spring – traveling4family

May 20, 2019

Random-Meggie

Finland has a few “tendencies” with regards to random things I’ve noticed thus far. What I mean is no matter the food group for example, there’s always a licorice flavor. I’m not kidding, if you looked hard enough, you could probably find a bag of chips with licorice seasoning. Licorice is addicting, and that’s why it’s everywhere; ask my family- we have all succumbed to its temptations.

When we first got here, we would see flyers and hear people saying that such and such happens in the spring… However, we had lost hope in there ever actually being spring by the time May worked around and the snow was still a couple of feet high and snow boots were still in use. It’s more exciting than you can imagine to say that – I hope I don’t jinx it – Spring has Sprung. Coming from California, we have finally gotten back into our routine of putting on shorts (not snow pants) and leaving our jackets behind.

Liam and I are officially done with school. Our typical school day was work work work in the morning and then have the afternoons to go outside and do what we wanted (whether it was go to dance, or swim, etc.). But now that we have our mornings free it’s been fun to see what Finland is like on a spring day. I think one of the most words used by my family when we go outside is “wow” because it is truly beautiful outside with all the trees and flowers blossoming. Finland has transformed from being rather barren to full of life and color.

April 6, 2019

☀️Here comes the sun☀️

Today is the first day in over 3 months that I have sat outside on a bench with the sun on my face. And oh man it feels so freaking good! Listening to music and reflecting on this journey. I have been craving this sun. It has shown its face this winter, but I have literally had to run to its small little patch of light and look up to absorb its glow like a lizard until I was numb with cold and I’d have to run back inside for warmth. But today the weather is just right.

Spring and sunshine in the air. A time for recharging and rebirth which at this stage of my life means reflection. What a gift to reflect with my family by my side and being away to gain the necessary perspectives of our life back home.

April 4, 2019April 4, 2019

Jyvaskyla Awakens (wait, is that new?)-Stu

Like a flower bud slowly coming into bloom, Jyväskylä’s receding snow is revealing new things everyday. From garden beds and landscape art that incorporate ornate paving, statues, and small trees; to beaches at the lakes; and benches everywhere; things are seemingly appearing out of the blue everyday. In fact, there’s even a miniature golf park nearby that we didn’t even know was there. Areas that were uniformly flat under a blanket of snow now present a green and varied topography and even paths and roads that continually surprise. I’m not sure why I’m so taken aback as we are in April after all. Perhaps it’s the suddenness of the change from a white world that appeared as stationary as the last ice age!

As the evenings rapidly change from early darkness to late evening sunshine, and the coats of the local hares and foxes darken from their winter white to summer brown, so do the attitudes and behavior of the people appear to adjust. People sit at benches and bask in the warm sun, restaurants all over town are putting tables and chairs outside for their patrons, and pots containing small daffodils provide a splash of color outside many stores. Shutters are coming off small cafes by the lake and skateboards and bikes are replacing ice skates. Gone are the six-foot tall mountains of plowed snow creating narrow pathways. There is an energy in the air that must, I sincerely hope, be spring even if it is far too early for flowers to bloom out in the soil.

The change from winter to spring is both a symbolic and physical one that naturally prompts a person to look ahead to new experiences and fresh new ideas and mindset. We felt like hunkering down and regrouping during the winter; taking a pause and reflecting on what had been. For us visitors in Finland, the dark and cold slowed us down so that we enjoyed one or two things a day. Activities took planning and extra effort to prepare for and recover from. If winter is a quiet introvert, then spring and summer are boisterous extroverts ready for the next exciting adventure. Suddenly, the landscape is opening up as is our desire and ability to range farther out into it. What a pleasure to enjoy the changing of the seasons in a place where it occurs so dramatically.