A Review of our First Week in Finland

Hello my dear family and friends.

It's hard to believe that we have been here for over a week now. It's gone by really fast but it's amazing how quickly we have adjusted to our new life here. We have adjusted to the time change, although getting up at 7am (which was my usual wake up time) now seems to be WAY TOO EARLY! I guess being unemployed will do that to you.

We've had an interesting few days since the last time I posted. We tried to accomplish as much as we possibly could before the rental car had to be returned. I will miss my BMW. I will also miss driving around Mom's new Nissan - the Sonata has some big shoes to fill :(

Andrew and I are both officially permanent residents of Finland. Andrew had a busy day on Thursday with the Relocations Services company (provided by his new employer) that was consulted to help him relocate to Finland. He registered himself as a resident, opened a bank account, got a bus card, and learned many valuable things about living in Espoo (pronounced "ESPO"). The culture, which stores to shop at, which clinics to take Maddy, etc.

Unfortunately my experience was not as pleasant as Andrew. Good thing I had my TomTom with me (our new GPS) but waiting in the police station for 3 hours to get my permanent resident card was hardly enjoyable. I was thankful at the time that I didn't bring Maddy with me, until I finally made it to the teller and they didn't let me register her because they needed to see that she was actually in Finland. Which means that we get to go back :)

After that horrible morning, I had a productive afternoon - registered with the Population registration office, got my travel card, signed up our new cell phones for service, got a modem for our Internet and got a million brochures at the Espoo tourist information station.

Now that the rental car has been returned, our first day carless was productive as well. We decided to actually clean the house - however, our container has our brooms and mops and cleaners, but my OCD kicked in and I mopped the entire apartment on my hands and knees. The good news is that I can eat off my floor, the bad news is that I'm sure my back will hurt tomorrow. Oh well!!! Now that the snow is finally beginning to melt, we brought Maddy outside to play in the snow. Tucker has been listening quite well so we've been testing him a bit and letting him out in the yard without a leash. It's not fully fenced in but it's an acre lot and I still feel sorry for him for putting him through the plane ride.

In addition, today we finally used the pool and sauna. I KNOW, over a week and we hadn't tested it out yet!!! I was on pool duty with Maddy and Andrew was on sauna duty. I think I pulled the short straw because the pool was 14 degrees and freezing!!!! I don't think there's a heater on it. Andrew enjoyed it, he sat in the sauna for 20 minutes at a time and then jumped in the pool and then back into the sauna to do it all over again. The Finnish people are different - this is basically a ritual for them. We are trying our best to fit in, although I angered the "sauna gods" today. You are supposed to go in the pool, the shower, and the sauna completely naked. Considering that we share our pool and sauna with the tenant upstairs, a single mom with 3 sons that are 12, 20, and 21, there is no way in hell I am prancing around that common area without clothes on. Until we find a lock that prevents them from coming in, this chick is going to continue pissing off the sauna gods!!!!

We have learned some interesting things about the Finns - some are good and some are strange. They hike with walking sticks - not the wooden fancy sticks you can buy from Green Earth or shops in the Caribbean - they are like ski poles but the bottoms are just rubber. Everybody walks with these sticks, one in each hand. I told Andrew that we can't judge until we have tried it, but it seems quite strange. I understand using a hiking stick if you're climbing a mountain, but this is like walking down the sidewalk. Will keep you posted.

Grocery store updates - we're doing okay so far. Thank goodness for our translator computer that Andrew's lab gave us. Cooking instructions are quite difficult in foreign languages - it's been a guessing game when the translator can't find the words. In addition, we thought we bought prime ground beef burgers tonight and we found out as we were cooking them that they were lamb! Whoops.

They measure ingredients in deciliters. So the instructions for the macaroni tonight was adding 5 dl of water to the pot. What the hell is a dl? It's a tenth of a liter. So I have to think of 5/10 of a liter, which is half a liter, and then remember that 250ml is a cup so it's actually 2 cups. Or at least I hope I got that right...it tasted good anyhow.

Items we haven't found so far in the grocery store:
- Aunt Jemima or Old Tyme syrup for pancakes or French toast - I know you're going to shake your head at me but I love the cheap syrup!! The fancy maple syrup does not cut it for me! Might have to add that to the list of items for Mom and Pop to bring up in three weeks.
- Diaper Genie refills - Finnish people just throw dirty diapers in the garbage. There are no actual containers or mechanisms of disposing diapers any differently. The Diaper Genie company should actually try to tap into this market, they'd likely make a killing. The refills have already been added to the list of "must have" items Mom needs to bring me :)
- blocks of marble cheese - Theresa, I know you're shaking your head at me right now but Finnish people like the fancy cheese. I prefer the cheap $6 bar of Black Diamond marble cheese.
- Gillette Fusion razor cartridge refills - they have them here but crazy expensive!!!!
- pancake mix - I'm going to have to ask Mom how to make her crepes because since I've lived away from home, I have always used pancake mix.

However, the hot dogs here are better. They are tastier. We have also enjoyed the candies - aisles of candy galore, and not just chocolate bars. These are like the droppies and fun candies that all my aunts used to bring us over from Holland. Not doing anything for my figure but loving the candies!

We went to Jussi's house the other day for a visit. This is a guy that Andrew worked with in London, who did his post-doc in Canada and then returned to Finland for a job at VTT. That is the same place that Andrew is now working too. He has been an immense help - mattresses, blankets, plates, pots, pans, playpen, etc. so that we've been able to survive here without our container. Not only that, but which stores to shop at, where to go, etc. Anyways, it was so nice to see familiar faces. Anita took me to the grocery store and I picked her brain on what things were and whether I could find certain items.

One interesting thing I learned at Jussi's is that kids take their naps outdoors. Even in the winter. So they bundle their small children in their snowsuits, throw them in their stroller and put them outside to sleep. They had Elsa sleeping in her stroller on the balcony. My parents had always said that it's healthy to sleep in the cold, but I always figured they made that up because we lived in an old 1870's home and my parents were too cheap to replace the windows. Now I guess they were right - or at least they are as crazy as Finnish people :)

The container landed today in Helsinki, much to our relief. The bad news is that today is Good Friday, of course, and everything is closed. That includes Monday. So, Customs will unload our container and inspect all of our stuff on Tuesday, and we can go on Wednesday and pick it all up. SUPER EXCITED to get our stuff, it will be amazing to furnish this place. We have such a beautiful house and it will make it so much better to have stuff to put in it.

One last thing before I go. I talked to my parents last night on the phone. I know it had only been a week since I talked to them but it was so amazing to hear their voices. I've lived away from home since I was 17, and usually always called at least once a week. But this is different - I can't describe it. I think I just needed that comfort of knowing they were supporting our decision and were happy to hear from us. Looking forward to calling again this weekend and hearing from the rest of my family as they celebrate the Easter weekend.

Love my GPS. And I love YouTube - we've been downloading nursery rhymes and Barney clips and Backyardigans episodes to entertain Maddy (since all her toys are on the boat). Andrew started our first fire today in the fireplace - all of our boxes from IKEA. It was awesome. Chris, we were thinking about you since you love fire so much.

Okay, I'm signing off. Time for bed. Miss you all, love you all, Chat soon.
Happy Easter (or Happy Eastern as the Finnish people say - don't ask me why).
Kim