An international flavour

Nice to see someone on the right side of the fence this week

And so it begins, the month or so of travelling, well travelling further than Estonia, which I visit regularly. Last week was a trip to Finland, a country I have never visited before. I went to the airport and got chatting with a guy I met. Over lunch we talked about our week, of village life and alpacas and then we went our separate ways. Oh wait a minute! That was my husband. You may remember that last week was our 35th Wedding Anniversary and he was in the UK visiting grandkids and doing an alpaca course. We met for an hour and a half before he had to go to put the alpacas away and I had to go through security to catch a plane to Helsinki. I was a little late arriving at the airport because I was trying to do some last minute jobs but at least we did get to spend some time together.

I gather it has been wet while I've been away

Veronica looking sprightly

I arrived in Helsinki with the instructions to get the train to the main train station and then my friend and her daughter would meet me there. I had made some attempt to find out what to do but in the busyness didn't really sort it out properly in my head. Normally that would be a recipe for disaster but I figured that by now I would be able to work the system out, I've travelled about enough in European countries. There was a lady by one of those "Welcome to Helsinki" signs and I stopped to ask her how to get a ticket for the train. She directed me to where I needed to go and told me the machines would be on the platform with guards in bright vests to help. She finished with a very cheery, "Welcome to Finland." Sure enough, the guard was down there and helped me to purchase the correct ticket and directed me onto the train, that just happened to be pulling into the station. Sorted! I was on the train on the way to Helsinki centre and for the first time in a week, I felt relatively relaxed.

I posted this picture last week of the pond filling up. It has
been so low over summer and finally the water was up to
the cattail rushes

Now let's play spot the rushes. The pond is now oeverflowing.
In fact all three ponds are overflowing, including the middle
one that doesn't hold water that much at all

Who are you looking at?

My friend, who is Indian, sent me some vague details about waiting inside the train station for her, which puzzled me until I got there and I found that it wasn't a huge place, even for a capital city. It was interesting doing some people watching while I waited. Helsinki has an integrated transport system that reminded me of our time in Copenhagen and so it was fairly easy to understand. Even easier was the fact that the signs were also in Swedish, which I can just about read, as well as Finnish obviously, which I can't read more than a few words of and only if they resembled the very few Estonian words I know. So after a short trip on the Metro we arrived at her apartment and my place to stay for the night. It was only a short stay but I was well looked after and my friend made sure I caught the right bus in the morning to the institute where I would be doing a presentation.

I wonder if it is going to be hard to tell these two apart?

A golden leaf shower

I was a bit worried about the presentation because of the lack of time I had. I had hoped to have my talk more worked out, but it went okay. It also worked well with the Dutch team who were from a project working on a similar theme to ours and so we had decided to collaborate with them on the workshop. I was very pleased with the response that our project leader had to to my presentation though. She told me that she was happy because she knew what a steep learning curve it had been for me, especially after joining the project late and she felt I had really "got it." I can't do much better than that, so I was happy enough.

A golden view

It has been windy today and so many of the leaves are now
on the floor

After lunch in the canteen, it was time to catch the bus up north. Again it was easy to book... twice! I somehow managed to click on the wrong time but fortunately the costs weren't astronomical even for a nearly three hour bus journey booked on the day. That's the way it should be! So my next stop was Mikkeli, the regional capital for Eastern Finland. Most of what I saw of Finland was from the bus and my impression was of a lot of forest, which was glorious golden colours interspersed with the deep green of spruce and pine. The towns were mainly modernist steel and glass buildings but wooden buildings in the countryside.

Did I say it had been wet?

Our well has filled up very rapidly and is a bit murky. The
moles have been digging tunnels nearby and so instead of
filtering through the soil, the water has been running
through the mole drainage system

I was meant to be meeting up with the Senior Education Officer on the Thursday morning but he had go to a seminar in the very north of the country and so changed the time of the meeting to the evening. We met in the city centre, which was only a five minute walk away from the bus station and we chatted over a cup of tea... and chatted.... and chatted. We both worry about the closure of rural schools. I from the community impact and he from the impact on children who have to spend such a long time on the bus to get to school. We decided there is definitely a need for more research on the topic. I think there is a problem when there is an EU policy that is working towards encouraging more young farmers and then a national policy of closing down schools before the young farmers get established. They need resources for their families too for them to thrive.

Looking through the shed

So embarassing! No peace when you are trying to use
the toilet

I have a friend who lives about 40km away from Mikkeli but he knew people in the town, so he organised for me to stay at the home of a young couple. I did get chance to see my Belgium/Italian friend briefly and he and his Finnish wife took me to buy socks in the centre as all mine were getting holes in them - not good in cultures where you take your shoes off at the door. Anyway my hosts didn't have a car and it was getting late after the meeting, so the guy who I was chatting with ordered me a taxi. That 8 minute drive cost me more than the three hour bus ride. Oh well! Such is life! At least it got me there and that was the main point. I was immediately made very welcome by my Russian host and found much to chat about. You may find a theme here! It seems that much of my week was spent chatting.

Mr. P. delicately nibbling on his leg

A restful place to be

With my meeting already over, it meant a relatively free day. Both of my hosts were working although the Finnish wife worked more in the evening and so she cooked me lunch. It was a bit of a damp day and so it didn't seem to be too bad to just be able to get on and work. In fact it was nice to be able to just concentrate on the work itself and not wonder what other chores I should be doing. It was nice not to have to cook for myself either and I was well fed the whole week by all my hosts. It was a delight to be able to stay in the home of a young couple who are working out their faith and thinking hard about what that means. We finished our conversation with the conclusion that the most important part was love and wisdom, and most important of course is love. Not a bad way to finish really.

You can see where the boys have been eating. It would be
good to get them onto the green grass, but they are already
fat, or at least some of them are.

The leafy lanes of Mikkeli suburbs

The next morning I booked to go back to Helsinki on the bus. I decided I wouldn't take the taxi but walk. My hosts had gone to work and I sauntered around the leafy lanes and by the lake. As I was taking pictures of the lake I got a message from my Belgium/Italian friend that my host was trying to get in touch with me, but Messenger wasn't working so well on my phone. He said he would come and pick me up from the house, but I told him I had already left, so he and his friend came and picked me up from the side of the lake instead. It turned out well, firstly because it was beginning to drizzle a bit and secondly the leafy walk was at an end and the rest of the walk would have been more boring. My host apologised and said he didn't know if his friend was able to help or not and that's why he hadn't mentioned it. As he left he told me the Finnish name for restaurant/coffee shop and indicated where they were and wished me well.

Leaves in the lake

Another view of the lake

I was met off the bus by a Finnish friend who had time for a cup of coffee and we talked about theology and environmentalism. It wasn't long as he didn't have much time, but then again, neither did I. I was heading towards the workplace of a Latvian friend of mine, who has stayed in our apartment a couple of times and now lives just outside of Helsinki. I got near the workplace a little early but found a rather nice bakery and so stopped for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. My friend turned up and we went to find her family and set off to the leafy outskirts of Helsinki.

Well something is of interest

A forest garden

My friend has been in Helsinki for a couple of years now but she and her husband have only just bought the house. It is a cosy little place that has a forest for a back garden. Such an amazing place for children to play. My friend and her husband still have their Latvian accents but her children, especially her little daughter, are fluent in English with an international accent and a just a twang of American.  The little girl read her school book to me, it was funny hearing stories of Kipper and the magic key again, as this was something my own children read at school.

That is an amazing ants' nest

The lake near my friend's house

We had a lazy Saturday, waking up late - well late for me anyway - a leisurely breakfast and of course lots of chatting, a walk around the lake - because there are lots of lakes in Finland, and a film night. I felt so relaxed it was a wonderful way to finish off my time in Finland. The next morning was an early start and I woke at 4:30 and decided it wasn't worth going back to sleep for 20 minutes. My Latvian friend drove me to the ferry terminal and hugged me goodbye. It was so much easier catching the ferry than going to the airport. In Riga I had to queue for 3/4 hour to get through security, at the ferry terminal it was just a matter of pulling up the email with the QR code, scanning it and up we went. No security and all my bags with me. Easy!

Not sure if this boat will be going far

Lots of boats by the lake

I arrived in Tallinn about 9:30 and met up for coffee with an American friend. We talked about faith and life in general before she helped me to get on the right tram to take me to the bus station for my bus to Riga. So on a damp and dreary day I headed home. Getting plenty of work done and dozing along the way. The bus was about 20 minutes late and I was panicking just a little. I had just enough time to buy my ticket, go to the loo and get some water and an apple (the most humungous apple you ever saw) before catching my bus back to my village. It was dark when I got back and Ian was waiting for me near the bus station.

The lake bottom is solid rock

So here I am, back in my caravan, after a fairly laid back day. A bit of work, catching up on emails, podding some beans and starting to think of the next trip, which is only a few days away.