Been at theater - Teatterissa

Turun Kaupunginteatteri
Turku City theater

Tonight we went to the theater to see deena's favorite character. Someone had messed up our reservation, they had put it for tomorrow. I clearly told them friday, 11th, but it was put on wrong day. And the show today wasn't at 5 pm like they told me, it was on 6.30pm. The show on Saturday would have been on 5..Well.. Alhamdulilah it wasn't full booked and we got places for today's show. 

We went to a cafeteria across the river to waste some time, and had a lovely walk on the riverside. It was pretty nice, the riverside by night is lovely.

The show itself was very funny and the girls loved it. The hall was pretty small, and the kids got to be really near the actors, almost like they were in it. I'd say it was a very lovely experience for us all!

Hakkarais-shown juliste
The  poster of the show we saw

Tänään oltiin tyttöjen kanssa teatterissa. Joku oli sotkenut meidön varauksen, se oli laitettu vasta huomiselle päivälle. Mä sanoin kyllä selvästi varausta tehdessäni, et haluan nimenomaan perjantaina, 11 päivä, mut.. Kaiken lisäks tän päivän show oli vasta klo 18. 30, joten oltiin liian aikaisin teatterilla. Meille oli sanottu lauantaisen shown aika, eli klo 17. No, onneks päästiin silti tänään, kun ei ollut ihan täyteen buukattu sali. 

Mentiin sitten kuluttamaan aikaa tois pual jokke Arnold'sille donitsille ja käveltiin vähän aikaa jokirannassa. Oli kllä oikein mukavaa ja tunnelmallista iltavalaistuksessa. 

Näytelmä oli tosi hauska, tytöt tykkäs. Deena varsinkin oli ihan onnessaan, kun näki livenä suosikkinsa Herra Hakkaraisen. Deenalla oli hakkarais-pehmolelukin mukana ♥. Sali oli pieni, lapset pääsivät tosi lähelle esiintyjiä, ihan kuin olisivat itse olleet mukana. Vois kyllä sanoa, et oli meille jokaiselle ihan älyttömän mukava kokemus.

Aurajoki
River Aura

Our own eid traditions - Meidän eid-perinteet

Eid doesn't really feel like it should here in this country. Muslims are only few among the rest of the people here, and it doesn't show on the streets.. That's why we're trying to create our own eid traditions, so that the kids have something to look forward to, something to remember when they grow up.

The kids don't go to school on the first eid day. They get some small gifts. something, that they have wished. In the morning we go to the eid prayer. Lately it has been made in a really cool place, a sports center that has a huge indoor playground. After the prayer the kids get to play in that playground for a couple of hours. It was the third time they made eid prayer in this place, and the kids were already expecting it for weeks. InshaAllah they'll make eid prayer in the same place every time from now and on.

We have two large floorball fields for the eid-prayer
Eid-rukousta varten meillä on kaksi isoa salibandy-hallia

Usually after that we go and visit my mom. She is not a Muslim, but I think it's nice to include her in our traditions. This time my granddaughter was with us too, because her mom, my daughter, had to go to work. It was a really nice visit.

My adult daughter made an eid party for some of our friends and their kids. We were six women and 8eight kids. We had such a good time, delicious dinner, and cool gifts! InshaAllah one of us can make such party every year, that would be really nice.

One of the eid  days we have made bbq here at our home, and invited some friends and family. This year we did it on the third eid day. We ate really well, that's all I can say.

It's not always so nice and easy to live in 'the west' as a Muslim, but we can try to do something about, for ourselves and our families.

The indoor playground is so much fun
Sisäleikkipaikalla on todella hauskaa

Eid ei tunnu Suomessa oikein miltään kun täällä vain niin pieni osa ihmisistä juhlii sitä, eikä se näy mitenkään katukuvassa tai muutenkaan. Siksi olemme alkaneet luoda omia eid-perinteitä, että lapsilla olisi jotakin, mitä odottaa ja isompana muistella.

Ensimmäisenä eid-päivänä lapset ovat pois koulusta. He saavat pienet lahjat, jotain jota he ovat toivoneet. Aamulla menemme ensin eid-rukoukselle. Parina viime kertana se on pidetty todella kivassa paikassa, urheilukeskuksessa, jossa on valtavan kokoinen sisäleikkipaikka. Rukouksen jälkeen lapset pääsevät pariksi tunniksi leikkimään. Tämä oli kolmas kerta, kun eid-rukous oli tässä paikassa, ja lapset odottivat leikkipaikkaan pääsyä jo viikkoja etukäteen. Toivottavasti tästä lähtien rukous pidetään aina samassa paikassa inshaAllah.

Rukouksen jälkeen olemme usein vierailleet äitini luona. Hän ei ole muslimi, mutta on mukavaa että hän on silti mukana juhlimassa kanssamme. Tänä vuonna myös tyttärentyttäreni oli kanssamme, koska hänen äitinsä, tyttäreni siis, joutui menemään iltapäiväksi töihin. Meillä oli oikein mukava vierailu 'mamman' luona.

Toisena eid-päivänä aikuinen tyttäreni järjesti eid-juhlan naisille ja lapsille. meitö oli yhteensä kuusi naista ja kahdeksan lasta. Meillä oli hauskat juhlat, maukasta ruokaa ja mahtavia lahjoja. Toivottavasti joku meistä voi järjestää samanlaisen juhlan joka vuosi.

My two adult daughters made this delicious cake for the party
Kaksi aikuista tytärtäni tekivät juhliin myös tämän herkullisen kakun

Yleensä olemme kutsuneet ystäviä ja sukulaisia grillaamaan luoksemme yhtenä eid-päivistä. Näin teimme tälläkin kerralla, kolmantena eid-päivänä. Söimme todella hyvin..

Aina ei ole helppoa tai mukavaa elää muslimina 'lännessä', mutta voimme silti edes yrittää tehdä asialle jotakin, ihan oman itsemme ja perheemme vuoksi.

What a winter..

It's been a while since I'ne been posting. It's been kinda busy winter.. We have a lot of snow and the kids want to play out every day.. Today is so cold though, that I think we will stay in.

The kids are doing good alhamdulilah. Donjana is on the second grade and has good marks at school and Deena is enjoying pre-school and is about to learn how to read. I can't believe she is going on the first grade in the autumn this year. Nader is still at home, but I'm planning to put him to day care for half day next season.

Here's some pictures of what we've been up to the last couple of months:

We love to put some candles in the snow

We've been sledding.. The kids are a bit bored to do it lately though. This winter is tooooo long!

We made a masjid from ginger bread

We really have a lot of snow this year.

We've been ice-skating a few timess. We should go more often..

Had some fireworks

The kids have been skiing.. I havent: my gear is at mom's summer house. It's almost 30 years old anyway.. I'm not so into skiing anymore :D

We have made snow men, snow horses, castles..

Nader turned 5 and had some friends over. I made him this cake.

InshaAllah I will be back soon to post more about our lives! I need to get on the posting mood again! Winter is making me lazy, but spring is coming inshaAllah!

We have a lovely, little libary in this area. It's not only a place for books. They have a lovely room for little kids, where the walls are painted like a fairytale. There's toys, board games, puzzles etc.. Twice a week there's a crafts club for kids, and we wanted to see what's going on there. It was fun! We made miniatures about things we have in this part of town, our neighborhood. I had to laugh at some of the things my kids made.. It's so funny to see what they find important.

Here's the result:

I made our lovely library, of course.. games, computers, books..

..and some of the wonderful nature around here!

Nader made this spider.. when he painted it yellow he named it 'sun spider' lol.. He made even the eye glasses all by himself. I must say I was impressed..

He also made a tree with autumn colours, a huge football with a tiny football player, some board games and a die.

and he made this.. A huuuge TV lol :D

Deena made some party food, like swiss rolls, pizza etc..

And she made this.. It's chocolate, believe it or not. All these sweets represent this area to her :D 

Donjana made a football field with two players and a ball. The one on the left is Lionel Messi :D

And she made my daughter Amira's engagement party. The red circle of weird objects in the right is us dancing around the bride and the groom. she had put some wire inside the couple, so they can be even moved. They swing like they're dancing lol.

Kids have such a great imagination and so much greativity. InshaAllah they will never forget it. It's a great gift mashaAllah.

Lovely three days! Sooooo happy!

We've spent three wonderful days with Amira's new family. First we had a wonderful henna party at my mom's summer house in the country side. Then the wedding party on Saturday. This evening we met at the adventure park and enjoyed the wedding left overs and good company. MashaAllah it feels like we get along really well..

Hennaaaaaaa...

Most of you might not have heard the whole story of Amira and her dh, but I can tell you it wasn't obvious that her dh's family will accept someone who is not 'one of them'. It has been a long, sometimes rocky road for Amira and her dh, but Alhamdulilah it was worth it. I know she has a good husband who loves her, will take care of her and whose family already loves her too. I couldn't be happier! Alhamdulilah for everything!

When we were on the way home we saw a rainbow in the sun set.. it was amazing!

Many sisters have asked me what our finnish families and friends thought of Amira's wedding, so here's some of the best comments:


Amira's grandmother from dad's side (who said she was a wrong person in a wrong place in the henna party) did Debka for one hour and then said: I could have made some more, this is nothing yet


Amira's dad, who is not very fond of foreigners (to his mom, nette's grandmother): After this finnish weddings will feel like nothing . He did Dekba too, btw..

The groom's family went to get Amira from her dad's place and then drove across the town to the wedding hall.. So much noise :D

Amira's dad's wife: This is much better than Finnish wedding! People really know how to have fun! (Some of yall might guess, how Finnish people usually have fun and what it needs..)

My aunt: Turkish girls are so beautiful! Those colourful dresses and head scarves make them look much fancier that someone with a mini..

And the same aunt: This is awesome! Women just dance, and men serve tables and do all the work! This is not the way i thought Muslim men act..

The grooms ex-teacher: I feel like I was abroad! My friends have told me about Turkish and Arabic weddings they saw when they traveled, but now I've seen it myself and it's so much more than the stories I've heard!

The grooms mother who passed away a couple of years ago bought these glasses to be used in her son's wedding..

My parents have got used to our stuff already so they were not as surprised as the others, but they liked it a lot too. Mom gave extra points for table service - in Finnish weddings there's always buffet and people need to stand in queue to get their food! And the same goes with the cakes! She was very happy and said this is much better and faster way!

The wonderful wedding cake!

Everyone who I spoke with liked everything! I heard only positive comments! I guess that party changed some attitudes! mashaAllah!

LOL modern tecnology :D

I heard dh and Nenna's dh talking.. Nenna's dh has a new fancy computer and he told dh about his experience of the brilliant invention called touch screen..

He had been watching an anime movie and then, just before the exiting end of the film, a fly sat on the screen - right on the red X in the corner of the media player - AND CLOSED IT . OMG lol I was laughing so much.. He was mad at the fly and it was hilarious!