!!HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 10 Things I'm Thankful For This Thanksgiving

Although I can't be home For Thanksgiving this year, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge 10 things I'm thankful for this year (and really every year):

1. An ever-loving God. Throughout the course of this year you've help me through times I thought I wouldn't be strong enough to make it through and opened my eyes to trust in you through all that I do. Without you Lord as my salvation I would be lost in this world, truly I have no idea where I would be right now if it weren't for you guidance and guiding hand. 

2. My crazy, hormonal, BAMF family. We may bicker and be childish from time to time but it's you crazy ladies who molded me into the person I am today. I feel blessed to have four of the most beautiful women, inside and out, doing nothing but providing with HUGE, selfless support ever since I started this journey 10 years ago. You four are my inspiration, my motivation and the smile on my face.

3. My mom's health. For those of you who don't know, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer about a year and a half ago. Ironically at the time of her initial diagnosis it was around Christmas time, during which she withheld her condition from us so we could enjoy the holidays. I've never been so crushed in my life once I found out. To think the strongest women in my life could be crippled by something so small. But as sure as the Phoenix rose from it's ashes my mom fought her cancer with raging perseverance and a constant smile on her face. Thank you for fighting for us mama, I love you.

4. My health. I know this is something I should be thankful everyday and I am. Every day I thank God for the air in my lungs, a roof over my head and my loving family. My health has been on a wild ride these past 5 years and I think it's starting to level off. <knocks on wood>

6. My army of independent women. With the exception of a few family members, all of my aunts, grandmas (due to the passing of their hubbies) cousins, sisters and mom are the cornerstone of strong independent women in my life. And I mean STRONG. Literally taking names and kicking ass all across the states; making me know that anything is possible and you don't NEED a man for anything. Y'all are the driving force behind my pursuit of discovering God's purpose for me.

5. Someone who loves me. Although it hasn't been said and things may not be ideal right now, I know one day if its in God's plan it will be. You make me be a better me for you and myself. Thank you for sticking by me, I know I can be cold and confusing at times but that's just a front. You know I'm a fluffy bunny at heart.

6. BAD ASS Friends. Since moving across the pond it's become pretty apparent who some of my closest friends are and those who were only friends with me for alternative motives or proximity. Those who I've gotten the opportunity to become close with due to my absence in the states - ironic - have helped me grow more than they know during my time in Finland. I truly have the most diverse group of individuals in my life, all marching to the beat of their own drum and motivated and inspired as ever. I've also forged some awesome new friendships with people I'd known growing up but never took the time to get to know, their support has been both surprising and humbling.

7. Being debt free. Yes, this is real. Graduating without debt allows me to seriously live worry free. I feel free to travel where I want and take time to discover what I want to do with my life. I know many people who work solely to pay off their debt and I applaud your daily grind.

8. Technology. Throughout my lifetime I've witnessed some of the most innovative advances in technology that have changed the way how we both live and communicate. Due to my generations' obsession with the latest iPhones and newest apps, it's only right I take time to be thankful for the brilliant minds behind them. Without these ambitious individuals, spare time would be spent on reading for pleasure and having to have actual conversation and who wants that? But seriously, although Tweeting, Facebooking, and showing off our cooking skills on Instagram has had negative impacts on social involvement, I'm ever so thankful for their creation. These open forums not only allow us to express ourselves, or who we want people to perceive us as, they serve as a timekeeper of moments, thoughts and historical events. As an American living in Europe, technology makes me feel connected to my home world thousands of miles away. It has given me the opportunity to strengthen relationships and create new ones. So I will gladly walk around with my iPhone to my face while getting lost by the tunes blaring from my little white buds connected to my iPod anxiously waiting for the next opportunity to cozy up with a good read on my mini iPad as new movies download on my MacBook. Hail to the iGeneration.

9. The beauty of life. Whether that is people, animals or things, I'm mystified and hypnotized by all living things around me. If you're questioning your faith, simply stop and look around you.

10. The unknown. Every day I wake up with ideas to travel the world, try new foods and discover my passion and every day I end every day not securely knowing where I will be this time next year. Sure I have places I would love to see and avenues I aspire to pursue one day but it's not for me to worry or be concerned with. Everything will fall into place in time, for now I must enjoy every moment.

Enjoy your family, be thankful for life, and expand those waste lines people!!

!!HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Travel Edition: Budapest, Hungary

3:30 AM: Wake up time to start our journey to Budapest, Hungary. Due to my club's success last season, this year will be LP Kangasala's first EuroCup appearance in the Challenge Cup division. Honestly, that meant nothing to me besides a new country and another game. Euro league is still extremely new to me but I have learned that there are many different leagues, championships and tournaments going on that I can't keep them all straight. Instead, I live week-to-week focusing on my games and my games alone. Anyway, the trip to Budapest started very early since we had to drive two hours to Helsinki to board our plane. Tampere, the larger city nearby, has an airport but most international flight connect through Helsinki anyway. Once we arrived in Budapest a feeling of satisfaction settled over me as I mentally checked another city off of my Pinterest travel board -- don't judge me. My first impression of Budapest was something along the lines of, "Damn, they could really use a pressure washer around here". The majority of the city, outside the center and area along and surrounding the iconic Danube River, had heavy lasting impressions of past wars and the communist influence; heavy moldings on towering, ominous buildings, fifthly concrete that seemed as though it could tell stories of turmoil and civil strife and unkempt buildings. It probably didn't help that we arrived on a terribly gray, rainy day.

HISTORY FACT: For those of you who don't know, Budapest was actually two different cities until their unification in 1873. Hilly, residential Buda on the West bank and the more industrial, flatter Pest on the East bank are divided by the Danube River and linked together by the well-known Chain Bridge, Budapest's first permanent bridge.


Language: Hungarian

Currency: Forint. However, due to the popularity of the city for tourist many stores accepts major credit cards.

Over the course of the three days during our stay, not much time was spent in the center where most travelers visit and rave about the cities beauty. We stayed on the outskirts of the city and were able to get a better feel of the city and its' people. For one, Hungarians LOVE Burger King. There seemed to be one of every street, every corner and as an American missing American "delicacies" -- said no one ever about American fast-food chains -- you already know I HAD to give it a try, especially after we were served duck -- yes, DUCK -- for dinner. I wasn't having it so I went for the next best option in my mind. Similar to Finland, Hungary has some of the best bakeries I've ever seen. I made sure to try Hungarian favorites and fall off my clean eating path to expand my taste buds horizons. Besides the duck incident, Hungary also has beautiful restaurants and yummy eats for a foodie such as myself. Two we visited, Pastrami and Symbol Budapest, provided generous portion sizes and yummy desserts. I certainly didn't go hungry…in Hungary. haha I had to.

On our last day in Budapest we were able to do some sightseeing. A friend of mine, who played at Florida State plays for the team we played against during our match, was able to meet up with my teammates and myself to explore. Once off the subway and into Budapest's center, I was able to see what all the hype was about.

HISTORY FACT: Budapest Metro rapid transit system is the second oldest electrified unground railway system in the world.

Extremely tall, gorgeously molded buildings loomed over the centers walkways. It fell right into place with a typical European city and began to realize why Budapest was named one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The best part of Budapest was the castles lining the Danube River. By simply walking along the river you can see some of the most beautiful buildings Europe has to offer. But enough of me blabbering, below are a few shots from my trip.

Enjoy!

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players- William Shakespeare

The Chain Bridge connecting Buda and Pest.

CASTLE HILL

                     Taking the lift up to Castle Hill

Aoki Jumping in front of the Királyi palota [Royal Palace]

View of Parliament through one of the corridors in the castle. Fun Fact: Budapest has the largest Parliament building in Europe.

Mátyás templom [Matthias Church]

 

Halászbástyas [Fisherman's Bastion]

View of Parliament from Buda.

                        Changing of the Guard                         Reason why I could never be a guard.

Live your passion :: Love on purpose

Pinterest Made Me Do It: Grocery Stores

Food. Anyone who follows me on Instagram or is my Facebook friend knows how I've taken a very keen liking to cooking ever since I crossed the pond, partially due to the mass amounts of free time throughout my daily schedule but mostly blamed to my other new obsession: Pinterest. For those of you who are unaware of Pinterest, think of it as an organize Tumblr. The site is split into different categories ranging from Food and Drink to Travel and Humor. Once under a category, people are able to "Pin" various images and recipes to organized boards of your choice. Some of my boards include: Healthy Eating, Cheers to the freaking weekend (fun adult beverages), Wine + Dine, and a board dedicated to my Type A life: Organization. All of these pins take Pinners to the original source of the image that may provide a recipe in detail or access to purchase a pinned clothing item. It's basically the most amazing website created for someone like me with ranging interests and tons of free time. Anyway, Pinterest has provided me with hundreds of recipes that have had me contemplating opening up my own restaurant. They are brilliant! And in case wondering, yes, the majority of the yummy creations I've posted on my blog are Pinterest inspired. Though it may seem I am on my road to becoming a happy little housewife in training, grocery shopping in Europe initially made me want to give up any all effort of becoming Susie Homemaker. As my recipe book expands and I'm forced to locate ingredients easily found in any Kroger or Publix in America but damn near impossible to dig out in Finland. I have certainly taken my familiar grocery experience with numerous aisle and vast variety of brands and products to chose from for granted. 

Seeing how Europe is the only foreign country I've lived in, I can only speak from my current experience. Finland has two major supermarket chains: (1) S or K Citymarket and (2) Lidl. Both are fairly similar as far as products carried; however Lidl is comparable to Marc's or Food City. Prisma's are another type of supermarket that is just like our Walmart's and Target's, they have EVERYTHING…including liquor stores, which can also be found in local S or K Citymarket's. Having been living in Finland for three months now -- wow -- I can truly say I've mastered the supermarket. My first trip took me FOREVER. Not only due to the novelty of the store itself and the language difference, they have a weighing different system as well. For those of you who haven't been to Finland, which I'm assuming is basically everyone reading this blog; they use a personal weighing system for produce. As I mentioned before, this may be the same for other European countries but I have yet to have to pleasure of exploring. Anyway, if the produce is not packaged and tagged, it is assigned a number typically above or below where it's located. Below are some pictures I took of how this process works.

1. Locate desired produce. In this photo I wanted some kiwis. Notice the large number associated with it.

2. Take your bagged goodies to a weighing station, typically located at the end of aisles. There are many of these throughout the produce section. At the weighing station, place your bag on the scale and select the corresponding number.

3. A ticket will be dispensed with a bar code and price. Place on bag.

At first I was completely lost at the process and even now I always forget to tag my bananas but it makes grocery-shopping fun! I'm able to select how much I want of each product and exercise my memory; it also makes it easier on the cashiers at checkout. Checkout is also different in Europe; it's self-sufficient. You load your own groceries to the belt, you are responsible for putting the divider after all of your groceries have been placed on the belt to be scanned -- not doing so will earn you a few snarky looks -- and you are required to bag you own groceries in a bag that can be added to your total or one that you bring. There are no bags waiting to be used for free at your leisure. Given my environmental background, I found this feature to be absolutely awesome in efforts to cut down grocery waste bag waste (a.k.a. all those bags you have under your sink that have no use except to hold holiday leftovers) and promoting eco-friendly behavior. 

ECO-ALERT: Another great environmental friendly feature they have is in-store recycling. It's convenient and gives good Samaritans a monetary reward for keeping track of and bringing in can and bottles. All you have to do is bring recyclables to a machine like the one pictured below that can be found in the entrance of the store and the machine will calculate how much your trash is worth. Press the green button and you receive a recipe that can be used toward your grocery store purchase or turned into cash monaaaayyyy!!

Enough about how to navigate and survive a Finnish grocery store, let me quickly touch upon food. After a few trips to the store a few things became very apparent; Fins love cheese, meat, yogurt, and butter. There are SO MANY types of each it can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to yogurt that has an entire back wall dedicated to various brands, types, and flavors. I've tried many different types of yogurt and have finally settled in with an organic brand -- shocker -- in blueberry or strawberry flavor. Yogurt comes in traditional self-serving sizes or small milk carton-like containers. As mentioned earlier, Pintrest has owned my cooking interests ever since I set foot on European soil and many of these recipes call for ingredients I normally wouldn't even know how to locate in an American store. Now that I am a veteran grocery shopper, I always make sure I organize my grocery list by food location and translate any spices or foods I haven't previously bought to save on time and me idling standing in the wrong aisle for 5 minutes trying to act like I know what I'm looking for when I really don't (it's happened to me at least 3 times already). So far I've found everything pretty easily, with the exception of pumpkin puree. It basically doesn't exist in Finland, which brings my back full circle to my recent obsession with sweet potatoes and all the Pinterest recipes I've subbed them in for instead of pumpkin.

Has Pinterest brainwashed me? Absolutely and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It’s a GENIUS concept. Now that I've successfully subliminally pumped Pinterest into your mind, feel free to go create a FREE account and have your world turned upside-down and inside out.

Happy Pinning :)

http://www.pinterest.com

Live your passion :: Love on purpose

6 Tips When Communcating With Foreigners

Game Recap: These past two weeks we have only had two matches. One against the youngest team in our league, Kourtane, and the second against a team similar to ours, HPK, featuring a former LSU tiger Marina Kender. The girls on Kourtane are all younger than 18 and are coached by one of the Finland National Team coaches. It's a great way to expose the future of Finland's National Team to the talent already in Finland. Playing against more experience players definitely give these girls an advantage as far as development goes in comparison to the U.S. Typically in the U.S. high school players compete in off-season competition under Junior Olympics, similar to AAU for basketball, against girls there age or a few years older. There are only a handful of teams that consistently compete above their age group. In contrast, European league play is the only opportunity for women interested in volleyball to compete, so ages can range from 16-30 on a team. It's always fun playing against a younger team, not solely due to the fact that scoring is easier, but they have much more heart and passion. When they get a big block or point it's like they won a National Championship. On the flip side, it's also harder to stay focused when you know you're going to win. The first set we beat them to the ground but the next two sets our team became complacent and we balls that usually are taken without hesitation started to fall and clear communication disappeared. Although we swept the young team, our coach was disappointed with our performance so we made a game plan and went hard the next day in practices to reenergize and refocus our team.

The game this past Wednesday against HPK went better than our match against Kourtane, mostly due to the fact that they're only one of the three teams that stand in our way of winning the league this year. In our second preseason scrimmage against them we didn't play too hot, so that coupled with the fact that one of their best hitters, Skender, was out with a hand injury made it really important for us to capitalize on this opportunity to put a "W" against them in the books. HPK relies heavily on their outsides offense, making them easier to defend. In the first two sets we came out with good focused every and took care of business but, as every team does, we began to play more lax after the break in the third set and ended up losing after being up 23-20. Losing that set was yet another good teaching moment of how quickly momentum can change after just one error in the game of volleyball. Our team has been placed in a lot of different situations this early in the season, which is beginning to transfer well onto the floor. Despite dropping the set we were able to bounce back and take the set and match for the win.

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Communication in the Absence of Language

When talking with friends and family back home, one of the first questions people ask me is: "What language do they speak over there"? Well, like any other country they have do have their own national language: Finnish. If I had to describe it, I would tell people to talk very fast, with a lot of "ee" and "ah" sounds, throw in a couple of rolled R's then assign one word with up to 15 different meanings depending on the context of the sentence and you have Finnish. Learning hasn't been as hard as remembering, everything sounds the same to me, but I have picked up the basics. Thankfully, however, the majority of the country speaks English. With the younger generation beginning to learn English around 3rd grade and the lack of Finnish words that can cover English, i.e. smoothie, it has been said that Finnish may be a dying language but until the babies of the current generation have babies, I think the 60 year old citizens and stubborn men -- men are least likely to speak/learn English, probably has a lot to do with pride -- are going to be just fine.

However, in the instances when English and Finnish collide in an unknown world of language confusion, I’ve learned that communication can still exist in the absence of verbal language. Facial expression and the use of hand gestures has helped me in numerous occasions, thankfully I have an extremely animated face and have a habit of talking with my hands in the first place. This approach has been very helpful with my assistant coach who speaks little English…or so I thought. His booming voice with a harsher tone was first interpreted as him always yelling just to be yelling but as I got to know him through his interaction with my teammates I've learned he's quite funny. He's a technical coach, which I love, but it always bothers me when he gives my teammates feedback but nothing to me mostly due to the language barrier. One day while we were practicing our 4-to-4 shot, he was speaking with my teammate when we made eye contact, another HUGE aspect in communication, and he continued explain with various arm motions, pointing out certain points of his arm swing as he explained to her, in Finnish, the shot. My next swing I really focused on the technique he was explaining to her but showing me and got it on my first try. Throughout the next week of practices I would continue to watch his interaction with players and apply them to my game. During one practice I made some comment about the organization of the drill and he responded…IN ENGLISH! Come to find out he knows quite a bit of English but refrains from speaking because he is unsure of the direct translation. Another common occurrence in Finland. There are many people who know English but are unsure of their skills and become shy. Shyness is a very Finnish trait. Many Finn's will avoid eye contact when speaking and are beyond humble when receiving recognition. Imagine my surprise as a loud, in your face American lol. However, all of that goes out the window once a few Lonkero's and Minittu shots are in their system. ;)

6 Tips To Communicating With Foreigners

1. If you know how to say hello in their language, don't be rude. Say hello.

2. If you do say hello in their language and they continue to speak, politely say you don't know how to speak “X” language and you only speak English. MOST of the time they will appreciate the effort to speak their native tongue and speak English if the know how. Otherwise they'll politely smile and go on about their life.

3. When speaking with someone not fluent in English, speak slowly but not like they are actually slow. Let me reiterate that, just because they don’t fluently speak English doesn’t mean you need to over emphasize pronunciation or speak louder. You’re not talking to your 70-year old hearing-impaired grandmother or mouthing to a friend outside your classroom. As American's we underestimate the rate at which we speak and just like listening to your foreign language teacher speak in high school, they will be lost if you go on speaking at American-hyper speed. (Remember how many times you wished your teacher would play back the listening comprehension of your exams? Same applies here people.)

4. Speak clearly, don't beat around the bush. Learn how to speak in direct sentences avoiding "like" and “uh” as much as possible. Also, feel free to exercise your poetry skills by including common descriptive words.

5. Feel free to use your hands but don't over do it. People will think you're being too aggressive and might hit them.

6. Smile, even if you're both lost in translation. A smile is a smile in all languages.

…Live your passion :: Love on purpose...