Portland>Finland

I am back in Finland, and hopefully back to regular blogging from now on as well. I am sorry for the lack of writing recently. Let's just say, that I'm not your regular woman who can handle multitasking just like that. 

I arrived to Finland on Thursday... Well, Thursday or Friday. I landed around Midnight and I can't remember whether it was before or after. Anyways, I was 6-7 hours late, yay for that, and as I was landing, I did not feel any kind of fondness toward my homeland. The roads were white... And the snow blizzard hit the southern coast conveniently at the time of my arrival. What a welcome party for me, a person who hates winter -.-

Rocky Mountains!

The blizzard wasn't the reason I was late, though. Due to my flight schedule change from a non-stop flight from PDX to Amsterdam to PDX-Minneapolis-Amsterdam, I already had a longer return time, BUT, as it turned out, I was about to be traveling a bit longer still... To make a long story short, I got stuck in Minneapolis for 3 extra hours, because there was something wrong with our plane. They had another plane for us, and during the preparation of that one, Delta Airlines gave 50-dollar vouchers to all the passengers on that flight. I spent mine on a duty-free store, and headed for the purses (d'oh). All the handbags were a little out of my price range, but I did get myself something nice ;)

Guess -wallet, $45,00 from some duty-free store at Minneapolis/St.Paul Airport. Note the strap that comes off -this one will also work as a purse at parties :)) I love it!! Thanks, Delta! It pays off to be delayed ;)

So we finally took off from Minneapolis, and headed to Amsterdam. The flight time was an hour shorter than announced before, so I still had a slight chance of making it to my connection flight from Amsterdam to Helsinki. I landed at 1.05pm and the connection was at 1.55pm. I didn't make it :( I was at the gate at 1.30pm, but they wouldn't let me board, because my luggage was sure not to make it to the flight, and I wasn't allowed to fly without it. So they rebooked me, and I had another 6 hours to wait at Schiphol Airport... Oh happy days. Jet lagged, and all. I got a 10-euro food voucher, a phone call voucher and a 50euro discount from my next flight, that's valid for two years.. So yeah, I wasn't too pissed ;)

Minneapolis!

So... now my trip's over :( I cannot even describe how amazing these last three months have been. I truly lucked out with my job, host family and I made a lot of incredible new friends. I had a blast. Non-stop. I'm so so so very happy that I went. Thank you, Portland <3

I'm here, but not quite here yet, if you know what I mean. My head's still a mess, and I get tired at weird hours. I'm trying to convert prices into euros, even though they're already euros, and when I want to call somebody, I try to figure out the time, even though we're in the same time zone now. Leaving Portland was hard, I cried more than once. Now I'm sort of in denial about it; I refuse to let myself think about it. I'm here, but I don't wanna acknowledge that fact. I start thinking about Portland, and I feel like I could catch a bus and a MAX downtown anytime, and remembering that I can't do that right now, is too much. I'm still more in Portland than I am here.

Slowly getting on my feet... I'll get back to you :)

-i

Keeping it real, weird and weirder.

I believe I'm not the only one who thinks it's so friggin' unfair how time flies when you're having a good time.

I have only 3 more weeks left until I have to return to Finland. 

My time here in Portland has been amazing. I've got a ton of new friends, new experiences, new perspectives, new memories... I believed from the very beginning this would be an experience of a life time, but never did I think this whole thing would have such a huge effect on me. I knew I would come back to Finland so much richer than what I was when I left, but there's something I didn't expect.

I didn't expect to find myself in Portland. 

In Portland you can be whatever and whoever you want to be, and no one will say s**t about it. Be a hipster, be a hippie, be a nerd, a jerk, an artist, weirdo... You'll fit in. You have to be very, very strange to stand out here, and it's only uncool if you try too much to be something you're truly not.

To Thine Own Self Be True. 

I will be facing a big challenge in Finland. Trying to maintain my personality the way it really is, and not falling back into my old ways, when I was the quiet one in the crowd, afraid of big changes and afraid to stand out too much. That's NOT ME! If you ever see me starting to follow my old patterns, feel free to give me a good ol' slap in the face. 

"People are gonna tell you who you are your whole life. You just gotta punch back and say: 'No, this is who I am'. You want people looking at you differently, make them." 

- A quote from "Once Upon A Time".

I want to be me from now on. 

Keeping Portland Weird while I'm here,

-i

<3

We howled at the moon hoping no one would howl back

One of my best friends visited me last night. We wanted to watch a scary movie, and landed on Scream. I know... not exactly a scary one unless you're twelve, but still. After the movie we went swimming. It was already midnight, and now that it's starting to get dark at night again, we were kinda jumpy. But it was perfect!

Last night no one else had thought of a night swim, so it was just the two of us. We walked at the end of the pier. It was silent and peaceful, and not completely dark because of the beautiful moon! But dark enough for us to be a little scared of being butchered by a psycho hiding in the woods. 

I hadn't gone swimming yet this year. The last time was last summer in Ocean City, MD. I had to try the water first with my toes, but that's all I did before me and my friend took each other's hands and jumped right in, with our clothes on. 

Hands down, one of the best nights this summer so far. With all its simplicity, we had a great time :)

Today another good friend of mine is coming over for a movie marathon. 

Or, to be more exact, scary movie marathon. 

No late night swims tonight! 

xxo

....yet another one ! :)

As if Facebook, Twitter and Blogger aren't enough... I've found a new love in my life. 

Instagram.

You can find me under the username iiris89. So far I've got 5 followers, feel free to join them! :)

Snapped this shot today:

With the rainy weather in Finland lately, rainbows are almost an everyday occurrence. Beautiful, don't you think? <3

total eclipse of the heart

Heyy :) Been MIA for a couple of days, sorry. I'm back! 

There's this annual music festival in my hometown that takes place in July. It lasts for four days and this year was my third time. I never go for more than one day, and usually it's the last day, when there's an international star performing. Mainly the performers are Finnish. Two years ago the international star was Boney M, last year The Village People (ahahah, so much fun!) and this year it was Bonnie Tyler!

We had a blast! 

An Instagram shot of my party-look

Suvi Teräsniska

Tuure Kilpeläinen

Bonnie!

Hope you all had a nice weekend :)

The day when the thunder storm didn't come

My day off was supposed to be rainy and stormy. 

Everyone's kinda pissed, because the promised thunder storm never came. It might storm later at night, but still. Finns are crazy, we look forward to a good storm. 

Well, it was promising for a while, hot and humid. +28°C/82°F. 

We decided to go to the harbor. 

I love the old fashioned lemonade bottles!

The harbor is my favorite place in my hometown. It's very beautiful. I don't live in the coast, but Finland's filled with lakes. 

Tomorrow I have to go to work for a little while, and then I have two more days off. Life's tough :)

Btw, I ended up on Twitter! Ask for my username if you're interested :)

just like any other midsummer

This weekend was filled with friends, love, safeguarding our hearts and way more. 

I even ended up on the news this weekend. It was a quick shot, and I didn't even realize I was there, until my friends started asking why I hadn't waved to the camera. I then went online to watch the news again and I found myself. I was even lame enough to capture the image for you to see :)

My brother's the one standing in the middle wearing a grey suit. He's looking at our mother (in red and black), and I'm next to her on a white shirt. yay!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend :)  

Back to the Boat Rocks

Heidi and I grew up next door to each other and after all these years, after moving away from home, after moving to different cities, we're still friends. Today we decided to go check out some places, where we spent most of our childhood. 

We decided that if we ever have kids, they're going to have to play outside like we did, instead of spending all their time at the computer. 

What's a picnic without treats? :)

You can see why they're called boat rocks :)

S is for SUMMER

It's here. It's been here for a while now. And I love it. Well, parts of it :) I don't love the heat, which is actually a good thing, because here in Finland we rarely get hot weather (the last couple of summers are an exception). I'm hoping this summer will be mild. 70 and sunny would make me happy. 

Today I had a day off. Bliss. In the evening I went to the movies with a few friends. 

The movie was weird to say the very least... I'm not completely sure if it was worth to pay for. 

Time to bring out the summer dresses!

Strawberry milkshake <3

I love it when it's light outside at 11pm

Have a happy summer of 2012 :) 

-I

P.S Pictures of the graduation cakes coming up soon! I was stupid enough to forget my own camera at home, so now I have to wait until I get my hands on my mother's cam. 

P is for PEANUT BUTTER

When I was still at school, studying to become a baker, we had an English-day. We were only allowed to speak English and our teacher handed out recipes in English. Mostly American style. Brownies, cupcakes etc. Me and my partner picked up the recipe of Peanut butter Brownies. 

This is how they turned out. Yummy!!

I haven't actually met that many Finnish people who like peanut butter. But, as it turned out, my teacher did. I had the mixing bowl in my hand, and I was about to take it with the other dishes, but then I asked my teacher if she wanted to scrape some peanut butter batter with me before I washed it. She grabbed a spoon and joined me. Then she told me she had once tasted some peanut butter chocolate thing, "it was in an orange wrapper, Reese's something", she said. "REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS!" I laughed. Then I told her they sell them here in Finland, too. I made her day. Yay! We had so much fun. Yes, you can have fun with your teachers, they're surprisingly cool people. 

I had my very first peanut butter & jelly sandwich four years ago, and a couple of weeks ago I had my first in four years. I like them, but I've just never gotten around to buying peanut butter and jelly. Or bread, for that matter. Now I have a Peter Pan -jar of peanut butter in my kitchen. When I didn't feel like having a sandwich, I dipped a piece of chocolate in it. Ah! 

Ok, I realize I have babbled on about peanut butter wayyyyy too long, and it's kinda lame. Or not. Peanut butter's gooooood. I should bake something out of it...

American Weekend

Four years ago I was an Au Pair in America and I met another Finnish Au Pair, living not too far away from me. We've stayed in touch ever since, but this weekend was the first time we met in Finland. We hadn't seen each other in four years, so when she came, we could not shut up.

Mostly we talked about America and traveling in general. Those are things that we both share a passion for. Also, Au Pairs -former and present- do have a certain connection amongst each other. We always find things to talk about and can offer support in a way others can't. And, we're pretty much the only people in the world who know what an LCC is. 

So, this weekend was all about catching up and having a good time. And we did :) When she arrived, Maarit brought me American Pancake Mix and Maple Syrup. After talking non-stop until midnight we went to bed and got off early on Saturday to go shopping in Helsinki. We carried out the America-theme throughout the day, and the first stop was the airport. No, we did not catch the first flight to the States, although we would have wanted to. We went to get Starbucks. The first Starbucks in Finland opened last Tuesday! STOKED!

The first time our names were spelled correctly :P

The cheesecake was to die for... *drooling*

After Starbucks it was shopping time! We headed downtown and got some nice stuff; Maarit for her upcoming trip to Africa and me for... you know, being stuck in Finland until September.

Chico's - All American Bistro. Lunc time ;)

M

I

Needless to say we had a great time :) It's always great to meet up with friends you haven't seen in a while, and talk about stuff that others don't really get... I've shared my Au Pair-experiences with friends and family, and they've been great about it (and I will share it with you one day), but unless you're an Au Pair yourself, it can be hard to relate. Sorry. Any other nannies there behind the screen? :)

Before Maarit went back home, we had an American breakfast. 

Almost like IHOP, I swear ;)

xxo

seasons change

This is a great time of the year. When spring turns into summer. The trees now have leaves (well, most of them), and everything's turning into a beautiful color of green instead of gray. 

We took my friend's dog for a walk today. Of course I left my brand new camera at home, so I took these pictures with my phone. My bad. 

Finland isn't such a sucky place right now :) 

almost but not quite

I've never really liked spring... it's nice when it gets lighter and warmer, but it's pretty darn ugly outside. The remaining snow piles are brown with dirt and the grass is this weird brownish color with a hint of green. The trees are leafless and... you know, spring is just a lame pre show for what's coming. 

But today was a good day. It was the first warm day (only about +15°C/+59°F), I went for a walk with a few of my friends (left the coat home, yay!), we bought ice cream and had a good time. Summer is coming. A bit slowly, but I'll wait. 

Happy Spring Everyone! May it be less ugly than mine. 

P.S. Don't forget to vote on your favorite B&J's flavor! 

The Land of the Midnight Sun

Spring is coming! Even this up north :) We now have 12 hours and 15 minutes of day light and it keeps getting lighter for the next 3 months. By then the sun will rise around 3.40am and set around 11pm. Even after the sunset it won't get dark. 

There's something magical about the summers here. It's such a short period of time and everyone enjoys every last bit of it. We're full of energy, even though the constant light messes up with our sleep (yay for sleeping masks!)

I was looking at some old photos from ten years ago, and realized how much I miss the summer times when I still had summer vacations, when I only had to worry about going back to school in the fall. Summers were our best time. We ran around the neighborhood with other kids and came back home (reluctantly) only when we absolutely had to (when mom was yelling that it was time to come inside). When I was little, it was hard to understand why we had to go to bed when the sun was still up.

After looking at the old photos I promised myself I would visit my favorite childhood places this coming summer. I will make a day (or a week) of it and make sure I have my camera with me. A post will follow :)

xxo 

fab

Hellooooo!

I am back in Finland, back to work and back to school, back to my busy schedule that after a 2,5 week vacation feels like serving a death sentence. I won't be having a day off in at least another two weeks. Oh and my feet are killing me! I have an infection on my left foot and am currently on antibiotics. What a nice way to start this fall, in deed. 

But I DID enjoy my vacation so very much, it will carry me through all this ;) And I know I promised to give you a detailed description of my trip, but I think one picture says more than one thousand words. So here are several thousand words:

                                             Our welcoming cake!

                                           Niagara Falls

                                           Cape Cod Light

                                           NYC

                                           Ocean City, MD

                                           Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

                                           At least we came home with style... business class ;) and yes, that's champagne

Enjoy ;)