Settling In

It's been a tumultuous first few weeks back. The Supple Scientist and I have been waiting for all sorts of news...conferences, resident permits, research proposals. Big stuff that will define the next few months.

Upon arrival I began filling my days with little projects and errands and baking (yes, BAKING - that is NOT me) Of course the baking was born of homesickness. Finding food is a monumental task for me, a picky semi-vegetarian, at the best of times...but add to that a teeny tiny oven, limited crockery, and food package ingredient lists, nutritional info. and directions for use in a foreign language...I'm not complaining, these are just the challenges. Not to mention my recipe books are in imperial and my measuring cups/oven is in metric and so baking and cooking involves more math than it reasonably should! I began yearning for something...the next thing I knew I busy baking mom's apple crisp. Ahhh, the aroma of cinnamon and a warm crumbly bite of home. I took a step back and said, "It's only been three weeks since you left the cloistered realm of mom, dad, brothers, grandma (the coolest woman in the world) and best friends...go easy on yourself. Curl up with a good book and count your blessings. The pet bunny made it here and that's a very major blessing. She's an EU citizen now. There are benefits to that for her future travel! So while the following list may seem to be comprised of several negative incidents and one positive, these are just the things that I found interesting enough to relate. Many good things happen each day. Rest assured.

In my first 3 weeks back:

• A young boy held up a (very realistic) toy semi-automatic and fired it at me repeatedly as I was jogging down the street towards him. It made a popping noise that startled me badly. He continued to "shoot" me all the way down the street with a frightening blank expression on his face.


• One evening we heard thumping on the roof outside our windows. I walked to the window and pulled the curtain open and before me was a naked man prancing around holding a bottle of beer. Our neighbour.


• We called the police for the first time. At 3 am one night, I awoke to loud shouting and pounding in the hall. Someone was kicking one of the doors in our hall. These two men were also screaming. I wish I knew what they were saying. It was frightening not knowing the situation. The next day we got an apology note. From. Our. Neighbour. (I had bad neighbours in Canada, why not here? Although, once upon a time I had a lovely senior lady next door who watered my plants for me whenever I went out of town and chatted up anyone who knocked on my door).


• I attended an English Comedy night. The Finnish comedians were great (except for the one that did all the punch lines in Finnish). The show featured an extremely crude guest comedian from Canada. I have never been so embarrassed to be Canadian. Enough said.


• I listened to my first sermon from a female pastor. Actually, my first sermon from a Finnish pastor. Actually, my first Lutheran sermon. Rock on.