A Very Different Day.

Back on the 12th when I went to take my Finnish placement test I met another woman taking the test. Turned out that she lives 6 minutes from me. Pretty cool in my opinion. She's a bit older than me, but not much. Moving along-that day she took down my number and out of the blue yesterday I received a call from her. Again I am thinking this is very cool. Anywho, she invited me to her apartment for lunch today. Of course I went and took her some flowers from the little florist that is beside my building. She and her husband are both Russian and she is really sweet. She is the first person that I have met since moving to Finland a little over a year ago. Her and her husband also lived in the U.S. for a few years and taught at a Uni. in Colorado, and their 1 yr. old is actually an American citizen. These people are seriously getting cooler to me by the minute. Anyway, she made a yummy meal for lunch and it was so nice to talk to someone that I actually had a bit in common with. My husband wanted to know all about my lunch date as soon as I walked in the door this afternoon. And you know what? I didn't really know what to say. I was stuffed and ready for a nap. So today was a very different day for me, but it was a nice change.

I Got In!

When the mail arrived today I was thrilled to find that I had received something from the employment office. I immediately opened my mail and ran to wake my husband up to read it to me! It was a letter of acceptance into a Finnish language course. The class still begins on the 5th of September and I know how to get to the class because it is in the same place that the testing took place. I wish I was going to be closer to home, but I'm not going to complain because I GOT IN!!!!

Say what?!?

Recently my husband transfered roughly 250 euros from his bank account to mine for my student loan. I don't go online and check my Finnish account regular, but I did happen to check it out yesterday as I had transfered some money to my U.S. account. Turns out that my husband uses the "memo" section everytime he sends money.

LILJA KAI MIKAEL
THANKS BABE ...YOU WERE GREAT <-- What lucky people those bank workers are!

Great Place to Visit

The husband and I haven't done too much this Summer as we are saving money. We're trying to send me to the U.S. for Christmas, and with rising airline prices we need to save all the money we can. Lucky for us there are plenty of places to explore right here in Helsinki. One of these places is Seurasaari. It is an open museum. It is sort of like going to Old Salem in NC. You get to walk around on this tiny island and see what life was like "back in the day". It only takes my husband and I about 15 minutes (maybe 20) to walk their from our apartment. We've been two or three times this Summer already, and you don't have to pay to just walk around and enjoy the place. Of course if you want to go inside any of the museums on the island it costs, but it is relatively cheap. It's all of 4-6 euros! Not bad at all. Of course we've never ventured inside, but we will on our next trip.


One of the houses.


A Squirrel my husband thought would attack me if I didn't stop taking pictures of it.


The "little" barn


A church on the hill.


The Mid-Summer Pole. There is a story behind it. I'll post it sometime.


Crossing the bridge to the island. That is my husband and his crazy hair!


The first church. It is quite small.


Horse Stable.


Several different buildings that were attached to one another.


Food Storage.

Point of Interest

There is at least one Mormon church in Finland. I know this because my husband pointed it out to me on a bus ride earlier this week. Kind of neat, huh? We made this discovery while looking for the building I had to go to in order to take my Finnish Language test. I did that on Tuesday and it was confusing! Everything but my interview was in Finnish. Now all I have to do is wait for them to put me in a class. Which will begin on my birthday (Sept. 5th). Cool beans!

Special House Guest

My BIL and his wife went out of the country last week and let us keep their dog for them. Of course I was totally excited about it. I LOVE their dog. His name is Nacho and he is a Cavelier King Charles Spaniel, and too cute for words. He is an extremely well trained dog. Sometimes it is a little difficult for me to get him to do something because my accent is horrible when I try to speak in Finnish. We get along just fine though. I enjoyed Nacho Cheese's visit (or as my husband calls him, Nacho Picchu). He was so much fun that I didn't want to give him back to his mom and dad on Sunday night. He does have a standing invitation to come and visit us whenever he wants to though!!



Guardian of shoes!



He is so happy!



I think I'll rest my head on your face!



Good Morning! We're still in our PJ's



Nacho the happy dog!