Frosty the Finnish Snowman

Today I made my first snowman in many many years! This afternoon,  we went out to the summer cottage on the lake (frozen lake now) and spent some time with the extended family. Mostly we were watching the kids skate and play hockey on the lake. I didn't bring skates, but I got some hockey practice in :)

The temperature has been a little warmer here today, so the snow melted a little bit, making this perfect snowman snow. I felt like a little kid again rolling around on my hands and knees getting so excited about snow!

I even donated my scarf for the cause

And the snowman is in the perfect location. At the end of the platform leading out to the sauna. You can see it from the door of the house. :)

Skates and Frozen Lakes

This weekend I had my first outdoor sports in Finland. It was so exciting! 

Savonlinna is almost completely surrounded by lakes, and this time of year, they are finally frozen over enough to ski and ice skate. I've had my fair share of ice skating, but it's never been on a lake! So Leena and I packed up the two kiddos along with a neighbor friend to enjoy some time in the Finnish sunshine.

The original plan was to skate the 2km to the other side, have some warm pancakes and then skate back. We probably only made it 1km with the kiddos :) 

Now, even though I lived in Utah for the past five years, close to the "Best snow on Earth", I have never been skiing. Cross-country or downhill. It's really a shame...and a little embarassing. That's ok, though, because I'm definitely getting that experience here!

I started off trying the cross-country skiing. Let me tell you, I definitiely underestimated how hard it is! I only did it for about 5 minutes before I awkwardly fell down. I know I looked like a foreigner for sure because the kids here learn how to ski in elementary school. Good thing there are no picture of those few minutes. But Pekka here was patient, and even though he speaks no English and I speak little Finnish, he was very helpful :)

I haven't given up on skiing! But ice skating is more up my alley. 

The weather was really nice, and skating on the frozen lakes through the beautiful woods of Finland was such a cool experience! I mean, just look at it!

Even though we didn't make it all the way we wanted to, we had a great time together with friends and family. I will definitely make the trip over to this place again sometime soon

I love my Finnish mother :)

Becoming cultured and cracking ice

Disclaimer: Excessive photos of the same stuff over and over again. I just loved every picture so I couldn't choose!

Today our school organized a cultural event for all the exchange students (there are only 16 of us). I was really excited because this is the kind of stuff that I really like. Our morning started by touring the Olavinlinna Castle in Savonlinna. This castle was built in the 1600s and has been in control of the Swedish and Russians. When Finland became independent from Russia in 1917, it was abandoned for a time until it was restored in the 1970s. It was used as mainly a war castle, and it's position on the island in the middle of lakes made it ideal for defense. It was really interesting to see the castle and learn about Scandinavian history. And the castle was so beautiful! Also, it was freezing!

Next we stopped at a museum by the castle to learn about the history of the Savonlinna area. The most important thing I learned is that baby seals will be born in February. Don't worry, I'll be looking for them on the lakes :)

After the museum we took the 30 km drive to Kerimäki, which is home to the world's largest wooden church, built in the late 1800s. The official religion of Finland is Lutheranism. It's only open during the summertime because it's dangerous of course in the winter to light fires in there, so we didn't really expect to be able to go inside. However, the caretaker of the church happened to pull up as we got there so he let us in. It was huge and freezing. But very fascinating. It can hold up to 5,000 people. In that time, they wanted a church big enough to fit most of the congregation in at one time. So, high ceilings and wall to wall benches. Leena told me that on Christmas Eve they hold a service, and each member holds a candle, so they worship by candlelight. I think that must be a sight to see!

After Kerimäki, we took a drive through the countryside, stopping at different places of interest, that were closed. We would drive for 20 minutes, pull up, learn something about it, and then hear "well unfortunately it is closed so..." The best part of the day came last. We pulled up over a ridge that overlooks the Lake Saimaa in Punkaharju (near Savonlinna) in a national forest. We originally stopped to take pictures of the sunset, but we ended up going out onto the frozen lake. We had so much fun making snow angels, taking jumping pictures, and running around. Until we heard a loud crack! That sent us all running for the shore. My heart jumped into my throat! But it didn't crack, just made a few more loud noises. So we were safe!

All in all, it was a beautiful day today in Finland. I'm learning to develop an appreciation for the snow. It makes the whole world so beautiful and clean looking. I love it!