Back to school

Today is the back to school day for many kids in Finland. In Texas they still get a week off or so, although their teachers had Convocation starting today.

Convocation are all the meetings teachers have before school starts.

At the college, we don’t have Convocation until next weeks Wednesday and classes start the Monday after. That means that I’m still off for another 1.5 week! 💪

Anyway, back to back to school.

Every year there are posts in social media that encourage people to take extra care in traffic when school starts, due to kids walking to school (at least in Finland). There aren’t usually many incidents per year, but unfortunately they do happen – those sad situations when kids are injured in traffic. So if you’re getting behind the wheel, please keep an extra eye out for small kids, since they know less of traffic than you do (hopefully.. if not, maybe you should take a couple of driving lessons).

In Finland kids can walk to school as young as first graders or take the local bus (which means that there’s a working local traffic system). Here in Texas, kids are mainly driven to school, there’s not much of transportation. There is a school bus system (the famous yellow busses from all the movies). A fair amount of kids are still getting dropped off by parents and needless to say, the rush hours around the schools can get pretty craaaazy. Finno people, you ain’t seen nothing!!

The police in Finland is doing a fairly good job at making themselves visible in the traffic, making sure crossovers are safe. They should be, but unfortunately drivers don’t always give the right away to pedestrians and this is sadly where a lot of the accidents take place – the one place where you should be safe crossing the street.

Right now, there has already been five different posts on the Helsinki police facebook page, promoting carefulness in traffic.

So, slow down and let the kids pass safely!

Another thing that I wanted to point out now that school is starting, is bullying.

D O N O T B E A B U L L Y .

If you see someone get bullied, report it and help the victim. There is no heroism in bullying, but there is heroism in interfering.

The police in Finland has also had big campaigns in the past years about bullying, reminding that it is against the law.

Lastly, I want to talk about a really sad aspect of school start (like the previous two weren’t depressing).

Bulletproof backpacks for kids.

You read that right. And from what I saw, the sales have increased a lot due to the past weeks events. What a sad world we live in, that these kind of items need to exit. Our children should be able to go to school feeling safe, not wearing bulletproof backpacks and have lockdown drills.

Regardless of these depressing aspects (sorry), I want to wish all kids a good school start, and best of luck to all you educators out there! You are doing an amazing job, that you are not paid nearly enough for, nor do you get as much credit as you should, but without you, our society wouldn’t be what it is.

CC

Texas sunsets

One thing that I love about Texas, are the stunning sunsets it provides. We are lucky that the sunset is most of the year visible in our backyard (some weeks the neighbors house is in the way, dang neighbors, j/k). During the past years I have managed to catch a few of those beautiful moments. Capturing them is not always easy, since the sun sets fast here (you can ask my mom, if you don’t believe me). Below are a few pictures.

To the left on the horizon you can make out a known landmark in the area, called the sleeping lady. Or maybe you can’t. I can, but I also know what to look for. Maybe it’s easier to distinguish in this picture:

Anyway, moving on. This one is from the gym, where Hector teaches tumbling and martial arts.

And so is this one:

We’re not often out by the lake during sunsets, but we happened to pass once. Oh, and it was that time when my friend came down for new year and it ended up being colder here, lol. Well, we did have sunshine at some point!

Then to our backyard. The following pictures are all from different occasions.

As you can tell, we have our very own Corcovado in the backyard!

Sometimes Corcovado is inhabited. 😉

These pictures have all been taken during the “winter months “, December-March. Now that happens to be some of the better months to visit, for Finns at least, so if you’re planning a trip, you might get a chance to enjoy some of these beautiful sunsets!

Have a good one everyone!

CC

Combating the heat and staying sane

Changing from a comfortable +20°C to the fires of hell (106F, +41°C!) can be a bit of a struggle. Especially if you love being outdoors, like I do. Adjusting from Finland to Del Rio has not been easy. I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends back in Finland and I’ve been pretty homesick to be honest. And mentioned above, the heat is quite rough here during the summer months. In order to stay sane, what I’ve been doing, is getting out in the mornings.

Due to the fact that the little one gets up around 6-7am, because of jetlag, it’s been easy to be out of the door by 8am. So we’ve taken the time to go on “refreshing” morning walks. Or not so refreshing, since I come back all sweaty due to a lovely +28°C (82F, that one is easy to remember, the rest I still have to google. Sorry, not getting used to Farenheit…) But still, we are getting out, getting a bit of sun and Vitamin D, which helps keep my sanity. (Not the Vitamin D, but being outdoors. But who knows, maybe Vitamin D also helps with sanity? 🤣)

Anyway, I can’t sit indoors the whole day. We’ve also taken the time to play outside in the backyard in the baby pool and slide.

Trying to make the best of the situation. The summers here are kind of like the winters in Finland – the time of the year that is spent mostly indoors. Fall, winter and spring are awesome here. No snow and ice. Except that one New Year when my friend came down from Finland and it ended up being colder here than in Helsinki. 😂 So typical. Part from that incident, winters are awesome! Anywhere between October and April are good months to visit, if you’re planning a visit to Texas!

Right now, kiddo needs her oatmeal and then it’s bedtime for her, and probably me too. Still jetlagged and she still gets up at 6-7am! No wild Friday night for me!!

Good night everyone!

Update on Saturday morning:

This week we’ve walked a total of 11.2 miles! My friend google tells me that is 18km (honestly, the empirical system is so confusing). Fairly good in my opinion, for being morning walks and with a heat advisory in effect.

Today it was partially cloudy, which made it “nice and cool”. Don’t get me wrong, it was still hot to be working out (my walks tend to more of the power walk sort, few people like walking with me because of my pace).

I want to point out, that with the heat advisory in effect, I am taking proper measures to keep myself and the little one safe. We are both wearing 50spf, I have a bottle for each so we’re staying hydrated and she’s mostly in the shade thanks to the stroller. Just an fyi, if someone would be doubting it.

Have a good weekend everyone and stay safe in the heat! Hydrate!

CC

It’s been a while, huh.

Time sure flies. My last entry was 2,5 years ago. So much has happened, I don’t even know where to start. First of all, I don’t yet know if I will be writing on a more regular basis or if this is just a sporadic “let me write some shit down” event. We will see I guess.

So much has happened in our lives in the past 2,5 years. Oliver is still with us, doing awesome. Everyone that meets him loves him. He is just the best dog, ever. Except when he licks your hand or legs, or wants to sit on your foot or sniffs your crotch. Man he is a crotch sniffer. 😂

Moving on from Oliver. During my 2,5 year silence, I have been pregnant and I am now the proud mother of a beautiful little baby girl, that is honestly not so little anymore. She is almost 15 months, growing by the day and busy exploring the world around her. We just got back from Finland a week ago, where her and I spent 6 weeks, and her father joined us for the last 10 days.

As for work, I’ve been working at the local junior college, teaching biology for the past 2 years now. The road to work is only 5 minutes, which is awesome. Also, as faculty, we work 30hrs/week, 18hrs teaching and 12 office hours, which gives me more time to spend with my little one.

That’s a (very) short summary on what’s happened in the past years. As I said, I don’t know if I will be writing more regularly or not. I often have a lot to say (no, really, me!?) and since I don’t have that many friends to talk to on a daily basis here in Del Rio, I might as well get my thoughts out some other way.

CC

Gingerbreads and 1st of advent

For me gingerbreads are a very important part of Christmas. I’ve made gingerbreads every year since I was a child, so it’s tradition. I have always bought the dough, because it’s the easiest way to get a good dough. I’ve understood that it’s not easy to get the right consistency with a home made dough. Since I’m living abroad, I can’t really buy Myllyn Paras or Sunnuntai, so had to make it myself. I checked some Swedish and Finnish recipes and then I finally settled for this one. It was quite easy to make, getting the flour in required some muscle, but that’s what you have hubby for, right? 😄

The dough I made yesterday, since it has to rest overnight in the fridge. Today, me and hubby, got to work and baked some gingerbreads. I was astonished, and happy, that the dough was perfect – not too sticky nor too dry, but, perfect ! And the gingerbreads came out crunchy and yummy!

Cooking syrup, sugar and spices.

The dough this morning.

Rolling it out.

Dinosaurs are really Christmasie, right??

Hubby at work!

5-7 min in 360F.

Lots and lots of gingerbread! Yummy!

Next up – gingerbread house!

CC

Seminole Canyon

Today we visited another landmark in southwest Texas, Seminole Canyon. It is a canyon, formed by erosion due to water and air, where there has been settlement some 4000 years ago. The canyon walls are famous for their rock art, made by the prehistoric humans. 

Fossils in the rock.

CC

Caverns of Sonora

Yesterday we did a trip to the Caverns of Sonora in Rocksprings. The caverns are really something worth seeing. The guided tour is ~2 hrs long and costs $20.00/person. The caverns formed due to volcanic action millions of years ago. The caverns, or pockets, formed due to gases erupting during the volcanic activity. They have then been modified by water and air ever since. The bedrock is limestone, which means that it solubles easily in water and acid liquids. That means that water may leak through the stone quite easy forming beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. Other formations in the cavern are due to water level drops during different times, leaving different layers covered with water or exposed to air.

Some of the scenery was almost magical. The pictures don’t do it any justice! It was hard to get good pictures in the dim light. You need to take a look at it in person to really be able to appreciate it’s beauty.

This part felt almost like the Mount Doom in Middle Earth.
I was almost waiting for the orcs to start crawling out, lol.

The shadows in the ceiling looks like a mask.

Cauliflower or popcorn on the left, lol.

I don’t care what anyone else says – there’s clearly a fossilized dinosaur head there!

Stone formations.

Geode crystals that formed in air pockets.

Cavern.

Stalactites and stalagmites.

A small pond.

It’s amazing that nature can produce all these formations.

Underground lake. This water is drinkable!

Winter wonderland!

White stone rose.

You can see the line where the water level was  at some point, before it lowered even more.

This is the part where I started feeling that I was part of Alien or something. Looks a bit freakish…

…and it continued. Time to get back on Earth!

CC

Alien’s log: Alimentation

After living half a year in the new world, I have grown increasingly accustomed to what it has to provide alimentwise. There are a few things that I have found particularly interesting.

For years I’ve aimed to make better choices. Where I’ve could, I’ve chosen Fair Trade, organic or local products. This has been fairly doable in the native land (read: Finland), although it has definitely been a heavier load on the wallet.

Living in this new world, with its own legislation, provides some new aspects to the whole shopping puzzle.

     GMO / NON-GMO

GMO = gene modification

In Finland, and Europe in general, GMOs are not really common. Because they are not allowed! Well, not at least in the way they are used over here.

I know that almost all crops and plants today have been modified in some way – that’s a given. Even Mendel’s experiment with peas back in the 19th century  was gene modification. But I still feel that there is a difference between what the industry is producing here, compared to what you can find on the market in Europe.

Therefore I’m constantly searching for products that bear a NON-GMO logo. I prefer less tempered food, that hopefully is cleaner and better for me and my family.

      Gluten Free

Now this is very interesting! Gluten free food has almost been like a new fashion movement in the past few years. Here, as in Finland, products that don’t contain gluten have a gluten free logo, like pasta, cookies, ice cream, bread, wait, what? Ice cream? Why would that have gluten in the first place?? Well, apparently the industry adds gluten to many products to make them somehow better. Whatever that means…

        Organic food

Organic food can be found in stores, but it’s obviously pricier. I would love to see a bit more organic fruit and vegetables in the assortment. I choose organic products whenever I can.

Grass fed meat

Beef has a special mention on the package if it has been fed with grass, so that’s apparently the better choice you can make regarding red meat. I just wonder what on earth the other cows are eating, if they don’t eat grass…

And having tried the grass fed meat, I have to say I’m not entirely thrilled. It has been packed so tightly in the package that it’s easily chewy, which is very unfortunate. I once made meatballs of it and they turned out way too dry…

But, at least they are trying.

No added growth hormones
No antibiotics
Vegetable fed

This is the scary part. A lot of meat have big labels with no added growth hormones, no antibiotics, vegetable fed and what not. Needless to say, I  try to avoid meat or dairy products that lack any of these statements. It just makes you wonder what the poor animals are fed and how they are raised…

Origin of food

Where I come from, the store is obligated to provide the source of the product. That means that you as a consumer know where your food comes from (more or less). For fruit and vegetables, that means country of origin on the price tag. For meat, it can be as precise as the farm where the animal was raised. Here you can barely find where your tomatoes or apples come from, which feels odd for someone who’s used to knowing where their food was produced.

Conclusions

As it is, I aim for healthy living, which includes healthy eating. To reduce the amount of toxins, chemicals and medications in my food and in my body, I choose non-gmo, organic, fair trade, etc – whenever I can. It might be a heavier load on the wallet, but I feel it’s worth it.

CC

 

More on the topic:

NON-GMO

USDA ORGANIC

THE GLUTEN INTOLERENCE GROUP

FDA GLUTEN

 

Halloween

Halloween is a big celebration here in the States. We decided to do Trick or Treat, well, not tp go trick or treating, but to hand out candy to kids.

I personally really enjoy Halloween, all the decorations, the spirit and the planning  and preparations for a Halloween dinner.

My first pumpkin carving ever! I think I did quite a good job, lol.

We had a nice dinner at home with the family, and after that Mia and her friend went trick or treating for a while. Meanwhile we gave candy to all kids who dared knock on our door, lol.

Our pumpkins. Mine on the left and Mia’s on the right.

Keep out or…

Our basement.

The graveyard.

Hector wanted to be Jason, so that’s what he did…lol. And for some reason he always wanted to scare the kids by killing me. Thanks a lot honey. 😉

Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of our dinner. I totally forgot! Well, next year… And next year I might throw a party – for adults this time!! 😉😄🍻

Btw, we gave out almost a bucket full of candy! And that wasn’t apparently even that much! 😨 But it was fun! And to see all the kids dressed up – wow! Some amazing outfits!!

CC

Good news!

It’s been some time since my last post – like a month or so!! I’ve just been busy. So here’s some good  news:

I have received my work and travel permit. I have gotten my social security number. We also closed on the house a month ago and we’ve finally settled in. I also took a trip to New York in between. And now my mom’s here visiting for a month. So a lot has been going on!

Anyway, just wanted to give you an update – since it’s been quite a lot because of all the bureaucracy.

Now we have a house with two extra rooms, so friends and family are welcome to pay us a visit  at any time! 😊

Many have asked for pictures about the house, so here you go. It’s a small humble home with 4 bedroom and 3 bathroom. Very humble indeed. Very Texans, lol. And I love it. 💖💖💖

The house.

The kitchen.

The kitchen table.

The living room.

The dining table.

The patio.

We still need to buy outside furniture. Apparently the season is over, so I haven’t been able to locate any on sale.

The guestroom. Lovely purple, lol.

My jacuzzi and bathroom. 💖

My walk-in closet. 💜
Very American, yes, lol.

As I said earlier – family and friends: you’re more than welcome to pay us a visit! The weather is perfect right now! And it’s going to remain perfect until May. Well, at least in any Finnish measurement. 😉

CC