Pääsiänen

Well today is the last official day of Easter break. It's been a really nice break.. On Friday I went with my host family to their summer cottage. There was still snow, but it was warm enough (thanks to a little sunshine) to sit outside. I relaxed, enjoyed the sun, and read. It was so peaceful. Their summer cottage is situated on a really beautiful river. I'm going to put in a couple of pictures I took of the river in here somewhere. We ate lunch together (a really good lunch too)... Baked potatoes, veggies, and fish and shrimp sauces.. Then we had some sort of mousse/almond thing for dessert. I forget it's name, but it's Russian and typical during Easter. We headed home shortly after, and in the evening I went and saw Alice in Wonderland for the second time. I really liked it better the first time I saw it... I don't know why.

Then Sunday (yesterday) was Easter. Relatives came over, and we had a big lunch together. We had lamb, potatoes, salad, bread, and then mämmi for dessert. I'm including a picture of mämmi.. It's not my own though, I found it off the internet... But it looks just like that. It looks quite unapetizing, but it's not that bad with sugar and cream on top. Everyone told me that if I like ruisleipä (Finnish rye bread), which I so happen to love, then I would possibly like mämmi. It definitely wasn't as bad as everyone made it sound.. Even though it looks quite discusting. Anyway... Then a while later we hid Easter eggs, ate some chocolate cake, looked at old photos, and watched Finland's X-Factor. It was a nice Easter.

Today we went to the summer cottage again.. Just relaxed (that's me sitting by the river on the left) and read.. And had yummy salmon for lunch :) I really love the summer cottage. Such a nice escape from the city.. The quietness is really relaxing. It was nice too, because a lot of the ice had melted away from the river.. Spring is definitely coming. I thought it would never come!

Ooh.. On Thursday night I went and visited my second host family. I went to sauna, then we ate iltapala (evening snack) together. Bread, salad, fruits, karjalanpiirakat (yum!), and tea. It was really nice.. We just sat, watched tv together, and talked. They're so nice.

I think I've been having a minor headache lately from all the Finnish I've been hearing... Haha it's true that the language headaches really never do go away... It is quite draining though. Hearing a language that's not your own basically all the time, and trying your hardest to pay attention and learn. I'm so glad though that I can understand it now.. It's funny to think about when I first came to Finland, and Finnish sounded like the craziest thing ever. I've really learned a lot in eight months.

Well, I'll end this with one final picture.. I was really fascinated with this dead flower bush type of thing at my host family's summer cottage.

Moikka!