180: Father's Day

Sunday, the 14th was Father's Day here in Finland. Anu organised a simple brunch and invited the grandparents. Also, it was my dad's birthday. So it was time to Skype my parents, who are in Perth at the moment. Ah, retired life. They have been there since end of September, if I remember correctly, and then they'll go back to Malaysia for a week before heading back to Perth again for some time. What they do there every day is basically morning walk, cook, clean, walk, and walk and walk. Oh well, it's good for them anyway.

Back to Father's Day. Apparently, it's a public holiday here as the stores were closed. And as usual, the person who's being celebrated (birthdays and etc.) gets breakfast in bed and cards first thing in the morning. And then the party later in the day. Nothing fancy this time. Just something casual.

The table, all set

Almost the whole spread of food

The dessert

The grandparents

Have I mentioned that Finland has got a pretty high divorce rate? I don't know the exact numbers or statistics but based on my personal experience at least, it sure seem like a common thing here. I know some of Helmi's friends' parents are divorced, some of my local friends' parents are too, and recently, one of the kids' uncles just got divorced too. And I knew it from Helmi, who just started talking about her aunt's new place and her cousin is sometimes at his mom's, sometimes at his dad's. My point is, an 8 year-old girl talking about separation like it's a norm to her. But common or not, it's still quite a sad news, cos I saw grandma crying while talking to the other grandma about it. Hey, they spoke in Finnish, but I can understand some now =)

On a lighter note, I went out on Friday night with Angie, her colleague, Joyce and a couple of her friends, all from China. We wanted to go to this club called The Tiger but was denied entry cos Joyce's friends were under 22. So we ended up at Jenny Woo bar, walked blindly into the gay area, stayed for a bit and then hopped to Huuma, another club nearby. To be honest, I didn't really like the place as it caters to a younger crowd (shit, either I'm old or the age limit is low), and the music was a weird mix.

Still, in the sea of white people, we manage to meet a random guy from Malaysia who was hanging out with his colleague from Japan. It's very interesting to see how two people traveled half the globe to meet. And the most interesting thing to me is that he's from Kampar, a very small town my parents are from. What are the odds!

Oh, and it snowed since last night and almost the whole of today. There was at least 2" thick of snow and the driving experience is absolutely different. It was like driving through a pile of dry slush. As the roads are icy, I skidded a little while making a turn at the roundabout and I wasn't even going fast.

7.30am

8.30am

Mr. Snowman

But it sure is a beautiful sight. Everything's white while the colours on the kids contrast the scenery, more snowball fights and snowman building, more snow angels and rolling on the snow. I've had my firsts on all these today. I made my first snow angel, I laid down on the soft and fluffy snow, I knelt down on the snow while making snowballs, I tried to roll a big one but failed, I watched the kids make a snowman and dress him up. Things like these, make my day =)