Vierivä kivi ei sammaloidu...

Viimeinen postaus on kirjotettu auton takapenkillä matkalla lentokentältä Neuburgiin. Tätä kirjottaessa istun sen saman auton penkillä matkalla vastakkaiseen suuntaan...

Joulu on meidän osalta taputeltu ja nokat suunnattu kohti Ugandaa. Muutama perhonen vaeltelee mahanpohjalla - mitähän tästä tulee. Toivottavasti kaikki menee hyvin. Oon kyllä ihan kypsä matkalaukkuelämään ja on ihanaa päästä omaan kotiin, mutten ole täysin vakuuttunut että Kampala on oikea paikka meidän kodille. Mutta eipä mene kauaa kun ollaan taas Euroopassa, tällä kertaa pysyvämmin. Elokuussa puistelemme Afrikan pölyt jaloistamme (ainakin tällä erää) ja muutamme Tallinnaan! Jos siellä vaikka viihtyis hieman kauemmin. Alkaa nimittäin tää pakkaaminen riittää yhdelle ihmiselämälle. :D (Jotta ei kuitenkaan kävisi liian tasaiseksi muuttoa odotellessa, varasimme loman Dubaihin helmikuussa.)

Että sellasta. Hyvää joulua! Ja onnellista uutta vuotta, jos sattuisi niin hassusti käymään, etten ehdi kirjoittamaan ennen vuoden vaihtumista. ;)

***

The last post was written in the back seat of the car while driving from Munich airport to Neuburg. While I write this one I'm sitting in that same car on the way back to the airport...

Christmas came and went (for us at least) and now we are heading back to Uganda. I've got some butterflies in my stomach - I'm glad to get home but I'm not sure if Kampala is the right place for our home. Hopefully everything will work out fine. It will not be long though until we are permanently back in Europe; we are moving to Tallinn next August! And maybe we'll even settle there for some years. I'm so full of packing and unpacking, it's coming out of my ears.. :D (but just to make sure we would not get bored before moving, we booked a holiday in Dubai in February.)

So that's that. Merry Christmas. And happy new year too, in case I'm too busy to write before it's 2016. ;)

Our African Christmas

We decided to spent Christmas here in Uganda this year and save the flight money for later. Even thought it was a bit difficult to get on Christmas mood here under the sun, we manage to create quite nice atmosphere. Maybe the weather was helping; it certainly wasn't the best possible, so glühwein and candles made a bit more sense. :P

Christmas would be nothing without food, right? And food we had.... Even I originally thought I wouldn't try to prepare any traditional Finnish Christmas food, I still ended up giving a second chance to self-made carrot and potato casseroles and mushroom salad. And I was pleased to notice that they came up quite nicely. As I could not find (nor would I know how to prepare) traditional Finnish joulukinkku, we had to settle with spare ribs. Not a bad choice at all. :) We also decided to get crazy and buy the completely overpriced frozen smoked salmon, that I've been craving for some time, and boy was it worth. :P No Christmas without salmon. (Maybe we were lucky, but we did not get sick, even buying frozen stuff is against all the travel guide safety tips...) On top of these we had tonnes of chocolate from Finland and Germany, and of course traditional Finnish rice porridge for breakfast (I could not find almonds so I put a peanut in the porridge, but no one found it :P)

On Christmas day we were following our stomachs to the Speke Resort at Lake Victoria. The resort organized Christmas day lunch buffet which was so overwhelmingly huge even this food lover could not taste everything. Most of it was quite alright, and for sure it was plenty, which is the food policy of Christmas anyway. More is more, right?

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas as much as we did ours. Now we are ready to welcome the New Year 2015. Excited to see what it has to offer, ;)

Sokerihumalassa.

Alla olevassa kuvassa viikonlopun ruokasaldoa. Perjantaina Wolfin kollegan pikkujouluissa tarjoiltiin paikallista ruokaa, päästiin vihdoinkin maistamaan kun ei olla aiemmin saatu aikaseks.... Lauantaina köröteltiin kaupungin laitamille (teknisesti ottaen kai eri kaupunkiin) International School of Ugandan joulumarkkinoille. Tunnelmaa loi kalsea sadepäivä. Markkinoiden valikoima yllätti runsaudellaan, mutta joulua sai kyllä näistä markkinoista hakemalla hakea (no soi siellä joululaulut sentään). Kivaa oli kuitenkin, lounaaksi syötiin Pad Thaita ja mukaan lähti korvapuusteja, mozzarellaa (!!), tacoja ja salsaa. Näitäpä saatiin sitten illalliseksi, karamellipoppareiden lisäksi, nam nam. :D Sunnutaiaamiaisella jämäkorvapuustien lisäksi kurpitsamuffineita, uimisen ja grillailun jälkeen ekan adventin kunniaks pipareita ja glühweinia. :) 

Weekend's food in pictures. No wonder I feel like I've been eating the entire weekend. :P And here's not even everything. On Friday we were in a Christmas party of Wolfi's colleague, and finally got to taste some Ugandan food, mmmmm. Saturday morning was cold and rainy; what a perfect weather for a Christmas market! We found some delicious souvenirs from there: cinnamon rolls, tacos, salsa and mozzarella (!!) In addition to these the Saturday dinner included bucket-full of yummy caramel popcorn. Sunday breakfast was boosted with pumpkin muffins and those mouthwatering cinnamon rolls, and after some 1. advent swimming and BBQ, we had home-made pipari and glühwein. What a wonderful weekend. ;)

 

And last but not least, another gorgeous Kampala sunset from our backyard.

Vesilammikoita ja uunituoreita sämpylöitä.

Parina viime päivänä ollaan saatu aika rankka iltapäiväkuuro täällä. Eilistä sadekuuroa fiilistelin terassilla viltin alla, ja jo siinä riitti ihmettelemistä kun vettä tulee saavista kaatamalla ja muutaman sekunnin välein jyrisee. Tänään olikin jännemmät paikat kun piti ajaa kaupasta kotiin kaatosateessa. Paikalliset eivät ymmärtääkseni välitä sateesta senkään vertaa ja koko kaupunki pysähtyy vesikuuron sattuessa. Ja sen loppuessa kaikki tietysti lähtevät liikkeelle samaan aikaan. Näitä huhupuheita muistelessani päätin, että vesisade ja vähän liikennettä on parempi kuin liikennekaaos vesisateen jälkeen. Ens kerralla mietinkin sitten kahteen kertaan, sen verran hirvitti ajaa puol metriä syviin lammikoihin tietämättä ollenkaan mitä tehdä jos auto jää jumiin. Vastaantuleva kaista olikin tästä syystä jo poissa pelistä muutaman onnettoman kuskin lammikkoon upotessa. Kotiin pääsin kuitenkin, yhtä kokemusta rikkaampana. Eipä se siellä Suomen hangissa ja nietoksissa ajaminenkaan varmaan herkkua ole, mutta siitähän minä en mitään tiedä...vielä ainakaan. ;) Harmittaa kun en saanut kunnollista kuvaa tän päivän kaaoksesta.

Tässä kuvassa oltiin jo selvitty pahimmista lammikoista. (P.S. Kuva on otettu liikennevaloissa seistessä)

Sadepäivän kunniaksi tänään syötiin kukkakaali-perunasosekeittoa ja uunituoreita porkkanasämpylöitä, mmmmm. (Miks niitä sämpylöitä pitää aina vetää napa niin täyteen, ettei edes kuminauhavyötäröiset housut mahdu enää jalkaan??)

Intercultural Communication-kurssin ensimmäinen osa alkaa olla pulkassa, palautuspäivä on ens tiistaina, ja vielä muutama sivu pitäis jaksaa kirjottaa. Tähän mennessä aihe on ollut kyllä juurikin sitä mitä ajattelin; erittäin ajankohtainen tähän elämäntilanteeseen. Mutta välillä luettavat jutut on aika puuduttavia, ja erityisen haastavaksi on osoittautunut kirjoittaminen...tai no lähinnä sen aloittaminen. Saa nähdä millaista palautetta ekasta tehtävästä tulee.

Mitään ihmeellisempää ei tänne kuulukaan, odotellaan Sansibarin reissua (kaks viikkoa enää, iiiks!) ja joulun rientoja, tosin joulufiiliksen saaminen täällä on mun kohdalla osoittautunut aika vaikeaksi tehtäväksi. Tänään hain piparitaikina-ainekset kaupasta, jos se joulufiilis vaikka tulis piparintuoksun mukana. :)

***

Today I had some exciting, maybe even slightly terrifying moments in the car when I had to drive back home in a pouring rain. Usually I'm the lucky guy who does not need to step out of the house when the afternoon rain starts but this time I had to get my shoppings quickly in the fridge. So I bravely drove through the half meter deep, lake size pools, trying not to think what would happen if I would get stuck like the guys on the opposite lane. In the end I got home safely, and almost dry and now I am one more experience richer. :P 

For the rainy day I made some cauliflower soup and home-made oven-fresh buns, mmmm. And ate so much that I can barely move my behind to the couch now. Oops.

The studies are going quite good. Soon I'm done with the first part, only couple more pages to write. So far almost everything has been interesting and very relevant to my life situation. I guess I chose correct field. :)

Not much more has happened here lately. We are waiting for our trip to Zanzibar (in two weeks!!) and Christmas parties. So far I did not have any Christmas mood at all, somehow 30 degrees and sun just does not fit the picture. Today I did, however, get ingredients for the Finnish Christmas cookies so maybe along the smell of them I also manage to get some Christmas atmosphere here. ;)

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!

Rauhan mä saan kun palaan kotiin, siellä mä nään sen rakkauden. Sieltä siivet tuotiin mun elämään, niillä mä lennän halki taivaan enkelten.*

I decided to spend this Christmas here in Wroclaw with my boyfriend, since he has to work. Of course I still wanted to see my family and friends, so on 7th of December I flew to Finland after being away for four months. It's amazing how time goes so fast, it did not really feel like I haven't seen my loved ones in Finland for so long. Luckily we are living in a world where we can easily keep in touch even we would not be in the same country. It's amazing how with good friends it always seems like we just met yesterday. :) And I want to believe it's not only because of Facebook.

Breakfast in La Torrefazione & Christmas feast.

I got to meet almost all of my best friends, got to spend time with my family, and of course fill myself with Finnish Christmas food. I also tried if I am still able to work, so I took couple of shifts in a restaurant (read: I need money). Finnish people's ability to absorbe alcohol when "the firm is paying" is unbelievable. See, this time of the year every respectable company throws a pre-Christmas party "pikkujoulut" to its' employees. (Now days the amount of these firms have significally reduced because of the savings. Might be good thing for Finnish people's livers...)

All in all, I proved that I am still capable to work as a waitress, but I also noticed that I would really not like to. So here I am again, with no clue what I would like to do when I grow up. Well "third time's a charm" as they say... :P

Helsinki

I had wonderful 10 days at home, it gives me so much energy and makes me so happy to see all my important people. Wherever I am, I will always remember where I'm coming from. But I'm glad to be back here with my love, and I have no regrets towards the choices I have made. I hope all your wishes will come true this Christmas like mine has.

Merry Christmas! Hyvää joulua! Wesołych Świąt!

*Antti Tuisku - Palaan kotiin

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.

I wanted to see how does famous German Christmas market look like, so we drove to Sachsen last Friday. We booked a room in a small town called Bautzen near Dresden. This was very good idea since Bautzen was the most beautiful city, with its extensive old town. Our room had a perfect location, we could watch the Christmas market opening seremony from our window! All the glory for my travel agent. ;) We got also lucky with the wheater, it was snowing on Friday, and everybody knows how important snow is for Christmas atmosphere.

Bautzen.

Medieval Christmas Market.

After breakfast on saturday was time to see "the big city", so we took a train to Dresden. Dresden is about the size of Wroclaw and Helsinki, but it was hard to believe when we saw all the people. Apparently the first Advent is a big thing in Germany, and Dresden is, if not world-famous, at least Germany-famous of its Christmas market. I mean one of them. In total there was suppose to be 11 different markets, from which we saw something like six only by walking around the city center.

Dresden.

Even behind all the tourists I could see that Dresden has its share of remarkable old buildings. I did not have any image of how it would look like, but I must say that I was not expecting this Prague-like city. It's unbeliavable how much amazing places there is I've never even heard of. And I thought I have to travel to the other side of the world to see something. :P And what about the Christmas markets? Let's say Senaatintorin joulumarkkinat will feel a bit sad after these...

By now maybe some of you, my friends, might know that I love breakfast and teddy bears. And myyrä! And cooking and baking. On Sunday we had a cookie making party, and I made so much piparkakku-dough, that I decided to sacrifice some of it to make a piparkakkutalo. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of it. Was not my first one, but definetely the nicest. And I did not even burn myself or the sugar!

I also made some Christmas foods already: potato, carrot and swede casseroles. We are spending the Christmas here, and they don't sell Saarioisten casseroles or piparkakku-dough in Carrefour, so I had to learn to make them myself. ;) So far so good. Now I only need to figure out how to smuggle kinkku here...

P.S. I'm coming to Finland on Friday!

"I have found that if you love life, life will love you back."*

My writing motivation seems to be somewhere else than here now. So here's some pictures for you, maybe from them you can see what I've been up to lately...

Couple of weeks ago we went bowling. I'm no master, but it's fun anyways. :)

11th of November is the Independence day of Poland. We saw the parade from our window. Did you know that Poland has been independent since 1918, so it's actually younger than Finland.

I continued my exploring of Polish food culture by making "sernik" aka cheese cake. Pycha!

Some time ago we decided we want to have cool poster from every city we have lived in. Here is Wroclaw. :)

Finally I started a new book! And almost read half of it the first day, it's gooood. :) Oh, and then there's the stuff I SHOULD be reading. :P

Some Christmas decoration.

I wanted to make this Finnish Christmas pastry "joulutorttu". Unfortunately the dough I made was not very similar to the "real" one (from freezer). And the plum jam was also different... So when I come to Finland I definetely want some good old joulutorttu!

More decoration. Last Friday we bought all the stuff we need for Christmas tree. I know it's a bit early, we were propably the first ones, but this is what happens when you put together two Christmas fans. ;)

No Christmas without some lights. :)

Next week the Christmas market of Wroclaw will open, can't wait to see it!


*Quote by Arthur Rubinstein.

I'm not so much of a Halloween person. I'm scared of the vampires, zombies and witches. I also cannot understand why would you wanna eat black spaghetti or sausages that look like fingers. Or spidermuffins or punch with eyeballs... Anyway. This year I wanted to carve my very first Halloween-pumpkin. Actually it came out pretty nice. :)

The insides of mister Pumpkin I used for soup. Which did not come out so good. There must have been something wrong in the recipe or the pumkin meat, because I don't make bad food. ;)

We also bought some smaller pumpkins for decoration, they don't cost too much here. I don't know where this sudden decoration fever came from... :D Actually I'm waiting for Christmas already, I wanna cover the whole house with red and green and golden and glitter. And little gnomes and candles and Christmas lights.......