Although the church services are usually at the St Luke’s chapel in Linnanmaa, the ladies met on the 2^nd floor of the church on Isokatu on the 11^th Feb. The day started with herb teas and snacks, moved onto some discussion about ‘life proverbs’, and lunch was supplied in the form of "pot-luck" food. For those unfamiliar with the term, this means each person supplies a food dish of their choosing, and the resulting meal is a surprise for all who are partaking! In this case, it consisted of home made Chinese noodles, an elk casserole, breads, chicken-dinner-in-the-bag, carrot and pineapple salad, and hot chocolate and cakes!

After lunch, the ladies were instructed in ‘self-manicures’ and were surprised to find that they had some of the basic ingredients for a good hand softener right in the kitchen of their own homes. This was because the first thing they did was to cleanse, exfoliate (slough off dead skin) and soften their hands by mixing together some salt and olive oil in the palm of their hand, and then to massage this into both hands, both sides. After a few minutes, when washed off in warm water, the hands are left wonderfully smooth and soft. Marja, who has four daughters at home said “this is amazing! The girls and I have evenings of beauty treatment, and they will be thrilled to try this!”

After choosing a scented hand cream, the next step was to try ‘buffing’ of the fingernails – for this they used small polishing spatulas, similar to an emery board, and the nails are polished to a healthy sheen in 3 stages, without the use of varnish or chemicals.

Additional info:

Services (in English) in the St. Luke’s chapel are held each Sunday at 15.00, where all Christian faiths are welcome. The congregation comes from all over the world – a fun-count a few weeks back revealed 21 different nationalities present! Several Finnish families are also members – enjoying the family atmosphere, and the international style.