Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.*

So I've survived my very first week in the office. Actually I cannot say "survived" since it's been sooo nice. :) Our team is small and it has been easy to get to know everybody, I already had opportunity to work with all of them. I feel very welcomed, even they are mostly talking in Polish. But they promised to try harder to speak in English. And in March we will have another new team member, from Spain! So I will not be the only foreigner anymore. :)

I will have pretty long training period, so work should be quite easy-going for the next weeks. Part of my training will take place in Stockholm, which is of course exciting. I've never been on a business trip before, it makes me feel like a very important person to go. :P In Stockholm I will meet Finnish people who are doing my future job right now.

www.itsnotbadatall.com

 I felt like a kid in a candy shop when I got my own desk, laptop, pens and notebooks, and post-its in different colours! I also got e-mail with my own name and my own personal phone number. I feel so adult now! :P And I don't mean that working as a waitress is not adult, but you know...Or maybe you don't. In addition to these important factors, the actual job seems pretty interesting too. First time in a looong time I'm eager to go to work and learn more.

www.favim.com

Oh, and one more positive thing that came into my mind conserning my new job: finally I can actually use the how-to-dress-trendy-to-work tips from women's magazines!

*Quote by A. A. Milne

Oi maamme, Suomi, synnyinmaa...

I've just now really started to realize how special language Finnish is and how unusual it is to know how to speak it. Sometime ago I was considering whether it is useful to try to learn Polish or not, since there is only about 40 million people in the world knowing that language. 40 million! That's a bit more than 5 something million Finnish speakers. :P Few weeks back I met a Polish guy who claimed he can speak in Finnish. Of course I thought that he just knows some simple sayings, why would he really know how to speak Finnish?! But there he was asking questions in Finnish and I was answering in English, because I still could not believe he actually understands me. After a while, I was conviced enough and we had pretty long conversation. In Finnish. Incredible.

Here is new awesome music from one of my favourite Finnish bands, Haloo Helsinki! While listening their new CD, I realized how much I do actually miss hearing Finnish. It has some magical power that I can't find from English. Of course I get to speak it here too with some friends and in Skype, but it's not the same as hearing it all the time. This song is not really something I can relate to right now, and I don't like the music video (clips from some new Finnish movie, I guess? Levottomat 8?), but ah, listen the beautiful, unique mother language of mine!

While travelling I've sometimes had my suspicions about the real amount of Finnish people. It seems like everywhere you go, you'll meet some of us. Even in the smallest villages on the other side of the world. You would think that this 5-point-something million people would just vanish like fart in the wind among over 7 billion. (And how much of this 5-point-something million is actually travelling?) Did you ever have the same experience? Maybe we've been cheated, and we are not such a small nation after all..?

A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked*

As you might have noticed, today is Valentine's day. But in Finland we call it Friend's day, so I decided to write something nice for the people I love. (Yes, I know this is lame.)

With you I have grown to be who I am today. You have made me stronger, happier and a little less selfish. You have made me proud of who I am. You have shared my happiness and my sorrow, you have made me feel I'm not alone. With you I've made mistakes and learned from them, with you I've had the funniest moments of my life. You've seen all sides of me, I don't need to pretend I am something different. You are my heroes and my role models. You have brought me to this day, when I'm happier than ever. Even now when we are far from each other, and we continue growing, I hope we never grow apart. I am still here for you, I still need you, and I miss you.

With love,
Noora (Rontti)


*Quote by Bernard Meltzer

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression"

I survived the first day at the office! Actually it was more like a school day. I got more information about the company, and I'm even more excited to start and "get my hands dirty". We (me and another girl who started) were introduced to whole lotta people, mostly called Asia, Magda or Tomek (I'm just kidding, there was someone called Kuba also). We had a warm welcome. My team, which is now something like 10 people, seems very nice and I already knew, based on my interviews, that I like my boss. Let's hope the first impression is correct. Unlike I thought, my team members come all from Poland. They speak different languages and are responsible for different countries. So I guess at least for now, before the team grows, I will be the odd one out.

Maybe now you're already curious what is this job I got. Basically it is customer service via e-mail and phone. I will be responsible (surprise, surprise) for the Finnish clients. The company is a world-wide medical equipment manufacturer and this Wroclaw office is their new Shared Service Center.

Few posts back I was stressing about what to wear, and today I saw that people in the office are not too formally dressed, so I don't need to make so big deal about it. :) Anyway, here is a picture of first day's outfit. (Picture was taken yesterday evening, so hopefully my hair and face looked a bit more fresh today...)

Happiness is an inside job...*

...but external things can help finding it. Last couple of weeks we have been preparing our home for spring. I know it's only February, but spring can never come too early, right? The apartment was fully furnished, with red, black and white, which frankly are not my favourite colours in decoration. Eventually I got used to them, and on Christmas time it was very easy. But now, after Christmas we wanted to have fresh springy colors. Now the only room left with red is our bedroom, the red-white-striped wall was too hard to hide, so I just had to go with it. ;)

Home <3

Yesterday we made karjalanpiirakka with another Finnish girl who lives here in Wroclaw. We were both newbies in this, and a bit nervous how they're gonna look like. For some reason everybody, including us, thinks that karjalanpiirakka is really hard to make, when in reality it's easier than korvapuusti. Ours turned out very nicely, and the taste was also authentic. :)

 Today (Sunday) we had our, already traditional "Hotel Breakfast Noora's & Wolfi's Style". I'm not sure if you already know, but we both are breakfast freaks and nothing makes us happier than a huge breakfast buffet. So after last summer's travels, we decided to bring some luxury to weekend mornings at home by having yummy breakfast. Usually we have quite basic stuff like bread, toast, milk bread (kinda like pulla), ham, cheese, perfectly boiled eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice, jams, Nutella and cappuccino. Once or twice I have also made pancakes. Nam nam.

 

After breakfast we went to cinema to see "Lo Imposible": movie that tells a story of one family that survived the tsunami in Thailand. The movie was obviously very touching, and the actors, especially kids, were amazing. I would definetely recommend the movie, even I had to close my eyes couple of times.

And what could be perfect ending for this perfect sunday? Sushi! So we had sushi-dinner to celebrate my new job (that starts tomorrow, yaiks). And boy, it was gooood.

P.S. I wanted to go to this sushi place only because of the lamps in the ceiling. They look so pretty and I definetely want to have those in our home someday. Luckily also the sushi was delicious. ;)

*Quote by William Arthur Ward

Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there someday.*

Today might be the last day of my housegirlfriending career, at least for now. Might be because I still don't know when can I actually start working, since they need to do some administrative stuff... But I do know that on Monday I will have something called onboarding day. And I'm so excited! This is my first office job, and also first job where I get to wear my own clothes. I have been going thru my closet to see if I own anything "business casual". I think I might have to do a little bit of shopping, but spending money on professional look is totally acceptable, right?

Usually I have been total nerve wreck before starting a new job, because I have bad habit of imagining worst case scenarios. When I was working as waitress it was easy to get swallowed by these terrible what-if situations, because I could think of endless amount of them. But now I am only eager to see what's gonna happen since I have no idea how it could be. How refreshing. :) 

My last day of unemployment has been very lazy: watching Gossip Girl, facebooking and doing some yoga. I'm definetely gonna miss this relaxing life, but I think change is good, and I'm too young and healthy to live like a retired person anyway. We'll see how it will be, our life as a "normal real life" couple. And my life as a office worker. Will I find myself missing serving tables? Or will I finally find my true calling? :D Actually I think I already found it: housewifing. Maybe I'll become real housewife American style someday. :P Meanwhile, let's try something else.

Some months ago I heard or read somewhere, that it takes 8 months to settle down and find your place in a new country. I can totally support this theory. On 14th of February I have been here 8 months, and finally I feel like everything will work out, and this is my life. It is a long time, but when you really want something you are always ready to wait a little bit more. So I guess the message is to be patient and not give up. :)


Quote by A. A. Milne

Second chance.

Last Saturday morning we drove to the mountains south from Wroclaw. We were suppose to spend three nights in a skiing resort called Czarna Gora. For the last two weeks I was waiting for this trip - with fear and anxiety. You see, I have only been skiing once in my adult life, and that was one of the most terrifying experiences in my life. This last time happened in Espoo, where we don't have mountains, and I would not be suprised if this hill there is human made. So you can imagine how felt when we were driving more and more up to the mountain...And this is not even a big mountain, I heard.

 But when I saw the smaller slopes and all the beginners there, I became a bit more confident. If they can do it, I can do it! After some training in the kids slope, we moved to a bit bigger one. After first day off skiing, my ass hurt like hell, because I fell when I was coming out from the lift. But I was still alive, without broken bones and well enough to try again next day. On the second day, I was starting to enjoy myself and on the third day I would not want to stop at all. Something I never believed would be possible - Noora who likes winter sports!

Now the only question is when can we go again? ;)