My first Easter in Finland

Greetings from the other side.

My first Easter on Finnish soil is coming to an end, and I have to say it's been a good experience.

But let's start from the beginning.

As I wrote in my previous post about how I worked on Maundy Thursday, I won't go into that anymore in this post.

The Friday was spent in a calm manner. We didn't really get up to much, although I did get a lot of writing done which felt good. I've been slacking off a bit on my writing lately, so it has felt good to get back to it and being creative again.

We also had my future in-laws over for some Easter 'fika'. Though, again, I wrote about that in my previous post, so if you want to read about it you can find it here.

In the evening, after we had had dinner, my fiancee introduced me to something called "pasha", which you can see in the image below:

Granted, as I understand it, this wasn't the normal kind of pasha that they normally make, and enjoy, as that one contains lemon, something which I can't have. Never the less it still tasted really good, I thought, so I hope she will make it again some time. As I understand it, the pasha originates from Russia.

Saturday didn't get off to a great start. Looking out the window at all the snow that had fallen during the night.

Not much to do about it though. In the afternoon, my fiancee and I went over to her parents place, where we met up with her siblings and their families as well for an Easter bonfire - where we grilled some sausages over the remains of the fire - and a good time. My fiancee's sister and her husband also brought along some friends, a young couple from Afghanistan and their little baby.

On Sunday we went to church. It was nice, as always, but sadly not very many people there.

After church my fiancee and I went to her parents for lunch, and this beautiful and very tasty creation that her father had made:

In the evening we all went to a christian concert in the city church, where my fiancee's brother and nephew were performing as well. It was a good way to end the day, I think.

Time for me to sign out for today. The sun is shining and it is my last day off before heading back to work. I think I might head out for a walk, or something.

See you all on the other side!

Easter time is here

Greetings from the other side.

Easter is here, and this will be my first ever Easter in Finland. I am looking forward to it. There will be an Easter fire lit outside, kind of like the ones we have on May 1st in Sweden, and as I understand it we will be grilling sausages etc over the fire. Sounds good to me! :) For the past couple of years, ever since my fiancee and I first met, we have celebrated Easter in Sweden. This year though, we are doing it here in Finland and, as I mentioned earlier in this post, I am really looking forward to it! My fiancee's siblings and their families are coming as well.

The picture above are of some chocolate balls that my fiancee made today. I can assure you they are very tasty, and healthy too! :) She's very into healthy eating and living.

Later today we are having my future in-laws over for some Easter "fika". If you don't know what "fika" is, then I guess the best explanation I can give is that it is a Swedish thing, and it basically means meeting up for coffee or tea and some kind of cookies or buns or similar thing. Essentially it is a social thing. Look it up on Google, or something similar, if you want to know more.

Yesterday I worked as a "kyrkvärd" (not sure what it is called in English, and honestly a bit too lazy to look it up at the moment), at church. First time doing it on Maundy Thursday (according to Google. Don't blame me if the translation is wrong.) or "Skärtorsdag" in Swedish. I've been to church on those days before, but it was my first time ever working  in church on that day. Nervous at first, but it went well. I had my future father-in-law there with me to help as well.

That's about it from me for this time. I hope you all will have a wonderful Easter and until we meet again.

See you all on the other side!

Stockholm tragedy & birthday celebrations

Geetings from the other side.

This feels like a strange blog-entry to write. I've wanted to write another one for a few days now, but then the attack in Stockholm happened and...well, my focus went elsewhere for a while. Which is understandable. Even though I now live in Finland, I am still a Swedish citizen. It is still the country where I grew up and where my heart lives. When a tragedy like that happens, it affects me. I am thankful that my brother and his girlfriend, and other friends and relatives I have down there in Stockholm, all seem to be ok. But my heart also goes out to all those who were there on that tragic day, and especially to the friends and families of those who lost their lives on that day.

In other news...

Last weekend my fiancee and I went over to Sweden to celebrate a relative of mine's 90th birthday. It was a calm, but very nice, celebration together with him, his wife, and some of their closest relatives and friends. We all met up at my parent's place for a while, then we went to dinner, and then it continued at my parent's place until the evening. One of my most vivid memories from the day was another relative holding a short speech in the restaurant and then getting the entire restaurant to stand up and sing for the 90-year-old birthday-boy. All in all it was a memorable day, and one which I think was greatly appreciated by my 90-year-old relative.

My one regret was finding out that Sabaton was playing in Umeå at the same time as I was home, the day before my relative's 90'th birthday celebrations. I had missed that completely. Would have loved to go see hem play. Oh well, maybe some other time. I only have myself to blame for that, really.

Spring is really here now. Even though we saw snow falling as late as Tuesday last week. Still, there is that sense in the air that spring is finally here. :) It's a good feeling. Everything is starting to come to life again.

We're still finding carpenter ants in the house, although in smaller quantities than before and mostly around the bathroom. We're going to give it some time still, to let the poison work and see what happens. Hopefully we won't see any more of them soon.

That's all from me for this time.

See you all on the other side!