So in Sysmä I found this cute café... 

Alright so you guys asked me to tell about food... So here potatoes are important, because they grow well and Finns know atleast a thousand ways to prepare them and they are even good. Boiled potatoes are the most frequent side dish.

To what? To meat. I cannot tell about the whole country's customs as I lived only with one family. Chicken, beef and pork are all eaten. Many times we had chicken breast pieces in yummy sauces, or some kind of laatikko-s, where for example potato chips (in the British sense), ham, sausage and veggies are just mixed together, poured with some kind of milk-egg sauce and put into the oven. Also, Finns tend to use a lot of ananas, mostly with meat at barbecueing. Of course smoked fish is also eaten, and I like it! 

But I'll just put some pictures here...

Smoked salmon.

-

When the fridge is getting empty and you want a nice dish... Pyytipannu

This was some fish food and kotikalja from ABC...

Important! Hernekeitto! Pea soup kinda thing. With rye bread! (ruisleipä)

Puuro (porridge) without kiiseli (some kind of fruit soup)

Puuro kiiselillä

Bakery goods - don't freak out toooo much from the prices, this was in the amusement park.

Riisipiirakka/karjalanpiirakka again

Pulla. Kalács. Milk-loaf? Dictionary doesn't help. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulla 

Ice cream. Because Finland eats the most icecream and any weather in Finland is icecream weather.

Holnap után elhagyom az országot. Pakolok. Irány Tallinn. Le kéne zárni ezt a korszakot, meg bepótolni egy pár blogposztot. Hosszú lesz ez a nap. 

Crazy fun in the countryside - you know where this is going. 

Got first waken up at 7.15 and then gotten out of bed at 7.30 the kid shouting that the smaller did poo.. So I had to wash... Usually I get off bed around 8:30-40 so this was a biiiiit early and a bit little sleep but what can I do, this is my job, I found myself in the shower washing before I could even open my eyes normally... :D  
But then went outside at the stairs, smelled and enjoyed that awesome morningey nature smell, it is really something special... Sipped a cup of strong coffee, had Remu by my side, and sang Hungarian folk songs, great self-therapy.. :) Not that I have such problems I need to be ... therapised, but it is still so nice to just sing and sing and sing  :) (As long as nobody else hears xD) 

Again I spent some holiday days in Helsinki.

I went by Onnibus.com for 2x 1 euro, and the trip took around 2,5 hours. The double decker had air conditioning, plug under every seat and wifi onboard. Of course for this price on had to reserve the ticket weeks earlier, but this is still rather awesome. A random Helsinki-shot from the bus and Onnibus:

Fortunately we had very good weather. Since long I have been wishing to swim in the Baltic sea and I finally had the opportunit. As a sea in the north I expected it to be rather cold, and I got very surprised. So far I have been twice to the Adriatic (CRO) and once to the Tyrrhenian sea (IT, Tuscany♥), so this was my third see to try. Already on the road there I was having a beer while walking in the sunny Helsinki, trying to enjoy each and every moment of my holiday :) Then the enormous surprise got me very soon: the water was WARM! Obviously it is because the beach is on some closed bay, which lets the water warm up. But it was even much warmer than the Adriatic, I couldn't really believe! It was absolutely enjoyable to just swim and fool around in it, I really loved it. In addition, the beach is a sand beach, there is music, there are people but not a crowd so it REALLY felt like some Southern seaside holiday trip and I loved it!

It was something like this:

Then after some hours we left (obviously way too early for my beach-loving self), had two more beers which really put my mood to the top and I just enjoyed walking around Helsinki, looking at the sights, chatting, enjoying the freedom and the awesome wather and the blood alcohol level, in a souvenir shop I even bought an unfortunatelynotwool Finland-Suomi blue-white winter hat! :D :D 

Then on the next day we went to another veeeeery looked forward to place, Linnanmäki, which is a Helsinki city part, but most importantly it is the Hki amusement park! I am always just a bit afraid of wilder rides but in the end I actually love them, and like to try and move and experience the speed so yeah, 34 eur (wtf..) went to this place.

My favourites were... Well, almost everything, there were two which I was particularly afraid of but in the end I dared to get on them and enjoyed and survived them! :D

Kirnu (you go in all possible directions, its crazy, but feels great and is over before you realise what is happening)

Ukko (for long hours only referred to as 'the white motherfucker' and feared even its name

A big favourite was the Vonkaputous. We were so much looking forward to get on this one because it was 30*C and bright sunshine and this one ends in splashing into water. But you can already guess, this one had the longest line and when we were almost there is got cloudy and slightly chillly, and a bit later it even started raining. So, half of experience taken away. Whatever, it was nice, and this had the best rollercoaster part with an awesome curve, imho

Kehra:

Salama: 

Tulireki:

All photos from Google. So, as you could see, we weren't bored, even if I was going between rides from maybe 12 or 13:00 until the closing time, 22:00 The last half hour before the closing time was very funny because everybody was doing sports. I mean, actually RUNNING between the caroussels and attractoins so as to jam in as much more in that little time as possible. I managed to go on 4 rides in that time, it was already much more empty than around 2pm, where you had to stand in huuuuuge lines... In Finland everybody takes their holidays in July, that's why... 

Now some own pictures, I haven't taken many... 

A funny shot of not too fotogén Petri and me in the park xD 

Ladies and gentlemen, Metallica pinball!

Another shot in the Funfair Funhouse, in Vekkula. The flash at perfect place xD 

Seriously, it is worth having a 3-year-old-friend in _cold, distantpeople, no interpersonal warmth whatsoever_ (this is really starting to bug me :( )... I came home from a three day trip and when he saw me he was just so ooooverwhelmed of happiness of seeing me again... Constantly hugging me and laughing at me with his sweet, sweet smile, eyes sparkling, and jumping on me and hugging me again and talking sweet... I cannot describe this happiness, but I was also overwhelmed by his reaction ♥ 

Tomorrow August, so hard to believe, have been here for this long... More time has passed since Juhannus since before Juhannus from what I was here, and it is visible, the sun is already setting just now, which is kind of a sad sight, even tho I hated it being daylight at 11pm (now its 10.17)... And in Helsinki I saw a black night sky.. Felt like home, haha.. This is also new... But means we are getting into winter and darkness... But wa really so almost-forgotten-new thing to see an actual black sky... :D

Yep I have been to Helsinki, bathed in the Baltic which has warm water in that bay and was awesome, felt like a seaside holiday totally, had beers all around Helsinki, bought a Finland hat when slightly tipsy (but its nice and only was 10 eur), next day the amusement park of Linnanmäki, going to all rides (except some very lame, and children stuff and lame children stuff), even those whom I feared on the first sight and took hours to convince myself to try but then it was all nice... 

I remember my newbie days and asking myself all scared: is this ever going to become a routine? Now it seems like those days never existed.... 

...

Wish I never hurt you. 

Today was a raaather chaotic day but it was still full of laughter and there was a lot to enjoy.

Yesterday I went to bed around 22:45, no joking, but at 8.10 it was still veery very hard to get up. Fortunately the boys went to bed the same time as me, which means late for them which resulted in them sleeping eeexxxtra long, not even catching the last cartoons of the morning children programme (Pikku Kakkonen :) ), getting up at around 9.20, instead of the usual ~8:30. So I had a rather peaceful morning, and also, had to be less with the boys in the morning. Not that it would be so bad, just sometimes the hours seem very long. Then after lunch some guests came, but after some conversation I left for my afternoon siesta, which today also meant a bike-tour into the forest, riding fast on a forest ground full of elevations, just in shorts+bra, asking the Sun to tan me, haha. I found a lake and it wa like 28*C warm (!!!!!!!), so of course I decided to get in. And well, this is Finland, nobody comes, so 1. I can leave the bike at the side of the road, nobody goes there to steal it, 2. nobody would want to steal it anyway, 3. I can just get naked and dip into the lake, and sunbathe naked, nobody will see me anyway, there is just. nobody. Awesome. Listening to some music and sitting on the dock, watching the water.. peace, peace, peace, perfection.

I used to joke with how Finns live in the forest and they are forestmen and all that and now I am finding out, they actually DO live in the middle of the forest and it's just perfect. You just go on the forest road (rather wide), on an OFFICIAL forest road, and suddenly you see less trees and more houses, where people live. In the damn middle of the forest. :')

Then went back with a ... burning back, and after an awesome shower talked to the guests, had some icecream and a plenty of cookies and then work continued. Then after dinner the small childrens pool was blown up and filled, and we had some omgletsmakeeachotherwet (err.) fun full of laughter, and then I had a chance to be proud of myself, I managed to get both the boys clean, dried and back into their clothes, don't even ask how. I feel there is some abiding, trusting, respecting bond in making between me and the kids. :)

Today was a very nice day, rather different from the others, and not just because I had a day off. The mum, the boys and me left the house at 9.30 in the morning and it was already around 17*C warm! The days before around this time it was only around 12*C so I had high hopes. We were heading to the village of Joutsa, to the local village festival, the Joutsan Joutopäivät. The reason for the hurry was the Loiskis children band (not by children, but to children), who started their set at 10 a.m. And what a set! Honestly, I enjoyed it! The band was very multiculti, playing on bagpipes, accordion, bouzuki, guitar, bass guitar, contrabass and whatnot, bringing songs from the US introducing bluegrass, singing songs about travels around the world... Mentioning England and playing the Big Bens tones, France and playing the hymn, Russia, playing some catchy folk dance tune, by which I realised how very Russian the folk rock band Kalevala sounds! Because well, Loiskis's Russian tune was so Kalevalaish, haha. :D I was sad that Hungary wasn't mentioned in any of their songs about countries but then ... a huge surprise followed! They played a complete 'cover' of a Hungarian folk song, Repülj madár, sung both translated to Finnish and also in Hungarian!! Unfortunately my phone's memory was full so could only record 3 worthless seconds of the song T_T After the concert I went to praise them a bit to find out the singer likes the Hungarian band Muzsikás, and has recently visited Hungary and guess what... The second I told him I am a Hungarian he came to hug me!!! :O A Finn! :O

After this we went to the amusement park part, and I also got to sit on one of the caroussels, there was one also to be enjoyed by bigger kids and adults, fast and spinning, I loved it! Should already finally visit Linnanmäki, damn! :D

Then we went to the farm exhibition part, where some farmers were advertising something and one could look at tractors and ride children tractors and pet cows... Of course our boys were super enthusiastic about all the tractors, as if they didn't have the same stuff at home, haha :D

I rather took some pics of the animals, and the Sampo tractor, powered by Sisu :DDD The last pic is a Suomenlammas, omgomg. *.*

After that we left to the grandma who is a really sweet cupcake and nice to talk to and she likes me and I like her and then we came home. The day was unbelievably warm, around 22*C, and it actually kind of felt warmer than that and I had a free day, the boys stayed at the grandma so I decided to go out and sunbathe and so I did for 3 hours. Before the electical fence around the field struck me, then the river almost took me away and me with my tired arms had trouble getting back to the shore, but then it was all ok. I don't think I got sunburnt there, I hope I did get tanned, but for sure I got burnt red still in Joutsa, while watching the children and the stuff, you can tell the lines of the shirt I had, lol. FINALLY, man. Not that I missed getting burned, but all that 12-16*C with constant rainclouds above your head were really getting on my nerves. I really enjoyed my time at the riverside, err, naked, listening to music and taking in the warmth of the sun.  And the peace. Awh.

Still no own computer but I am having some quiet time, hopefully it won´t end before I have this finished.

Today it is summer and a rather relaxed day, in the morning I had to vacuum and then look after the kids, also got my first pocket money, happyhappy!

Really, today it is warm and the sun shines a lot in comparison to the previous days. Note: warm means 18-21*C. So of course, we were eating some ice cream, for it is summer!

It also affects my mood a lot.

I start to feel that some stuff is already going much easier with the kids. I don't know whether they are just having better days or getting used to me, trusting me and liking me more, but nowadays (*knocks wood*) it goes rather fast to change their clothes, to dress their playing clothes and the small one who needs dressing is rather cooperative and uuuuusually dressing happens pretty fast. Sometimes it was a horror when the bigger one wants to go out already, is shouting, the small one also finally decides, okay, let's go, and then it doesn't take half a minute and he is crying that he doesn't want to go out. And then dressing him up finally, especially when he doesn't cooperate. But this seems to change and luckily also I am now much better at dressing them, I am making new records in putting socks on his feet, I am learning :D 

I wouldn't really say they have days and days but rather hours and hours when their mood can completely change. Which is good because you can know that if you are almost going deaf from the hysteric shouting, it soon will be over and everyhing becomes O.K. again, you just have to survive that. But it is hard not to get influenced by it.

Also, these days the mealtimes, mostly the dinner, which happens without the parents seems to go much easier, but maybe it's just the kids' mood, or maybe it really is our relationship getting different or they just are now less brave with me, because they know they can't fuck around with me, hihihi :) Sometimes there were big shoutings at eating, and throwing the chairs around and playing with food but that also seems to flow much more smooth now.

I had some thoughts in my mind but this is it for today.

My laptop is broken so won't write anything big here, just posting some pictures, today I spent an hour in the forest. Sometimes work is tiringt, and a lot, and gotta get up early and adapt to children who think you are their slave, but if from 12h work I get that one hour free walking in the forest I really feel it is worth it and could cry from happiness.. Listening to some Finnish metal alongside, perfection. Here some pics, the first being a bit biology :D

I am getting some requests what to write about, like for example I should write about food, which I will do when I have more material. Keep sending such topic requests, they help me, they inspire me, and it's nice to feel like 'serving' my audience a bit and you can find out what you want.

The family

Now I am going to write a bit about the family I live with and absolutely love. The parents are both in their forties, and before somebody thinks that farmers aren't part of the intelligentsia I can tell you these guys are. The same intelligence can be seen on the kids, even tho they are kids, but you can still tell. The parents are extremely hard working, they work around 15 hours a day, it is insane. There is a lot to do at the huge dairy farm and with all the fields. I also really love their sense of humour, I find funny especially the father - as he doesn't really talk much, usually when he opens his mouth it's something funny, so the ratio is pretty good. The mother is very nice, and kind to me, very respectful and tries to keep me not too busy, giving me enough free time also during the day, and I haven't heard a bad word from her to me. So it is not like 'hey we give you money so do your job 100000% perfectly'. But of course I am trying to do my job very well. She also made some great jokes which usually crack me up.

Juhannus

One thing that made me laugh happened at the family Juhannus. Juhannus is the Finnish version of the Midsummer night, when the longest day of the day and the summer is being celebrated with huge bonfires, staying up late, and well, drinking. Some pictures are following. We missed the beginning of the bonfire so when we arrived it was only a smaller version left, then the kids had ice cream (who the fuck cares it was around 10*C rainy-windy, lol), and the father and I a beer, let's have some alcohol at Juhannus, dammit, haha. Then as we were walking around the territory, the harbour of Päijänne, and the parking lot, one of the kids fell down while walking and the mother commented: Yes, it is rather usual that Finnish men end up fallen on the ground at the time of Juhannus. :D:D And well, it is usually true. The biggest celebration happens on Juhannusaatto, juhannus-eve, so the 20th of June. That means that one is supposed to be drunk already on the 19th until the night as well. And that everybody, just evvvverbody is leaving the cities to their summer cottage, mökki, to the nature and enjoying peace and booze there. 

On this one you can see my host mother, the smaller and the bigger child, from right to left :D 

I myself made a slavic-style Kupala wreath, as girls do on midsummer eve and had a walk in the nature. Didn't stay up late, it was very cloudy so the Sun couldn't be followed anyway. So I just went to bed with flowers put under my pillow. :) 

The exterior of the house also looked rather Juhannus-like. There were juhannuskoivut in front of the house, which means some rather big branches of birch tree, and the flag was raised to the pole and stayed there. I already talked about the liputuspäivät, the flag raising days, when you usually have to take it down at sunset, but as at Juhannus the sun is not really supposed to set, it can stay there waving all 'night'. 

I feel a bit sorry that the weather was bad and I couldn't stay up out in the nature and just watch the almost-everlasting-daylight and also a bit sorry that I couldn't spend it at a mökki far from everything and everybody. Even tho this place is not so different from that. 

Geography

Now, that I myself am a bit more familiar with where I am, I can also tell it to you guys a bit better.

Since 1997, there is a new distribution of counties in Finland, courtesy of Wikipedia:

1 Etelä-Suomen lääni (Södra Finlands län) 1997-2009	2 Länsi-Suomen lääni (Västra Finlands län) 1997-2009	3 Itä-Suomen lääni (Östra Finlands län) 1997-2009
4 Oulun lääni (Uleåborgs län) 1775-2009	5 Lapin lääni (Lapplands län) 1938-2009	6 Ahvenanmaan lääni (Ålands län) 1918-2009

From this, I am Etelä-Suomen lääni, which is further divided to smaller regions. 

• Etelä-Karjala
• Päijät-Häme
• Kanta-Häme
• Uusimaa
• Itä-Uusimaa
• Kymenlaakso

Out of these I am in Päijät-Häme which got its name after Finland's second biggest lake, the Päijänne. Also, Finns never forget to inform you about that lake fact.

-fuck, where is the rest of this post that i wrote with maps n shit?????? dont tell me i should write it again some day-

Do click the gallery. 

Today it was a nice day again. In the morning I was very exhausted and forgot to do the half of the morning routine but it all got sorted out in the end. By the way routines, cleaning poo from the potty and cleaning ass is becoming a normal part of it. Keep strong, Vica! 

So today morning (not actual morning, just in the English sense, around 11 a.m.) we left to the little town of Heinola, maybe 25 km away. I did not have to go with them, but I did choose to stay with the family, make programs together than just sitting alone in my room and surfing the web, and in addition I got to be a little in a city area. But I mostly went to spend time with the family, finally being able to send my postcards was just a plus. The grandma lives there so one of the points was visiting her but first we went to the ABC which is the name of the gas station that's surrounded by shops and malls and that kinda stuff, including a nice inside children's playground, and the boys were supper enthusiastic about going there. It is not too big, has 2 ways of going up, then one up passage and a slide, but it's nice. I also like these things so not having to go there alone but having children as an excuse was very nice! 

This is the Lasten Puuhanurkka. You can also see many little blond people. 

Then we also had lunch there, for 10 eur you can get the menu which means main course+salad+drink, and you pretty much take as much you want. I had some fish stuff. :D The Finnish way of queuing up was so weird for me... I have been to a couple of places but never saw people standing in a Q being so far from each other. Also, every kid is blond here. And kotikalja, home made alcohol free beer is not too good. Tastes on, er, beeer. 

This is a Finnish queue:

And this is my food, some fish stuff, with rice, salad, and the kotikalja.

After this we went to the center of the city where the family first went to buy shoes and they 'let me go'. I was asked if I want to go along to the grandma but I thought it would be easier and maybe better for both if I just spend those two hours alone in Heinola. And so it was. 2 hours might seem long, but it really just was the perfect time for everything.

After visiting the square with clothing, fruits, and vegetable stalls, talking with a seller (yeah, he started talking to me!), I went into the post office to send my postcards but first I searched whether there maybe are even some from Heinola but there weren't. Then I looked around browsing for stuff, found metal stuff again. This is pretty normal in a post office. 

Then I was browsing for too long and the lady actually came to help me if I need anything. I thanked her and said no. Ok, so 'the antisocial' Finns do this too. Then I went to send the postcards and she let me choose the stamp, saying 'stamp' in English, realising I'm not a Finnish. (Okay, let's be honest here, most of the people are anyway sure 80-90% on the first sight of my blac hair that I am not Finnish, haha :D). Then I continued in Finnish and she was all smiley. Sent my postcard, she right away without asking put them as priority. 1 eur each. What the fuck. Bought an extra stamp with a Finnish flag to have it as a sticker on my laptop :)

Then I went to a supermarket and stared at Finnish products, and imported English magazines, there are lots of them! I didn't actually buy anything there, haha. Then I went on to the book shop, looked at alllll the moomin stuff and overpriced notebooks, omg, I'm so glad I have one and pen-stuff, haha. xD Then I searched for Harry Potter books, paperback Chamber of Secrets was 10 eur which is totally affordable but then I think I have found one second hand for 3 eur, so yeah. Should read in Finnish. Cartoons I already watch. And understand! 

Then I went into a confectionary, found a cheap and well looking cookie and bought it for not even 2 euros! (Boh, this is driving me crazy, spent ~500 huf on a fkn cookie. Anyway, I don't complain, I do work for this money and I guess sometimes it's ok to get myself a little treat.) 

Then (I know this post is full of the word then, whatever) went ahead for a walk, found a playground, went into a nice swing and ...swang? with listening to Finnish metal. It felt awesome that now, here, the actual chance that a musician who MADE that music will hear it from my phone rose from 0,0000000001% to 0,000000001%! 

After a song (Ensiferum's Ahti I think it was and then came Moonsorrow's Aurinko ja Kuu) I continued my walk to the local park next to the bay of the river, which then leads to Päijänne and has a lots of places for placing ships, went artsy:

After this (no 'then'! :D) I even saw a gift shop, asked if they have a pen with 'Finland' written on it, but nope. It was almost about 3 when we were supposed to meet and go back so I went to the square and then in some minutes we headed back home. Or just almost. Stopped at the fish market at Pohjola and bought smoked salmon for dinner. I had a caffee and cookies with awesome strawberry jam for snack. Nowadays I need coffee. No, I would actually need sleep. And here I am, writnig at 0.29 a.m. Oy-yoy.

Some time later I managed to get both children outside and we played with haystacks and other dangerous stuff, I will have to start getting used to this and just taking care of them without being over-worried about certain stuff. Of course I hurt myself again. If you are with children, you will look like children. Like, muddy, green, blue, red and so. :D 

Anyway, it was nice, and I was a bad/good bigsister, I told all their 'bad' deeds to the mother. The day passed by quite peacefully, fortunately the weather was nice so we could play outside. We had the salmon and some mashed potatoes (which I didn't fuck up this time, last time it was too fucking watery xD, this time the bigger actually praised me for it!:)))) ), I really liked it.

We played and then I got some time for my clothes which I washed while making the dinner and now hung them outside on the drier.. It felt nice to get all those things clean, to have some time for myself, I actually kinda like to do housework. I guess that is an advantage if you are an au-pair! :D 

I communicated with Remu today, I really love that doggy dog, big, black, dog of like 5 races mixed together, so also super clever. ♥ And I think he likes me. (Omg, or she? :D XD) The cat was also very cute, suddenly I heard a meow outside my room, found out the cat came actually to the door of my room, so I am sure to hear her, and then I went out and she led me to the door so I let her out. I love how these animals communicate so nicely♥ 

Au pair's day, how I see it in these days.

Until yesterday morning I was not alone, the ex au pair helped a lot, yesterday was the first half day and today the first complete day that I am alone. I have to tell I am extremely thankful for helping me both with practical stuff and also mentally! 

So the day more or less looks like this...

Well, every day is rather similar, and also different in many things. The structure of the days is pretty similar, the family for very nice, for the meals they always get together and eat together so that gives an order to the day.

I get up between 7.30 and 8.00 at some point, the boys come down to the living room to watch children programmes in the TV, all alone so I don't have to wake them. While they are watching the TV, I prepare breakfast stuff (bread, butter, yoghurt, juice) on the table, take the potty, nappy and their day-clothes from the first floor to downstairs. After the programs end I call them to eat, and hope they eat normally and nicely and don't start making any chaos. Then I hope to get them to brush teeth, then get on some outside clothes if they want to go outside. Then we go outside, or play inside and lunch is at 12.30. Sometimes I need to help with preparing it, then we have luch, and I put the dishes into the dishwasher. Then sometimes I am with the boys or like now, I have some free time. Then at 4 there is snack with some fruits and such stuff, at 6 supper and around 8-9 there is dinner, among those I am with the boys, take care of them and play with them. Sometimes stuff has to be prepared for supper, so I do that while they watch some childrens programme between 5 and 6. Sometimes it is exhausting because I may be the over-worrying type, and want to take too much care, and am afraid and worried of how they can hurt themselves and extra energies go away for that worrying... But what can I do.

Then some other times, when I don't have to be the boys, I load in/load out the washing machine, and put the clothes to dry. The stuff is easy, wash dishes a bit and put to dishwasher, it usually gets full before dinner, so I put it, around 10 I load it out and have my dinner. Usually some awesome Finnish bread with super nice cheese and some juice, and then I just have computer time, those are the happy nights!

I should find more time to go to the forest to walk, to take pictures, at some point I should wash my clothes, and clean the room but I guess in some days the stuff gets settled better already.

Sometimes the kids are very nice, especially the older one, he eats then brushes teeth and then dresses up without me saying a word. But when he doesn't want something, he just starts a huge hysteria with his 5 year old willing self. The three year old starts crying if anything is even a bit bad and he is not clean yet, sometimes does his stuff into the diaper, that's pretty nasty to clean but one can get used to everything I guess.

Inside we usually play with tractors, read books, draw with pencils and so stuff like that. Outside it's a lot of fun (for them, for me it's constant fear), there are tractors, hay, and all that farm stuff that can be played with, bicycles which can be ridden, grass that can be cut and sand where one can play with tractors. I am just happy I can be in the sun and get tanned... :P 

Soon I should ask for my first free days, hm. :D 

Seems like I have some free time to write and it would be pretty much about time to do so, so here we go.

FYI, I opened a tumblr: thisisfinland.tumblr.com , there will be some funfacts and stuff like that about Finland. The blog continues as it was, in this diary likey style but I hope to get a nice Tumblr going, I am full of ideas.

I still have some pictures I haven't yet showed from these days. When I arrived to Helsinki, the next day, 4th of June there was a liputuspäivä. That more or less meas flag day, which kind of means national festivities, holidays, memory days, and the city is full of flags. Like, REALLY FULL. The liputuspäivä can occur because of some historical event, it can be the birthday of a famous finn and stuff like that, the 4th June is the Puolustusvoimain lippujuhlan päivä, the Defence Force's Day, A honvédség napja. For this reason not only the buildings were full of flags, but many veterans dressed up in their pretty clothes. On the second picture you can see the Senaatintori, the photo was taken in front of the famous all-white Tuomikirkko, there you can also see some flags. Can you find the Swedish one? :D Among the streets you see much more flags hanging from like every second building.

I have already had my first bad day here, already on the 7th June. The parents went for some wedding so for the day it was only the other au-pair, me, and around later afternoon the grandma arrived too, but the kis weren't too nice. The weather was bad so it was impossible to go out which made the boys too hyperactive and too bored inside, which made them 'bed', and they did chaos, the bigger had like 5 hysterias, they started threwing off all the stuff from my bed and throwing my things around and then the smaller one bit me, but very much, the spots of his teeth remained and bled and the spot on my thigh hurt all evening. Now it is the 11th and it still looks very ugly, but doesn't hurt. I was already very tired and the kids had to be looked after, it was exhausting, and then even my computer didn't want to work, that was already the top of everything. Then I went to the forest to calm down a bit but was it was raining and cold and getting 'night', it was incredibly full of mosquitos who just kept following me, so it was very unnice. But I am past this. :)

As I said, I live right next to a tiny river, I found the wikipedia page about it: http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tainionvirta

One of the days something totally cute happened.. during the night a new calf was born and he started walking, finding his way to the office of the stable and went to the computer - part of the new generation as you can see, and made some mess. But it's cute. Anyway, a picture of the newborn :) 

I haven't even showed the pictures I took from the bus while coming here, anteeeeksi! Yes, that IS a sign to warn about reindeer crossing. 

After the bad day of course more good, well, what can I say, awesome moments came as well. It was the 9th of June when I had some time to go walking to the forest - because yeah, this is rural Finland, a minute or two minutes of walk and you ARE in the forest. What can I say, it was a wonder. It was beautiful, energising, and everything. I went there listening to music, enjoying the sun on the clearings, enjoying the awesome smell, looking around, sometimes crying a bit from happiness. I was out for 60-80 minutes maybe, and as I came back I felt incredibly happy, being in perfect harmony, calmness, inner peace, reaching the nirvana or something. I cannot put into words what a wonderful feeling and emotion I had, really. Wow. 

Some pictures of that... Please be patient, the blog will be full of these... Now I just went for walkign so I didn't take my mirror reflex camera, just the phone so that can be seen on the quality of the pictures. I will go photographing there as well. I am glad I took my DSLR as well to here, because there is a lot to shoot.

2014. 6. 8.

I am so much behind with my blogposts! But I really would like to write detailedly at least about the beginning!

This is the direct continuation of my previous post, telling about 2014. 6. 5. 

So after some minutes of car ride we arrived to the farm, I immedietaly saw several buildings - there are truck storage, stable, some more farm buildings and the house. Then I met the children who were shy at first, met the father and the au pair who is still here for a couple of days. Because of that I have to sleep in another room temporarily but it is not a problem, even though it is pretty dangerous to my personal stuff. The kids are taught not to go to the aupairs room, but this is the workroom so of course they can come... I just should hide and pack everything and not get angry if they jump on and dirt my bed... It smelled a bit on farm but now on the 4th day I can't actually smell it anymore.

Anyway, they are really sweet and especially I am in love with the smile and the smiling eyes of the smaller one. 

A bit after arrival we went out with the boys, they took their bicycles and showed me around a bit and we instantly started playing. I managed to make them laugh and after that they weren't shy at all anymore, we played all kind of staff, tag, running, throwing stones, children are creative and can play with practically anything. Then soon it was time to eat for the boys, I arrived around 19.30 and that is not so far anymore from their sleeping time so there was not much left of the day... 

Then I thought I may have trouble sleeping because as I told you, it never really gets dark here in the summer and there is maximum twilight but around 1 a.m. or so I fell asleep and slept quite well.

The second day was very long and very full. I managed to go to the stable I went and checked out the cows and calves, there is a lot of them, they are very big, and they are sweet, how much they stare at me.

Then the same day it was saunaday and I was very happy. Er, it is true, Finns are much different about being naked, it was rather normal to get naked in front of people I have known for a day. There isn't a lake at the sauna but there is a river, the building - with a small kitchen like thing and the sauna is ~500 metres from the house, at the other side of the field. It was very nice, not too hot, rather calm, and I washed myself and my hair there, Finnish style. In this country there are plugholes/sinkers everywhere on the ground of bathroom and sauna so it's nice that you don't have to be suuuuper careful, it is so free.. like the life here. It really seems to be free. Stablework and fieldwork have to be always done, schedule is tight for that but there isn't hurry anywhere, there is no boss, the boys don't go to daycare (which is weird for me), they are generally very freely educated and I have to have patience to accept that. Hopefully I will become better at this, I am just afraid because the other au pair goes away in a few days. There are two boys, 3 and 5 years old and we are two aupairs for some days, so it can be divided, but I have no idea what I will do with them alone, if they want all different things and they both start crying / hysteria... 

So, this is the big Finnish reality. This is needed for peace. This stuff is all around and there you can see the road leading away from the farm. 

So just you know what I talk about when mentioning the darkness... This was shout around 1 a.m. yesterday 

My journey started at 15.57 in Komárom when I got on the train to Budapest, then took a metro, another one, and a bus, all the way to the airport, with a 20 kg suitcase being there all the time. At the airport we had lots of time and we discovered a praying room. It's nice there, silence, and calm and of course a guestbook full of international entries, Vicastuff. :)

Around 19:40 I said goodbye to mum and a relative who also came to us. 

After that I quickly went online from my laptop, posted the 'travelling to' status update to Facebook - because what isn't on Facebook, hasn't happened. Replied some friend messages and my laptop battery died... it is shitty beyond words. But anyway it was time to start moving to the boarding gate... I guess there I actually had to start realising what's happening with me... : 

The boarding went easily... the bus took us to the plane... a bus filled with Finnish people. Suddenly I got scared as fuck, usually I love to hear Finnish speech around me but this was a very sudden, scary change, haha. And almost everybody was blond and ALL.THE.GIRLS.LOOK.THE.SAME. :D

I had to take a picture at the airport, of course:

After boarding I quickly found my seat and found out I will be alone, there are 3 seats on each side and fortunately noone was sitting next to me, I was rather happy about that fact. :D I spent the journey by eating, drinking, listening to some music (it especially feels great right at the takeoff, my takeoff song was Insomnium's Weather the Storm), and talking to a Hungarian guy who I met at the airport and it turned out he also studies Finnish at the unviersity where I do and he also goes to Finland to work. Then we talked some with him, and we were already coming close to Helsinki. A part of the sky was still light orange-red-ish, it was just beautiful!

Around midnight the plane landed but there was some trouble so we were stuck in the plane. There was something with the ..bridge.. stairs.. what do I know... But after maybe 10 minutes we could go out and get into the terminal. I found my bag and went out and hoped there will be somebody waiting for me, and a friend who I met online some months ago, Petri, was luckily there and we left to his place. I could not believe my eyes, when around 1 a.m. I saw that in Helsinki it is not pitch black like it's at home already at 10-11 p.m., but the edge of the sky is pretty much light... And it was! Then by the time we arrived to his place, maybe roughly an hour later, it was lighter... It was getting light before it could get dark..! O_O Mindfcuk. Yep, that's Helsinki after midnight.

It was of course hard to sleep because of the new place and sunlight but I tried to gather some energy because the next day there was Helsinki and Suomenlinna sightseeing! The city is great (and expensive as hell, I am glad, relieved, thankful that I don't have to spend money in this country, because it's simply insane), I liked it very much, the weather was beautiful, sunshine, warm, I even got tanned a bit! 

Here is stuff from "Soomenlinna". Wild ducks are too mainstream, there are wild geese here instead, and a shitloaaad of lilac bushes, it smells godlike because of that. And yeah, that's me, with zero photogenity (is this a word in English or did I just mirror translate it to Finnish?) whatever. 

After this we went back to the city, walked a bit, ate at a Nepalese restaurant, it was quite nice, and then went for a 'sight-seeing for lazies', in a tram, and stopped by the club Nosturi I know from band DVDs, haha. 

Then we walked some more and went to the bar On The Rocks because there was an open mic night and Petri had a stand up show there. From the speech of the MC I understood very much, I laughed a lot, then I got a few jokes from the other performers... Some of them were quite bad and nobody laughed but others, including Petri told a good couple of nice stuff. 

We came out of On the Rocks around 23.00 and it was daylight outside, I still couldn't believe this... 

Then the next day we had to wake up early, I packed my stuff, we drank coffee and listened to metal, then we left to the bus station Kamppi, and I quickly bought some food for the travel. Here they have Lidl as well and fortunately there I found a liter of pear juice for a super shockingly surprisingly awesome 80 cents! In this country of super high prices this was a caress to my heart, but in some minutes I bought a cinamon bun for 2,30, a korvapuusti, so there went my happiness. And then quickly bought some postcards, and went on the bus.

The journey was three hours but it didn't really seem that much, I spent a lot of time listening to music, and basically just following the road and looking at Finnish nature was super beutiful in itself. When coming closer and closer, my last songs were all awesome. My mp3 is on shuffle mode, and this time it was very intelligent.. it knew...!! The first time a lake appeared in front of my eyes (you know, this is the lake territory), and when the road sign of Sysmä appeared, I was listening to Huuto by Moonsorrow, then came Ensiferum's Lai Lai Hei and then Korpiklaani's Midsummer Night, and all of these are important, memorieful (yes, new word) and very emotional songs for me! 

The bus was 7-15 minutes late but it arrived in Hartola on time where after an SMS the mother and I found each other. I am going to call her Emmi, it is not her real name, for not making stuff too public. Emmi drove me to their place, to the farm, ~2 km from Hartola. And this is already the subject of another post... :) 

12 hours and I land in Finland. Right now still at home, hoping that everything is packed, crossing out the last items on the list. There is a mixture of feelings inside me, I couldn't really describe what it is. I am not really afraid, I am not being sad that I will miss home, I am quite good at handling these... I have been to Germany for 2x5 months and it all went nicely, I was there with a scholarship and I lived in a dormitory and studied at a secondary school and I managed very nicely.
Even though this is now different - I don't really know where I will lay my head to rest tonight, I don't know what follows then and the day after. But then again, when I went to Germany I was 16-17, and now I am 20, supposed to be more mature, and much more used to being on my own - having been a university student living in a dorm in Budapest for two years... Still, I can't escape the travel stress... I am sure that it is not so much of travelling, of foreign lands, but having a 20 kg suitcase and a 6 kg hand luggage is causing more than enough stress... I can lift it up, I could handle it if it is needed, I remember coming home from Berlin with carrying like 35 kg in 4-5 seperate bags, by train, but still... So many things with me, sleeping in different places, train to Budapest, public transport to the airport, sleeping two nights in Helsinki, moving on by bus to Hartola... And from there, the family picks me up and I will hopefully have enough place to pack out my things, haha. Just then when I will have to pack everything back for going to Estonia, oh godz. And then going home. But I guess worrying 8 months ahead is not too wise so let's forget about that one.
But then I will check in the suitcase and until Helsinki I will have no problems with it, onboard I will have wifi access and my MP3 player stuffed with Finnish music, I will party onboard, and maybe even see stuff when already being in Finnish airs, not sure. Well, if I think about it, probably not. But I might see some Slovak Tatras and some Poland... I take off at 20:50 Hungarian time and arrive at 00:10 Finnish time - so yes, the travel isn't that long, it's just different time zones, shouldn't forget to set my clock...
Now having lunch, getting dressed, calling a taxi, meeting a relative in Komárom and travelling together by train... Showing the new Metro 4 and the Kelenföld subway to mum :)
Finland... Children, cows, nature, own room, responsibility, long nights, meeting friends... Hope the children will like me :O

A lengyelországi útról még nem firkantottam semmit, és jó lenne, ha mégiscsak maradna azért ennek is valami nyoma a blogban. Túlsok időm, kedvem nincs most firkálgatni, szóval megmutatok meg 20 képet, pár kommentárral. (Bár tudom, hogy így is hosszú lesz.)

Egy EU-s program keretében mentünk, ami a vállalkozásokról volt hivatott előadásokat adni nemzetközi fiataloknak, meg sportoltatni őket. 

Kedves finnes csoporttársam-barátnőm, Bori szervezésében vágtunk neki 8-an a hosszú útnak, kedves sofőrünkkel, Lacival. Hajnali 6-kor indultunk útnak, a koránkelés örömére meg is ittam egy teljes sört. Utána alig tudtam artikulálni.

Az út eleje gyorsnak tűnt, meglepődtem, milyen hamar átértünk Szlovákián IS, aztán Lengyelországban jött a végnélkülinek tűnő út, de végüls felkerültünk északra, Ostródába, Gdansk-tól nem messze.

Útközben volt lehetőségem integetni a jó öreg barátoknak, a Tátrának. Donovalyn ki is szálltunk egy kis alacsony-tátrai levegőt szívni. 

Mondhatni, hogy a kirándulás a sport és az előadások helyett a sportról és a kajálásról szólt. Az egész projektet az EU finanszírozta, így jó helyen háltunk, a Hotel Promenadaban. Csodás szobatársacskámmal, vezetéknévrokon Rékával: 

Kellett is az alvás, ugyanis az első nap rendesen megsportoltattak bennünket... Először az egyik Mazuri-tó körül rohangásztunk (büszke voltam magamra, nem sokaknak sikerült egyben lefutni a távot, én hősiesen körbefutottam), tornáztunk a homokos tóparton, elmentünk aquaparkba aztán meg az állami rendőr lövészpláyára éles fegyverekkel csimbummozni.

Igen, az ott tényleg egy éles AK-47. Bár ezzel sajnos nem lőttünk, de lőttem például Mossberggel, amivel csak én találtam célba, nagyon büszke voltam magamra, annak ellenére is, hogy valószínűleg mák volt.

Az aquaparkban úszkáltunk, jacuzziztunk és szaunáztunk! :) 

Az evést pedig főleg nem hanyagoltuk el, rengeteget zabáltunk az egész út alatt, és csupa-csupa jókat ettünk. Köszi EU! A verseny egyértelmű győztese a vidéki vendéglő, az az a Restauracja Kresowa. Bárkinek nagyon melegen ajánlom őket, ha erre járna!!! 

Természetesen azért megnéztük a várost is, meg csopiképeket is készítettünk.

Nagyon jó volt kicsit kiszakadni a mindennapokból és ilyen sok új dolgot csinálni, meg ugye Lengyelországban lenni :) Ott van Kasia is, szóval természetesen a hazafelé úton megejtett krakkónézésből ő sem maradhatott ki ♥ 

Na ez most ennyi volt. 

A képek a sofőrünk FB oldaláról lettek szedve, jól fotóz, jól vezet, rendeljétek megfele. https://www.facebook.com/Lacibusz?fref=ts 

I am going to Finland. I am going to be an au-pair. I am going to be an au-pair in Finland. I have to repeat it a couple of times so I maybe believe it. I got tired of not being able to win any scholarship at my university to this country so one night I just signed up to aupair-world.com and filled my profile in EN and FI. I browsed my families but didn't message any. The one who seemed the nicest and I totally wanted to message them messaged me the day after and we seemed to like each other enough. And here I am, with a plane ticket in my hand and I totally cannot believe and really understand this whole thing.

When I was 12-13 years old I was completely crazy about Finland. You know how it works with teenagers and fanatism, almost everybody becomes a fan of something or gets idols and so, it is a psychological thing and they need it. It won't surpise anybody, I got to know and fell in love with Finland because of Finnish metal. My first favourites were Lordi, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, then Korpiklaani and so on. I was a Finland freak and believed it was simply awesome, if there was a Church of Finland I would have joined. Then I graduated from the secondary school and got to university where I finally got to study the language. The years before I had been already learning some words and expressions and asking Finnish friends to help me, which of course gave me something, but not too much. And then there I was, doing the thing for which I would have given anything in my teens. And loving it, of course. Because the teenage fanatism didn't get lost just changed. I still abolutely love this language and enjoy studying it and love listening to it. I learnt about the country, its culture, its history and its literature and there is something lovely in it still. There is a lot to admire in how Finland works, and I am very ok with the 'It is ok to be alone. It is also ok to be silent.' mentality.

And now I am going there. It will not be the first time that I am far away from home, I live anyway in a dormitory in Budapest and only visit home sometimes just once in a month, but I have also been to Germany from my secondary school with a social scholarship for 10 months and I only visited home for Christmas. So I am quite used to travelling, being on my own, being alone and in a completely foreign place - and you know what? I enjoy it. I don't know what it feels like to be homesick. In Germany maybe I cried just once when I was visiting a friend and staying at her house for a week when I had holidays. They had a little son who wanted everybody to care about him and I got frustrated and also wanted somebody to finally care about me too, because noone had in the past months. But apart from that, I was very ok. So now I am also not afraid that, of distances, of travels and of so. I won't lie, I am a bit stressed about the responsibility that comes, I will be taking care of a 3 year old and a 5 year old lively little boy. If they will be with me for hours, then it will be totally my responsibility. I think of myself as a responsible person, but of course, this gives me some stress. And then, the language. I have studied Finnish already for two years and I can express myself on an OK level both written and spoken, just spoken communication goes slowly, and I am not too good at understanding. Finns are hard to understand, the colloquial language is coommpleetely different from what they write, trust me. On the class sometimes we deal with the colloquial forms, but it is not so much. If I really want the conversation to flow, I just switch to English. I don't know what I should be more thankful for, that the mother speaks English well and we will get understood or that the father speaks only Finnish and I will be forced to use the language. And the children... I believe they will laugh at me for expressing myself funnily and making mistakes. The first week will be surely tough :) 

And then, it will be a very sudden change, once I am at home, and suddenly I am at a new place. But I will have my own room, that is so cool. I feel that suddenly I will need to know so many things. What are children? What do they eat? How to get them tired? How to get them calm from a hysteria? Yeah, this last is a huge matter for me and a big question mark in my head.

Two weeks, two exams, and a long -long packing period yet to come. I need to pack for 9 months. After Finland there comes Estonia. Let's make it big. Avagy ha lúd, legyen kövér. Ez már obese lesz. 

Kedves blogolvasóim, egy döntéshozatalban szeretném a véleményeteket kikérni, ugyanis Ti, mint az olvasók vagytok azok, akiken a dolog főként múlik.

A kérdés a következőképp hangzik:

Gond lenne-e számodra, ha a blog finnországi és észtországi tartózkodásom történeteivel és mindenféle kapcsolódó dolgaival foglalkozó része angolul kerülne publikálásra?

A: Igen

B: Nem

Van sok magyarul nem tudó barátom is, ezenkívül a külföldi, aupaires, Erasmusos téma miatt sok (najó, egy pár esetleg) külföldi olvasót is előrelátok, akik szintén nem beszélnek magyarul. A legtöbb magyar barátom, ismerősöm pedig azért megérti az angol nyelvet. Bilinguális posztokra pedig sajnálnám az időt :D 

A 'szavazatokat' ide kommentbe, vagy a Facebookra várnám :) 

This is my own, poor translation of the Hungarian article, written by Gábor Balogh. Original article:

http://jobbegyenes.blog.hu/2014/05/11/szakallas_vicc_372

There are many parts with which I agree to a level I felt the need to translate it into English.