THE SPANISH AND THE SNOW

SNOW

 

 

And finally the real snow came to Finland!! It was a huge surprise when l woke up on a Saturday morning, like any other day and find out that it has been snowing the whole night. I love when the city is cover by the snow and it is totally white.

I get dressed, had quick breakfast and got out to play with the snow, yes you read right, play with the snow, not only kids enjoy playing in the snow, spanish too.

 Is not true that in Spain  is summer all year, in some spanish cities snows also at this time of the year, specially if you live in a mountanious areas. In Madrid, the city were I am from, it snows only once or twice per year, but not as much snow as in Finland, normally the snow doesn´t last more than two days, and it is a big chaos at the city.

I like snow fights a lot, I normally lose, I have to recognise that I am slow making the snow balls  and also a bit clumsy, is hard for me to walk on the snow, I normally fall down many times, my friends make jokes about how I walk on the snow, they think that I am walking like a penguin, but I don´t agree with them. The activity I like the most is make a snowman!!!! Is not so easy at the beginning, you need lot of patience and a right technique.

This was one of my first time making a snowman, as you can see the result was not so wonderful, but I had lots of fun making it. I didn´t know well how to make a big compact snow ball for the body. I am pretty sure that with practise I will make a nice snowman some day. Please Finnish people don´t destroy snowmans at the street if is not yours!!! It is not nice to find out the next day that your snowman is not there anymore. 

 



 

INDEPENDENCE DAY IN FINLAND

INDEPENDENCE DAY

 

 

The 6th of December Finland celebrate it independence day, as all of you know Finland was conquered by Swedish and later on by Russian. Finland became independent in 1918, and became a european member in 1994.

Each city have a different way of celebrating. Last year I was in Jyväskylä for the independence day, and the tradition in this city is made a kind of parade full of finnish flags and candles around the city center, everyone can participate in this parade, you just need to carry some candles. The parade ends at the old cementery, many Finns leave candles at the cemetery in memory of those who lost their lives in war, then there is a chorus singing some sad finnish songs (that is what my finnish friends told me, unluckily I don´t understand much finnish yet), when the chorus finish an old soldier from the war do a speech about how he lived the war.  

This year I celebrate the independence day in Lahti, the

tradition here is quite different than in Jyväskylä, all the people go to the small lake close to the harbour, instead of the city center like in Jyväskylä, there is a light show in the fountain that change colors depending on the music that is playing, it last around ten minutes, even though is a bit too short it worth to see it, my favourite part was when ithey were playing the finnish anthem with the different lights  it  was very emotional. After it there is some nice fireworks.

But there is some common things for all the country, most of the finnish families light two candles half blue and half white ( finnish flag colors) during this day, and watch on TV the program Linnanjuhlat ( the finnish prime minister celebrate a huge party and all the finnish celebrities go there). I am not agree with this last "tradition". Independence celebration should be more related with the war not with a party, I don´t see the point of it.



FINNISH WEATHER

SEASONS

 

Today I will talk about the Finnish weather. What I have learnt during my time in Finland is that the weather can change easily from one year to another, one year can be very cold and the next year quite "warm", you never know how the weather will look like. So let´s start with the seasons!!!

Autumn : In my point of view Autumn is the most depressive time of the year, is true that the trees can look nicer than in other seasons with all those colors, but when the leaves fall down it looks very sad, the best place to enjoy the finnish nature in this season is lapland. About the weather is always cloudy and grey is a miracle if you can see the sun once per month.Not everything is bad during this season, there is also good things too Autumn and Spring are the best moment to see northen lights, for me the most beautiful thing I have never see in my entire life.

Winter: Is the coldest season of the year, temperatures can reach easily -20 and sometimes also -30, but as i told you before it depends on the weather some winters are quite soft and the minimum temperature can be -15. What I like the most about this season is the snow, winter is not as dark and depress as autumn because the snow give some brightness. But is true that it gets dark soon during January and Frebuary is normal that obscured at three p.m.

Spring: Is my favourite season, forests are full of flowers and is very colorful, is the best moment to pick up some delicious finnish berries, but be careful and check that there is not insects inside it. The days are getting longer and you can finally enjoy the sun, the surprised part for me was when I went to sleep around twelve pm and the sun was still shining, it can be a bit annoying if you are not used to it like it happened to me, Finnish people don´t use blinds like we do in Spain so is quite hard to sleep when the sun is shining and the light come inside your room through the windows, nut you get use to it, what I recomend for those who can´t sleep well is to buy mask. Spring seems the best time of the year for travelling to Finland, but there is also bad things about spring, INSECTS!!! is full of insects and some of them can be very annoying, my advice is buy protective creams against insects ( some of those are a bit expensive comparing with spanish prices but trust me it worth) and also insecticides for your house.

SUMMER: Summer has many characteristic as spring. summer, evenings can be eternal, feels like will never finish. Even the birds are singing baffled.If you're on the road in a  summer day in Finland, it is not rare that you wonder what time it is and see it's already midnight. Is the warmest season, temperatures can rise over 25 degrees, is the best time of the year to swim in the lake and have a lovey picnic at the forest. In summer you will have also problems with the insects so be ready. The mood of the people is different and you can feel it in the environment that the happines is all around the city, you can actually see people walking around not like in winter time where everyone is at home.