I can not believe that on next Friday (well, it was Thursday last year)  for one year ago, it happened. 14 hours and there he came, master Toivo Lauri-Pekka T. Who now is nearly walking, and nearly talking. Just not sure whether it is Finnish or Vietnamese what he is trying  to chat. Anyway, Friday next week, 11 May, will be a very important  day to us.  The party takes  place on Saturday. My main concern is how to carry a cream cake from  bakery to  home if it is 30 C hot. Unfortunately I can not make cakes very well myself, especially in a mini oven, I would not risk my son´s first birthday! And my good friend Mervi,  who can make wonderful cakes, is coming on Saturday evening, which is too  late considering the b-day. Well, I guess we manage to find something...

What comes to Mervi´s 4 days visit here in Ha Noi, I already heard that she (or Teemu)  has bought  8 packets of Presidentti coffee, which would  entitle them to stay with us for 4 weeks, but they  make it shorter as want to see Bangkok as well. They have also promised to bring Turun green mustard, coffee filters and a soft wash brush. Strange things what we miss here. I am SO happy that friend visit us, next guests will come in June and the autumn looks pretty packed (Hanna in  Oct, Tylle and Palle Oct-Nov, Marle and Olli sometimes, Petteri´s family may be, Silja may be, my godparents Tarja and Jussi may be), but do  not worry, the guest house Tiitta, Pekka and Toivo is welcoming you all.

I  just got an excellent idea, I opened a small bottle of champagne, only for myself and I am enjoying it. I decided that I deserve it for many reasons, and not least because of Toivo´s coming birthday  and a reason that so many great things have happened to us during last year. Those who know my friend Angela and  Dave in UK (and Toveri Finnish Spitz), they drink champagne every day. I am a typical Finn, feeling nearly embarrased while drinking champagne on my own. But, in the end, we all deserve some spoiling sometimes, don´t we? (My brother Petteri once adviced me that the first sympthom of alcoholism is when you open a bottle while being alone, but happily I can say that can´t  really remember when I would  have done  it before).

We have started Vietnamese lessons again, we had some weeks breaks between. I think that more you  learn about the language, the more you  learn about the culture. Like in the last lesson, we were told that when you call your husband in word "oi", your husband can reply to you "oi". BUT - when a  husband calls wife "oi", a wife is supposed to answer "da", which is more respectful. But not the other way around. So, there we were training these calls,  Pekka having a smile on his mouth and I wondering that my work as a gender specialist really has a purpose...Well, I checked from my vietnamese colleague whether this is really true and such a patriarchal language, but she explained that it is rather a question of age (so you are supposed to answer "da" to older person to express respect), rather than a woman answering to man. But at the same time she explained that a wife is always supposed to call husband "anh" which means also older than you, what ever his age is. I am happy that Finnish is an so neutral language!

Happy that it is weekend again, feeling a bit tired. Yesterday it was raining all day though it it not raining season yet. This weekend should be warm, not too hot yet. Pekka went to play golf and we spend Saturday with Toivo. In the evening we are waiting some friends to visit us, and same thing tomorrow. So, it never actually gets boring here because as I mentioned, the social life is active here. It is time for Toivo´s nap, so more later. Enjoy your weekend.

My warmest regards and blessings to my friend Katy in Norway who has had a small accident, we are thinking of you! And to my friend Kata in France, your new blog is really wonderful, much better than mine, but not surprised as you are a professional artist yourself. Once again, looking forward to hearing from all of you.