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.