Travelog for: Roo

"for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts" (from here)


A former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari was rewarded today with Nobel Peace Prize! The whole nation is proud of this achievement! My host ordered a First Day Cover after a long pause - and some mint Ahtisaari stamps. She says this is a day to remember  I bet the banquet in Norway was astonishing! I would've loved to see all the dresses and the royals!

Today we went to the Elf Workshop again, with a slightly different assembly. The kids made different sorts of stuff and my host got all excited about blackboard paint 
She wants to buy the stuff and paint several doors in the house - or even a wall! 


I got excited about meeting Santa Claus! And Mrs. Claus! He asked if I had been a good kangaroo and I said yes... I hope the elves don't tell him different!

Today we baked gingerbread cookies! First we chose the moulds; there were traditional figures (those that are red) and some Moomin but we decided to use only the special new ones! We used frog, hedgehog, unicorn, cat, puzzle piece, penguin, butterfly and falling star 

Then we took the dough out of the freezer and waited for it to melt. Then we started working! I rolled the dough and the guys (Alfie and Gary) rolled the dough. It's really hard when the dough is still a bit frozen...

I'm not hugging Gary! He's just giving me a little support with the mould. We made tens of cookies! Alfie got a bit "floury" so we tried to dust him abit.

Then we put them in the oven and waited. We didn't get to taste any ready ones as my host said we would decorate them tomorrow!

Here we are in a park in the city center, attending a christmas party! They had that huge tent just in case it would start raining. Luckily it didn't. The local Lucia maidens visited the park and sang. Oh boyh they sang like angles!

Then we had some rice porridge and gingerbread cookies. I'm sure ours taste as good  They had a christmas tree in the middle of the park too. But no snow, sadly...

When we got back home from the christmas party we finally started decorating the gingerbread cookies! My host had made sugar coatings in different colors and bought some sweets. It was fun but messy! 

This is me with this year's gingerbread building. My host makes a different kind every year. She says this is a lighthouse and that she should do better. I tried to tell her that it's the taste that counts! Oh yeah, and don't make the mistake of thinking that the little part with yellow dot and bigger orange half-ball is a snail... It's a boat really. Trust me on this one 

Today we finally got to deacorate the tree and the house. There were so many pretty decorations to be put on the christmas tree! There were storebought glittery snowballs, selfmade glittery "gingerbread cookies", secondhand-bought  glossy balls that were exactly like the ones my host had when she was a kid... We got to climb on the tree too; me, Alfie and Gary. I think we made a pretty good job!

We also decorated the rest of the house. The kids had made some window decorations and there were also traditional red gnomes. Christmas is almoist here!

It's Christmas! Merry Christmas! Iloista joulua!

It's the last day of the christmas calendar too and me, Alfie and Gary decided to suprise our host/mentor by hopping in the pouches in the morning  She has felted the tree herself! The pouches were a bit too small for us - and Gary fell all the time 

When our host had "opened" her calendar (the kids had taken their stuff already) we went to cook christmas porridge! It's rice porridge but if you do it the traditional way you put an almond in it - the one who finds it while eating gets to make a wish! We didn't have any almonds   We didn't have cinnamon either, which is the other traditional part in serving christmas porridge. Luckily we did have sugar and milk at least  It was yummy!

After the porridge we sat and listened to Mamba, a finnish band, and their xmas album. My mentor had just bought it as they didn't have any Finnish xmas songs on cd before.

Next we made traditional christmas pastries with plum filling, yummy!

After eating the pastries we sat down to watch some tv. There was Shrek the Halls on telly! Puss in Boots is so funny 

After the show we went outdoors to get some fresh air - and experience the whiteness of the christmas! When we came in we had lunch: a non-traditional christmas lunch with burritos  For dessert we had the pastries and sweets.

Then we headed for sauna...

..when we got back from sauna we saw two huge bags on the balcony: Santa had visited us! He brought me something too! A cool magnet of Helsinki, the capitol that I have visited many times! Thank you Santa!

Merry Christmas! Iloista joulua!

This is New Year's Eve and me doing some magic  I melted the tin (horse shoe) and threw it into water. Then we look at the shadow that the blob makes... Mine looks like a sea horse! What does this mean... Do I get to go scubadiving? Or go sailing? Or on a vacation by the sea? Or do I meet a toyvoyager sea horse? I guess I just have to wait and see...

Happy New Year Everyone!
Love, Roo

It's so very cold here right now. -15C means -5F. My host and her girls put some warm clothes on and we walked to the beach. And then we kept walking on the Baltic sea! Now this is cool  The ice was very very thick believe me. Some crazy Finns even drove on it!