lunes, 29 de agosto de 2011

As a dandelion


This is how I feel. Like a Dandelion that loses its leaves without any option to avoid it.

Sin tiempo

Without time.

With a thousand of ideas, projects in my mind, willing to take more pictures, to learn more things, but without time for starting anything.

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I know that this is not permanent, that we need organisation and this will pass, but in the meanwhile, I will let it go.

I am going to enjoy the great moments of my life,

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(In the zoo. Do you know a happier boy?)

I am going to learn how to live with my errors, at least those not so important


(We spend Sunday with Ruth and her family.
I took the camera, but without a card inside.
At least, I took my phone)

I am going to enjoy small things in life

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(This pillow case is one of the things we bought the other day.
Even the tag is beautiful.)

This is one of the things I promised to show you. This is Pol's present from the daycare.

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Isn't it a cute card?

Another day, I will explain you how I have created Pol's tag for the school clothes. Other day, When I have more time and better light to take pictures.

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Now we are going to sleep.

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Good night

miércoles, 24 de agosto de 2011

Surprising Helsinki


If there is one reason why we miss Barcelona, it's because here, in Helsinki, we cannot find so many alternative events.

Barcelona has its pulgas mix, its festivalet and many other activities that without any announcement you can find easily having a walk any day of the week.

Maybe it is the language, maybe everything here is so well organised that you need an invitation or being part of a group for finding them. It could be every of these reasons or none of them. I do not know.

What I know is that we love this type of events and it seems, at least to us, that a city is not a City if it is not able to surprise you.

But I am very happy to admit that this is changing now.

On Friday, having a walk in the center, we found this:

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As Autumn and his lack of light is coming, the city of Helsinki organises the Night of the Arts. The idea is enjoying the last long days with concerts, performances, art, open doors and many other surprises.

I love how they explain it: "The night is an opportunity to be surprised and delighted, make discoveries, get lost and fall in love! See an open door? Take a look inside. Hear distant music? Follow it. Forget about a plan, find your own path through serendipity and chance. Tonight, the city is all yours, along with a rich programme of free events. Where will you end up?"

And that "animal" that you can see above will be part of the night of the arts.

That "animal" and many other you can build yourself. There are workshops all around the city where you can build a wolf, a bear, an eagle, a fish and many other species.

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The day I took these pictures we were on a hurry, but tomorrow I want to join one of these workshops and build something for Pol.

I love the eagles but, is there something more Finish than a moose? Next time I will explain you how was everything. Promised.

The second signal showing that we are more into the Helsinki cultural life is this:

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Some time ago I discovered Skyo. She is a Finish artist that sew marvellous things. Skyo and four more artists have opened a pop up shop in a ship container in the old commercial Harbour.


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Although it is far from the center, I really wanted to go, and why not, brought something beautiful with us.


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It deserved it and next week I will show you what we bought. I wanted everything!


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And as "there is not two without three", at least this is how Spanish saying goes, I discovered that Sunday was "Ravintolapäivä". Ravintola is the Finish word for restaurant and päivä means day.


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Anyone can have his/her own restaurant for a day. You don't need a proper space and no menu is needed. This is what ravintolapäivä is about.
You can find waffles in a flat, like the one just in front ours, or serve a paella in a beautiful garden of a detached house. Everything is allowed for one day.

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I love the idea of being a proper inhabitant of Helsinki. Any day I'll start writing in Finish. Any day soon.

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jueves, 18 de agosto de 2011

Pol + 1



In this moment, one year ago, I was happily having a nap.

It sounds something stupid to explain here, I know, but if you consider that it's 9 in the evening and that I do not like naps, maybe you could consider that nap as a strange special one.

And it was.

Exactly one year ago, after many hours without sleeping, several hours in pain, lots of hopes and wishes, tears, laughs and one shot, I was sleeping my last nap before contemplating for the very first time the face of my favourite boy number 1.


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(Favourite boy number 2, it's hard to say but it's true. I love you too, but today it´s favourite boy number 1 birthday
and he deserves having the first position. Do you forgive me? ;))


One year ago, at 11:34, my favourite boy number 1 was born and today, 365 days after, we have celebrated it.


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We have started the day having breakfast all together. 6 a:m is a good time for breakfast, isn't it?

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The kitchen was full of balloons and we had toasts with butter.
Balloons, toast, mum and dad, four favourite things in Pol's little world. But this is what a birthday is about, isn't it?


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We have prepared some small presents for his friends from the daycare. Little man cookies with chocolate eyes. Yummy!

In his class there is a small celiac girl, something usual in Finland, so we prepared also special cookies without gluten for her. A party is not a party if everybody is not enjoying it. And we love big parties.


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(There is no picture of the cookies. This morning we enjoy our little breakfast so much, that we have to run to work.)

When in the afternoon we went to pick him up, his favourite teacher told us that the day was so wonderful and exciting that he felt asleep when he has having lunch.

They prepared a big party for him, with songs, our cookies and a present: a beautiful handmade card that I promise to show you when I have proper light to take a good picture of it. It deserves it.

And as the party must go on, we opened all the present in front of the camera, sharing the moment with the family.

Maybe we are thousands of kilometres away, but thanks to the new technologies, Pol feels them very near. There are always laughs and smiles when he sees his grandparents, aunts or cousins at the other side of the screen. It's love at first sight.

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He was so tired, that we sang happy birthday and blown his candle very early in the evening. It was so, so early, that tomorrow he will want to play with his new toys around 5 a.m. I know. I can feel it.

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On Saturday we will make the big celebration in the zoo. Only for our small family of 3. Cross your fingers for us, because today, as the day Pol was born, it is raining out there.

domingo, 14 de agosto de 2011

At the playground


Our little boy is already showing his personality. He knows where he wants to go, what he wants to eat and above all, what he doesn’t want to do.

It is very funny watching how moves his head saying repeatedly: no, no, no, no. In no time, he will do the same in his new language of adoption: ei, ei , ei, ei.

What he loves the most is going to the playground. Early in the morning he goes where we have the shoes and explains in his own language where he wants to go with his new walking shoes.

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If this is not working, he crawls to the door and stays there, "talking", until you open the door. Come on, everybody to the playground!

Here in Helsinki, there are plenty of beautiful playgrounds. They are clean and well cared, with sand and green areas and everything a little boy can ask for.

The one we went on Saturday is not the nearest one to our place, but there is a German bakery in its way, reason enough to walk a little more and enjoy a snack while Pol is playing.


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Two weeks in the day care and he moves everywhere with a lot of confidence. He doesn´t need to be near us all the time or ask us for something he wants. He crawls, stands up and sits down all alone. His favourite toys: everything with wheels.


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Do you see all those toys? They are not ours. They are in the park, inside the box at the end. The box is like "Ali Baba cave" and it is hiding everything from buckets, shovels, tracks of all sizes to tricycles or three floor garages.

I've told you. Parks in Finland are awesome.

And he can walk alone, or almost alone.

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This Friday we had a note from his favourite teacher in the day care. She informed us that he has walked alone for the very first time. On one hand I am very sad, because we missed it, but on the other, I am very proud of our adventurous son, because he wants to run with his friends and not being sitting down alone anymore.

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Come on, mommy! Let´s go to the sling.

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It's so funny! Higher daddy, higher.

Come on, Pol. It's lunch time and mum and dad are tired. We´ll come back tomorrow.

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Ok ,mommy. Tomorrow, more

domingo, 7 de agosto de 2011

A grown up boy



One week ago we prepared his new bag, he tried on his new rubber boots and I marked all his clothes with his name.


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Pol loves the day care. He is happy with his new friends, his loving teachers and also with the food they are serving.


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But if he has to choose something, a reason why he is the happiest boy in the day-care, he would choose those huge tracks they have there.


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Now he can enjoy his favorite hobby: make every wheel rolling, rolling and rolling.

I think that his teachers have already noticed it, because this is his locker.


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Tomorrow, we will go there again, but it will not be the first time. My little boy is already a grown up.


(Sorry for the quality of the pictures. Except the first one, all have been taken with my mobile phone but I would like to have something to remember this important week in his life)

By the way, those were my trials to inmortalise his firts day:


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What are you trying to do mommy? I do not understand. Why should I hold this?

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Women, nobody can understand them! Can we go now to the day-care?

martes, 2 de agosto de 2011

Helsinki in 12 stops



There is nothing better for re-discovering your city, the same as a tourist do, that trying to find things that you didn't think they were there before.

This is what we have done in my favourite flickr group "La Vuelta al Mundo". In different parts of the world, we have been looking for the same 12 objects, trying to show the city where we are living.

I have to admit it, while I was reading the list of objects, I was thinking: this is not possible, Helsinki does not have this.

But, as it has happened before, Helsinki has surprised me and now, I know new small pieces of this city that always have been there, although I was not aware of them.

Do you want to visit Helsinki with me?

The first treasure was a bell tower. As a Spanish, I am used to see them everywhere, but here is not so easy. They have churches, of course, many of them with towers, but I haven't seen any of them with a bell singing in the heights.

But they have. At least one. And it is located near the Lutheran cathedral, just in a place I have been passing by all the time.

Tolon, tolon

We continue with signals in the streets.

¿Por dónde dices que se va?

These are located in an island that is part of Helsinki, Seurassari. It is an open air museum where you can find many typical Finish buildings at their real size. You can also feed the squirrels or enjoy a walk surrounded by nature.

And following the sea sore, I found the third treasure: a bridge.

Caminito de la playa


At the end of this bridge you can take a boat that bring you to one of the many islands just in front of Helsinki. A pleasure.

And when the sun sets, the best time for it, I started to look for my fourth treasure: a kiss.

No se besan

There are lovers everywhere, this for sure, but not so many kissing in the middle of the street.
At least not in Helsinki and just in front my camera.

What I was able to find was a coloured door.

La vida de color rosa

My treasure number 5 was in an old ship container that is being used now for hiding the trash containers in one of my favourite pubs Korjamo.

Do you come with us for a jazz evening underneath the starts?

Also we can go shopping. Helsinki is well known for the Finish design, but there are many other things to discover. As the shop that counts as my treasure number 6: a window shop.

Quiero eso, eso y eso

Here you can find beautiful objects hand made by Finish artists. I would buy everything.

And not far from there my treasure number 7: a fence.

Tesoro Nº 7: Una verja

Don't you love the light that we have in Summer?

We have light until really late at night. During June, there are days when it is not even dark.

This is why it is possible to take this picture at 10 pm.

Tesoro Nº8: Una boca de riego

When I found my treasure number 8: an hydrant, I could not believe it. There is not such a thing in the new buildings, but I found an old one just between both Cathedrals. Can you seen the Lutheran Cathedral in the back?

Treasure number 9, found me. We were in a park, listening a concert and she was there, dancing with her baby.

I clicked and there it was my unknown girl.

Quiero a mi mami {Explored}

Half an hour later, he was not unknown any more. Raquel, if you are reading this, your little girl is the prettiest in the world.


One of the most difficult treasures was the mail box.

Tesoro Nº10: Un buzón {+1}

In Helsinki, the postman has every building key, so you receive your letters in your front door. But this fancy restaurant put this mail box only to make me happy.

Treasure number 11 was a cultural one. We had to find letters on the ground.

Tesoro Nº 11.- Andando sobre palabras

My Finish is really bad, if this is Finish, but the funniest thing is that I used to pass by thousands of times over them and never seen them before.

And the last challenge was to take a picture of a vespa.

Sube, que nos vamos

Helsinki is not a place where everybody has a motorbike, like Barcelona. Winter is really cold and Summer is not always so sunny, so the only two wheels kind of vehicle that we have here is a bicycle.

But as only looking for something you can find it, this is my treasure number 12.

Do you like this new point of view for visiting Helsinki?

If you like it, just click here and following the links you can travel all around the world and check how my colleagues of LVM see their cities in 12 stops.

I wish you enjoy it, Espero que lo disfrutéis, buccaneers.




LVM is a group where we speak in Spanish, but if you want to join us, I will be happy to translate our challenges to you. It is the funniest way to visit your city with other eyes.