Friends, Food And Fun

We really had a great time in Finland. One of the high points was that I actually spent the first night away from Fräulein since she was born!

"She was almost two years old!" I hear you saying. Yes, that's true. But we really had had neither the chance nor the need to do this earlier. 

But now I had a great reason to leave Fräulein with my mother for two days. I was going to meet my friends from the university after a very long time. Yay!

On Saturday morning, I left Fräulein sleeping and took a bus to Helsinki. For the first 15 minutes of the bus ride I felt a bit funny, but after that I was so distracted by the other passengers and looking forward to meeting my friends, that I did not worry about Fräulein at all.

In Helsinki, we ate chocolate for lunch at Chjoko. It was a nice brunch, but having eaten breakfast five hours earlier, I might had been a good idea to eat something 'real' before all the sweet things...

Afterwards, we checked into our hotel suite and, well, what do six ladies in their thirties normally do when they see each other after a long time? :)

We enjoyed dinner at Farang. Now I know the difference between a restaurant and a good restaurant! The food was marvelous and the waiters (which were many!) were genuinely nice and helpful. It was just the perfect way to eat great food and to spend time with a group of friends. Unfortunately I don't have any photos to show you - I was too concentrated in enjoying the company and the food to take any.

Before heading back to our suite, we had some drinks at the lobby bar. But as most of us are mothers of small children, the night ended already at midnight (although there might have been some gossiping talking going on after the lights went out...).

But how about Fräulein? I only sent one SMS to ask how everything was going and apparently she hadn't asked about her mum even once! After some consideration, I decided that was a good thing. Fräulein and her grandmother had spent a lot of time outdoors. And the best part: they had baked buns!

On Sunday morning, I had breakfast with my friends at the hotel and then we all went to our separate ways. I had such a long bus ride back to Western Finland (not to mention the fact that the bus broke down and we had to wait for a replacement), that Fräulein had already waken up from her nap when I got back there. We were both overjoyed at our reunion and she very proudly presented the buns she had baked!

These are the buns Fräulein had baked especially for me and Herr Welle.
Unfortunately there is no cue in this photo to tell you how HUGE they were!

All in all, what a nice weekend for both of us!

*****

Suomi-lomamme aikana vietin ensimmäistä kertaa yön poissa Fräuleinin luota. Tapasin opiskelukavereitani Helsingissä. Kävimme syömässä suklaabrunssin Chjokossa ja illallista Farangissa - molempia voin suositella tämäntyyppisten treffien ohjelmaksi! Pienten lasten äiteinä päädyimme aika ajoissa unille, mutta hyvin saimme juoruttua päivitettyä kuulumisemme.

Samaan aikaan Fräulein nautti äitini täydestä huomiosta. Tyttö ei ollut yhtään kysellyt perääni, enkä ihmettele, sillä Hammu oli keksinyt kaikkea mukavaa puuhaa, kuten pullien leipomista. Sunnuntaina jälleennäkemisemme oli riemukas ja Fräulein esitteli leipomuksiaan ylpeänä. Mahtava viikonloppu molemmilla!

Keeping Busy

Where does the time go?

I have managed to write only one post this week. I have several posts in progress, but don't seem to have time to finish them...

Today was an extra busy day for us.
First, we had a play date with two other Finnish girls and their mums.
How nice to have some really great Finnish people here close by!

Then a friend come over for a cup of coffee.
How nice that you can meet great people through blogging!

In the afternoon, we went to visit Fräulein's new Tagesmutter (nanny).
How nice to have found such a sweet lady to take care of our daughter!
(Yes, this is the topic of one of the posts in progress.)

And in the evening, I had a German lesson.
How nice... uh... to spend your Friday night learning German?


A couple of months ago, I would have been exhausted to have even two set appointment in a week. And today I had four. Four! And I enjoyed every minute of it (well, almost...)!

I guess it has something to do with the weather.

Weather this afternoon

Encounters of an Expat Hausfrau

It is not easy to move to a new place and create new social networks. I have had to do this a couple of times. First, I moved to study in the capital of Finland, several hundreds of kilometers away from home. Then, few years after graduation, I moved again, this time together with Herr Welle.

But what usually makes it easier to adjust, are the groups you automatically fall in to. Like when you start the studies at the university in your twenties, there are a lot of similar people in similar situation. Not to mention all the partying... And when you move to work in another town, you meet all these new faces through your new job. I have been lucky to make some great friends during my studies and in my jobs!

But the start here in Wiesbaden hasn't been all that easy. First of all, there is the language problem. My Deutsch is not strong enough to just casually start chatting with someone. Secondly, there is the problem of being a Hausfrau. Fräulein was born about a month after we moved to Germany, so the first six months went by in a haze and without many contacts with the outside world.

Thankfully, I met the family of Herr Welle's colleague. They are also Finnish and their daughter is 10 months older than Fräulein. Through them, we also found the Finnish church in Frankfurt, which has some activities for families with small children. Last spring, we joined their music group and have been able to spend time with other Finnish families.

In the playroom of the Finnish church,
Fräulein has found some new toys and friends 

Although it is great to meet another Finns, it has bothered me that, due to my poor German, I'm not really able to connect with the locals. When we went to baby swimming, I spoke with the other mums in English. It was great to be able to do that, but quite often the general discussion turned into German and I was not able to follow.

But now I have reached some sort of turning point. Yesterday, Fräulein and I took part in a German playgroup! An hour and a half passed, and I didn't ask anyone 'Sprechen Sie Englisch?'. Although I might not have been very chatty, I managed to follow the conversations and even answer some questions in German. Yay!

I was quite exhausted afterwards and I do admit that my German was faaaaar from perfect, but it was a start. I do believe that it will get easier with some practice. Although I'm not sure what I am going to say there next Monday, as I have already used all the phrases I know in German: "Sie heißt XXX", "Sie ist fünfzehn Monate alt", "Wir kommen aus Finnland"...