One Month In...

             Islands in the archipelago

                     Mark heading off to work

     Baked local salmon (and chef)

               A church in Naantali 

       Beautiful street in Rauma, built in the 1700's

Well it's been a month in Turku and there's been quite a bit going on, combined with a lot of chilling out and exploring. February is the coldest month and it's got down to minus 20 (and not over yet!!) The Finnish word for Feb means 'Pearl month' because of the snow- it suddenly got amazingly sparkly and glistens as it falls. 

Mark's been working pretty hard and even has his name on his office door. The others in the Cultural History Department are great and we've had a few nights out with them. I've befriended the social work department here at the uni, just in time to go to their annual research conference last week. I've also enrolled in a course on working with families in the Finnish system- most exciting to find such a course in english!

Highlights have been Mark's department having their annual planning meeting on the 10th floor of a ferry! I went along and while Mark sat in a conference room I shopped duty free, ate and saw a live band. Best ferry ever! It was a 12 hour trip through the archipelago (20 000 islands) towards Sweden- absolutely beautiful.

We've also heard a local choir in the cathedral, visited the amazing Turku Castle which was built in the 1200's, gone to the art museum, and done some trips to really beautiful old towns up the coast. It's been great going to some local churches, Mark is a bit excited about doing a blog entry about that so will leave it for him. There are great places to eat round here, and Mark's also mastered the art of buying local fish. I've found the best coffee place in town, now we just need the Aussie Dollar to improve a bit so a coffee doesn't cost $8!! 

Language issues continue, and by popular demand I will keep telling you crazy stories about us stuffing up in Finnish. My personal favourite involved Mark cleverly ordering us hot dogs in Finnish and when they arrived he realised he'd ordered them without the bun!! Much hilarity, and his 'greatest regret in Finland so far'.

That's all for now, much love from us xo

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