Today, it snowed in Tampere, so what better activity than something Christmas-related? We met at Emese’s place to bake Christmas cookies. We started by cutting the dough into shapes like stars, snowmen, candy canes, and more. While I kept my designs classic, Minju impressed us with her artistic talent, making shapes like envelopes, bow ties, and even Santa Claus!
As we baked, we listened to Christmas music and drank Glögi, the Finnish version of mulled wine. I love drinking mulled wine in France, but it’s rare and usually only found at fairs or village festivals. I was surprised at how accessible Glögi is here, indeed you can even buy it at the supermarket in cartons. I especially liked the non-alcoholic version, which doesn’t exist in France, though it tasted very similar. Minju and Yang had never heard of mulled wine before, likely because it’s a more European tradition. Emese and I debated whether it’s better with red or white wine. She prefers white, while I’m a red-wine enthusiast. I hope to try it again at Tampere’s Christmas market to settle the debate!
Regarding Christmas music, Minju and Yang mentioned that Korea doesn’t have much in the way of Christmas songs, but we found some on Spotify, like Merry & Happy which was my favorite one. It’s surprising since Christmas isn’t widely celebrated there. For me, hearing French Christmas songs brought back childhood memories and made me realize how much there is to learn about one’s own culture.
This exchange experience has been eye-opening. I’ve often found myself unable to answer questions about France, or realizing there isn’t a universal answer because traditions vary so much. For example, Christmas is sacred in my family, but for others in France, it might not be. This experience made me want to delve more into our cultures/traditions and especially why they exist. In fact, I often have a vague and not very clear idea.
We also experimented with making icing using just milk and sugar, which, as you can imagine, didn’t turn out well, it became a syrupy mess… But we learned from our mistakes! Emese shared her tip of filling cookies with jam and letting them sit for a few days to soften. I tried it but preferred eating them fresh with jam. It was interesting to try something unfamiliar.
Lastly, I learned to say “Merry Christmas” in German: “Frohe Weihnachten” and Korean: “메리 크리스마스!”. In Korean, though, they simply use the English phrase, showing again how little importance they place on Christmas compared to how eagerly we await it in Europe.
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