Greetings from the other side.
The past weekend was a calm one, and really relaxing. Today though, I am feeling a bit 'off' for some reason. Hopefully I won't come down with anything. A cold is the last thing I need right now.
We've had snowfall in the last few days. It started Saturday evening and on Sunday it was a full-blown snowstorm.
Saturday, my fiancee and I ate warm sandwiches (or is it called toast... my brain isn't fully functioning today, so am a bit uncertain) rice porrige for dinner with her parents. Then we went to spend some time with her friends and celebrate Little Christmas (lilla Jul in Swedish. I wrote a bit about it in a previous blog entry which you can find here). It had started snowing for the drive home though, and the winds had begun to pick up.
On Sunday the snowfall and winds were even worse. At one point we had 26 m/s winds and heavy snowfall. The power went out about half-an-hour before the Advent Sunday service was scheduled to start at church. We managed though. It actually turned out quite nice with no lights and only the lit candles to light up the church. Very atmospheric. There was a children's choir there to sing and an adult one too.
After church we went back to my fiancee's parents place for a bit of lunch. After a while her sister and her husband and youngest son came by as well for a visit to see the two new kittens before we all headed over to celebrate my fiancee's niece's 9th birthday.
There is something special about Advent and Christmas music, I think. For some reason it always feels more atmospheric. Granted, that could partly be because you only really listen to it for about a month every year. Still though, I like it and it is always a special time for me. This year I will be spending Christmas and New Years here in Finland with my fiancee's family. I am looking forward to it and towards seeing how they celebrate. I will however also miss being with my family back home in Sweden, of course. This is the first time that I am not celebrating with them, so it will definitely feel a bit different. They will be in my thoughts though.
See you all on the other side!
Visar inlägg med etikett Advent Sunday. Visa alla inlägg
Visar inlägg med etikett Advent Sunday. Visa alla inlägg
måndag 28 november 2016
fredag 25 november 2016
Advent Sunday is a coming
Greetings from the other side.
As Advent Sunday approaches, the Christmas spirit is on the rise in this household. My fiancee has made gingerbread cookies, and Christmas music has slowly started to filter into the ambient atmosphere. Both of us are people who love this time of year. We have even got a bit of snow and frost outside today, which was a pleasant surprise to wake up to this morning. It isn't much, and you can still see blades of grass sticking out through the snow cover, but it is better than nothing. :)
I got calendar from Sweden in the mail today from EFS. For those who don't know, EFS is an independent organisation within the Church of Sweden, which focuses on missionary work, voluntary work, and every-day faith (according to the website. They can say it much better than I can. Though I had to translate it from Swedish, so hopefully my translation is acceptable). I spent two years at an EFS church in Umeå, Carlskyrkan, doing work-training, and even more time as a volunteer. It was a really good time in my life and I have a lot of fond memories. I met so many really good and wonderful people there, including the people I worked with. I am really thankful to all of them for giving me the opportunity to be there, and for receiving me with open arms! :)
I am happy that the calendar has arrived, because we were talking just the other day, my fiancee and I, how we needed one. :) It is now hanging on the wall above my desk at home.
On Sunday, which is Advent Sunday, I am scheduled to work at church at the service. I'm not sure what the job is called in English, but in Swedish we call it "Kyrkvärd". Basically, I make the preparations before the service, I make sure everything is where it needs to be, I handle the sound equipment, and just make sure everything is in order before, during and after. I've done it on a couple of occasions already, but I am still nervous because it is my first Advent Sunday and there is going to be a lot more people there. Wish me luck!
I've had to go back to my moving-boxes and rummage through them to find the Christmas CDs I brought with me from Sweden. I've only found two, but I am pretty sure there should be at least one more in there somewhere. Granted a couple of boxes at the back of everything could contain some CDs, but I didn't feel like bringing everything else out of storage just to get to them. Luckily my fiancee has quite a collection of Christmas music CDs that we can listen to as well.
See you all on the other side!
As Advent Sunday approaches, the Christmas spirit is on the rise in this household. My fiancee has made gingerbread cookies, and Christmas music has slowly started to filter into the ambient atmosphere. Both of us are people who love this time of year. We have even got a bit of snow and frost outside today, which was a pleasant surprise to wake up to this morning. It isn't much, and you can still see blades of grass sticking out through the snow cover, but it is better than nothing. :)
I got calendar from Sweden in the mail today from EFS. For those who don't know, EFS is an independent organisation within the Church of Sweden, which focuses on missionary work, voluntary work, and every-day faith (according to the website. They can say it much better than I can. Though I had to translate it from Swedish, so hopefully my translation is acceptable). I spent two years at an EFS church in Umeå, Carlskyrkan, doing work-training, and even more time as a volunteer. It was a really good time in my life and I have a lot of fond memories. I met so many really good and wonderful people there, including the people I worked with. I am really thankful to all of them for giving me the opportunity to be there, and for receiving me with open arms! :)
I am happy that the calendar has arrived, because we were talking just the other day, my fiancee and I, how we needed one. :) It is now hanging on the wall above my desk at home.
On Sunday, which is Advent Sunday, I am scheduled to work at church at the service. I'm not sure what the job is called in English, but in Swedish we call it "Kyrkvärd". Basically, I make the preparations before the service, I make sure everything is where it needs to be, I handle the sound equipment, and just make sure everything is in order before, during and after. I've done it on a couple of occasions already, but I am still nervous because it is my first Advent Sunday and there is going to be a lot more people there. Wish me luck!
I've had to go back to my moving-boxes and rummage through them to find the Christmas CDs I brought with me from Sweden. I've only found two, but I am pretty sure there should be at least one more in there somewhere. Granted a couple of boxes at the back of everything could contain some CDs, but I didn't feel like bringing everything else out of storage just to get to them. Luckily my fiancee has quite a collection of Christmas music CDs that we can listen to as well.
See you all on the other side!
torsdag 24 november 2016
2 new additions to the family
Greetings from the other side.
A few days ago my future in-laws got themselves 2 new additions to the family, in the shape of two little 9-week-old kittens. :) They are just adorable little bundles of cuteness and fun right now.
They have been named Molly and Freja, with Molly being the one sitting closest to my mother-in-law there in the picture above. So my fiancee and I have been pretty busy visiting and spending time with these two adorable newcomers in the family. :)
Took them a bit to get used to the family's Newfoundland dog as well. The poor things had never seen a dog before in their 9-week-old lives, so they were in for a bit of a shock. Luckily the dog, named Bamse, is one of the calmest dogs you will ever meet and he is also fairly used to cats from before. The cats however, weren't as calm as he was. You could see their different personalities in that moment though. Molly hissed at him, but stayed put, while Freja mostly wanted to run and hide. They've gotten used to him by now though, which is good.
Beyond that, it has been a fairly grey week over here. It's been raining, and even when it hasn't been raining it has still been fairly wet outside. As well as a bit windy. It has limited me a bit as to what work I have been able to do outside, but then again my knee is pretty thankful for it.
Speaking of the knee it has been getting better. Now it only complains if I put strain on it instead of all the time, which is a HUGE plus. :) I am hoping it will soon be well enough to not complain at all, but I am still taking it a bit easy because I know how easily I could accidentally aggravate it and make it worse again. Still, I am able to do more now than I was a week ago, which is a good feeling. :)
Yesterday, my fiancee and I started putting up Christmas decorations around the house. Feels good to get it all up, even though it took a bit of work. It looks nice, I have to say. I am really looking forward to our first ever Christmas together in the same place! :)
Until next time!
See you all on the other side!
A few days ago my future in-laws got themselves 2 new additions to the family, in the shape of two little 9-week-old kittens. :) They are just adorable little bundles of cuteness and fun right now.
They have been named Molly and Freja, with Molly being the one sitting closest to my mother-in-law there in the picture above. So my fiancee and I have been pretty busy visiting and spending time with these two adorable newcomers in the family. :)
Took them a bit to get used to the family's Newfoundland dog as well. The poor things had never seen a dog before in their 9-week-old lives, so they were in for a bit of a shock. Luckily the dog, named Bamse, is one of the calmest dogs you will ever meet and he is also fairly used to cats from before. The cats however, weren't as calm as he was. You could see their different personalities in that moment though. Molly hissed at him, but stayed put, while Freja mostly wanted to run and hide. They've gotten used to him by now though, which is good.
Beyond that, it has been a fairly grey week over here. It's been raining, and even when it hasn't been raining it has still been fairly wet outside. As well as a bit windy. It has limited me a bit as to what work I have been able to do outside, but then again my knee is pretty thankful for it.
Speaking of the knee it has been getting better. Now it only complains if I put strain on it instead of all the time, which is a HUGE plus. :) I am hoping it will soon be well enough to not complain at all, but I am still taking it a bit easy because I know how easily I could accidentally aggravate it and make it worse again. Still, I am able to do more now than I was a week ago, which is a good feeling. :)
Yesterday, my fiancee and I started putting up Christmas decorations around the house. Feels good to get it all up, even though it took a bit of work. It looks nice, I have to say. I am really looking forward to our first ever Christmas together in the same place! :)
Until next time!
See you all on the other side!
söndag 20 november 2016
A look in the rear-view mirror
Greetings from the other side.
A few days have passed since my last entry into this blog. It has generally been a calm few days, so I think this will end up being a fairly short entry, but it is an entry none-the-less.
On Thursday we went to celebrate one of my fiancee's nephews on his 20th birthday. It was a bit of a drive to get there, but nothing too big. We went there together with my fiancee's parents. It was a good evening, I thought. Good company, good food at a restaurant, and then we rounded off the evening with some coffee/tea at the birthday-boy's apartment. One of the things I love about my fiancee's family is that they are all so friendly and nice people. It has definitely helped my settling in here in Finland after my move.
I have to say, sitting in the car as it drives through the country-side over here, you could see patches of light on the thick cloud-covered sky. This light came from greenhouses on the ground below which were using what appeared to be pretty high-powered lamps to simulate sunshine for their plants in order to grow them all year around. It was interesting seeing that light reflected on the cloud-cover above though. You could definitely tell exactly where all the greenhouses were.
Went grocery shopping, and ran some errands, on Friday. It was a bit of a rainy day, but not too bad.
With Advent Sunday closing in, but my fiancee and I are eagerly awaiting the time when we can start 'officially' listening to Christmas-related music again, and plans are being made for decorations, etc. She's started baking in preparation for Christmas as well. Sadly, there is no snow on the ground anymore, but we are quietly hoping it will return at least in time for Christmas.
Yesterday was a pretty quiet day in this household. I got around to start listening to an audio book by Brandon Sanderson called "The Last Empire". I've heard from friends that the Mistborn series, the series of which "The Last Empire" is part of, is really good, but I haven't had the chance to get around to it until now. I have to say that so far I am really enjoying it. It feels a bit strange listening to it as an audio book though, as I am generally a person who prefers to hold a book in my hands when I read. It's ok though. I might get the actual physical copies of the books later, rather than just have them as audio books.
I think that will be enough for now.
See you all on the other side!
A few days have passed since my last entry into this blog. It has generally been a calm few days, so I think this will end up being a fairly short entry, but it is an entry none-the-less.
On Thursday we went to celebrate one of my fiancee's nephews on his 20th birthday. It was a bit of a drive to get there, but nothing too big. We went there together with my fiancee's parents. It was a good evening, I thought. Good company, good food at a restaurant, and then we rounded off the evening with some coffee/tea at the birthday-boy's apartment. One of the things I love about my fiancee's family is that they are all so friendly and nice people. It has definitely helped my settling in here in Finland after my move.
I have to say, sitting in the car as it drives through the country-side over here, you could see patches of light on the thick cloud-covered sky. This light came from greenhouses on the ground below which were using what appeared to be pretty high-powered lamps to simulate sunshine for their plants in order to grow them all year around. It was interesting seeing that light reflected on the cloud-cover above though. You could definitely tell exactly where all the greenhouses were.
Went grocery shopping, and ran some errands, on Friday. It was a bit of a rainy day, but not too bad.
With Advent Sunday closing in, but my fiancee and I are eagerly awaiting the time when we can start 'officially' listening to Christmas-related music again, and plans are being made for decorations, etc. She's started baking in preparation for Christmas as well. Sadly, there is no snow on the ground anymore, but we are quietly hoping it will return at least in time for Christmas.
Yesterday was a pretty quiet day in this household. I got around to start listening to an audio book by Brandon Sanderson called "The Last Empire". I've heard from friends that the Mistborn series, the series of which "The Last Empire" is part of, is really good, but I haven't had the chance to get around to it until now. I have to say that so far I am really enjoying it. It feels a bit strange listening to it as an audio book though, as I am generally a person who prefers to hold a book in my hands when I read. It's ok though. I might get the actual physical copies of the books later, rather than just have them as audio books.
I think that will be enough for now.
See you all on the other side!
onsdag 16 november 2016
A mix of Seasonal things & Life
Greetings from the other side!
We still have snow on the ground over here. Something which I didn't think would last this long. I was fully expecting it to have melted away by now. It even snowed a bit more last night. Though we have warmer weather now, so it might still melt away before the week is over. I am kind of silently hoping that it will still be white outside come Advent Sunday (1:a Advent, in Swedish).
Now, Advent Sunday happens on November 27th this year. The day before that, there is a custom to celebrate what is known here as "Little Christmas" (lilla Jul). It is not a major thing, and I personally don't recall having ever encountered it back home in Sweden (though I know it exists there as well). As far as I have been able to understand it, "little Christmas" is most common among families that have children. One tradition associated with it is the tradition that a secret "Santa" throws presents in through the front door and then disappears before anyone finds out who it was. I can definitely see why that would be exciting for the kids in the family. :)
It has been a fairly calm week for me, but at the same time it feels like it has just flown by and like I haven't had the time to do all the things I wanted to do. Then again, time has flown by ever since I moved here to Finland. I guess it is a good measure for how much I enjoy it here.
Last Sunday was Father's Day, and we celebrated it by having my fiance's parents over for lunch, and then we went over to them, together with my fiance's brother and his family, and had dinner there. Both occasions were really nice. I had, of course, already called my own dad earlier in the day and congratulated him on Father's Day as well. Am looking forward to visiting my parents in a few weeks time. :)
On a sadder note, something is wrong with my new phone. For some reason, when people call me they some times cannot hear me while I hear them perfectly on the other end. Sometimes hanging up and calling me back can help, but not always. On those occasions I have to call them up for them to be able to hear me. Other times they hear me, but then the sound keeps coming and going for them, i.e. they hear me and then they don't, then they hear me again and then they don't. It's annoying, so I will have to take the phone in to where I got it from and ask them about it. The phone itself is only a few weeks old, so it shouldn't have these issues.
That will be all for today. It has turned out to be a shorter post than I thought at the start of it, but that is just the way it is. Hopefully I will be able to write something longer next time.
See you all on the other side!
We still have snow on the ground over here. Something which I didn't think would last this long. I was fully expecting it to have melted away by now. It even snowed a bit more last night. Though we have warmer weather now, so it might still melt away before the week is over. I am kind of silently hoping that it will still be white outside come Advent Sunday (1:a Advent, in Swedish).
Now, Advent Sunday happens on November 27th this year. The day before that, there is a custom to celebrate what is known here as "Little Christmas" (lilla Jul). It is not a major thing, and I personally don't recall having ever encountered it back home in Sweden (though I know it exists there as well). As far as I have been able to understand it, "little Christmas" is most common among families that have children. One tradition associated with it is the tradition that a secret "Santa" throws presents in through the front door and then disappears before anyone finds out who it was. I can definitely see why that would be exciting for the kids in the family. :)
It has been a fairly calm week for me, but at the same time it feels like it has just flown by and like I haven't had the time to do all the things I wanted to do. Then again, time has flown by ever since I moved here to Finland. I guess it is a good measure for how much I enjoy it here.
Last Sunday was Father's Day, and we celebrated it by having my fiance's parents over for lunch, and then we went over to them, together with my fiance's brother and his family, and had dinner there. Both occasions were really nice. I had, of course, already called my own dad earlier in the day and congratulated him on Father's Day as well. Am looking forward to visiting my parents in a few weeks time. :)
On a sadder note, something is wrong with my new phone. For some reason, when people call me they some times cannot hear me while I hear them perfectly on the other end. Sometimes hanging up and calling me back can help, but not always. On those occasions I have to call them up for them to be able to hear me. Other times they hear me, but then the sound keeps coming and going for them, i.e. they hear me and then they don't, then they hear me again and then they don't. It's annoying, so I will have to take the phone in to where I got it from and ask them about it. The phone itself is only a few weeks old, so it shouldn't have these issues.
That will be all for today. It has turned out to be a shorter post than I thought at the start of it, but that is just the way it is. Hopefully I will be able to write something longer next time.
See you all on the other side!
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