Ik Mis Holland

Vvandaag was het weer koud en het dragen van winterkleren maakte me mis de nederlanden! zo, ik at hagelslaag voor onbijt! de beeste ooit! Zijn zo lekker!!!



p.s ellen, bedankt voor mijn mooi posti!! ik wil schrijf je snel terug! ik mis je zo erg. kom je snel naar florida, alsjeblieft! xoxo

FINLANDIA!!!

Finally getting back to Scandinavia...Here are some of the adventures Desi and I encountered...

After running around Helsinki all day, we took the night train up to the Arctic Circle!! good thing we got to sleep because that ride is 13 hours and all you see are trees. in the middle of the night, we woke up and looked out the window for reindeer but instead just saw miles and miles of green whizzing past. That's when we realized that we were headed to the middle of nowhere! (but don't worry Heidi, we don't think you're a 'hillybilly' !)

We had a long boat ride from Sweden and an even longer day running around Helsinki (I may or may not have been accosted by a junkie...probably a good thing I don't speak Finnish since we just ran away). We decided to take a nap in Helsinkipuisto, the central park of the city. The park runs along the river... I really loved Helsinki, despite how exhausted we were. the most confusing part is that they put most of the signs in Swedish and Finnish. as if those languages are completely simple to read and pronounce! haha. so we got turned around...A LOT and got on the wrong trams quite often. but it was such a beautiful day that there wasn't much to complain about. as we were napping in the sun, a troop of people showed up, busted out a boom box and started practicing the waltz! it was crazy! At first we were totally confused, like, 'Is this a dance gang coming to steal our passports?' but then they all matched up into pairs and started hopping around, doing the jitterbug!

We found the best picnic spot on Suomenlinna Island! Again, it was such beautiful weather in Finland! (And the whole time packing for the trip my mother was telling us to bring more sweaters!)

We spent the whole day at Summenlinnia and had some interesting Finnish pizza. complete with a strong bow cider and Tabasco sauce... two things I just can't live without!

Oh, that’s us, just gambling in the grocery stores, it's totally normal. 

Sharing some lekker treats at Fazers! No big deal, it's just the most famous bakery in Finland!
Sugarhighfoodcoma! Yummmmmm

Keepin' it real in the Arctic Circle

Amazing strawberry cake at Heidi and Jarod's wedding in Ylitornio, Finland! There was a lot of yummy Finnish food, also reindeer that Desi tried but she didn't seem very enthusiastic about. although this could have been associated with the high amount of alcohol intake that is required at a gathering such as this. Finnish weddings are definitely an experience, between the never ending flow of alcohol (vodka, cider, vodka punch, wine, beer... these Finns know how to party!) and the crazy wild dancing to heavy metal and Bon Jovi songs it was an intense and fun day for sure!

Heidi’s family showed us the midnight sun from the top of a mountain and what a beautiful sight to see!

And here is a statue of a nice finish author Annikki Kariniemi, but I prefer to call her Finnish cat lady because clearly Desi and I couldn't read the sign.

Back in Rovaniemi, Desi, Heidi, Jarod and Anu (our CS friend) all went for a summer time bobsled ride! I’ve never been in a bobsled before, especially when it was about 95 degrees outside! Wow!

There go Heidi and Jarod...

View from the summer bobsled lift, Finland has some of the most beautiful landscapes!

And of course no trip to the Arctic Circle is complete with out reindeer!!

Sinterklaas Has Arrived!

This week was quite exciting! Op vrijdag vierden we sinterklaas!!! He came to visit and bring treasures with the help of Zwarte Piet! I got to sing the one sinterklaas song that I know in dutch which made me feel very accomplished!

Ilana and I with a few Zwarte Pieten!


Here's Sinterklaas dancing on the bar, and I am pretty sure he wasn't just drinking hot cocoa


Since Ellen has to work a lot we have mostly been hanging out at night and making dinner together with friends. Most of the time we make some kind of variety of vegetables with satay because it's basically the best sauce ever next to hot sauce.

Another night Marleen and I made some pannenkouken! We added apples, raisons, pineapple... zij waren lekker!!!

Just one of those nights...

...When silly friends are have too much fun. For some reason everyone in Europe loves Abba! (And, I agree, they're so good!) Since Abba is the Best Band Ever (duh.) Feeling inspired after watching Mama Mia and singing Abba songs all day making this video was the next obvious choice for wisely spending our time. Yup, that's right, it's all about making wise choices.