IKEA

For those of you who were wondering, Andrew is still putting together the furniture. Four dining room chairs done, Maddy's bed done, Maddy's dining room stool done, and a rocking chair. One end table and a dining room table to go........

We made the mistake of listening to the local radio station in London Ontario. Trying to ignore the fact that it's supposed to get up to 22 degrees there tomorrow...and it's snowing here :(

Another successful shopping trip this morning - two cell phones, a GPS (for our European travels), some ant traps and a few odds and ends. Maddy is getting pretty good at finding the ants and stomping on them, but it's a bit annoying.

Shipping container is still sitting in Germany. Definitely won't be here before Easter weekend. I love how they pretty much guarantee it will be here by March 24th. It's now, what, the 29th? ARGH.

Better go help Andrew.
Signing out,
Kim

Finnish Shopping Adventures

Hi all.
Things are really starting to look up. We found a couple of grocery stores and the IKEA, so HURRAY for us!!!!!!!!!!! The good thing is that all Finnish people know how to speak English. The bad news is that all the food in the grocery store is in Finnish. DOH! We've managed to get by, but here are some of my observations so far:
- every single person born in Finland has blonde hair. If they don't, they were immigrated.
- the traffic light turns orange right before it turns green, as if to tell you that it's coming so that you can start revving your engines.
- there are approximately 40 different types of meatballs and sausages that you can purchase at the grocery store. Again, the labels are in Finnish so I'll let you know tomorrow how that turned out...
- the sidewalks are HUGE and very well lit. Europeans apparently take care of their pedestrians, unlike Canada who refuses to make them wide enough for strollers let alone actually light them so that people can use them past 6pm.
- you can't recycle in Finland. Apparently you can take some bottles to IKEA and some large grocery stores to drop them off in bins, otherwise everything goes in the garbage. Everybody leaves large garbage containers at the end of their driveway - I am unsure yet when exactly somebody comes to empty them.

Things that I miss so far....
- My family
- My bed
- President's Choice white cheddar macaroni

On another note, we went to IKEA today and purchased a dining room table, chairs, an end table, a rocking horse for Maddy, and a big girl bed. I am very happy with our purchases. Andrew, on the other hand, is cursing us since everything needs to be assembled....

Signing out,
Kim

In The Beginning...

Hi all. This is my first post of hopefully many to come. We have landed in Finland safe and sound! FINALLY! If I said I wasn't stressed out or tired or overwhelmed, I'd be lying. This is an extremely overwhelming process but the hardest part is saying goodbye to everybody and getting here. It can only get better from here.

Our house was waiting for us. Unfortunately our shipping container was not. I keep praying for some miracle, but Andrew says it will be after Easter weekend until we get our stuff. No TV, no couch, no bed. Oh, how much I miss my bed!!!! Thankfully Jussi was here with a welcome package of blankets, towels, and a couple of groceries. Unfortunately we cannot live off a loaf of bread and margarine for two weeks, so we rented a car today for one week. Paid for their cheapest and smallest car, and ended up with a BMW. Can't complain about that.

Anxiously awaiting Andrew's return from work (to sign a few papers) and then we're off to find a grocery store. Here's hoping lots of things are packaged in clear materials with lots of pictures so we can figure out what we are buying.

Signing out,
Kim