Skip to main content

Building a Home

Hi friends!

I meant to post earlier, but I keep postponing - part of me thinks that if I just finish this one thing the house will be presentable, but I think it will be a few weeks before the house feels photo worthy. We have most of our Ikea furniture built, but we only just got all of our clothes out of boxes. We aren't quite settled in yet.



Our new house is on the waterfront in Kalasatama. Kala, meaning fish, and Satama, meaning harbor. The area is very new. It used to be an industrial port district, but the boats have been shifted to another area and pedestrian bridges have been built, and the area is under an impressive amount of construction building new apartments and stores and a giant mall. The best part for us is that the new mall, which opens on Aaron's birthday (soon!), houses a metro station. That means we have a direct connection to the metro within a 5 minute walk, which is the best way to get pretty much anywhere in the city. Metro trains run as frequent as every 3 minutes, so there is barely any waiting (but that waiting is indoors anyway!). Even better, we are just two pedestrian bridges and a trail away from the zoo (15 min walk), which is an island! Once Soren has the ability to appreciate it, we're going to get some annual memberships.



Our apartment is on the 5th floor, with an incredible view of the waterfront. Our main living area has a full length balcony which is very private. Our bedrooms have windows into the courtyard, which also feels very private. It's a very quiet area. It is still summer break in Finland, when many businesses shut down and people use the majority of their vacation, so the waterfront is filled with leisure boats, kayakers, paddle boarders, and fishermen. We even see hot air balloons regularly - I really need to figure out where they are coming from!



Sunset currently is around 10 pm, with sunrise around 5am. As a nursing mom, I think I'm the only one awake to see the few hours of true darkness.


The major downside at the moment is that Finnish air conditioning is not what and American thinks of when they say air conditioning. I would call it a small central fan that brings in fresh air. It is certainly not meant to cool anything, and it doesn't. Highs have been in the 80s all this week with high humidity and little wind. We've been doing what we can to strategically open windows and close blinds, but the best bet has been lots of cold showers. The cats are melting and hanging out in the sauna, which is ironically the coolest spot in the house! The heat wave should break today - I hope!



Soren is happy to have a nursery again, and his parents are happy to have a crib that isn't all the way on the floor! Little man is getting SO BIG.



That's all for now. More next time!
-Sarah

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 3, 2018 at 10:45 AM

    Thanks. Sounds wonderful. Got the full scoop from Carol this morning.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adventures in Paivakoti

Well, friends, it's been three months since we returned from America and Soren started in Paivakoti. It's been a game changer for everyone. Let's talk about what paivakoti is, why we are using it, and what the biggest differences are from American day care. Paivakoti literally translates to day home in Finnish. It is a public service, closer to public schooling in the states, so placement is guaranteed within certain conditions. It covers every child over 1 until school age, which starts at 7. Although one is the minimum age, maternity leave is generous enough that many do not start until 3. Soren is attending out neighborhood Paivakoti for half days. The paivakoti is the first floor of the building, while school age classes are on the second floor. Soren has a group of roughly 15 kids, where he is the youngest, and the next youngest is 6 months older. He is the only one not walking, the only one doing half days, and the only one without a Finnish parent. But that isn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Learning Finnish: progress check

 Do I speak Finnish? No. Omg no. I speak just enough that I can mostly keep up with what my 3 year old brings home from school. I usually can buy something without revealing my ineptitude. I can read many signs with context. But at the same time, I have come a CRAZY long way. Let me demonstrate. 2015 (trip to Finland) I cannot hear sentences, words, or even basic sounds. I cannot hear the difference between y and u, and I can’t keep a/ä straight in my head.  I regularly think people speaking Finnish are speaking Japanese. 2018  (initial move to Finland) I have studied some words from America. Ironically, this will mostly be unhelpful in the long run because I learned to pronounce them incorrectly. I put the accent on the wrong syllable, thanks to my years studying Spanish, and I can’t keep a/ä and o/ö straight.  I am super proud when someone says anteeksi (excuse me/sorry) and I know to move out of their way. I cannot pronounce the name of our neighborhood in a way t...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Story of Two Births

 Hey! Before you start, I’m going to be discussing both of my birth stories here, the good and the bad. This might not be a good read for anyone who is squeamish about birth details.  Please skip Soren’s birth story if you are sensitive to birth trauma or medical trauma. Soren’s American Birth (Not all the details, but a summary of the big issues for comparison’s sake) Soren was born two years ago, precisely on his due date. Like most first births, his birth was longer and harder than average, because your body has never done it before. Even by those standard’s, Soren’s birth was a lot. I went into labor after a membrane sweep the night before his due date. I got an epidural when I was 3cm dilated, which wound up being quite early, especially considering I wasn’t allowed to eat. I labored for 26 hours (with epidural for 13 of them), and pushed for 3 hours.  By the end of labor, Soren’s heart rate was dropping and the birth team began interventions. He was born by vacuum a...
Post a Comment
Read more