Joulu – Christmas

Hello everybody,

I hope you had a merry Christmas. Mine was amazing.

On the 23^rd, I decorated the Christmas tree and the house with my hostfamily. The house is now filled with elves and Joulupukki (Santa Claus) drawings, there is even snow hanging from the ceiling above the staircase.

The 24^th started with a traditional Christmas breakfast: riisipuuro (rice porridge) with cinnamon and a bit of sugar. Then we each went to joulusauna, put on fancy clothes, and after that ate a traditional Christmas meal, ham with mashed potatoes. :p My hostfamily and I then went to Church for the Christmas service. It was quite interesting for me because it was my first time. I didn’t understand what was said, but I did sing along though… A short while after we arrived back home, joulupukki came! He distributed all the presents, and we made some group pictures. It was so much fun, I was very excited!!! I received a lot of fun presents: scarves, socks, a handbag, a book to learn Finnish, and chocolate.

In short, it was a wonderful Christmas filled with fun, laughter, love, presents and food!

 

 

Pikkujoulu - Christmas preparations

For the past few weeks, Finland has been getting ready for Christmas. Lights have been installed, cookies have been made, Glögi has been drunk, ... As you can see in these pictures.

Christmas Market in Tampere

 

Even Veeti is in the mood for Christmas

 

Joulutorttu

Glögi

Our magnificent Gingerbread house :p

 

(Creepy) Santa Claus

 

Meet the Hawaiian tourists

 

Hyvää Joulua kaikille! Merry Christmas everybody!

 

 

Itsenaisyyspäivä – Independence Day

December 6th, 1917. Finland is independent and no longer belongs to Russia. This day is celebrated each year. The Finns mainly celebrate by lighting blue and white candles and eating a nice meal with their family. Every year, the president invites about 2000 guests at the Presidential Palace for the Presidential Independence Day Reception. This reception is broadcasted every year on national television. The guest enter according to a certain protocol : first the Knights of the Mannerheim Cross, followed by the members of the government and parliament archbishops, judges, high military and police officers, and various diplomats and dignitaries, and then enter the guests who were chosen by the president himself, usually entertainers, activists and sportpersons, the last people to enter are the surviving former presidents.

President Sauli Niinistö at the Independence Day Reception in 2012

Independence Day was of course also celebrated at school, together with the graduation of some students. I performed with the other members of the school choir three songs (in Finnish!!): Täällä Pohjantahden Alla (for the original version click here), Jotain Jää (for the original version click here), and Hetken tie on kevyt (for the original version click here). After the performance, we (the choir) went back to the Music Room and sang a few songs just for us... 

I will never forget this day, it was an amazing experience and I had a lot of fun! 

I also celebrated Independence Day with my friends Azusa and Kiki, we had a sleepover party from Saturday to sunday. We watched "Mamma Mia", "Les Miserables" (that's right, I finally saw it!) and "Pretty Woman". We also played some games, I won quite a lot of chocolate at poker before my luck changed and Kiki won everything... In short: it was so much fun!!!

On sunday afternoon, I went to a pikkujoulu (little Christmas) party with the other exchange students and volunteers from AFS. There was lots of food and Glöggi. Joulupukki (Santa Claus) even came! He gave us all gifts, I received two packs of chocolate, my hostsisters ate most of it... It was the perfect end to a great weekend!

Tallinn - Pictures

Tallinn

This weekend I went on an amazing trip to Tallinn with other exchange students and volunteers. On Sunday, we took the bus in Tampere to Helsinki, and then we went on a ship to Tallinn. We actually arrived in Tallinn around dinner time, which was around 9 o’clock, but we didn’t get off the ship until the following morning. We slept in tiny cabins with four “beds”.

The next day, we visited the city. We walked to the top of a hill where we saw a beautiful panorama. The city was very charming and pretty. Plus the weather was very nice, the sun was shining and there was snow on the ground…

In short, it was great to discover a new city and to spend time with friends!!!

Pictures are coming soon, I promess!

 

Italian - Belgian country evening

Last night, it was the Italian – Belgian country evening. I made a powerpoint presentation about my home country: Belgium. I talked about the Belgian political system (just the basics), and famous Belgians. I also showed some pictures of Brussels, Ghent and Liege. The Italian exchange students also made a presentation about Italy, and its culture, architecture, artists and food. After the presentations, we ate traditional food. The Italian exchange students made pizza, cookies, and Tiramisu. I made a chocolate moelleux, an appel cake, a marbled cake, and wafels.