Mother Nature really pulled through this weekend. Clear skies and rising temperatures made for a pretty perfect market day. The first traditional fish market in Joensuu was held on Saturday where vendors sold fresh fish, homemade jams, wooden handicrafts and lots of other goodies.
Hyvää Vappua! Happy May Day! We've had quite the busy week over here celebrating. Vappu is the second biggest holiday celebration in Finland (first being Midsummers). I've never seen so many people out in Joensuu – I didn't even know that many people lived here. Although May Day is officially May 1st, the festivities ran throughout the entire week. We started the week with the flying flags event at the university, where we each wrote about our experiences in Finland on the back of our country's flag. Then we let them go together to demonstrate what the exchange students bring to Finland. The next day we went on a bus tour of Eastern Finland. We stopped at various places to explore and socialize, then we were back on the bus to the next stop. On Vappu Eve there was a parade of students from the university to an island across town.
Y'all, it's spring in Finland! From the day we got back it's been nothing but beautiful weather. I'm talking sunny days and warm (relatively) temperatures. I haven't worn a scarf since we've been back. Yesterday my legs were exposed to the Finnish sun for the first time since September. Okay, really it was just my ankles, but it was BIG.
Sundays are pretty great days. I hesitate to call them my favorite because Friday and Saturday put up a pretty good fight, so let's just say they're top 3. Even though Sundays back home looked different than they do now, I still treasure my Sundays. I've started a new tradition of making breakfast on the weekends. It's one of the best ideas I've had. I love breakfast. Like love LOVE breakfast. Hands down my favorite meal. Lunch and dinner got nothing on breakfast. The problem is I am usually so hungry in the morning that I can barely pour my cereal fast enough, much less spend any significant amount of time conjuring up a meal that involves turning on the stove. But in some crazy miraculous change of events, I've found a way. Maybe it's the promise of something extra delicious to chow down on, who knows. This mouth-watering occasion is one reason that I long for Sundays and now I've added another.
All it takes is a piece of cake
Instead of talking about how done I am with this weather and how the weather in Helsinki was equally as miserable (if not worse) and how all the pictures of warm places with people in anything less than a winter coat and boots are making me crazy... I'm going to tell you about all the food we ate on our trip.
