so what i do, I put a little bit of butter in one slice and i ate both slices together. And after I saw my family eating only one slice full of things, like butter and cheese and ham and even cucumber. The flavour wasn't the best, but in December I started to like it. After on that day I don't remember what happend more, but I just remember that the night came very late. At 11 o'clock I could see some sunbeams. I also remember that I thought that my new bed was very very soft.

The Finns

  Hello,

  Here is a subject that i promised to write about in this post, because for example the people don't have a concrete idea about the Finnish people. So let's start.

  The most important adjective to describe the Finns is that they are very honest people. Here in Portugal we have a proverb saying "Achado não é roubado" and if I translate literally would be like "Found is not stolen", but that in 99% of the cases in Finland don't happend. They don't want to spoil the life of the other people because they don't see that it's a good thing and they also don't evade the taxes, they have a very good educational system, for example, because they have enough money to have it. They are also very honest people because they speak the truth, if they thing that something it's like that they will say what they think. They also don't speak bad things about the others in their back. I just love that.

  Before coming I've heard that the nordic people are very cold and quiet, and the truth is: they actually are a little bit quiet in comparation with the people from the south, but they are not cold. They have some problems in expressing their emotions but they have true emotions.

  And when you are speaking with a Finn you can also be a little bit away from him, specially with stangers, because they need their own personal space and they almost never kiss, with strangers that never happend.

  They don't like Russia because of the History, the relation with Sweden it's very funny because they are like siblings, they like each other but they are always "fighting", and they also speak a lot about Estonia because they go quite often there in the boats of Viking Line or Silja Line to buy cheap alcohol.

  In general they are not religious people, but I think that they have something of spiritual, because always that somebody wants to say that somebody is dead they said that, that person is in a better place, on heaven, in the sky, etc. Another good thing is the fact that they accept the people who have faith.

  Maybe i will say more about them in another post, but with this you can have an idea of what it's a Finn.

Delicious...

  Hello everybody,

  Yesterday i made korvapuusti, it was not like in Finland, but i really felt like, because of the smell and the confection. It really tooks me back there. Korvapuusti means, if i translate slap in the ear, because of the shape.

  Sorry, i know that i've promised to talk more, and i've started some posts but i need to finnish them.

  Bye bye!

Goodbye Finland!

  Yes it's true, i'm writing from Portugal right now. This Saturday I came, but first let's start with the things that I did last week.

  On Sunday I made my very first snow angel after sauna. I did twice and it was so funny because where I lived there was not very much privacy and I was just a towel, but it was 10 o'clock in the night so I haven't saw nobody. One very important rule: never go without nothing shoe. Your feet will sufer a lot.

 Monday I went to visit my previous host-family. It's was so good to visit them. There I made for the first time ski (in the backyard to practice) and it was very funny.

  Wednesday I went agian to Laajavuori with my host sister and we meet some Dutch group.

  On Thirsday I went to the workshop of food in Lyseo and the theme was Christmas food. After I visited the museum that exists in that school.

 We also went to the roof and we could see an amazing views. This part is Kilpisenkatu, one of the main streets of the city

  After I went to dinner with my first host-family.

Friday I went to buy something to the people in Portugal and in Kauppakatu there was this market.

  Saturday I come back to my home. A long day with 5 hours by bus from Jyväskylä to Helsinki-Vantaa with a change in Lahti. After, another 4/5 hours in the plane to Lisbon. I was a little bit scaried if they complained with the weight of the luggage in the airport, but thanks god, nothing happend. In Lisbon I was the one that looks more like a Snow White. 

  Sunday my parents made a little snack with some people.

  I'm missing so much Finland, the honesty of the people, the calm, my finnish bed (now mine seems like stone) and all the people that I met. 

  Well, I want to continue with this blog and talk about some aspects about Finland.

  See you some day!

School alone

 Hej,

  Friday was national holiday celebrating the independence of Finland from Russia. It's a very special day for the Finns because it still some old speople that lived before that time. Also after the independence were very hard times to Finland because of the several wars that they had with Russia. Actually it still exists some bad idea of Russia by the Finnish people.
  So exists some traditions in this day like go to the graveyard to put some candles in memory of thier family or the dead soldiers. They also put two candles in the window, have a special dinner with the family and watch TV where shows some important dance made by the President of Republic and the guests are important people, some veterans, ambassadors in Finland and former Presidents of Republic of Finland. After shows some important Finnish things like Lordi (finnish heavy metal band who won the Eurovision Song Contest) or the game between Sweden and Finland of ice hockey in 2011. All the years also appears a movie called "The Unknown Soldier" or "Tuntematon solitas" in Finnish wich shows the Continuation War from the finnish perspective.
  I really like this think of celebrating the national holidays, because in Portugal, a national holiday means a day to do nothing.

This photos as you can see are from the graveyard. Sorry for the quality. This last one is in honor os the Karelian people who was forced to move from their place because of the Russian occupation.

  Saturday I made my very first snowman. It was so funny. Before going home I went to Harju Tower to see the city with the snow and it's very beautiful.

  At night I went with another exchange students to Laajavuori to the downhill.

  Yesterday the Spanish guy left back to his home. But in January he will come back. It was very hard to find an host-family to him but thanks to the "power" of the social networks he found it!

  And finnaly I have a proof that the days are incredibly small. 

I took this photo in front of my school at around 14:15.

  Hej in the begging is in Swedish. It's mandatory to learn this language since the 7th grade here in Finland because of the Swedish-speaking population . About 5/6 % of the population, mainly concentrate in the coastal areas, have the Swedish as their mother tongue due to the history (Finland belonged to the Swedish Empire during several centuries). 

Four Months/ One Week

  Hello,

  So what I did last week?
  Sunday I was all the day at home so I decided to take a walk until Jyväsjärvi (the lake in the center of the city), and it was one of the biggest mistakes that I've made. When I get out from my house it was very windy and ingeneral near the lakes is so much worst, so when I went to the lake I was dying and frozen.

It was so windy that even a tree fell down.

 This is the view of the city in the other part of the lake.

Because the railways goes in the middle of the city, there exists some "bidges" to the pedestrians, bicicles and anothers for the transports.

  On Tuesday I went to Helsinki to some event called Studia, where there where represented universities and universities of applied sciences of all Finland and also from another countries. There was one from Portugal and of course I enjoyed the moment to speak face-to-face with somebody. It was very nice, but the most interesting thing was the lady said that I have a little accent on my Portuguese. After I went to see the others universities and I ansked for courses in English and everybody said "Yes, of course we have, but go to our site in the Internet for more information because i'm not very well informed about that". 

  After that we went to Ateneum or Kiasma, but i've seen already both and were the some exhibitions that I just follow a friend and so I saw Ateneum. After that everybody went to shopping but I went to see the sea. It was so special to me to see that. It really remind me to Portugal. After that I just followed to coast and I also went to the Kaivopuisto, one of the most important parks in the city and were you can see a fabulous veiw to the sea and the city near the small astronomic observatory. After I was so scary to loose the bus that I was running to the bus meeting place. It was a tiring day for the 8 hours in the bus.

 Ateneum

 This is the Ursa Astronomical Observatory

The view to the city from the Observatory.

   Wednesday I went to see the Hunger Games to the cinema.

   Thirsday I ate for the first time in Arnold's and also I ate fro the first time moose. My host-mom asked me what I would like to do and that was one of the things. It's very delicious.

  Finnaly I took some pictures to the Christmas Lights.

This is in SOKOS, all the years they make some kind of animated representation.

  The title of this post it's about the time that i've been here in Finland and the time left to go back to Portugal.

  Näkemiin.

Time goes by

  Hello everybody.

  It's so sad, I will leave from Finland in two weeks. When it's your last month of something that you really like, the unique thought that comes to your mind it's "This is almost ending". That never get out of your brain specially if you are in Finland in December. Now, at 4 o'clock it's already night and it's so cold that nothing happens, so I have plenty of time to think.
  Actually, yesterday I just get out of the house at night to go to one housewarming party. Here the youngs, they start to live alone very early, like 18/20 years old. In the way back home I saw three rabbits in the middle of the city. Another very common animal are squirrels, they are everywhere and I was almost having an accident by bike with one a few months ago.
  Have been snowing almost all the days and the roads are extremely slippery. It's funny to see everybody walking very slowly and falling.

Two days ago I saw this tree in the Church Park.

Yestarday was snowing all the day, and my mom was making m jealous showing the sun in Portugal through the window.

  Bye Bye.

The Perfect Combination

   Hello, hello!

  It's officially the Christmas season here in Jyväskylä. The opening was Sunday and actually I was expecting more, it was only some fireworks and some people speaking in Kompassi and the lights it's only one star in the sky and some threes with lights and nothig else. I went to a higher place near Harju to see better the fireworks and was there a lots of people.

  My host mom tried to baking pulla, and it didn't happend so well as expected so there was not so much, but the ones that survided were very delicious.

  In Wednesday it was my Multicultural Project exhibition. In my group I was with the people from Afganistan, and I never felt bad for being with them. In the project basically we prepared some works showing our countries and our cultures and it tooks all the day, so I didn't went to the classes :) .

  At night I went to see some concert (for free) in Siltasali. My music teacher said to everybody of our class to go there, but as a good Portuguese that I am I went late and so I only saw the concert in the entrance of the building were they put some televisions for the peoplewho haven't got sit. I really liked them.

  Has been the coldest days of my life and everything is full of ice and snow and negative temperatures (I'm just feeling that I'm in Finland). On Thursday was snowing and I was very excited, for me when it's snowing it's a very magical moment. So I was taking pictures with the camera and walking at the same time and KABUUUM, I fell in the floor because it was slippery due to the ice under the snow. So, my advice to everybody is: never take photos when you are walking and much less when it's snowing.

 This is my new lake: Tuomiojärvi. But I will never forget my Palokkajärvi.

   The view from my bedroom.

  This weekend I went to camp with in a scouts camp. I meet one of the leaders in August and she invited me. I was the unique boy, and it's quite different from the camps in Portugal. They go to sauna (yes, even in the camps), they have a lots of candys and the tent was bought in the Finnish Army. Of course for the feezing winters they need special tents with fireplace. It was a very special camp with the snow and I really enjoy it.

Delicious, banana with chocolat 

 The first tent with chimney that I had been.

Marshmallows

  And today I finnished my Finnish lessons at the city library.

  Actually I saw that I'm almost always talking about weather now in the blog. To say the truth the title it's about the weather that was today, completely sunshine and snow everywhere.

  Näkemiin

Moi Tampere

  Hello everybody,

  Since tha last post didn't happend so many things.
  One of the most important things were the going of the slovak exchange student of my school. It was very strange to think that I will not see a person soon, when we did a lots of things together during three months, but we are planning to meet all the exchange students somewhere, to don't loose contact. Actually I'm one of the last Comenius exchange students here in Finland, in Facebook almost everybody said that they are missing so bad Finland. I'm afraid of that moment.

  Another thing was that I found my very first cache near to my school. For who don't know Geocaching, it's a "game" where you found points all around the world (there aro more than 2 million). Here is the site. http://www.geocaching.com/.

  After the atelier of cuisine of the world in Lyseon that I have all the Thirsdays every two weeks (I had already Spanish, Slovak, German, and was also Italian but I was in Rovaniemi) I saw a concert in Cygnaeus (my school) made by the students of same class of music, they are very good.

 Yesterday I went to Tampere. It was kind of dream that I had because it was very near to Jyväskylä and it's very nice. I visited the Moomin Valley, the Pyynikki Tower, The Museum Vapriikki and we also walked around the city. It was very sunny day but now the days are so small that are 4 p.m. but seems like 7 p.m. Yesteday also it was the Restaurant Day where everybody all around the world can open and restaurant in their place and it's very famous here in Finland, where it starts. Here is the link  http://www.restaurantday.org/en/ .Well I ate in Hesburger wich is the Finnish McDonald's.
  In Tampere are already the Christmas Lights, but my camera was without battery so I didn't took any photos.

 Another bridge of love.

 This thong was huge and I was so so full when I ate.

 The ortodox church

 In Vapriikki was this temporary exhibition about Ancient China

 And I just concretizei one of my dreams, see one bicicle with this front big wheel.

 "Do not touch and feed, thank you"

 Nokia is a place near to Tampere where it starts the famous Nokia phones

 Horror movies or just ice hockey?

View from the tower.

  Today the weather has been crazy, in the coast are some storm from Sweden, so here in Jyväskylä has been incredibly windy, and has been sunshine and now is snowing.