My Days Just Go By

I have had plenty of leisure time lately. I confess that after I returned back home from my six months trip to Asia, I have just been hanging around. And that is actually what I did all those six months, too. Hang around. Chill out. Relax. Cool down.

I am still on sabbatical, and I have no projects, plans, trips, obligations or commitments what so ever. How luxurious. But I am getting restless. So I guess I am getting ready for my work that starts in September.

I wonder if there's something I haven't done now when I have this unique opportunity to have time off. Because soon I don't have these unorganized and unscheduled days anymore.

Should I have been more efficient during my sabbatical? Should I have spent my time in to more useful or educating matters? Why have I started to feel a bit guilty about all this time I have, this slowness and inactivity? Is it the Lutheran (protestant) culture we Finns are brought up, that teaches us to work hard and diligently to be saved.

I didn't continue French classes. I am planning to start Salsa dance. I am learning to juggle three balls (but I can't figure out how to get the third ball into to the game). I signed in to a first aid course. I will continue the NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Practitioner course. But that is so fun it is hard to be categorized into the educating and useful box. Even though it really is.

I will let myself to enjoy this last coming month of my sabbatical without feeling guilty. I will be efficient and organized when I will get back to work. Or... is it necessary? Maybe I will try to work in less efficient and more relaxed way  - to achieve something different...?

During this sabbatical year I have read more books than ever. Lately I have read books mostly in Finnish by the Finnish authors. When traveling, the books are what might come up in the guest house shelves. Nothing serious or educating in this pile... Highly recommended is "Shantaram", one of the most amazing books I've ever read.

Eating well, enjoying time with friends is an essential part of life. This giant ice cream bowl followed the appetizer and the pizza..

And I ate this all... and the ice cream too!

Working out regularly has become important for me. I hope to keep it up when I start working again. There's 168 hours in a week, so it shouldn't be difficult to take couple of hours for the kettle bells, right...? Plus some hours for mountain biking, dancing, yoga, reading...? I might need to prioritize...

Cross Fit training is so much fun!

Touristing in Helsinki

From Turku to Helsinki is only two hours or less by bus, train or a car. But two days in an other town feels like being abroad! So we made a trip from the former capital city to the today's capital city.

A nice day as a tourist starts at Krulla's breakfast buffet

before stepping into our hotel

in a picturesque neighborhood

There's always time for a little shopping before seeing the sights, right?

A new Helsinki Music Centre where we heard a short day concert

Surely you can understand that somebody can easily spend one hour in a tea shop, sniffing and comparing different tea qualities

Taiwanese Spring Tea, first flush; aromatic, juicy and refreshing

Church of the Rock

Falafel, halloumi, salad, tabule, matbuha, tzatziki in a pita bread, with extra chili sauce at Fafa's

Fresh green peas make a good snack

See and hear the amazing story of the Afghan Girl in Helsinki Art Hall: Steve McCurry found this girl in the picture 18 years later!

The building of Kiasma is artistic and harmonic

Ruisrock Rocks!

The second oldest rock festival in Europe was held in Turku again for the 44th time, since 1970. I cycled to Ruisrock through the national park, enjoyed the wonderful, sunny weather and great bands like the Finnish grand old rock/ blues/ country man J. Karjalainen and the young reggae artist Raappana. Unfortunately Erykah Badu (U.S.) performed so late it was time for me to cycle back home again... ;-)

"At the end of your life, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away (Shing Xiong)". What are your breath taking moments?

What makes you feel happy? Could you try something really different this summer, maybe a new unexpected experience is waiting for you...? Have you visited a flea market - or even better, been a seller at a flea market? How about a classical music concert, or a dance class at a park?

Visit a cat show, make a train trip, visit an old friend or a relative, say hello to a stranger, buy strawberries at a market place or pick blueberries in a forest, swim in a lake, or...? Enjoy your breath taking moments!

Lazy Weekend

My husband was off for the weekend and I enjoyed my time on my own, doing nothing. On Friday I met a friend in a cafe and coming back to the street I bumped into another friend, and off we went to have some tea again. This great coincidence followed with an invitation to her home on Saturday evening.

On Saturday I enjoyed my time at my favorite place, home, and played with a camera, read a book, cycled to my friends house and had wonderful time with her and her family.

Now on Sunday I wondered if I should clean the windows, or the sauna, do laundry, at least cook or do something else useful... But, instead, I walked in a park, read a book, ate ice cream and strawberries, did some non-serious workout in a gym... All that was useful, enough, for me, for now. What a nice, relaxed weekend!

Midsummer In The City

This is the time of the year when the sun doesn't set at all. It is light all the time. People hurry up to their summer cottages, camping sites, festivals, sailing - as far as possible from the cities. Our home city Turku transformed into a ghost towns already on Thursday, day before the Midsummer Eve. But we stayed and loved it: the city is now ours!

I cycled around the city and it felt surreal, just few tourists wandering around, trying to find a restaurant or a cafe that would be open. Finland is now more or less closed. But the weather is nice and sunny, I see some people having picnics in the city parks.

We had a small bunch of fresh birch tree branches in our sauna, that's a must especially in Midsummer. Another tradition is to eat new season small potatoes, and that's what we did, a lot.

Heavy drinking is very often associated with the Scandinavian Midsummer, but we skipped that part, and instead watched a movie and slept well... Are we getting old or what...? Just don't say that we are old..!

My old fashioned bicycle makes me feel happy!

Normally these restaurant boats are packed, but not in Midsummer.

Love Forever!

What a nice piece of art!

So is this!

History is very present in Turku.

Electrical transformers (is that the right term?) do not need to look ugly, do they?

They can even be funny...

And artistic...