Apr 21
Easter (pääsiäinen) is a big deal in Finland. Maybe it’s because it’s a major religious holiday for Finland’s 4.2 million Lutherans (yes, that’s nearly 80% of the population), but it also marks the first holiday of spring and a sort of precursor or warm up, as far as I can tell, to the major party …
Mar 25
Like many American parents, I spent a great deal of time the past two years completely freaking out worrying about sending my children to school. Public school? Broken, underfunded, full of bullies, a little scary. Private school? Long commute, overpriced, not feasible, full of rich kids & drugs, a little scary. Home school? Holy shit. …
Feb 24
Considering what a huge role travel has played in my life, it was with a surprising amount of trepidation that I booked our Winter Break tickets to Paris. Trying to live in a foreign country with a four- and a six-year-old somehow felt less daunting to me than trying to enjoy a vacation in a …
Feb 08
On Tuesday, Fox News published an article by Dr. Manny Alvarez titled “English-Only Bills Are Not Unfair to Immigrants“. A friend posted it to her Facebook page, and I’ve been stewing about it ever since. I knew as soon as I read it that I disagreed strongly, emphatically, with his stance but it’s taken me …
Nov 17
One of the reasons that people who know me found our move to Helsinki so shocking is, I think, because we were moving from a very rural setting (town of ~2,000, huge yard, close to open space) to a totally urban setting. The shock increased when I told everyone that we intended to live in …
Nov 14
Yesterday, the kids & I arrived in Finland for good. A one-way ticket is always a little bit of a scary thing, but it didn’t really hit me until I checked in at the airport and the guy asked me when we were returning. I told him we weren’t, then proceeded to freak out a …
Oct 16
Yesterday, the kids & I flew to Helsinki to meet Matt. That means I was solo parenting for the kids’ first international flight, and that I had to deal with baggage, customs, and a 3+ hour layover in Frankfurt without assistance (beyond the lovely staff of Lufthansa, who were quite helpful). The kids were fabulous. …
Oct 10
For the third time in my life, I am about to leave the United States and move to another country. This time, I’m Helsinki bound (previous trips were to France & England). Unlike my previous two adventures, this time I’m not just uprooting myself, but my two young children. We leave for Helsinki next month …
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