Walking on frozen sea

I can’t remember the exact number, but in the past I’ve been told several times that walking on frozen lake or sea is very dangerous. For one, you never know how thick the layer of ice is, or whether it is strong enough to support you. Today was my first time walking on the Baltic sea, I was so scared at first. For some reason, the sea looked dangerous… in a silent and formidable way >.> Thankfully Olli was there to give instructions: “Just follow the footsteps!” “Walk slowly, wait… walk this way.” To my surprise, I discovered that we weren’t the only ones walking on the sea. There were several people walking with their dogs, and some neighborhood’s kids sliding in the snow. Near the piers, there was an ice pool. Maybe it was just me, but I simply can’t imagine swimming inside the pool, it’s too crazy!

The last week of school

Countdown to winter began today. We are getting less sunshine here in Helsinki, my friends are telling me to take vitamin D. Every time the wind blows,  my skin feels like it’s being whipped >> This morning snowflakes stopped and became frozen on the window, but the surface of the sea near the bay has been frozen since last week! Finnish winter is really cold, dry and dark, it is really something new and strange to me…

It’s my first time making Christmas cookies. In the past, I usually got them from the store or friends. Making gingerbread cookies is quite fun, you get to create different shapes and eat them afterwards. In addition, we also drank warm glögi and watched little birds play in the snow :) Life here is simple but happy.

Happy Independence Day

Today is Finnish Independence Day, hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää! In the morning, we headed to Nurmijärvi and watched the President attend the mass at Helsinki Cathedral. During the afternoon, we had Karelian stew and saw the military parade. For me, it was a very interesting experience, because Taiwan only has national day and the celebrations are a bit different. And it snowed today! Even though it wasn’t my first time seeing snow, I still feel very happy.