Day 4 in Helsinki

I need a body lotion with extra moisture, and an extra pair of hands to apply it to my back. The air is cold and dry here, I have to use body lotion twice a day, each time after shower. Yes, I still take 2 showers per day, one in the morning and one at night. It's logical though, cos hot showers warm up my body, making it easier for me to move around comfortably for the rest of the day. But on the other hand, it makes my skin drier. Therefore the need for extra moisture body lotion and face moisturiser.

I also have dried blood in my nose. This happens everytime I go to a colder country. It's decreasing gradually now, but I still wake up to find dried blood in my nose. Has anyone experienced this before?

I really wanted to make muffins today as snacks for the kids. But I thought that would need more ingredients and I probably won't have some at home and would have to walk to Prisma again. So I thought maybe I'll just make lasagna. Recipe at the back of the box was in Finnish. Fret not, for Google is my friend ;) But still, Google doesn't know every single word or abbreviation =(

So I made kuih kodok in the end. Searched for plain flour and found two packets of flour, one with a picture of bread and the other with corn. I'm guessing the latter is corn flour but wasn't sure if the bread picture which said 'puolikarkea vehnäjauho' is flour for bread like flour for pau :P Still, Google is my friend. Those Finnish words meant 'semi-course wheat flour'. Woohoo!

It's my first time making kuih kodok in my life cos it's so easily available anywhere at 4pm and thank God it turned out well, except the bananas are not sweet enough. It's actually very easy to make. Just mashed up bananas, flour, egg, water and a pinch of salt. With basic knowledge of cooking, it's not hard at all. Otherwise, you're just a plain bimbo. Bwahaha. Anyway, the kids loved it =D

Made some yoghurt dessert out of piparkakkuja (Christmas gingerbread cookies) in replacement of digestive biscuits, maito rahka (milk pudding), plain yoghurt, frozen raspberries and blueberries. It's basically 3 layers of all these; biscuits at the bottom, a big dollop of yoghurt, topped with mixed berries in a cup, store in the freezer for a while and served icy cold. Good stuff for a hot day. Eemil loved it, but the younger two did not =( But I'm happy cos Eemil asked for a second serving =)

Eemil went to night school today. It's some end of school year party organised by his class. They'll eat, dance, play Texas Hold 'em, and sleepover in school; while Eliel and Helmi went to Helsinki for some rock concert as their end year party. Oh yea, the Finnish like rock music. Maybe I'll get more exposed to the music scene later.

Dinner was Chinese food today, bought home by Anu from a Chinese restaurant. Prawns and chicken cooked in almost the same type of gravy, and fried chicken balls like ayam goreng tepung. I was the only one eating rice with spoon and fork. The rest were using just a fork. Hmm, caucasians :P Oh and I made noodles for Helmi today and casually asked if she knew how to use chopsticks. It was so cute to watch her decipher the words in her mind and trying to use chopsticks but she managed it quite well.

Today, I saw the tantrums and the screaming and the hitting from the kids. Not forgetting the-spread-all-their-things-everywhere-and-not-picking-them-up. Yea, I probably spoke too soon. Kids will still be kids. But the parents do not really scold or yell at them. Well, they probably scold by saying something but I wouldn't know since it's not in English. But the tone of their voices are usually soft. Back at home, we have something called the cane.

The kids were still quite energetic by 9pm. I was dragged into playing a Jenga-like game when I really wanted to take a shower and just chill:

Helmi: *rolls dice* Blue!
Eliel: my turn! *rolls dice* Yellow!
Helmi: Let's play dominoes!
Eliel: Julia, look!
Helmi: I want to do this! Julia, look!
Me: Wow, that looks good! Haha that's fun! *after a while* Aren't you guys tired?
E&H: Nooo.....
Me: Omggg....
Helmi: You're tired.
Me: Yes I am.
Helmi: Why?
Me: Cos I'm 25, not 8 =(