Christmas Eve's Eve

In Finland they celebrate Christmas on the 24th. Relax the 25th, and visit the 26th. I will write more about this later.

As I work on these messes of blog posts, I am also sitting here as my host father works on this bed creation behind me and it is hitting me as I type this- I am not going to be with my mom and dad and sister and well the whole gang on Christmas. But I am going to be with a new type of gang.

The Gang which speaks finnish and eats a bunch of fish. The gang which took me into their lives and is treating me like one of their own children.

Now I am so lucky for this. It is hard. I  am not saying it isn't. But I am surrouned by people who care for me and you know what. I don't want gifts or anything. I was given a family this year. And what is better than that.

I will be leaving to Brussles on the 30th and will spend New Years there.

But now is the time for family. So from my home to yours.From Country to Country. Language to language.  Merry Christmas.

I love you all wholly and miss you all in the fullest of ways.
Hyvää Joulua

Friends for Life

Long days greeted by my train stop

so precious 

Lemme take a moment and focus on friendship. With this year coming to an end, I feel this is the most important part of it.

I have had the privildge to meat genuine people who have taught me things I would not have been able to learn anywhere else.

I am so thankful for them all. 

If you have been in the helsinki metro, you know Kiitos Poika. We met kiitos poika.

Ice skating is always one of my favorite things to do. Especially if it is with my favorite fins.

this man was selling these sad little christmas trees all day. I almost bought one. But I felt and though it wouldn't have been the best thing to bring home on a whim.

 The candians came to town and we found real pizza. Like think crust, toppings stay on.

my beautiful city of kerava

the point in the evening

I have come to the point in the evening. Wonderful one. I have been blogging then oh coffee with a new family member. Then more blogging, chocolate fondue time. Blogging. The life. The struggle is real.

Also my photos and times are all mixed up so bear with me folks.

So I teach English here and these are the kids I teach. It is amazing how much I truly enjoy teaching. Each wednesday I spend two hours with these girls. I see them learn. I learn. And my payment is a trip to Brussles for New Years! I am very lucky. 

Like I see this. I have walked by this time and time again. This is my home now. 

Christmas packages roll in and each one I am so very thankful people thought of me. Like it doesn't matter what it is at all. Just the fact of compassion and love

 I am on the family calander. This is big to me. Really big.

My girls. Saga, Iira, Vanessa, and Katia.

Accpella Finnish Music and Baking

My host family took me this past Saturday to see a famous Finnish Accpella group perform at the Musikki Talo.

She says I am her daughter. I really do appreciate her kindness. 

After, we went and had glögi and talked. 

We spent the rest of the weekend attempting to bake. I made ice box. We dance to bubble and laugh at all we do. We are still baking. Like the cake just came out of the oven. I wish you could smell it. 

one other story is that one the day I went to a indoor christmas market with my host mom. It was amazing they had animals. It was built in an old green house. We had tea and coffee it was a wonderful afternoon. 

Schoooool

So lets talk about school. I am taking French, Spanish, Finnish History, and Ballroom dancing.

1.) French. Luis and I take this one together and mostly I am learning the finnish side to the french. French is so much more closer to english than finnish.

one day in french we made cakes... find which one the kids which don't know how to read finnish made

we tried to spice things up and own our beauty

2.) Spanish

This class I try in. I even do the homework. It is the basic of spanish and since I already studied it in the states, it greatly helps my finnish,

3.) Finnish History

I adore history and feel it helps explain why people do things if you understand their past. But I signed up for one of the most advanced histories. This means advanced Finnish and no pictures. This means I have my own book in english which I just read from the whole time. Except for this one day where we were acting out an old trial. And we all pulled names of people to act as. I pulled the name of the man running the trail. My finnish was interesting... but lucky me! I have this girl in the class, her name is Alice. She has excellent english and very kind. She helps me learn. I am so lucky for kind people in my life.

4.) Ballroom Dancing 

It is a tradition here in finalnd that all second years learn these dances and then perform them. Luis is my dance partner and we just have a ball in that class. We laugh so hard. Because we don't under stand what they are saying. So we just go along with it. Its one of my favorite classes I have ever had,

I walked into school on friday and there was a huge concert from a famous finnish Rap artist in our gym. I didn't have to go to french so that was a plus. Many hugs were given. 

sunlight came after 2 months

best frannns

On saturday we went to Christmas Mass from the school and I had to read a passage in Finnish. When I was done I looked up and the smiles from the whole school made my heart feel alive. I did it. And after I was invited out by so many friends. And I got tons of merry chirstmas! And I felt like I belong to this school.

 

1420 District Christmas Party

thank god for the brazilians they teach us how to dance

we sign the flags as we say good bye

Our district has a christmas party so all of us in came together, shared gifts, danced, laughed, ate. 

These are the best kids I have ever met. Like seriously we all took risks to come and we are what we have here. We are family. Everything switches. But these kids are always there.

i like glögi.. paljon

bus of exchange students- when we take over public transportation 

we saw the sun set.. at 3 pm