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!

Spring-time is a comin'

Greetings from the other side.

Life moves on at its own pace here in the countryside. Spring is coming, and you can really feel it in the air now. It's a really nice feeling! Spring does something to you, I think. It revitalizes you after the long, dark winter, and helps to lift your spirit up. We are moving towards warmer times, and it feels great! I think we all need to stop sometimes, take a deep breath and just enjoy the now. That goes for all seasons, but perhaps especially for spring. Take the time to enjoy the blue sky, the sounds of the birds coming back to life, the sunshine on the green pine and spruce trees, etc. It can really help give you some energy back. At least, that's how I feel. 

Yesterday, we went to a jumble sale ('loppis' in Swedish) at the school where my fiancee's brother works. They are tearing down the old buildings and building new, so they needed to get rid of a lot of stuff. There were a lot of things there, and a lot of people. It was difficult moving around to look at things. We managed to get a couple of items though. I was hoping to find a guitar, but unfortunately not. Oh well, maybe next time.

After we got home from that we sat outside in the sunshine for about an hour, drinking tea, eating a cinnamon bun, and talking. It was really nice just sitting on the stairs looking out over the fields and towards the forest. It was warm, the wind was calm, and it is moments like that that really make you appreciate living in the countryside.

Last week I helped out in a different place to where I normally work. It was only Monday and Tuesday, but that was about all I could do since I also had my regular job that I needed to do. It was good to see a new place, meet new people and see how they did things. I really enjoyed my time there.

I keep learning new skills since I moved here. Latest thing I have tried is that I have cut down my first two trees using a chainsaw. It's a lot of fun, and I do enjoy the physical work. I'm still very much a beginner at it, but I am learning. 

This will be all for this time.

See you all on the other side!

Good times & hindsight

Greetings from the other side.

Last week was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The week before we had been away, together with my fiancee and her sister and brother-in-law, to a place called Ukkohalla on a ski trip.  The weather was overcast and the snow messed with our skis a bit, but other than that it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. When it came to the skiing we did the cross-country variant. It had been years since I last did any kind of skiing, and it was a bit of a strange experience being back on a pair of skis again. It was fun though, and I think I ended up doing something like 13 km in total. Compared to my fiancee's sister and her husband that was nothing though. I think they ended up doing something in the region of 86 km in total.

Among the first things that happened after we got there was that I managed to 'wreck' the bed. It's not as bad as it sounds though. Basically, I was trying to move the bed slightly to the side when it suddenly collapsed. It turned out that, unbeknownst to me, by moving it I had disturbed an upright-standing logg underneath it that was holding the length-wise running beam in place, which in turn supported all the lateral-running supports underneath the bed. I'm not sure if that description paints a good enough picture of what I mean, but I hope it does as my tired brain is currently struggling a bit to think of a better explanation.

Anyway, we managed to fix the bed fairly quickly again.

The trip to Ukkohalla was a lot of fun, and it is certainly something I would definitely do again some day. It was nice to get away for a few days and spend some time with my fiancee and her sister and brother-in-law.

In Sweden we have a saying that translates roughly to "Away is good, but home is best" (Sv: Borta bra men hemma bäst). As fun as it had been to be away for a few days, it still felt good to come back home and sleep in your own bed again.

However, starting the next day I wasn't feeling too well. I felt really stressed and tired, and not really myself. It's been a long time since I had felt that high levels of stress, and seemingly for no apparent reason. It took me most of the following week to get back to normal again. Hopefully that was a one-off thing, but I would really like to know what caused it. Maybe it was a lot of little things that just came together to cause it? I honestly have no idea. Whatever it was, it continued to influence my week though.

I am so glad to be passed that now. Hopefully it was just a one-off thing.

Yesterday I was pretty nervous though. I was set to work at a memorial service. Now, I have done that before, but this was the first time I was going to do it completely on my own. All sorts of thoughts were flowing through my head, and I was trying to remember everything I needed to think about and prepare. I'd lie if I said I wasn't nervous though. Looking back at it now however, I would say that I did a good job. So maybe I didn't need to be so nervous about it, but that's the benefit of hindsight and all that.

Yesterday evening, we had a couple of friends over and we all sat down and watched Melodifestivalen. which is the Swedish competition that decides which entry we send to the Eurovision Song Contest. Did the right song win? I have no clue. I guess we'll find that out when the actual ESC competition is held. After that it is really down to personal taste whether you liked it or not. The main thing though was that we had a great time yesterday evening, together with good friends. We laughed a lot and I think I needed that having been so nervous about the memorial service job earlier in the day.

It's been two week since I was able to really do any world-building or writing, but yesterday evening after our friends had left, I started sitting down with it again and it was such a good feeling. I've missed it more than I thought I did, so being back at it felt really good.

Until next time.

See you all on the other side!

A beautiful winter's day

Greetings from the other side.

Today is an incredibly beautiful day outside. The ground is covered in snow, the sky is blue and it is essentially a very beautiful painting as you look out over the landscape. Each season is beautiful in its own way, but I think that a really clear winter's day with blue sky and lots of white snow is among the most beautiful. We had guests over today and I spent a good chunk of that time looking out the window at the beautiful wintry painting that nature had painted outside.

This winter has been very mild, and so we haven't really had the amount of snow outside that I had wish we'd have. I guess that is why you notice a day like today even more. I've been spending some time outside, shoveling snow, bringing in fire wood, etc. It's a pleasure working outside in beautiful weather like this. :)

In other news my future father-in-law celebrated his 70th birthday last weekend. It was a very fun event, with lots of good people and good food. :) His children, grandchildren and sons-in-law and me sang a song for him as well.

It was less fun to come home and find about 30 carpenter ants over the following 2 hours crawling around our living room and hall. We've had a guy over to look at the issue and take care of the problem. Unfortunately we don't know yet where they have their nest in the house, so we need to wait until we can find it. There is a problem with that though, and that is that it has been too cold so they haven't been very active since last weekend. So we'll have to wait until warmer weather comes along and they become active again before we can start locating their nest. We're hoping that will come soon.

As we understand it the nest in our house is probably a satellite-nest, with the main nest is located somewhere else in the vicinity. This means that unless we can find the main nest this spring/summer they might return. Wish us luck!

In more positive news, my fiancee and I are going away together with her sister and her husband this week on a bit of a skiing holiday. It's also to give my fiancee a chance to get away for a bit and rest up.

I think that'll be all for today. Feeling a bit tired so going to go rest my head a bit.

See you all on the other side!

New experiences and wedding planning

Greetings from the other side.

It's been about two weeks since my last post. I guess part of it is a busy schedule and other things to think about, as well as possibly having fallen out of the habit of writing a blog a bit. I'll try to get back into it though, as I do enjoy it. It's a good way to communicate, and to write down the thoughts I have.

This might turn out to be a short-ish post though, as I have other things to do as well today.

I had my first attempts at using a chainsaw yesterday, helping my father-in-law to cut up some logs. It was quite fun. I enjoy working outside like that. :) I also think it is a good lesson to learn for the future, how to use a chainsaw properly, seeing as how I am probably going to be using it in my work at some point in the future, and possibly in my personal life cutting up firewood, etc.

My fiancee and I also went out for a date yesterday. We went to a restaurant together, something we haven't done in a while. We had a pleasant evening, and the food was great. We discussed plans for the upcoming wedding, the wedding budget, and such. I've never been to that restaurant before, but I enjoyed the atmosphere there. It was a cozy and slightly rustic place.

Today, my fiancee has gone off to a wedding fair ("bröllops mässa" in Swedish. Yes... I actually had to look up the translation for that using Google. So if the translation is wrong, blame my Google searching skills) together with a friend to look for more inspiration. I'm looking forward to hearing what she's found when she gets back. :)

I've also spent some time with my father-in-law in the woods helping him cut down trees, cut them up and then move them. Granted, he was the one handling the chainsaw as I hadn't yet even had my first try at it yet. It was fun though.

Right now it is a bit icy outside. I'd much prefer it if the ice would be replaced by a bit of snow. There's very little snow on the ground today. Almost feels like spring is on it's way, but we're only in January still. Feels a bit odd for the season.

I think I will end this post here for today. I'll try to get back with another post as soon as I can.

Until then, take care.

See you all on the other side!

Autumnal reflections & the day after before

Greetings from the other side.

This might have to be another short one. Brain is still a bit fried.

Today kinda feels a bit like 'the day after'. The day after my first day back at work. The day after my birthday. It is also the first day of being one year older. Another day closer to my parents coming to visit. All in all though, it has been a good day. I was able to get a lot of things done today at work that needed to be done and, as has started becoming the norm over here now, I have met and talked to some more really nice people.

The sky is still cloudy outside, and there is that autumnal chill in the air that kind of tells you that winter is around the corner. The leaves are falling from the trees and gathering in great, big carpets of red and yellow on the ground. Autumn is a very beautiful season. It is a great time for stopping, taking in a deep breath of cold autumn air, and look at the beautiful scenery. Sadly the autumn has claimed many leaves from the trees now, and some of them stand almost completely barren at this point. At least where I live. At the same time there are other trees who still have almost all of their leaves remaining, some even carrying some green leaves still.

There is something meditative about this time of year. Looking at the colours and feeling the crisp, cold air, can really spark your creative side to life. It can also be calming and soothing for the mind, and the soul. It is as if you are given one last vibrant display before winter comes.

There is something almost magical about autumn, I think. It is filled with vibrant colours, and that silence that feels so typical of both autumn and winter. As if nature itself is going to sleep, in dreaming slumber waiting for spring to arrive once more. Every season has its charms, I think. :)

See you all on the other side!

Living in the countryside & more

Greetings from the other side.

Living in the countryside is very different from the life I was used to back home in Sweden. I've always lived in a town or city, so transitioning to life in a more rural area is definitely something different. Yet somehow it is also similar, and I have found it surprisingly easy to do so. You really have access to all the basic things you need out here. There is internet, a store, a church, good people, and anything you need that you can't find here is only about a 20-minute drive away in the city. I like the calm here, the d.i.y. mentality and the helpfulness that people exhibit on a regular basis. People help eachother out and it is the most natural thing ever. I like this mentality. I think it is the same thing in smaller communities back home in Sweden as well.

I love how open everything is here. There is forest, fields, open landscapes, and the sea. All clad in beautiful autumn colours. It is getting colder outside though, which is a minus. Pardon the non-intentional pun there. You can see the frost on the ground in the morning, and I have had to move my car indoors now to avoid having to scrape the frost off of the windows every morning before I head to work. At least I probably won't have to do any more lawn-mowing this year, which helps. Because of the warm weather all the lawns were growing like crazy up until a week or two ago.

As the days are getting inevitably shorter and it is getting darker outside, I sometimes wish I could gather a few friends and play some tabletop RPG. Go out on an adventure with my friends and get away from the darkness outside for a little bit. Sadly there is nothing set up here at home for that at the moment, except for the tabletop RPG books that are currently stored in the bookcase in our 'office'. I might try and get something set up in the future though, and see if I can scrape together some people to play a game or two. :)

Tomorrow we have my girlfriend's parents, siblings with their families, and her friends over for coffee to celebrate our engagement. Celebrations with my family and friends, who are currently back home in Sweden, will have to wait until they are able to get over here. I am looking forward to tomorrow. I am sure it will be a nice time and that lots of merriment will be had by all.

Had a chance to sit down and brain-storm a bit with my girlfriend today regarding my world-building. Even if she wasn't able to come up with too many ideas herself, she asked questions about things and let me speak freely, both of which helped get my brain-juices flowing. It is one thing sitting down in front of the computer with a blank document in front of you and try to write something, and something completely different when you get a chance to talk about and/or discuss it. I am grateful for her help.

One issue that has come up with my new phone is the ringtone. I can't really find one I really like amongst the ones that are already on there, and for some reason my mind has been drawing a complete blank on good music that would make good ringtunes. I am sure it will come to me eventually, but for now I am stuck with the default option, unfortunately. Other than that I am happy with it so far.

See you all on the other side!

Autumn Reflections & some other bits

Greetings from the other side.

Autumn has really painted this place in a lot of beautiful colours by now. Sadly the leaves don't stay on the trees for very long, but the ones that fall instead cover the ground in a beautifully coloured carpet, that rustles so gently when one walks through it. Autumn feels like a great time for reflection and inner soul-searching. If you are an artistic person I am sure you can find a lot of inspiration in the beautiful natural scenery and colour-palette that the world around you is painted in. For someone like me, who loves writing as well as creative and philosophical thinking, autumn is a time for reflection and philosophy. Granted, I think each season has its charms, and they are all beautiful and wonderful in their own way. My advise to anyone is to go outside, preferably away from the city to a place where you can be in natural surroundings, and just take a deep breath of cold, crisp autumn air. Let the clouds, the sky, and the colours of your surroundings fill your senses. It is a very serene and calming feeling. Just let go of your troubles for a little bit and enjoy the moment. It is very important to take moments. Moments of relaxation and serenity. Moments of introspection and meditation. Take a moment to realize just how beautiful our world really is. Regardless of whether you believe that it is God's creation or not, one thing I think we can all agree upon is that it is a beautiful place and we should all try and take care of it as best we can. It is our home, and currently the only world we have. It is our responsibility to look after it. :)


In other news pertaining more to my life here in Finland:

My knee is still aching. I have pushed through at work this week however, rather than calling in sick. If I did, none of my work would get done. At least if I am there I can do SOME of my work, if only at a slower pace than normally. At least I am not in constant pain, but the knee still feels stiff, sore and swollen. It looks a bit swollen as well. At least I am getting today and tomorrow off plus the weekend due to only working 60%, so that is very useful when I have these issues. I hope my knee will get better before Monday. Otherwise I might have to go and have it checked out.

My girlfriend and I went shopping earlier today and we had some errands to run as well. My knee wasn't too happy, but we got everything done. We are now set for having some of my girlfriend's family and friends over for engagement coffee on Sunday. Too bad none of my family are able to attend, but with the ferry out of the water for a two week period, that wasn't going to happen anyway. My parents will probably come over for a visit towards the end of this month anyway, so we'll get to celebrate with them then. :)

My knee seems to have survived all the walking between shops, etc, but my calf is really tender and tense. I think the poor thing has been taking the brunt of me limping around. So now I will let it rest as much as possible together with the knee. I am noticing that the knee usually feels best when I wake up in the morning, probably because it has been resting all night and not had any strain put on it for a few hours.

One of the things we managed to get for me today was a new phone! Yes. I finally have a finnish phone number. I still need to actually put the SIM card in, etc, but the fact that it is here now feels great. I didn't have much hope considering how things have gone previously when we have tried to get a cell phone for me. Happily we were more lucky this time around. Hopefully this means the end of overly expensive phone bills for my girlfriend when she tries to call or text to me.

I have not been able to go home to Sweden for a visit since I moved here some 2 months ago or so. It's a shame, but it is the way it is. I am feeling quite at home here, and I know I will get to go home soon enough. :) Now that I am not working so much I have more time to take a trip across the water. :)

I am also making slow progress with the finnish language. Due to a busy schedule and other things getting in the way, as well as me not having found a good app or other thing to help me study the language, I have only been able to take small steps so far. Learning a word here and there, and my father-in-law gave me some great tips on finnish pronunciation. I am not setting my sights too high, or aiming for impossible things, but I am hoping I will be able to at least understand it in the future, and make myself understood as well, even if I perhaps won't be able to hold too advanced a conversation. :) We shall see how it goes!

See you all on the other side!

Reflections under an overcast sky

Greetings from the other side.

Another fine day of working in the sunshine. Well... not quite "sunshine", more like "cloudy overcast", but it has been a nice day none the less. The temperature outside has been decent, though unfortunatelly, because of the overcast, the grass isn't drying very well, which is causing me some issues with the machines that are supposed to cut said grass. It's been a struggle at times, but eventually I got some done at least.

It has been a day of quiet contemplation while working. There is something almost meditative in loosing yourself in thought while you work. Some times it can even help you solve a problem you have been struggling with for a while, or it can give you new inspiration for something. For me, both things were true today. I was able to figure something out that I have been pondering for a while now, with regards to my world-building, and I also found inspiration for something new which I could add to it.

The weeks just seem to be rolling by. It's monday, and then suddenly the week has passed by again. I guess it is a good sign that I am enjoying myself here, but at the same time sometimes I wish that time would slow down a little. At least on occasion. The weekends would be a good time to do it in. Though I have a feeling that would be asking for too much.

We're still unpacking and moving stuff, little by little. My working long days does put a little break on it, but we'll get it all done eventually. We also need to get the upstairs ready as well, as we did move some stuff from there downstairs. Soon enough we will be able to have people from Sweden visiting. Something I am quite looking forward to! :)

Time for me to go help out with the dinner.

See you all on the other side!

Moving in mosquito land

Greetings from the other side.

Short post from me today, as it has been a long day, and I have to make an unusually early night because I have to get up extra early tomorrow morning.

Lots of mosquitos around today. Been working outside all day, and most of the work has been done in a cloud of mosquitos. They haven't been a major issue all summer, but now all of a sudden they are back in force for some reason, and have been for a little while now. I wonder if it's the same thing back home in Sweden? I'll have to ask.

Not counting the mosquitos though, it's been a very nice day with warm, sunny weather. A bit more wind to keep the mosquitos away would have been nice, but I suppose you can't have everything.

Things are shaping up ahead of the move downstairs. We have gotten a couple of furnitures in, and my girlfriend and her mother is trying to sort out the curtains. Slowly but surely it is getting to the point where we can finally move in there. :) Not that we have any issues living in the upstairs apartment. That will still be in use after we move downstairs. It is just that it will be nice to have a proper bedroom and an 'office', and it gives us an opportunity to create a home for 'us', where some of my stuff can also find a room to be.

See you all on the other side!

A slice of life on the other side

Greetings from the other side.

This is my second attempt at writing this blog post after the first one mysteriously disappeared somewhere into the ether. I blame my computer, though I am guessing the real answer lies somewhere between that and me still learning how this whole blogging thing works. Oh well, let's try this again! :)

Yesterday I took it upon myself to do some yard work around the house. A lot of that time was spent cutting down and uprooting rowans, which grow in abundance here. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against rowans, but they are so plentiful, especially the saplings, that I kinda need to keep their numbers in check a bit. After a few hours of work I have only gone through about 1/5 of the area I was planning to go through. There is really no rush though, as I have the rest of summer and autumn in which to do it in, so there's no use stressing about it. :)

Stress is one of those things that I take seriously. Having suffered from stress-related issues before, I have learned the importance of trying not to stress too much, especially over things you have little or no control over. I am only human however, so that doesn't always work according to plan, but what is important is that I try to affect the amount of stress when I can at least.

I have found that working outside, in this beautiful part of Finland, being surrounded by natural surroundings, is very calming and peaceful, and gives a sense of serenity in the midst of the, sometimes, hard work. It can sometimes almost be a meditative experience of sorts. Working outside in the sun yesterday for a few hours, really did wonders, and it was such a nice feeling of accomplishment afterwards. Not the kind you get after coming home after a full day's work, but something that comes out of knowing that what I do improves things around the homestead, for my gf and I. That is a very nice feeling. I find that, in general, working outside is preferable to working inside. You feel much closer to the world somehow, and you get to be out in the fresh air. Of course, it is one thing to say that now, in the midst of summer, and quite another one when winter comes. But in general I quite enjoy being outside.

Speaking of being outside, I have found myself realizing just how similar it is here compared to back home in Sweden. The natural scenery looks the same, and it is only really when you look at the prices of things, or see signs in finnish or hear someone speaking finnish that you realize that you have crossed the border. It is ok though. I like finnish, even though I don't speak it. I guess it comes from my love of languages in general. I also really like the dialect of the swedish-speaking population here. To some degree I think it brings out more of my own dialect from back home as well. :)

See you all on the other side!