Tampere trip on spring

On 4th and 5th May we had planned a spring trip to Tampere. I actually met with Mayu and Rika also on 14th April, since I really wanted to bake cinnamon rolls, and I asked if the girls wanted to join me. It’s not really an EOTO-meeting so I’m not going to write about it.

But on 4th and 5th May we had planned a similar trip to Tampere as we had done on autumn. I asked the girls what they would like to do in Tampere, and tried to plan some kind of schedule for us. Sadly earlier the week Tiia said to us that she couldn’t come, since she had to attend her cousin’s birthday party that weekend in Helsinki. Jonas was also unsure whether he could come or not. And on 3rd he told us that he’s not able to go with us. So in the end it was only the three of us.

Actually I also had some other plans for Sunday, but Mayu and Rika still wanted to come to Tampere. I went there already on 3rd and the girls arrived early in the next morning. I went to get them from the train station and we went to supermarket, and bought some foods for the weekend.

After we finished shopping we headed to the center of the city. We decided to go to Kauppahalli at first, just see how it looks like there.

In Finland these kind of places are quite often more expensive than supermarkets, so I  was really surprised to hear that in Japan these kind of market places are usually cheaper than supermarkets! I had no idea about that.

After going around Kauppahalli we went to take a look if the old church in the center of Tampere was open.

And it was! Lucky us.

After visiting the church we headed to Alexander’s church.

There was one another church where I wanted to take the girls, but in the end we didn’t have time to go there. We also took a peak at Tampere's library Metso and visited the Moomin museum again.

We walked along the Hämeenpuisto for a bit, and then went to take a look of Kehräsaari. Mayu and Rika both liked the place a lot. Too bad that the weather wasn't as good as they had promised earlier the week..

We were getting pretty hungry so we visited the café in Amuri, Amurin Helmi, but of course they didn’t serve lunch during weekends. We were wondering where to go, and in the end we decided to go and buy some tortilla ingredients and go to my sister’s place. We also visited the market place really fast, and bought some black sausage.

Mayu and Rika had both also said that they really want to try making some karelian pies. I myself had never made any so I was feeling little bit hesitant. But in the end we decided to make some. And they turned out quite nice. Maybe the taste was little bit more like cocktail pies, but they were good!

Sampo was also interested in what we were doing.

Delicious!

We decided to watch some movie, and ate the same time. We also tried playing the game called Africa’s star.

Later on the evening we decided to go to Pyynikki’s Näkötorni. The girls visited the tower, and we also took a little walk on the woods. We saw some signs of spring.

On 5th I left pretty early with my sister to go to the flea market, which would be on the center of Tampere. Mayu and Rika stayed at my sister’s place, and I met them later on, when they visited the flea market. We made a plan to meet at the café in the center at 4pm. I took the girls to this waffle café there is in Tampere. We sat there about 40minutes, and after that it was time for the girls to catch their train.

This was our last EOTO-meeting, but we have some plans to keep some kind of small party before Mayu and Rika are going back to Japan.

This whole EOTO-course has been really fun, and I’ve learned to cook many Japanese foods, learned new vocaburaly, and a lot about Japanese culture. I hope to see the girls again in Japan, when I have the chance to go there. Hopefully on my 3rd year I could go to Japan as an exchange student, and then I Mayu and Rika could show me little bit about their hometown too. And of course I hope to keep in contact with the girls from on too!

A little bit this and a little bit that

Last time we met was 15th March. We knew Rika wasn’t able to come with since she was going to abroad, but we decided to held a meeting just the 4 of us. We had plans to go the grocery store, and buy foods which the exchange students had been interested in, but not tried them. We planned to meet at Prisma. Me, Jonas and Mayu were waiting for Tiia to arrive, but she informed us that she didn’t feel well, and therefore couldn’t come. So in the end it was just the three of us.

We went inside the store, and saw some Easter decorations.

We told Mayu about the Finnish Easter tradition, and how she will most likely see children going around on Easter Sunday dressed as witches.

We continued to the food section of the supermarket. We discussed about the foods, for example what we have here in Finland a lot, but not much in Japan and what there also is in Japan. It was pretty interesting. I’m still worried about the fact that if I get accepted for exchange (and I really want to get accepted), I can’t eat that much fruits in Japan as I can in Finland, since in Japan fruits are really expensive. I really love eating fruits, so we’ll see what I’m going to do then. Also the fact that in Japan they don’t have that diverse selection in breads is worrying me too, since I really like to bread too. When I was in Japan last year, I remember only finding that really white toast bread. I’ve heard that they make other kind of bread too, sometimes they’re so just more difficult to find.

Mayu was also surprised that we have this many Easter chocolates here in Finland. Of course they have these kind of candies too in Japan, but they are available over the year.

After we finished shopping, we came to my house to eat! Here’s all that we bought.

Mayu really wanted to try some kind of special cheese. She said that in Japan they don’t have so many different cheeses as we have here in Finland. We bought some kind of pepper cheese and also bread and crackers to eat it with. Hapankorppu was also something that sparkled Mayu’s interest, and she really liked it. After eating everyone were feeling really full.

We talked a lot while we ate, and after too. We also made a list about similar words that we have in Japan and in Finland. Here’s the list in case someone is interested.

Word             Finnish             Japanese

Kutsu             Invitation             Shoes
Koko             Size/Whole         Here
Kasa             Pile             Umbrella
Sora             Grave             Sky
Tori             Market place       Bird
Me             We                      Eye
Te             You             Hand
Se                   It             Back
Suru             Sorrow             To do
Kani             Rabbit, bunny      Crab
Tai             Or             Thai
S(h)ika            Pig             Deer
Naku naru       Naked string  To disappear
Naku  Naked  Disappear
Naru               String  To become
Hai  Shark  Yes
Nai(da)  Fuck  Isn't
Sukunai  Little
Suku               Family (as cousins, aunts, grandpa etc)
Joku/Yoku  Someone  Often
Aho  Meadow  Idiot
Kai  Maybe  Shell

Our next meeting wasn’t decided, and we’re still kind of deciding the date. On Sunday 14th I’m going to meet with Mayu and Rika, but it’s not really counted for these EOTO-meetings. We should still meet once next week I think. Then we are going to Tampere again, at the beginning of May.

Exploring the languages and cooking

We met on 19th February at Jyväskylä University  We were supposed to stay in the café  but when we met, the café had just closed! Just our luck. We wondered a while where we should go and decided to go to the center of the city. We ended up going to Coffee House, since most of us hadn't been there yet. The café was very cozy, and everyone ordered something for themselves.

We sat around the table and started by chatting how everyone had been and enjoyed our foods. Today’s topic was Finnish and Japanese, and we had promised the girls we would help them with Finnish. I first showed Mayu and Rika our Japanese course books and they had fun looking at our kanji book.  Seems like the exercises brought back some memories maybe.

Both Mayu and Rika had brought their Finnish papers with them, and they had some questions for us. There were confused about some grammar, and we tried our best to help them. The Finnish word “noniin/no niin” was also a word which meaning Rika had been wondering about, since she had heard it a lot!

We sat in the café for few hours talking about Finnish language.

Next meeting was held on 5th March. We met on Mayu’s place, and this time Rika’s new friend Miki joined us too. She was currently visiting Jyväskylä. For this meeting we had chosen beforehand a Japanese dish and a Finnish dessert that we would make. We decided on rice balls with different kind of fillings and a pie, half apple half blueberry.

Everyone working to make the food

Funny looking mushrooms and other Japanese ingredients

Apple blueberry pie! We had also bought vanilla foam to go with the pie. It was really delicious and seems like everyone liked the pie and the foam a lot! I was happy to hear that.

Rice balls on their way to be done

All in all, we used 5 different fillings. They were all very tasty. I want to try making them sometime again.

We talked about various things like Finnish school system, travelling for example Lapland and how Miki had met the Santa Claus. We talked so much that I don't even remember anymore all the things we chatted about. I was also happy that I understood some parts of the things that Mayu and Rika talked with Miki in Japanese. There is still many words in Japanese that I don’t know, but if it’s simple Japanese, I can understand. I was very happy notice that. Maybe sometime I can gather up the courage and try to speak in Japanese with them a little bit! It was also nice meeting Miki and hearing her experiences in Finland and how she has liked being here. Maybe if I’ll get accepted to go to Japan for exchange, I can meet her in Japan too. I’m sure that would be fun. The evening was really relaxing, and I had really fun with everyone.

Until next time!

Asian market and Travelling

On Saturday 2nd we had planned to visit an Asian market located in Seppälä, Jyväskylä. Mayu and Rika had not visited the shop yet, so they really wanted to check it out. I met the girls on the bus, and even though it was already around 12:30, we were still little sleepy. After quite long bus ride we arrived to Seppälä, and got off the bus. On the bus stop there were several other exchange students getting on the bus, and one them decided to join us. Seems like she was a friend of Mayu and Rika’s.

We walked to Citymarket, where the Asian market is, and met Tiia and Jonas there. We explored the shop, and Mayu and Rika found some familiar foods there, and they were pretty excited. I’m sure they miss Japanese foods. We discussed little bit about Japanese foods, and asked how some dishes are prepared.

On the bus on our way to Seppälä we discussed little bit about 2nd hand shops. So somehow we ended up visiting the two flea markets located in Seppälä. I think it was first time to all of us visiting the shops in Seppälä. The Finnish concept of flea market doesn’t really seem to exist in Japan, I was surprised by that. Of course they have 2nd hand shops, and sometimes there might be flea market like events in parks, like in Finland, but not actual flea market shops.

After going around the flea markets, we went back to Citymarket, and went to do some shopping. We came across some Valentine's day cards. Valentine's day is spent somewhat differently in Finland and in Japan. For Japan it’s a day for couples, and girls usually make chocolate for their boyfriend and friends too. On the contrary in Finland, I feel that Valentine's day is not celebrated as much as in Japan.

After checking the cards we went to fruit section. We talked about the names of the fruits and vegetables, which are common in Finland, and so on. We went around the other food sections of the market too. Seems like the girls had come to like some of the Finnish breads a lot! And they told us that in Japan there aren’t really many different types of yoghurts, cheeses and milk, as we have here in Finland. Mayu was especially interested tasting “viili”.

We ended up in the ice cream section, and the girls really wanted to taste some Finnish ice cream. We went to the register, and since we had some time before our bus would arrive, we sat down, and the girls ate their ice creams. Jonas and Tiia decided to leave around then, because Jonas had some plans and Tiia’s bus was going to arrive soon.

After finishing the ice creams, which all turned out delicious, we left to the bus stop and headed to home. I don’t know if it’s the bus, or that we went around different places, but I felt sleepy again.

We met again already on Tuesday 5th on a café called Café Voca, located on Forum. Our topic for this time was geographic, mainly travelling. Our plan was to talk about travelling inside Finland and Japan; what’s the most convenient way, how about the prices, and so on. At first however, we decided to gather a words list that contained words from our last meeting and the meeting on that day. We wrote the words in Finnish, English and Japanese. It was a nice continuation for our word list that we had started on our previous meetings.

It was really interesting to hear about the ways to travel inside Japan, considering the fact that I really want to go to Japan for exchange. So knowing little bit how much it’s going cost, and how easy it is to travel, what’s the most convenient way etc. was helpful. We sat around the café for about hour and half, and started to leave. 

Mayu and Rika were still planning to stay in town, so I decided to tag along with them. Since our meeting was over Jonas and Tiia left, and we three headed to the book shop Suomalainen. Rika and Mayu both wanted to buy Valentine day cards, and sent them to Japan. I tried to translate the meanings of the cards for them, and one thing that surprised them, was the Finnish “Happy nameday” cards. Seems like that kind of celebration doesn’t exist in Japan, and they had both always wondered what the names on their Finnish calendar mean. After going around in a few shops we left home around half seven.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 19th February, and it will be our 8th meeting.

Planning the schedule and shopping

We had our first meeting this year on Friday 18th. We met in a café called Mummo kahvila, Granny’s café. We hadn't really decided a topic to discuss about, and we ended up going through our schedule and decided dates for the whole spring, when we are going to meet. We looked at our already planned list about things we want to do, and decided dates for them. We also decided few extra dates when we’re focusing only in Finnish and Japanese language. After the café closed we walked around forum a little bit, visited few shops together and left home. Me, Mayu and Rika took the same bus so we discussed little bit more on our way to home.

Next time we were supposed to meet on 25th, and it was planned for shopping. But on Thursday it turned out that Mayu had some other plans, and then Jonas also informed that he couldn't come either. Me, Tiia and Rika decided to go anyway, and check the last sales that shops had. After school we met on Forum, and started going through the shops. We talked about shops in Japan and how customer service differs in our countries. In the end we didn't buy many things. Rika went home after we had walked around for about 2 hours and me and Tiia stayed in the centre for about one hour more.

From now on for next few weeks we have meeting every week. This week we’re going to visit an Asian market here in Jyväskylä, and maybe do something else too if we have time. And hopefully I remember to bring my camera with me then..

Visiting Tampere

As I mentioned our next meeting was planned on 30th November. Unfortunately that plan got cancelled because Mayu got sick, so we decided to postpone the meeting.

On 15th-16th December we had plans to go to Tampere for a short visit. We decided to buy the train tickets beforehand on 11th December. We all 5 were supposed to go to Tampere, but this time Jonas got suddenly other plans he had to do, so he couldn't come with us. But since we had made all preparations for the trip, the rest of us decided to go and bought our tickets.

I went to Tampere already on 14th and on the morning of the 15th, I went to get Tiia, Mayu and Rika from the train station. 

At first we went to nearby super market to buy food for the weekend. We decided to eat traditional Finnish Christmas meal. Then we headed to my sister’s place, where we would all spend the night. We dropped our luggages there and ate before we left to back the city centre. Mayu and Rika wanted to see the Christmas market in Tampere so that was our first destination.

The weather was really cold, I think it was around -15C and it was fairly windy too, but the Christmas market had really nice atmosphere on it. We also went to another smaller Christmas market in Stable yards, a little walk from the centre. On our way we visited Tampere’s movie theater and I showed that not all movie theater in Finland are similar as in Jyväskylä (to be honest, I don’t like Jyväskylä’s movie theater at all..).

We also took a quick view of Näsinneula from the Näsinkallio park. Näsinneula is the high tower located in the amusement park of Särkänniemi.

Mayu and Rika both like Moomins a lot so of course the Moomin shop was a must visit. When we visited the shop, there seemed to be other Japanese in the shop. Seems like Moomin’s really are popular with Japanese!

We finally decided to move indoors and went to the shopping mall, Koskikeskus. We spend our time checking the shops and around 6pm my sister came to pick us. When we arrived to her house we decided to cook some food and bake Christmas tarts too. 

Mayu and Rika also made these for us

I’m sorry girls, I forgot the name of this dish. But they were really good and fresh! I also served everyone Tampere’s special, black sausage! Seems like it was edible, and maybe even rather good? I hope so!

My sister's friend also baked a reindeer pie for us! I think it was the first time for everyone tasting a reindeer pie.

And of course Christmas isn't Christmas without Christmas chocolates!

This black cat was also our entertainer during the evening.

We were all pretty tired so we went sleep quite early!

On Sunday morning around 10am we left to Vapriikki, a museum in Tampere. It has many exhibitions and it’s very affordable for students with student card, only 3€. It has many exhibitions, I think around 10. We spend few hours walking around and I hope Mayu and Rika learned about the history of Tampere a little bit, as many other things from Finland too. We also discovered a small Angry Birds play ground in of the exhibitions! You could play the game for real. It was quite fun. 

The exhibition that I wanted to see most was The Mummy exhibition and it was pretty interesting.

After going around the museum we headed outside of Tampere, to Ideapark. It’s a big shopping mall about 15 minutes drive from Tampere. So for the rest of the day everyone spent their day going around the shops and looking for something interesting to buy. There was also a gingerbread house contest going on, you could vote for the gingerbread house you liked the best.

Before leaving we went to eat Italian ice cream together.

Around 4pm we started to get ready to leave back to Tampere, because Mayu and Rika’s train would leave at 5pm. We escorted the girls on the train, and me and Tiia took the next train at 8pm to Jyväskylä.

I had really fun weekend, but it was too bad that the weather was quite horrible. Maybe if we have time we can go to Tampere again on spring, so everyone can see little bit different Tampere, and maybe that time with a nice weather!