A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked*

As you might have noticed, today is Valentine's day. But in Finland we call it Friend's day, so I decided to write something nice for the people I love. (Yes, I know this is lame.)

With you I have grown to be who I am today. You have made me stronger, happier and a little less selfish. You have made me proud of who I am. You have shared my happiness and my sorrow, you have made me feel I'm not alone. With you I've made mistakes and learned from them, with you I've had the funniest moments of my life. You've seen all sides of me, I don't need to pretend I am something different. You are my heroes and my role models. You have brought me to this day, when I'm happier than ever. Even now when we are far from each other, and we continue growing, I hope we never grow apart. I am still here for you, I still need you, and I miss you.

With love,
Noora (Rontti)


*Quote by Bernard Meltzer

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression"

I survived the first day at the office! Actually it was more like a school day. I got more information about the company, and I'm even more excited to start and "get my hands dirty". We (me and another girl who started) were introduced to whole lotta people, mostly called Asia, Magda or Tomek (I'm just kidding, there was someone called Kuba also). We had a warm welcome. My team, which is now something like 10 people, seems very nice and I already knew, based on my interviews, that I like my boss. Let's hope the first impression is correct. Unlike I thought, my team members come all from Poland. They speak different languages and are responsible for different countries. So I guess at least for now, before the team grows, I will be the odd one out.

Maybe now you're already curious what is this job I got. Basically it is customer service via e-mail and phone. I will be responsible (surprise, surprise) for the Finnish clients. The company is a world-wide medical equipment manufacturer and this Wroclaw office is their new Shared Service Center.

Few posts back I was stressing about what to wear, and today I saw that people in the office are not too formally dressed, so I don't need to make so big deal about it. :) Anyway, here is a picture of first day's outfit. (Picture was taken yesterday evening, so hopefully my hair and face looked a bit more fresh today...)

Happiness is an inside job...*

...but external things can help finding it. Last couple of weeks we have been preparing our home for spring. I know it's only February, but spring can never come too early, right? The apartment was fully furnished, with red, black and white, which frankly are not my favourite colours in decoration. Eventually I got used to them, and on Christmas time it was very easy. But now, after Christmas we wanted to have fresh springy colors. Now the only room left with red is our bedroom, the red-white-striped wall was too hard to hide, so I just had to go with it. ;)

Home <3

Yesterday we made karjalanpiirakka with another Finnish girl who lives here in Wroclaw. We were both newbies in this, and a bit nervous how they're gonna look like. For some reason everybody, including us, thinks that karjalanpiirakka is really hard to make, when in reality it's easier than korvapuusti. Ours turned out very nicely, and the taste was also authentic. :)

 Today (Sunday) we had our, already traditional "Hotel Breakfast Noora's & Wolfi's Style". I'm not sure if you already know, but we both are breakfast freaks and nothing makes us happier than a huge breakfast buffet. So after last summer's travels, we decided to bring some luxury to weekend mornings at home by having yummy breakfast. Usually we have quite basic stuff like bread, toast, milk bread (kinda like pulla), ham, cheese, perfectly boiled eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice, jams, Nutella and cappuccino. Once or twice I have also made pancakes. Nam nam.

 

After breakfast we went to cinema to see "Lo Imposible": movie that tells a story of one family that survived the tsunami in Thailand. The movie was obviously very touching, and the actors, especially kids, were amazing. I would definetely recommend the movie, even I had to close my eyes couple of times.

And what could be perfect ending for this perfect sunday? Sushi! So we had sushi-dinner to celebrate my new job (that starts tomorrow, yaiks). And boy, it was gooood.

P.S. I wanted to go to this sushi place only because of the lamps in the ceiling. They look so pretty and I definetely want to have those in our home someday. Luckily also the sushi was delicious. ;)

*Quote by William Arthur Ward

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday.*

Today might be the last day of my housegirlfriending career, at least for now. Might be because I still don't know when can I actually start working, since they need to do some administrative stuff... But I do know that on Monday I will have something called onboarding day. And I'm so excited! This is my first office job, and also first job where I get to wear my own clothes. I have been going thru my closet to see if I own anything "business casual". I think I might have to do a little bit of shopping, but spending money on professional look is totally acceptable, right?

Usually I have been total nerve wreck before starting a new job, because I have bad habit of imagining worst case scenarios. When I was working as waitress it was easy to get swallowed by these terrible what-if situations, because I could think of endless amount of them. But now I am only eager to see what's gonna happen since I have no idea how it could be. How refreshing. :) 

My last day of unemployment has been very lazy: watching Gossip Girl, facebooking and doing some yoga. I'm definetely gonna miss this relaxing life, but I think change is good, and I'm too young and healthy to live like a retired person anyway. We'll see how it will be, our life as a "normal real life" couple. And my life as a office worker. Will I find myself missing serving tables? Or will I finally find my true calling? :D Actually I think I already found it: housewifing. Maybe I'll become real housewife American style someday. :P Meanwhile, let's try something else.

Some months ago I heard or read somewhere, that it takes 8 months to settle down and find your place in a new country. I can totally support this theory. On 14th of February I have been here 8 months, and finally I feel like everything will work out, and this is my life. It is a long time, but when you really want something you are always ready to wait a little bit more. So I guess the message is to be patient and not give up. :)


Quote by A. A. Milne

Second chance.

Last Saturday morning we drove to the mountains south from Wroclaw. We were suppose to spend three nights in a skiing resort called Czarna Gora. For the last two weeks I was waiting for this trip - with fear and anxiety. You see, I have only been skiing once in my adult life, and that was one of the most terrifying experiences in my life. This last time happened in Espoo, where we don't have mountains, and I would not be suprised if this hill there is human made. So you can imagine how felt when we were driving more and more up to the mountain...And this is not even a big mountain, I heard.

 But when I saw the smaller slopes and all the beginners there, I became a bit more confident. If they can do it, I can do it! After some training in the kids slope, we moved to a bit bigger one. After first day off skiing, my ass hurt like hell, because I fell when I was coming out from the lift. But I was still alive, without broken bones and well enough to try again next day. On the second day, I was starting to enjoy myself and on the third day I would not want to stop at all. Something I never believed would be possible - Noora who likes winter sports!

Now the only question is when can we go again? ;)

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day*

Long time, no see... I've had some kind of crisis about what to write here, so the result was not writing at all. Sorry. As in so many other things (believe it or not) I overthink; I come up with an idea and then abandon it because I think it's stupid, too personal or nobody cares. But I guess you would not be reading if you wouldn't be interested. ;) So I'm gonna report from here, Starbuck's, where I'm hiding our cleaning lady every Thursday. Life's tough...

Sooo, what have I been doing lately? Apart from the life that's becoming a norm for me aka housegirlfriending, I have had a real job interview! Actually two (part l & part ll), in the same company, and we are waiting for results. I have pretty good chances to get the job, since they need a Finnish speaker and there's not too many of us here. But "pessimisti ei pety" (pessimist won't get dissapointed), as the famous Finnish saying goes, so I refuse to believe I could get the place, before I'm actually writing my name in the papers. Anyway more about that if I get the job. If not, don't bother asking about it. :P

www.popscreen.com

Two weeks ago we were visiting my maybe-future-parents-in-law in Germany. It was a very nice weekend, once again I felt like in my third home. On Saturday we were in a huge techno party, and I got to know that my "good" old alcohol using habits are still there, even I've been very nicely here in Poland. I blame Finland and Finnish culture for this (not you mom and dad). So I decided to keep away from alcohol for undefined period of time, until I've learned the limits of sophisticated drinking (never?)...

www.google.com

And back to happier subjects: winter came and winter went away. Which means here is now lovely spring weather: sunny and +8 degrees. Reminds me of the winter in Cyprus. Propably the winter will "surprise" us at least once more this year, but I don't mind taking a break from it. :)

In addition to hanging out in coffee places, cooking, reading (3rd part of Hunger Games), job hunting and couchpotatoing with my love, I have finally started to refresh my memory in German. I found amazing web page, with soooo much material. Who needs expensive courses or books, when you have internet and a personal tutor. ;)

Update: I got the job!


*Quote by A. A. Milne

Last year my dreams came true, so this year I promise I will do my everything to cherish what I have.

So went Christmas. It was a wonderful Christmas, despite the fact that my family is far away and there was no snow in here. We spent three days eating, watching DVDs, playing, eating...oh, and eating a bit more. Just the two of us. Wonderful. <3 Not that we would not have time for us, but nothing just seems to be enough. ;) I must have been very nice last year, I got so many wonderful presents...

One of them was weekend-trip to Berlin right after Christmas. We went to see some ice hockey (go ERC!), it was a tough and entertaining game. We also wandered around the city, had few cocktails, met a friend and ate Thai food, which seems to be very hard to get from Wroclaw. Maybe the best part of the surprise was that on Saturday evening we returned to o2 World, where the ice hockey was, to see Voice of Germany-concert. We were watching the show earlier on TV, and I really liked the winner, so my boyfriend thought I should see him live. It was so nice, has been too long time since last live-concert.

From Berlin we drove straight to Wroclaw's airport to pick up my cousin, who came to spend the New Year's with us. She had the honor to be first guest after my parents. And I think she really liked it here. So come, come and see the wonderful Poland! ;)

We had New Year's Eve's party at friend's place. Before that we were enjoying some traditional "nakkeja ja perunasalaattia" aka small bratwursts and self-made potato salad (much better than market crap, and very easy to make). The party was very pleasant: interesting new people, food, drinks, music and we even saw the fireworks from the balcony. This was my first NYE abroad, and with this experience I say that at least here in Poland the celebrations are (maybe a bit too much) similar than in lovely home-Finland.

My cousin was spending here almost a week, so we took her around the city, played Scrabble (good for your brains, I've heard) and Tasku-Mölkky, ate very well, did some serious shopping and partied, of course. It was so refreshing to have someone from Finland here!