Back to the winter - taka talvi

When everyone thought the winter is gone, the end of March brings us some white surprise. They call it here "taka talvi". That means after some pre-spring days, warm and sunny snow-less weather, suddenly in March or even April comes snow again. And so this is what we experience right now. It is snowing from early morning today. Unfortunately it is slightly above zero, so the snow looks very wet and there is already this yucky snowy goo on the streets. But kids are happy. Me too. It's nice, for a change...

Snowy winter is back again!

What a lovely winter day! Piles of snow. White world. Finally! We spent half a day on our yard building an igloo. Hard work it was. I can feel my back and arms. Today is this perfect kind of snow, wet and sticky. It's about 1C above zero and no wind. Perfect condition for outdoor play. We came home all wet (but not inside, the good winter outdoor clothes stayed almost dry even after three hours of playing in wet snow) and exhausted, but with happy kids and ourselves too. This is what we have built. It still lacks the proper roof, but this is the hardest part, maybe later, or maybe there will come some other dedicated fathers with their hungry for snow-home kiddos and will cooperate with us. Hopefully the weather will stay like that and the temperatures will drop below zero.

The coldest March in 50 years

And it is not at all funny. Not, if you wake up in the morning on March 22nd and you check the temperature on your thermometer outside the window and you read -15C. Then you wear as warm as you can, take your kids to the metro station and you walk in this icy weather with an icy wind blowing in your face (the feeling is your face is going to fall apart) and you don't admire that snow anymore (you admired it for four months already, come on!)and you wonder if there are any possibilities that it would melt one day before the next winter comes... OMG, I guess I've never talked so much about weather as in this country. It is boring talking once again about how cold we have and how much snow there is around. It is maybe a sign of being desperate, a sign of longing so much for spring, a sign of panicking - what if it never comes!!!! Sun is already very strong. On our balcony we have a greenhouse. Today it was so warm that I sat there with both the kids, Wanda had her lunch there and she was only wearing her t-shirt. Quite a weird feeling. You sit there and it is really that warm and sunny, but you see the outside - full of snow and icy wind. Actually I have to take a picture. I should use my camera more often. Anyway, I am fed up of this winter. In one week we will have Easter. And once again, like last year - White Easter. Is it time to adjust or run away?

A ray of sun and... optimism

My bad mood is over. I hope so. Has anything changed since my last post? . Well, the days are longer, much longer all of a sudden. When we wake up around 7-7.30 in the morning it is light already. I mean - it is getting light, but it is changing from one day to the other, every day the day light comes earlier. And we have long bright afternoons. Yesterday I played with the kids outside almost up to 6 o'clock and around this time it started to be dark. And it's sunny. This makes a huge difference. I even had to take my sunglasses! Yoo-pee!!!! Spring is coming!!! Not so fast. It's actually mid-winter still with tons of snow, an igloo outside our house built among others by my husband, couple of "mountains" on our yard (around 3 meters high, made out of snow, cause normally there are no hills on the yard). But the birds are singing, they already know spring will finally come. And what's best we planned our spring vacations. We are going to Spain in April. It really makes me happy.

Still half empty...

I shouldn't complain. I know it. I really know it. Just recently there was in "The Economist" such an optimistic special report about the Nordic countries. They talked about their great economy, standard of living, opportunities, creativeness etc. They focused mostly on Denmark and Sweden, but there were also lots of praise to Finland. And I know it. And you know that I really know it, but... but is the winter going to end some day? Last night it was snowing again. White, white and cold. And it wouldn't be that bad if not for the fact that I have to commute every day to downtown to Wanda's school. The baby doesn't like it either. On a car he loses his patience and cries. And I can not do anything while being in a traffic and having him right behind my seat. He doesn't like the metro either. Yesterday he was crying there too, so I had to take him on my lap (fortunately one guy was so nice and he gave me his seat, so I could sit down). Anyway I was exhausted and so were the kids. Today I started to think about either finding a new apartment closer to downtown or to find another day care... The latter one is much harder, cause we really like that place. But to move isn't easy too. Money as always is the problem. Well, anyway, I will survive. I just have a bad day. It is snowing again. And I'm appreciating another cup of coffee (still half full though :)) while my baby is taking his nap...

Glass half empty...

Yes. This is how I see everything right now in the middle of the Finnish winter. Is this the weather or some hormonal changes after pregnancy or something else I don't know, but my mood is just like it is: moody, gloomy, sad. The weather is bad. It is white, snowy, now came new white snow again so it covered the old grey one, but I didn't see sun for days and I know that for the spring I have to wait another at least three months. And that's a lot. When you go to downtown you can see more and more drunkards on the streets. It's disgusting, awful. And of course there are plenty of them in our neighborhood too, especially around metro station. Yesterday while being on a tram with my two kids there were three especially disgusting drunk bums. But I was surprised that no one on the tram said something although one of them almost puked on one young man. I would say something if I only could speak Finnish and I'm sure on a Polish tram people would react with a disgust to such a situation. In Finland they seem to be too discreet. And so such moments make me think over my all love to this country. I always saw glass half full from the very beginning. I appreciate everything what I get and experience here. But somehow recently I encountered couple of situations that made me ask myself: is this the place I want to live longer? I mean - longer that those five years as planned (and already 3 and a half are left). Those harsh and long dark winters, those bums everywhere (but really everywhere! like in the worst corner of a Central Railway Station in Warsaw years ago). But on the other hand every place have its pros and cons and probably after some time of living in one place you just start to encounter also the dark sides of the country. Well, I hope you have some better mood today and my gloomy post won't make you feel bad.

2013 - doesn't this look like a date from a sci-fi movie?

Time flies. Especially in December. Especially if you have to prepare Christmas, take care of your sick child and be a host for your family. So that was that. My daughter got very sick on December 15th, so she didn't go to the kindergarten for the whole pre-Xmas week. High fever, watching cartoons, reading books, taking care of a baby and trying to keep him away from the sick sister - impossible of course, so mostly praying for not catching the bug. And in a meantime (if there is any) doing some cooking and baking and shopping. It was quite a hard and chaotic week and I was worrying so much about Wanda. She was so weak, exhausted from the fever and she got an antibiotics, she lost appetite. You know - a really sick child. And she almost never gets sick. Last winter maybe twice she had some cold and nothing else. And than came the family. It was nice, but well... noisy. The kids got wild, adults got nervous, the baby couldn't sleep at all because of the chaos and noise. Everyone was coughing and so the baby started too. And so after everyone left we landed up by a doctor with our both kids. Wanda - ear infection equals antibiotics again and Tomaszek just this coughing and some syrup as a medicine. And so the days past up to the New Year's Eve. At home of course. Tired as hell. With a great glass of champagne. Today we finally came to our old rutine: Wanda's first day in her daycare, my husband at work. Me and the baby at home. And finally I have some time for myself. To sit with a coffee, to write some emails and this short note here. Oh, and I'm so sick of the winter!!!! Up to Christmas it was beautiful - white, the snow was so fresh and shiny. But then came the thaw and after that some frost again and so it's grey, the snow is dirty and icy, no sun at all. Gloomy time. I feel I need to go somewhere, at best without the kids. I need sun and vacation! And I know it is not possible in the nearest future.