Wonderful weekend and week!

Last weekend my parents came to visit!
I didn't get too excited about it the week before because airlines were still canceling flights and I think no one wanted to be disappointed. But when Friday rolled around the the flight was still scheduled, I let myself get excited. Sadly, they were only here for Saturday afternoon, Sunday and Monday morning BUT I am really happy they got to see Tampere and meet some of the people I spend my time with.

On Saturday we went for a drive throughout the city, ate at a Nepalese restaurant (which was delicious btw) and hung around our place for awhile. My parents were pretty tired after their transatlantic flight so they turned in around 10pm. The fact that there was light up until past 9pm and then some helped them stay awake a little while longer.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at our place. Nina came over for tea shortly after my parents arrived and sat around and chatted for a bit! My mom really wanted to see some stored in Tampere so we took her to Stockman on the way to Paivi's. Paivi prepared a delicious elk with potatoes, carrot salad, some amazing soup, mushroom sauce, lingonberry and "bread cheese" (leipäjuusto) dessert... among other yummy things. We then went out for a walk through the neighbourhood, near the lake, toward the former horse stables and even a random art exhibit that was taking place nearby. Once we got back, we had a peppermint chocolate cake (made by Anna!), which I allowed myself 3 bites of. I would've eaten the whole thing had I been able to haha. We also played a round of "Promise," a card game I learned while Andy and Steffy were here. I wish I could play that card game every day but you need at least 4 people to play. Still, my parents knew a similar game that could be played with only 2 people.. so I'll have to make sure I understand the rules. Maybe we should start playing cards for often... maybe with the WokWok crew haha.
After leaving Paivi's that evening, we went for a walk near the city center and 'place where the boats hang out' (where the fish market is... what is that called?). Then we drove around a pretty neighbourhood before heading to WokWok to meet up with Donna. Donna had just run at 10k, mostly uphill in 65 minutes and she still managed to meet us. As far as I'm concerned, that's pretty stunning. I walked uphill yesterday and it was hard. :)

Monday morning my parents came over for breakfast again before taking off to Helsinki for their flight. It was hard to say good bye but I'm really happy I'm headed off to Germany this weekend to see them again. Still, I felt a bit of regret because, although they got to meet a handful of people, we only spent a few hours together and I would've liked everyone to get to know one another better. I guess we'll just have to wait for the next visit.
After their departure on Monday, I felt a little under the weather but I had a fair bit of running around to do. I met Juha for lunch at 2pm, after which I went to pick up some necessary provisions before starting another antibiotic treatment next week. I had some huge bottles to carry so thank God for my new (bike) BASKET! My parents bought it for me on Saturday and I've been carrying groceries and the like in it ever since. I ran home with all that stuff (on my bike haha), sat down for 2 minutes, then ran back to uni (on my bike) to meet up with Antti. Antti is going to teach my Finnish class this summer and I had to show him everything we'd studied up to date. I left him all my notes and the textbook we used. We ended up chatting for about an hour and a half before heading home so it was really nice. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the classroom again and learning Finnish on a weekly basis. The original plan, pending approval from the majority of the class' participants, is to have 3 classes a week: 2 lesson-oriented classes and one discussion class. This way, we get to learn AND practice what we learn. I've emailed everyone and I'm still waiting for feedback. Also, we need a place to do this and that's a little bit harder to organize. The uni has some study rooms but they don't have blackboards so that might limit us a bit. I'm sure we'll figure this out though. And we still have a bit of time before we're due to start.

I got a new book from Canada that my mom brought me called "Complete Candida Yeast Guidebook" by Jeanne Marie Martin and Zoltan P. Rona, M.D. Now this book is absolutely amazing... and I would recommend it to anyone. Admittedly though, it also scares the shit out of me. I started reading it Saturday night and I'm sooo happy that I've already been on the diet for 3 months. There are so many little details you have to be aware of that if I hadn't been living without them for 3 months and still doing fine, I'd be too scared to eat anything for fear of dropping dead. Evidently, that's not a real issue, but I'm slowly incorporating some of the stuff into my life and diet. While other things will either be looked at later, or not at all. For example, I'm not going to replace all my cutting boards and cooking tools immediately because I spend wayyy too much money on food as it is. I bought Arrowroot Powder yesterday. Do you know what that is? I don't either but I need it to make special pancake breakfasts and I can even make flatbreads with it. Anyway, it was 16e... and it's a pretty big bottle so I'm hoping to make it last.
The book is really great though because it has recipes. Tons and tons of recipes! I've made a salad and a dressing so far (I just started!) and an AMAZING Spanish Paella with the ingredients provided. It wasn't hard at all... yet it was sooo tasty. But sadly, I didn't take any pictures.

Tonight I'm planning on making Mexi-Burgers with Homemade Salsa and Guacamole. Speaking of which, I have to stock up on some ingredients so I'm going to go grocery shopping right now.

I think I got everything covered. I'm planning another entry for very soon though!