I’ve been prepping the boys for a while that when they finish high school they have to the Finnish Army for a year as part of the compulsory military service . I sort of figured that if I start early, I won’t have any problems by the time they turn 18.

Dom took Max to visit Santahamina on Sunday. They went over the bridge and then got turned back.



Jerry on the lookout on our new IKEA couches. I was building our Ikea dining room table last night and Max asked me if Ikea is like Lego as it sort of seemed like it.



We don’t have a TV yet, so we watch on our laptops. Photo of Max and Felix watching SpongeBob.



Roald has stopped eating food again. He only eats organic toes nowadays.

Well, the whole family has been here one week, but so much has taken place that it seems we've been here longer.

The house is just right for us. It's an old house in good condition. It has 3 levels, one of which is the basement so it is half underground - that's where the sauna, laundry, spare bedroom and spare living area are. The ground level is where all the main living areas are, and the bedrooms are up top. The ceilings are quite low upstairs and downstairs. Max and Felix love their bedroom and play area. 

Max has started at school (he passed his English test!), is already making friends and has begun his Finnish lessons. Today Max and I caught the bus and metro into town and then he showed me the way to his school. He left me at the gate and ran in. My work is a few hundred meters further on. Tomorrow Max is going on a field trip to a farm. Their unit of enquiry is about food and where it comes from. 

Max had a really bad cough the first few days - bad enough to keep him awake - but he's OK now. 

Felix has started at his school a kilometer away and he has also made friends. He loves it, and he wears his wet weather gear for outside play with pride. Felix has no formal Finnish lessons, he's just in with the other kids. He's very keen on learning Finnish and shows off when he can. Ei, kiitos! he says often - No, thank you!

Roald is quite happy, although he's trying hard to crawl but he keeps going backwards. It is very frustrating for him. He's eating, drinking, and growing well. 

Viivu has had ten thousand things to do and organize in order to get us through the week. From buying cars to finding my travel card in the morning (it was in my jacket pocket) she's had to do it all. Luckily she has had plenty of help from family and friends, and she also gets to do lots of Ikea shopping, which is fun for her.

I started work on Friday. Yesterday I went to Copenhagen for the day. It's about the same as going to Sydney for the day, but you get to use a passport and say "I went to Denmark today". That novelty won't wear off for a little while.

We have a car now - it's a wagon with 4wd. Normally you get an extra set of wheels and studded tires for the winter. We did, but no studded tires - we took Nokian winter friction tires, which are made from canola oil (seriously) and drive well on snow and ice without all the noise of studded tires. If you talk about snow chains here people don't understand what you mean.

It's a big adventure for me. As Vincent Vega said: it's the little differences. Lifts are smaller. Taxis are bigger (often they are a Chrysler 300C). Meals are smaller and earlier. Coffee is everywhere but lattes are not. I used to drive everywhere, now I catch public transport. You can have long showers without feeling guilty about wasting water (10% of Finland is covered in fresh water). No-one seems to have a desk phone at work or a landline at home (mobile phones are at 103% market penetration or something like that). 

Jerry and Coco are having a good time. There's great walking tracks around here and most times you'll see a squirrel or two, and once they saw a hare. 

On Saturday morning we need to find a place that's showing the Grand Final (our TV hasn't arrived yet). The Aussie bar in Helsinki can't open that early, but the rumor is that Molly Malones will be showing it. We'll find out tomorrow.

Dom and the boys arrived safely last week. On Friday, Felix and I went and checked out his new school. He really liked it. Max has got his school interview tomorrow at 9am. It has been a beautiful day here today. The trees all look so beautiful. I had forgotten how beautiful autumn can be.

We all went for a long walk this morning. It’s really funny as shops are closed here on Sundays so you really have to rest. It’s super nice.

Felix has been introducing himself to our neighbours and picking their apples. Apparently if you slam apples with a hammer then you make orange juice.

We ended up not shipping lots of stuff over so we’ve (read I) have been furnishing from Ikea. I swear I know every product and location of every product in Ikea. I think that we are done now and the house is furnished. It has been hard work though. Lucky I am a professional shopper!

Picture of our house from the backyard.



Picture of our house from the road and our new car!




The boxers have settled in really well. I have bought them new coats in anticipation of cold days. This morning it was 1 degrees! Can’t wait to see how they go with snow as they have never seen it before.



Roley fell asleep on the walk. All that fresh air...