Expat e-mail: Helsinki, Finland

Hazel Brevett, of Derbyshire, has moved to Helsinki to be with her Finnish fiancé. Together they are building their dream house - it's back-breaking but rewarding work, as she tells in our series on expat readers.

Hazel met her fiancé in Sheffield

I am a black Briton living in Finland and am in the middle of building my own house. What an experience!

I come from a family of sports nuts - I used to work for a health club in Sheffield and my brother Rufus plays for West Ham - but nothing prepared me for the sheer hard work it takes to build your own house, both mentally and physically. Sometimes my body feels like it has been hit by a lorry, it even hurts to type.

Each day when we finish work at 4pm, my fiancé Mika and I head for the building site and work there until about 10pm. Then it's home for a sauna and to fire up the barbeque.

As it's the height of summer, we can work through the night if we want as it's light 24 hours a day. We did last weekend when Mika's 70-year-old father Tapani came to help; Finns of his generation just seems to work and work and work without even a coffee break.

The walls and roof are now on

My role is essentially that of slave - I'm the cleaner, the helper, the carrier. It's 'Hazel, do this. Hazel, do that. Hazel, don't do that!' Now I've seen Tapani working, I can see where Mika gets it from.

Mika, who is a building design engineer, and I designed the house and it mixes Finnish and British influences. As well as a sauna - something every house here has - I insisted on a bath, which is very unusual. And I've brought an ornate fireplace over with me, my pride and joy, which is very English and very Victorian.

All for love

EX-BRITAIN

Helsinki is about 1,100 miles from Derbyshire

Hazel grew up in Derby and moved to Sheffield at age 20

What she misses most is make-up for black complexions

I moved to Helsinki two years ago to be with Mika. We met seven years ago when he came to Sheffield as an exchange student. I knew one of his fellow students through the gym, and she introduced us. It didn't take long to get together.

When he returned home, we had a long-distance relationship for a while and then he moved to the UK to set up a sauna-building business. But he missed Finland, and together we decided that it would be a good place to bring up kids.

We've been engaged for four years now, but with all this house building, we haven't had a chance to think about getting married. Maybe when the house is finished in August...

Her brother is Rufus Brevett, who has played in the Premiership

As much as I love living here, I do miss the British sense of humour. The Finns, bless their hearts, are lovely people but they just don't have one. I put it down to the weather. It can get so cold here, about -20C [-4F], that they need to conserve their energy. No wonder they're all a bit crazy - in the nicest possible way.

But what I miss most is being able to walk into a department store and buy make-up for black skin. Instead I have to stock up each time I'm in the UK, and sell the extra to my friends. It's so popular, I plan to set up my own business importing and selling cosmetics for women of colour.

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Send us your comments:

My fiancée is Finnish, and I just returned to London after living in Helsinki for nine months. She is moving here soon! It's a great place, but winter was tough and I did miss English pubs and humour. The Finns are a great bunch of people, though, and I miss the clean air and beautiful nature there. And of course, the sauna by the lake at the summer cottage which is every Finn's paradise!
Luke Smith, England (just returned from Finland)

I am what the locals in Barbados term a 'returnee' - a returning national. As I was actually born in the UK and spent the first 35 years of my life there, I find that somewhat bizarre. Black Brit 'returnees' are viewed with suspicion over here. The locals are convinced that folks who spend time in the UK always comeback crazy, they reckon it has something to do with the cold weather and the rain. In truth it's because many Brits rock the boat by pointing out poor service and the weird apartheid system that exists here between black and white Barbadians. Over here such things are swept under the carpet and certainly not the topic of polite society. But it's still a fab place to live and work.
Cheryl Collymore, Barbados

I too am an expat in Finland although somewhat further north in Oulu. It is truly great here and the working atmosphere is much more relaxed. However I could murder a KFC, fish 'n' chips or a good English pub!
Iain Simpson, Finland

I'm a Brit living in Minneapolis. My wife's sister married a Finn and they now live in neighbouring Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Superior. There is a large Finnish community there and they've renamed their town Oulu. What a coincidence.
Les Strongman, US

Was a London cab driver for 43 years, also ran London pubs: the Beehive in Edgware, and Kings Head in Crouch End. Have lived in central Florida for 11 years. What I miss most, is the occasional donner (forgotten how to spell that) kebab.
Stan Shaw, Florida

Well, I have been living in Singapore for 1 year. I didn't think I would ever say this, but Singapore is the closest you would ever get to a perfect Britain. The weather is fantastic, we get more premiership football on TV than you do in Britain (at a fraction of the cost), and I laughed when I got my tax bill. Although people say this is a police state, the law is on the side of the lawful, so if you do something wrong expect swift and sure justice.
Lee Robinson, Singapore