Chuckles from this month.

It's already the end of January?!?

I'm going to use the last day of the month to post funny stuff that has been said or done in the Detter house. Pretty much anything that doesn't make it into a daily post. For all those who've already seen these on FB, thanks for indulging me.

Lauren has been learning about irony in English class. Derek was playing a video game and not doing so well. Lauren, "Wow, Derek. You are doing GREAT!" I think she gets it.

Me to the children: Stop, drop, and roll is only appropriate if the fire is ON you. Using that method to put out a campfire is a horrible idea!

Lauren's drama class was doing on an exercise on scary/creepy sounds. Discussing creepy sounds at dinner that night we decided the least creepy sound in the world is a fart.

Derek: Stop taking pictures in my room, Lauren! It's my policy. No pictures! Lauren: It's not posted anywhere.

Derek: The snow is starting to get annoying.

Lauren has been taking French this year. Dan: If we were in France, could you talk to people for us? Lauren: I could only ask them for a three room apartment.

Dan, speaking metaphorically: It's a slippery slope. Derek: But I have cleats!

Me to the children: When I say put your dishes in the dishwasher, do you think I mean everything but your glasses? Dan: Don't answer that. It's a rhetorical question.

Kids started back to school today. It was rough to get up for all of us. Told them all their Georgia friends get a snow day. Was met with 'AWWW, COME ON!' Lauren, "What will it take for Finland to close school?" Something crazy like -60 C?

Derek found a Cubs shirt we bought for him and promptly informed us he can't wear it. Why? Because he is not a Cubs fan. Umm, what? He obviously forgot that all Detters are Cubs fans. It's in the fine print.

Heard tonight. "Samoans don't stop eating when they're full. Samoans stop eating when they're tired." That explains a lot.

Dan: If I could fly, I would fly everywhere. Even if it was just to the copier.

Finland, The Beginning

Happy Sunday!
While we haven't had warm weather like some of our US friends, we have seen the sun a bunch this week. Hurray! It made me realize how dirty my car was...

I've been working on taking all the notes I wrote on Facebook and putting them in blog form, adding pictures, etc. Want to make sure I can make them into a book.

You can check out my progress at http://finlandstories.blogspot.com/

:)

Where does the snow go?

After the snow piles reach a certain height, trucks come in and cart it away.

We wonder where it goes. 

Some ideas:

1. It gets dumped in the sea.

2. It’s taken to a snow ‘dump’ kinda like a garbage dump.

3. It’s shipped to other countries that don’t have snow.

Pretty sure the first one is out due to water pollution issues, but two and three are still in the running.

Skating, Detter style: Dan and kids went skating at the rink by the school. In the summer it’s a soccer field.There are snow banks all around and a bank right in the middle. They’d skate and run into the banks to stop. Derek can get going pretty fast. After a fast skate across and a huge crash into the snow bank, he said, “Next up, the Olympics.” Um, I don’t think they have a ‘skate then crash into a snow bank’ event, little man.



Lauren was very cautious in her skating.
As a result, she only fell once.



Derek, not so much.

No, Dan did not fall (this time) but it sure looks like he's going to!

Dan and I got to have an adult dinner with new friends. Best Thai food I've ever had. And I've been to Thailand. That seems about right as the best Mexican food I've ever had was in Thailand.

Busy, Fun, FRIDAY!

Kids got out of school at 12:00 today. Per tradition, we went out to lunch. Lauren and friends Inga and Lulu planned to go to the McD by the school and then hang out. Derek, of course, wanted to go to McD as well but we decided it wouldn't be cool to go to the same one as Lauren. So we checked out one closer to home.

Derek saw this and asked, "Who's the guy in the jail suit?" I never noticed when the other friends of Ronald McDonald exited the marketing plan. My kids don't know who these characters are! Hamburglar, Purple Guy, Minature Hamburglar, and Weird Bird. (Guess I don't know them either.)

Derek had a hip hop performance tonight and needed to be at the dress rehearsal at 4:00. We picked up two kids from the ward on the way, which turned out to be awesome because they had been there before. Parking was stinky. Got them where they were supposed to be and waited on Lauren and her friends to show up. Inga was in the performance as well. Lauren and Lulu came home with me. Dinner for them. Dan called around 5:00 and I told him about parking. He checked on tram schedules and suggested we do that. The girls and I left at 6:00 and met him at Kemira. Ditched the car and took the tram. Although I was nervous to be trying something new on a night when we needed to be on time, it was fine.

Got to the venue at 6:45 and the place was packed. We ended up sitting on the very last row on the main floor. (Didn't know about balcony seating until later. Darn.) Met Lulu's family there. 

The performace was a fund raiser for the the Azafady Charity in Madagascar. The director, who the kids call Mr. Banana because one time he wore a yellow suit, is from Madagascar. He gave an interesting presentation on his country and the hardships children are facing.

Derek's group danced to The Transformers and Montell Jordan. So proud of him. He was super excited to show us his moves.

Check for video on FB. It won't let me load here. Boo!

After the performance, Lauren went home with Lulu. (Since we don't do sleepovers, I picked her up at 11:00. Yawn.)

So that left Dan, Derek, and me to go back to Kemira on the tram. We were joking around waiting at the tram stop and I realized that everyone else was waiting quietly, minus the girl who was screaming into her cell phone for a bit. Silly, loud Americans. Our tram comes (#8) and we board. We have to scan our travel cards to pay for our tickets and before we can finish the tram starts moving. We don't have our 'tram legs' yet and we all start swaying and grabbing handrails. Now we really start laughing. It's impossible to stop the giggling and smiling. We are SO out of place on the tram. I look at all the stoic faces and wonder if they think we're drunk. Yes, even my 10 year old.

Fun night! Good night!

New Beginnings, Changes, and Snotsicles.

New Beginnings: Lauren is 12 and that makes her a member of the Young Women program at church. Tonight was New Beginnings which is basically an introduction to the program for girls who are joining in 2011. To start off the night, the girls and leaders recited the Young Women theme. First, in English especially for Lauren, then in Finnish.

(I don’t know why it is, but any time I hear something at church in English first and then the same thing in another language, I start crying. Like when the Primary kids in Georgia sang a verse of ‘I am a child of God’ in Spanish. Bawling.)

Lauren read a thing about her age group, the Beehives. Here's part of it. 

For the early pioneers of the Church, the beehive was a symbol of harmony, cooperation, and work.

The bishop talked about how important it is for the girls to bank ‘spiritual’ capital by attending Young Women and other church meetings because some day they may face a problem and it will require all their strength and faith to overcome it. He encouraged the parents to arrange our families so our daughters could attend Young Women during the week. Good message.

Changes: Since I was with Lauren, Dan got to go to the Grade 5 puberty curriculum review. It’s a good thing because Dan’s been wondering why his voice is changing. J The class gets to watch a movie Friday/tomorrow. Dan said to Derek, “You’re going to see a lot of things in that movie. Don’t worry. It’s all animated.”

On Ring Road 2 there are icicles/ice coming out of a hill. These icicles are tinted yellow. (Picture doesn't do it justice.) My kids call them 'snotsicles'. Lovely.



The sun, the cheese section, and more.

Well, look what we could see in the sky today...

The SUN! First time since the 15th. Is it a little sad that I know the date the last time the sun made an appearance?

But when it does, it makes everything so pretty! We love how the snowy trees look in sunlight.

I've been wanting to snap a few pics of the cheese section at our local K-Citymarket. I am in awe of how large it is. I can only imagine how big a cheese section would be in France if this is how big it is in Finland.

 The cheese counter where I buy our Englanti Cheddar.

No lunch meat here.

That's at a seperate counter on the other side of the store.

 This is how we buy our parmesan. It is never refrigerated. Which makes me wonder. What is in the grated parmesan in the US that requires it to be refrigerated after opening?

 The bell I ring if the cheese ladies aren't behind the counter. Sometimes I ring it and then walk all the way to the other end of the counter. When the cheese lady shows up I act like someone else rang it and left.

 Opposite view of the same counter.

That's a lot of cheese!

But wait! There's more! Refrigerated cheese case #1.

Refrigerated cheese case  #2

Refrigerated cheese case #3. #4 is on the opposite side, just as large. There were people in front of it and I didn't want to get them all upset for taking their picture.

Here's what I normally buy from the cheese counter.

 Yes, that's € 9,42 for about half a kilo.

 I would like to purchase some tomaatti.

Can you guess what I'm going to use them for?

The number in the bottom right hand corner of the sign is important. It's the number I press when I go to weigh them.

 All produce must be weighed before heading to the check out.

I press 189.

Here's the handy dandy sticker the scale spits out and I place it on my bag. Ready to go!

Bought eggs today...

Never seen that before.

Sorry. No Doritos.

Derek saw this in the back of my car and said, "Mom, please tell me you bought a box of Doritos." I guess we haven't purchased a lot of Doritos since we moved here. Sorry, Derek. No Doritos in there.

It's 40 cans of root beer for the International Party!

Whoo hoo!

 

Told some Finnish ladies at church about my plan to serve root beer floats at the party. Here are some of the things they said:

Root beer tastes like a mix of toothpaste and cough medicine.

I can only take one or two sips and then I can't drink anymore.

Why would you drink that?

Friend Jeff Drake, who served a mission in Spain, warned me that Spaniards use a topical medicine that smells like root beer, so they are not fond of drinking something that tastes how a medicine smells. Now I learn Finns or at least the three that were in the room, don't like it either. That's two countries out. I guess there'll be lots of floats for the American families.

Oh, and remember those Froot Loops I was so excited about? No one in my family will eat them because they don't taste like American Froot Loops. (Read: not sweet enough) I tasted them and I'd have to agree. They taste like Cheerios. Back to buying the ones off the American end cap.

Snow related musings.

Watering:Today as I walked past the back windows I saw our neighbor in his backyard with a watering can watering his flowers.

Wait. What?

I looked closer wondering what kind of plants needed water in the winter. No plants in sight. Upon further inspection I realized he had been working on clearing a path to the side of his house and was now pouring water on the snow piles to help them freeze that way. I have so much to learn about snow.


Look out for snow!: The trees were heavy with snow today. The new snow falling and a slight wind made the snow in the trees fall off in globs. (Actual technical term 'globs'.) I was out running an errand. Upon returning to my car and in an effort to keep the snow out of the car I do the thing we do to dust off our boots. Sit down with your feet hanging out of the car and tap your boots together. Kind of like a 'There's no place like home' thing. Pleased with my efforts, I'm about to pull my feet in when a wind comes up and THWAP the tree I'm parked under releases it's globs. Snow all over my lap and down and some in the car. First I scream. Then I laugh. So much for keeping the snow out!

 What a difference in two months: Picture on the left is from November 18. Below, today. I was shocked at how different it looks. And how hard it is to duplicate a picture.

Musings on a normal week

Comfort Food: Salsa is terrible in Finland, whether it be from the grocery store or a restaurant. It just tastes funky. One 'Texas Salsa' we tried turned out to be the best barbeque sauce we've found here, but nothing remotely close to salsa. Then one weekend a friend made this lovely concoction-

Emily's fresh chunky salsa

Oh. My. Delicious. Now I make it at least once a week, sometimes twice. The garlic and cilantro are my fave ingredients. (Cilantro in Finnish is 'korianteri'. I think it's a fun word.) I told Dan this salsa is my new comfort food. He said it was a lot better than donuts or ice cream, which may or may not have been my comfort food in the past.

Church at 2: With the new year, our ward gets the 2:00 time slot.
(Background-LDS buildings usually have at least two congregations assigned to meet there. One congregation gets the 9:00 am slot, the other 1:00 pm. They switch every year. In Finland, it's 10:00 and 2:00. I have a theory why the times are later. Many people rely on public transportation and on Sundays they run on a reduced schedule, thus the later church times. Don't quote me on that.)

ANYWAY! I have never been a fan of 1:00 church so 2:00 is torturous. It's dark when we get out at 5:00 and it feels like the whole day is gone. Well, because it is.

Blue Moment: A positive to this late church time is my Finnish church friends introduced me to the 'blue moment'. It's the time after the sun sets and just before it gets dark. The whole sky looks blue, even if the day has been nothing but gray and cloudy. I haven't been able to get a picture myself so here's a link to someone else's cool blue moment pic.

Introducing the flat iron: Lauren has been growing her bangs out. When we were in the US, the person who cut her hair straightened just the bangs and Lauren loved it. She's been asking for a flat iron since we got back. I was a little reluctant to get her one because 1) I didn't want her to get burned and 2) I didn't want to straighten her bangs every morning. I got over the first concern when I realized she regularly uses a Bunsen burner in Science class. Open flame, baby. She can handle a flat iron. And her hair looks super cute!

Waiting: Friday I was meeting someone and was waiting in the entry way of an apartment building. I spent my time looking at this-

I tried to pick out Finnish names. Pretty sure 31 and 26 weren't. Along with 25. (They were who I was going to see and they're Filipino.) Double 'k's are definitely Finnish, as are ones that have 'ai' or 'oi' together somewhere in the name. All the others, not sure. They could be Swedish. Or not. Yeah, I waited a little bit longer than expected.

What we see is different: Any time Dan and I see this sign we think it says 'Algebra' not Alberga.

I also start singing 'Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole' even though I don't think that's how you pronounce Bembole.

Ice skating: My poor kids. Neither knows how to skate. Lauren is the only one in her class who can't. Derek is one of four who can't. They have a hard time when the class plays games on the ice. Like British Bulldog, which from what I can tell is a tag-like game similiar to Sharks and Minnows. Oh well. I guess that two month skating class Lauren took when she was four wasn't enough.

Getting out of the driveway is fun to do: Here's what I see when I get to the end of our driveway/lane.

Left

Right

Don't ya love how you can see the street? Not. You have to edge out and hope not to get hit before you can see to turn. What makes it even more fun is the end of the driveway is where everyone gets stuck. If I could see, I'd probably gun it through that part, but instead I have to creep through and hope I don't get stuck. I've toyed with the idea of taking a shovel to the mounds, but there's no other place to put the snow and the next time the plows came through it'd be back to it's view-blocking height.

Cross country skiing: Dan went cross country skiing with people from work Thursday night. He enjoyed it and according to the others did well for a first timer. They told him that Finns put their kids on skis starting at 1. So compared to a 1 year old, he did well? Derek asked him how many times he fell. Dan,"More than three and less than a hundred."

And finally: My new desk from IKEA.

Kiitos for putting it together, Dan!

It was sunny!

Let the sunshine in: Last Saturday was a sunny day. Dan, recovering from his sprained ankle, spent the day chillin'. He and Derek couldn't see their respective gaming screens so this is what they did...

How about we just close the blinds? No! We need to let the sun in! It was a big deal to see the sun. Not something that happens very often.

Derek ready for church: These were taken the Sunday after we got home from the US. Derek was jet lagged and later we found out, sick. He did some funny stuff before I took these including yelling at Lauren and Dan for whispering too loud and falling asleep after putting on one sock. Guess he woke up to get that other one on. Poor little fella.

Six months have gone by FAST!

Today marks our six month anniversary of moving to Finland. So far, so good! The honeymoon is over for sure, but there are more than enough good experiences to outweigh the bad.

Things I Did Not Miss While in the US:

Not complaining, just didn’t miss ‘em. Didn’t even think about them.

*Looking at the clock and subtracting 12.

*Squeegy-ing the floor after a shower.

*Trying to guess the temp in Fahrenheit when it’s given in Celsius.

Surprise! There’s a ‘Things I Missed While in the US’ list as well:

*Studded tires

*Heated floors

*My Nursery friends, short and tall.

*Lakerol mints. Can’t hack Lifesavers anymore.

*Marli Natur juice, specifically mandarin orange.

*My bed, but I guess that’s not Finland specific.

Sliding snow: Last weekend temps were to get above freezing. Dan’s co-workers warned him to be careful of snow sliding off the roofs. Wasn’t too concerned about it until I started seeing this:

I don’t remember this phenomenon happening when we lived in Iowa or Indiana. Not enough snow?

It sounds eerie when you’re inside and it starts sliding. Like a giant is trying to scratch his/her way through the roof.  Thankfully, no one got dumped on by the sliding snow, although it would’ve made a great submission for America’s Funniest Videos.

Ice skating-postponed: Above freezing temps turned the ice skating rink on the soccer field into a slush fest. No ice skating this week. The PE teacher is concerned the city won’t refreeze it, Zamboni it, whatever they do to make it smooth. I asked Lauren if the skating unit would be cancelled and she said, “No, we’ll just skate on a bumpy rink.” Sounds fun!

My first encounter with Finnish police: Friday I went into Helsinki. At an intersection there appeared to have been an accident. A police officer was directing traffic. (I use the word ‘directing’ loosely.) I needed to go straight. The street was clear, despite a car that had been in the accident being off to the side. The officer waves us through.  And when I say wave, I mean he put his hand in front of him, palm facing in, and then pulled it back toward his shoulder. No directing us to the right or left, just a ‘let’s move it’ gesture. I go straight. He starts yelling at me and I slam on the brakes. Before I can roll down my window, he has yanked open my door and is yelling angrily at me in Finnish. Then he points to the left. After I turned, the taxi behind me tried to go straight as well so it wasn’t just me that misunderstood his ‘directing’.

I was a little rattled as I drove away, which surprised me. I’ve had people yell at me before. My time at Whitey’s gave me plenty of experience in that department. You’d be surprised how many people get angry about their ice cream. But I digress. What shook me up is that he opened my door. He got in my space. If he wanted to he probably could’ve dragged me out of the car, once he got past the seat belt. Or punched me. Or poked me in the eye. Nutshell, I didn’t like it and I will be more vigilant about locking my doors once I’m in the car.

What are we going to do with this?: Dan got this as a present from a customer. Fancy shmancy cookies, candies and a bottle of champagne. Cookies and candies we’re all over. Champagne, not so much. The kids asked what we were going to do with it. We asked what they thought we should do with it. Their reply: “Let’s smash it against a boat!”

Froot Loops excitement!: Found this at the store on Monday. It was not on the American end cap. (Read: Almost normal price of €2.69.) Cool! At Christmas time the same store offered a 24 case of Coke for €23. Unfortunately, it was just for the holidays. I hope the Froot Loops is permanent.

They have a funky color. Maybe it has to do with this.

Freezer: Here’s a picture of one of our freezer drawers. Since I don’t normally buy my meat with the head still on, I had to think about what each picture represented. The reindeer one makes me smile.

Injury #641: (I may be exaggerating a tad.) Wednesday Dan sprained his ankle playing basketball. Shocker.

Here, his minion for the morning went out and got a bucket of snow so he could ice his ankle. She was really happy to take this picture.

Dan, enjoying his breakfast and a bucket of icy snow water. Best picture out of three.