The last few days were filled with pleasant surprises and warmth (literally, too, this has got to be the warmest Christmas season Finland's ever known). I have one post to make in the Chamber of Secrets forum to become a Hogwarts graduate, to start with :p
OK, to cut long story short (as it's way too long) - went for a country trip with a Finnish family, crossed the thresholds of two lovely houses come straight from my dreams; one of them a fairy-tale house of utter perfection to the last little detail ("a doll house for adults", as Kari put it); visited a village school for 60 pupils containing more care and modernity than any in Sofia; had a pancake dinner and a sleepover at Zefi's; had an unexpected visit from Leila (who is SO sweet and lovely it's unbelievable) and generally was forced to feet quite acutely the loss I'm in for in little more than a week.
If anyone is interested in reading the longer version (complete with detailed descriptions of mentioned houses and much lauding of this marvellous country), it's in the comments section.
Tomorrow is New year's eve and then I begin to pack and get ready to leave. And thus ends my December, my stay and my year. Have a spectacular New year's and see you on the other side! *kisses*
Here goes:
ReplyDeleteThe day before yeasterday Ewelina's friendship family, Maija and Kari, took me, Ewelina and Zefi to Maija's village. We visited her parents - her mother, who is 64, if I understood correctly, speaks English very well. They treated us to Christmas glogi, gingerbread cookies, a kind of unripe cheese and Christmas cake. Their house is beautiful! It's traditionally red and white, on two floors, and had a spacious living room complete with a kitchen a stone fireplace on the right and a vast library on the left - needless to say, exactly like in my dream house, described so many times in school essays and bedtime reveries. The living room was brightly lit and sprinkled with Christmas decoration all over - very neat and Finnish; and the library had a carefully arranged collection of volumes lining three walls. Everything was wooden (even the bathroom) and textile, and so pretty, you never want to take your butt off the sofa.
But if their real house was an eye candy inside and out, you should see their little cottage across the lane - as Kari said, a doll house for adults. Pure delight!!! Two storeys, blue from the outside, and a fairy tale lodging on the inside. Although it's uninhabited, it was lit and had own Christmas tree, decoration on the windows, ceiling, walls, mantlepiece, etc. Every object, every little detail inside was in tone with the whole fairy air of the cottage - to name a few, a chandelier with real candles above the table; what looked like tall cages for exotic birds in the hall; a huge stone fireplace; old-fashioned hanger for cups with delicate whote-and-blue cups perched on the hooks, right above a very old heavy stove of the kind my grandmother had in her kitchen; whitewashed and blue wooden cupboards - one of them painted by Maija's sister; a ceiling lamp made by an old kettle with little squares cut like a chessboard in it (my personal favourite). The second floor was filled with old toys and miniature furniture - again as if taken straight from my dreams - and had the most adorable little niche by the arch window, just big enough for a child and a doll, with a small rocking-chair and a minute cupboard for little toys and children's books. On every surface and in every unique pieces of handicrafts (made by the family) were scattered, and on a littel table by the window, behind the Christmas tree, there was the Nativity scene in miniature, made by wooden figurines of Mary holding the baby Jesus, Joseph, the shepherds and their livestock. It was like a museum of childhood, like a house taken from an old book and magically materialized in the real world. Aaaand we had no camera to illustrate what I'm trying to describe now. *sigh*
Then we went to the village school which showed me graphically why Finland is such a perfect country with lovely people whilst Bulgaria is heavy with anger and bitterness. You can hardly grow up in an environment which wreaks care in every detail and not become a decent human being. The whole school, like prety much everything in Finland, is completely "user-friendly". You could see that every decision in these buildings has been made with the children in mind. It's cosy, practical, modern and pretty. In a Finnish village of 200 inhabitants the school is more modern than all the schools in Sofia. Books, cartoons, hangers for clothes and shoes with wooden dolls or painted animals, room for arts, room for music, room for weaving, room for crafts, computer room, cafeteria, etc. - everything new, clean, tidy and decorated with utmost care. It must be a pleasure to both students and teachers. And of course I have no doubt that teachers are as perfect as their school, and indeed, their whole country.
Ah, enough with the swooning over Perfectland. I'm sure there are flaws and peeves as everywhere else, just not immediately visible. The rest of the pleasant things are pancake dinner at Zefi's; an unexpected visitor whom I thought I wouldn't see very soon if ever (Leila; she made me so happy, and brought me a big scented Christmas candle!); and the prospect of probably going to Amsterdam after all (still pending in a very insecure fashion).