Week 3 and the Helsinki Zoo

Apple Crisp from the Apple Tree
 at our apartment

Tough this week to say good-bye to Pop Pop.  I hope when I am 70 to have his energy, his inquisitiveness and his willingness to explore new things.  We miss him.

Big developments this week revolved around the kids schedules.  Schedules for schools in Finland are not the same from day to day.  For example, Christopher has school from 8 to 1 on Tuesdays and from 9 to 2 on Wednesdays.  Most Finnish kids take public transportation once they start 1st grade (they also get cell phones then).  We're not ready for that yet.  

At the Zoo
riding the turtles

For Daniel this is no big deal since his school is a 10 to 12 minute walk from our apartment.  (This week he said "I think that I really like my school".  Not so for Gab and Christo who have to switch buses to get to their school.  Helsinki has a very nice and efficient (though not especially cheap) bus system.  So Steph has been taking them and staying until they were both in school then coming back for the first and waiting if the second finished later.  Not too conducive for productivity.  So this week Michael took over the morning drop and Steph found a matroned park (2 minutes from Gab and Christo's school).  The part is about 1.5 acres and includes the zip line in the pictures below.  We can drop the kids at 8 if they don't start till 9 and they can go there after school till Steph comes to pick them up.  Been a lifesaver for her productivity.  

Taking a break from
the Zoo with Suomenlinna
in the background

Reindeer

Still a rough week of dropping off Gab and Christo.  Gab is still ‘scared’ every morning though one morning there was no crying.  Christo had his week turnaround in gym class on Tuesday when he was the fastest kid in the 60m dash.  Since that class he seems to have plenty of boys interested in playing with him before and after school.  Overall, it is slowly getting better.

Snow Leopard

Saturday we took a trip to the Helsinki Zoo.  Really cool zoo on an island in the harbor.  Kids had a great time.  Weather was perfect.  In general the weather has been really nice the last two weeks.  We’ve still got 15 hours of daylight.    

Floorball tournament at Kamppi

Zip line in after school care playground

Nothing like a zip line to make after school care appealing!

Some Pictures from the First Two Weeks

Along the banks of the Neva River, St. Petersburg

Shopping for furs in Helsinki's Market Square

They even stand alike in the Suomenlinna (Finnish Castle) Sea Fortress

A nice dinner (pulled pork, salmon soup, pear cider) in Suomenlinna

Read for the Russkies 

Somewhere along that wall are three climbers

With PopPop at the King's Gate Suomenlinna

The BlackBird (Helsinki's version) an inside joke for Canton, NY folks 

The 'snailburger' in Porvoo, Finland

Porvoo is the 2nd oldest town in Finland founded in 1346

PopPop has found his place (in Porvoo)

Up a tree in Porvoo

Old town square in Porvoo

Gabriella in front of the Gabriel Restaurant which dates from 1763.

Waiting to use the WC in Porvoo

Amusement park and "Jarrumies"

One of the benefits of living here is easy access to big city things.  Yesterday we took advantage of a sunny day after 3 days of straight rain. We headed into Helsinki to the amusement park, Lannanmaki, after school.  There was hardly any people there so NO LINES!  Kids had the joy of saying "AGAIN" for each ride they loved and running to the entrance.  They particularly like the wooden roller coaster. It was built in the 50s and had brakemen, called "Jarrumies", to "control the speed".  Each ride felt a different depending on the actions of the Jarrumies.  

First day of school

Double rainbow on the first day of school.  Kids are slowly adjusting. They are in an English school.  Many speak Finnish as their primary language so they are adjusting to making friends.  Kids get bus pass and cell phone at start of school and go on the public bus system on their own. We are not there yet.  The three kids are all on different start/end times.   Gab and Christo have to take two buses.  Daniel can walk.  Lessons for Daniel for each subject are longer--two hours--with not every subject every day.  He has a different start/end time each day. Gab was sad this morning going in and a friend came and took her hand.  Made Mom tear up at the child's kindness.

Church of the Spilt Blood

 We loved St. Petersburg with its beautiful architecture.  This church was in the Orthodox style.  On the inside had incredible mosaics and marble.....And we liked the name. In honor of Alexander II who was assassinated in that spot where the church was built.

Ferry to St. Petersburg

The ferry ride with much better than anticipated.  The large boat helped with no sea sickness and kids loved the bunk beds and chess on the top deck.  Michael lost to a team of Daniel and "The Russian".

Ninjas head to Russian sauna

 The hotel in St. Petersburg had an amazing "sauna" which refers to saunas, pools, whirlpools, etc.  The kids particularly liked the "cold pool" which was 50 degrees, then running to the "hot pool".  There was also a "snow cave" with ice on walls and floor.  The kids felt right at home in the North Country environment, except maybe the bare feet.....

Waiting for the 109

On our way to st. Petersburg

St. Petersburg

Had a good trip on ferry overnight to St. Petersburg.  Went to Hermitage and saw an amazing collection of art.

Really?

So far we have been very impressed with the ease with which we have been transitioning into Finnish society. Until today...........Christopher was not allowed to swim in the public pool because he did not have a SPEEDO swimsuit.  No joke.

Preparation Musings

Thought I would mention my thoughts.  We are SO excited to be going on this journey. But I am not going to lie, these last weeks have been hard--leaving friends, tears, lack of sleep, stress, and WORK--packing the house, thinking about what we will need, etc etc.  As I told the kids, it was like the feeling when you are going up hill on a roller coaster, just before you go over the edge, and you think--I want to GET OFF.

Anyway, we are here and the drop was not too bad. We are settled in our place. We feel disoriented, but as sleep comes, things are getting better.  This is our sabbatical adventure with the WHOLE family--because in seven years from now for our next sabbatical, Daniel will be in college and others in high school.

I want to mention a few mundane statistics.  The kids and I went early to get them adjusted to the time before their English proficiency test on Thursday. Michael had an invited presentation at a conference this week so he is coming later. 

The kids and I checked 7 suitcases, each about 40 pounds--the amount I felt comfortable lifting.  We did not ship anything as they recommended just checking.  This included clothes for four of us, winter coats/boats/snowpants, etc AND some of the hockey equipment for the two boys. 

We also brought 7 carry-on bags--4 backpacks (with 3 laptops, 2 cameras, 1 ipad, etc), 1 American Girl doll with associated clothes in her carrying case, 1 trumpet (with piano books squirreled away, no piano), and 1 tube with fishing poles (reels removed and nestled with hockey equipment--watch out Finnish fish, here we come). 

Stupidly I took no pictures of this large pile of "necessities".

Sauna time

Had our first sauna in the apartment

Finnish geese and trams

Went to the beach and figured out buses/tram.

Our garden

With an apple tree!

Arrived!

In our living room.  Some of us are still suffering from jet lag. 

Some tears, some excitement, some grumpiness, lots of minecraft.

On plane to helsinki

On plane.  "Epic! We each have our own TV"

On to Helsinki

We have started this page anew as we are headed to Helsinki, Finland for the Autumn 2013. More to come