Finland part 1

I have long planned to write about Finland, in some different ways which will be memorable to us in the future. Of course it's beneficial to observe and replicate what is good for us. Finland is a modern country, and most of the population is the member of Evangelical Lutheran Church. Muslim and other religion comprised a little more than 1%. (The percentage- I took it from Wikipedia).

Finland, or Suomi ( in Finnish language) is the place where Nokia was born. I bet most of you guys didn't know it until now right? :) I knew it when we (my husband and I) decided to come to Finland to further our study. Why Finland? Well that's a different story :)

With its extreme winter (with -20 degree at worst), you can imagine how we at first cope with that. Compared to Malaysia with its warm weather all the year, we were very much 'frozen'. In addition to that cold, icy and crispy winter, the sunlight was rarely seen especially in December and January, which added more to our miserable depression. At that very time, lights were switched on regardless of day and night in our little house.

During those dark and frozen days, I realized that it's not wise to keep on being a depressed person. As a Muslim, the important medicine to all this depression-related things is to be nearer to Allah. I knew it is His plan for us with that kind of weather, to seek for His guidance and be closer to Him, begging for His forgiveness and praying that He will grand us peace of mind and happiness. Every time I complained, I realized it's not the way I should react. But being a human being, I easily forgot that and kept on moaning. Ya Allah, please forgive me...:(

Despite its chilly winter, and the need to wear all that thick, buggy clothes, my kids do love winter. They could play with the snow and skate on the ice. We have been here for 3 years, and my kids had started complaining of the warm weather when it was spring, summer and autumn on our second year here! (I have to keep reminding my kids not to complain too much about the weather or everything else and we have to be thankful to Allah, always). Probably they heard all the sighs from me :( Bad examples!!

Its 4 seasons and the extreme difference (sometime) between the winter and the summer make the life here somehow interesting. When it was very cold, you wish the summer is coming soon, and when you were sweating in a warm summer, you wish the cold wind will pass you by. Hehe..people won't easily get satisfied, but every second we have to remember to be thankful to Allah for all the wonderful things He has granted us, alhamdulillah:)

The winter will slowly (hmm not that slow, it usually lasts about 5 months) go and then the spring comes.  During this 3 years, I could say that spring time in Finland does not mean that we would see flowers blooming here and there. It's the rising in temperature and the melting of the snow. But for me, the soft touch of the wind to your skin and the mild sun shine is just perfect. I love the smell of the air in the spring, but not when it comes to the spreading of the pollen! :) (I will sneeze non-stop till I get my pill). And again, all praise to Allah for the wonderful moment of spring every year :)

I would say summer is the most favourite season for Finnish people. They could enjoy the sun very much and they would take at least one month vacation, likely to their summer cottage. For us, who always miss Malaysia and its weather, summer time is a season which will remind us of the environment there. And it's fairly easy to cope, no snow boot (but sometime you need rain boot because it could be rainy), no jacket etc. We could wear the same attire which we use in Malaysia. And my kids will shout it with joy: " Yeayyy..boleh pakai selipar bila nak keluar!!" Hehehe for you it may sound overreacting, but we could only wear slippers during this short (3 months or less) summer season:) And the kids will ask us to go and buy nice sandals for them. Zahirah would want the princess-girly type, while Sakinah would choose cool-easy-simple style of sandals. :) Alhamdulillah for the joyful summer!

Now, in this month or in the early of next month, the official autumn is coming. All the leaves will turn yellow and slowly they will fall off from the tree. Finnish people called it 'ruska'. To those who like photography, this period of time is perfect for them. The colourful and magnificent scene will make your heart blooming, and sensational feeling of admiration to the creator (Allah SWT) will creep in yourself. It will be beautiful in its own way. I am not a photography-crazy woman, but probably I could take a chance this year to capture the beautiful scene, insyaAllah:)

Being in Finland and experiencing these colourful seasons is among the beautiful things which we have gone through. Of course there's hurdles here and there when we experienced all these seasons previously, but I want to be a more positive person, especially regarding the changing seasons here in Finland. I know it's from Allah, and I should not look it from negative sides :)

Let's enjoy and be thankful to Allah for everything! :)