Christmas 2008

After a very hectic December...with no less than 3 trips to Sweden, both for work & otherwise, it was time to board the plane back home to Glasgow for Christmas. I would like to say that it's been relaxing so far...but that's not strictly true! Seeing as how I was the most disorganised I'd ever been this year in terms of present-buying, I had to sort that out in the last days before Christmas...which was fine, albeit a bit mad with all the people rushing around last-minute. Anyway, I managed and we enjoyed a very chilled Christmas day, with our relatives from down south. Mum made an exquisite Christmas dinner; turkey and all the trimmings! The food all throughout the festive time has been outstanding, I must say. Completely yummy!!

Santa was very good to us all too. Personally, I got a new pair of glasses; a refreshing change after 5 years of the same frames! amongst other things like perfume, a massage, makeup and clothes etc :) Mum and dad both got new mobile phones (yes, I'm ashamed to say that they're not Nokia and are therefore quite clumsy to use...) and it was so entertaining to watch them try to work them out, call each other from 2 metres away, and forget all the tips I gave them in about 2 minutes! Other presents included the itouch ipod, very snazzy indeed!

Sadly we haven't had a white Christmas so in that sense it hasn't really felt all that like Christmas and it was all over so quickly. We're all just trying to get our heads around which day of the week it is and what we're gonna do for Hogmanay (New Year's Eve in Scotland). No plans as yet. I always find it a bit of an anti-climax anyway. It's too much hassle really to go out or you have to plan way in advance if you want tickets for the street festivals etc...so in the name of disorganisation, I haven't done any of the above! Watch this space...

Typically enough, I'm now loaded with the cold and feeling pretty miserable, which sucks because I can't fully enjoy the time with my cousins & family. We have been shopping and for a ncie curry but I couldn't really do it justice...tomorrow we will be celebrating an important milestone of one of our relatives and I just hope to be well for that...otherwise it's not much fun! There will be folk there who I haven't seen in ages and I have to look gorgeous!!

Innan Jul

One pikkujoulu down, a couple more to go ;) and this is all in the next 2 weeks before I head back to Glasgow for Christmas! The parties all seemed to begin in November and basically haven't stopped since. I'm certainly not complaining!

Just mid-week there, we had our work Christmas party on the cruise ship from Helsinki-Tallinn and it was crazy!!! We pulled an all-nighter, after our Hermia Oscar Gala (organised by our team, and presented by Juha and I), pre-party, party and after-party and went straight to breakfast in our gladrags! It was most entertaining! Needless to say I now fully comprehend the concept of the party cruises since I didn't get off the boat in Estonia to see Tallinn because at that point I was getting some shut-eye (the only opportunity!). Thankfully I had already visited Tallinn this summer, so nae worries!

I'm seriously still recovering...(getting so old) and trying to have a chilled weekend. Today is Finnish Independence Day, which meant that everything was shut (on a Saturday...yes.). Tomorrow I will try to begin my Christmas shopping, get prepared from my trip to Lund (Sweden) on Monday and go swimming and to the sauna :)

November rain

I'm currently on the train, heading north towards Ylivieska, approaching Kokkola I think. Well, I'm off to WAMS 2008, Wireless Applications for Machines and Systems seminar. It's as part of our BSR (Baltic Sea Region) project which we kicked off in Stockholm in May and this is the 2nd meeting now! So ,I figured I have a little spare time to update my blog. November is pretty empty.

On the social side of things, November is most certainly not empty! PARTIES galore! It's the only way to do it, because otherwise you will invariably become at least a wee bit depressed by the lack of sunshine, imminent constant darkness, lack of snow and the fact that it's not yet Christmas. So, the first weekend was Halloween, the second was the Italian party, hosted by the 3 Italians (their flat-warming actually); loads of fun!! Then this weekend just passed I had my slightly belated birthday party, which kicked ass...even if I do say so myself!! Ok, so I became a little intoxicated and "wild" but it's all good! 30 people came (I can't believe I have 30 friends here, I'd never have that many at a party in Scotland, hehe!) and we had good grub and a bowl of yummy punch. Actually we probably went through about 3 litres of vodka for that...maybe even more! My guests were so kind, bringing great gifts! Thank you all so much! I had great fun!

I'm smiling now.

LAst night I went to see Bo Kaspers Orkester http://www.bokaspers.com/ in concert at Tampere Talo. It was excellent!! What's more, after the gig, I bought their new album and then the whole band was there signing peoples' copies!! So, I waited, spoke to them all (in Swedish), told them how wonderful the concert was and then the signed the sleeve of my cd!!! helt otroligt bra! I was so chuffed (still am) :) It's great being in Finland, I get to see all the Swedish bands I would never get to see if I were in the UK, they don't tour that far, especially when they sing in Swedish! love it.

Well, I guess the travelling is beginning now...until the end of the year. Next week I'm drivin my car back to the UK as far as the south of Sweden, where my folks will take it further by boat (they're amazing for having offered to do it). Then I'm back in Finland, we have our pikkujoulu on the boat to Tallinn, then back to Finland, then 1 day in Lund for work the week after, then back to Finland and then finally to Glasgow for Christmas and New Year!!

Echo

I want to be a rock star. I want to be a great photographer. I want to be a professional golfer.

It's profound of me, isn't it?! I wonder what I really have to lose though sometimes...surely everything is worth a try? Easier said than done I suppose.

By the way, the photo was taken by Olga last saturday in Telakka, Tampere.

You never know

I'm kind of "sitting all alone inside my head", trying to play the game...but damn, it's a tricky one!! Figuring out the rules...are there even any rules I wonder? It's some kind of anarchic game, apparently.

Yes, this blog will be one of those cryptic ones...some random thoughts, maybe lyrics...some things to which I can relate right now...



"for everything I am, there's a world to fill my hands"

"I got my defenses when it comes to your intentions for me"

"ung och stolt, jag är en krigare"

"tausend Straßen ohne Ziel, doch du kommst niemals an"

"what you feel is what you are and what you are is beautiful"

"you thought you were wise, but you were otherwise"

Some milestones

Well, it's been a hectic couple of weeks...last week I spent a long weekend in Skanör, Sweden, visiting Karin for her birthday. She (and I) hosted a dinner party there :) which was great! We put in a great deal of hard work preparing the food (Tjällknöl a.o.t!) and the house for the guests! It went really well and we deservedly chilled out afterwards. Apart from the party, we just caught up with one another, chatted a lot, spent 3 days doing the local newspapers' korsord (crossword)!, sleeping a lot and pretty much relaxing. The weather varied from being exceptionally windy and stormy to being calm, sunny and reasonably warm! It reminded me a bit of Scotland...It was actually the perfect time to visit Karin and to relax and sleep a lot because the day after I got back from Sweden, MindTrek started in Tampere....

MindTrek aka organised chaos ;) No, really, it was grand. It's a 3-day annual conference (attended by 700 people!) organised by some folks from our company. I actually attended it last year for 1 day, it was during my first ever week of work in Finland and I was so amazed by such a big event. That time I got to see some of the presentations, even though it all went a bit over my head then. One year on, I was fully engaged, working at the conference and all caught a quick peep at the very end of one of the sessions! It was a big success and the organisers can feel very proud I think :D Needless to say, in the end, we were all totally knackered, having worked long days, slept very little and been standing the whole time! The official party on Wed night was fun too, we got a limousine ride, arranged my Mahtava (one of the conference sponsors) to the venue (Yö-talo in Tampere) and enjoyed a nice buffet, free bar (!), a cool DJ (whose tunes I was most definitely appreciating!) and great company! Until next year!

This weekend is being spent chilling out, being a bit domestic and generally replenishing my energy for the rest of the month ;) Need ot get back into my exercise routine too, it seems to have suffered of late. On Monday we'll head back to the climbing wall, Thursday will yoga and tomorrow I'm planning to go swimming. I'm considering, despite my break from thai at the moment, to begin hitting the bag again. There's one in the gym at work and it could be a good start...provided my back is holding up ok.

Mun seuraava loma

My Finnish homework was to write about my next holiday, which incidentally is tomorrow! Off to Sweden!

Minä pidän kovasti matkustamisesta ja huomenna menen Ruotsiin. Minä aion käydä minun ystävän luona koska hänellä on syntymäpäivä ja hän järjestää bileet. Menen lentokoneella Kööpenhaminaan ja matka kestää vain 90 minuuttia. Sitten minä aion ylittää sillan Tanskasta Ruotsiin junalla koska minun kaveri asuu lounais-Ruotsissa. Minä matkustan yksin. Ennen matkaa minun on pakko keskustella minun kaverin kanssa ja hän kertoo minulle mitä minun tarvitsee ottaa mukaan. Ruotsissa on nyt syksy ja sataa vettä. Ei ole niin kylmä kuin Suomessa, joten minun ei tarvitse otta pipoa tai saappaita mutta minä luulen että minun täytyy ottaa sateenvarjo mukaan...

Uncertain times

Siis, on taas sunnuntai. aina sunnuntai. ce qui fait que je dois travailler demain! wunderbar! ;)

I'm not really any less tired than I was on Friday evening, since I went out last night and got to bed at 5am this morning. First I went to a friends birthday party and then we ended up in a club in Tampere called "groove". It's a hip-hop and R&B place...not entirely my scene but some of the music was ok. I missed Mia and her husband's house-warming but coincidentally caught up with her and a few others in the bar, they just happened to come to the same place! 2 birds 1 stone. kinda.

I've spent today re-arranging my room and sorting out my new things which I picked up in IKEA in Espoo on Thurs. I was there for a seminar and figuerd because I had the car, I'd head to IEKA for some shopping as well :) Got quite a few things; curtains, duvet set, warm duvet, mirror (!), rug, cushions, candles, a laundry basket and maybe a couple of other things which aren't springing to mind right now.

I'm very happy because since moving my bed, it now seems like I have loads more space in my room! result!

Had a change of flatmate this weekend. Andrea moved out yesterday and Olga, the new Aiesec trainee, arrived from Russia and moved in! She seems very cool indeed ;)

Yesterday I went for a wee walk with Andrea in the afternoon. We went to Suolijärvi in Hervanta, where she thought she'd already been but in actual fact had only been to Ahvenisjärvi. Of course the former is infintely more exciting! At least it has the outdoor gym to play on ;) "Ruska" in Finland, the autumnal time, is really pretty, even more so when the sun is shining

, but we're not having too much luck in the department unfortunately!

I need to get my ass in gear again. All I did this past week was go climbing on Monday, and even at that, it wasn't particularly strenuous because we were all really tired. We should go again tomorrow I guess. I missed yoga since I was in Espoo and didn't have frisbee, swimming or the gym or anything else to do...oh yeh, that 100 push-ups challenge, shouldn't forget that!

I'm off to see Karin in Skanör, Sweden on Thurs, until Monday! A nice long weekend, reason being, she's having her birthday party on Sat! So I'm definitely looking forward to that :) As soon as I come back it's straight into 3 days of MindTrek in Tampere, which will be hectic but fun as well I'm sure! bring it all on!

A flurry in Finnish

Mä luulen että nyt on hyvä aika yrittää kirjoittaa jotain suomeksi! Katsotaan miten menee...

NB. please excuse all spelling & grammar mistakes and interjections in English where I don't know the appropriate Finnish words.

Mulla oli suomikurssi tänään aamupäivänä ja oli hyvä. Nyt tiedään miten sanoa "I like..." ja modaali verbit kuin "tyykätä, osaa, voida" :) On todella hyvä tiettää! Tänään on ollut ei mitään ihmeellistä...vain minulla on aika tylsää töissä...ja viikonloppu tulee! Me aloitamme aina tanssimisestä kanssa (on the step mainia dance mats in the office ;))

Tämä viikonloppuna meinaan nukkua todella paljon koska mä on tosi, tosi väsynyt....jotain uuden?! Huomenna minä aion mennä ostoksillä koska tarvitsen uuden clothes ja tarvitsen ostaa myös pari synttärit-presents!!

Ok. that's about as much as my Friday-brain can take of Finnish. Mä ymmärrän ennemän kuin puhun. Nimenoma.

upps...almost forgot, jotain muuta Tampereelta: sää. Ilma on todella huono nyt. On kylmä (6 degrees) ja päivät tulevat pimeä kohta ja nopeasti :(

Alpine adventures

Well, I lost my heart in Switzerland...not to any man (!), simply to the place ;) It's just magnificent! 700 years of peace have certainly shaped the surroundings; beautiful quaint little chalets are dotted all over the mountainside with villages and towns nestled in the shadows of the Alps! Not to mention the lakes of the Bernese Oberland with their pure, turquoise water, especially Thunersee and Lake Brienz! einfach wunderschön! Übrigens hatten die noch Sommer in der Schweiz! Das war ja schon lange her der Fall in Finnland!

So, as you may have guessed, I was in Switzerland for 5 days...in Thun to be precise; a town on Lake Thun in the Canton of Bern. The purpose of my trip was to attend the final NICE (european project which our cluster was a part of) meeting. It was pretty poignant being the last ever meeting with the same group of people. Since I joined Technology Centre Hermia, I started going to these meetings instead of Juha (my boss). First there was Paderborn, then Ankara, Ostrava and finally Thun. In a sense I only experienced a snapshot of the entire project (1 year from 3) but it was enough to see how the partners (from Finland, Germany, Turkey, Switzerland and Czech Rep) had bonded over that time, and to really feel that bond myself too! I can imagine that it's not with every set of project partners that you go out clubbing! sometimes drink too much...ahem, etc etc! There is/was just such a great spirit with these guys! The socialising really helps fortify the business relationships too. I truly believe that.

Well, as for business in Thun, we ran through the project results and heard interesting presentations e.g. on hypotheses of the future of ICT etc! Generally, we wrapped up the project. There was plenty of time for networking too, of course. As for the social programme, well, we had 3 amazing dinners! 2 in excellent restaurants in Thun and 1 in a chalet all for ourselves next to a real restaurant in the valley of the Jungfrau mountain and its surrounding range! Before dinner we were served canapes and serenading by a man playing Alp horn; I got to try it out myself too! We also spent 1 day visiting the Canton of Wallis (bordering the french-speaking part of Switzerland). We went to a techno park and heard some presentations before heading to a beautiful vineyard in Sierre (www.chevaliers.ch) for exquisite wine tasting and raclette! delicious! On Saturday, those of us who were left went with up the Niederhorn mountain in the funicular railway and chairlift with Christoph, our Swiss host. Unfortunately we couldn't go right up to the peak because the weather was too bad. We did, however, reach Vorsass and had a lovely lunch (I had a plate of cheese) and a great view of Lake Thun!

Coincidentally my parents were on holiday in Interlaken (20mins from Thun) the SAME week, celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. So I was lucky to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, so to speak, and got to spend Wed afternoon and Sat night and Sun morning with them. Mostly we just relaxed and wandered around the town and drank a lot of coffee or "Schale" 's as mum discovered! Wunderbar! what more can you ask for!

Switzerland: be warned. I'm coming back.

7 nation army

Time for another entry...me thinks. Well, last weekend I went on a 24hr trip to Tallinn, Estonia with my good Finnish friend Leena! Great craic! On leaving Helsinki on the boat (after wandering around from the train station vaguely in the direction of Länsisatama, West Harbour!) there were clear blue skies and all signs of the recent storms seemed to have gone; bonus! The evening in Tallinn was really nice, quite peaceful and we basically just checked into our hostel and then went out for some grub and a litre of red wine :D The hostel was shit, quite frankly. Clean enough but the staff were most unfriendly *biscuit-arsed* and we didn't get the room we had booked, instead a mixed 6-bed room which was ok apart from us getting the dodgiest bunk-bed in there and some Spanish dude coming in at like 5am and shining a light on everyone....a bit of a rude awakening, he was probably just looking for his bed, but c'mon!

The next morning we were up and out bright and early and went for breakfast in a nice wee cafe, very cheap too! What Estonians and probably Finns called "rice porridge" is actually what I would call "rice pudding" and therefore really sweet and not what I expected, hmm...

The old town was beautiful!! Highlights included the cathedral (pictured), the town hall square, the castle, the old fortress around the old town and just all the other quaint, colourful buildings and windy streets! We visited one museum: the Museum of Natural History, mostly because I noticed that they had a Penguin exhibition, I love penguins!! Then wandered some more, inbetween stops to re-fuel. By about 3pm we were both extremely knackered and the grey, cold, rainy weather was not helping, so we made our way to Stockmann (i know...) and flopped there for like 2 hours and just chatted! Then it was time to head back to the boat, via the duty free alcohol shop where Leena bought 5litres of Estonian vodka and I managed with a slightly more modest bottle of Chilean red wine :)

Since my last post, I've been at another concert: Eva Dahlgren and Peter Jöback here at the Tampere Talo! My CEO basically had extra tickets and so a group of us from work went; they were great seats too! I really enjoyed the show because they had a brilliant band and a girl of about my age in a great red dress rocking out on lead guitar; I wanted to be her! In the name of live music, I bought 2 more gig tix on pay-day....und zwar 3 Doors Down at Helsinki Ice-hall and Bo Kaspers Orkester also in Tampere Talo!! Both are in November but I can't wait!

I've been loving the Olympics too....HYVÄ ISO-BRITANNIA!!!! GB has just surpassed all of my expectations and for once is displaying a very respectable and decent performance....hmm, that would be what, 19 Golds so far!!! Yessssss! and that puts us 3rd in the medals table behind China and the USA, but in comparison we're just a wee country! hehe! Finland is also doing well amongst the Nordic countries, the best I think! The time difference has been a bit of a pain in the ass when watching, meaning that I'm just catching bits and pieces at work on my breaks and then the highlights in the evenings...

So, 1 very busy week and a couple days coming up, hopefully a nice and interesting weekend and them i'm off to Switzerland on a work trip! very excited about that! watch this space...

Music is my radar

Tja...eine interessante Woche ist sie wohl gewesen! Eigentlich sind die letzte zwei Wochenenden voll mit Musik gewesen und zwar einmal bei Ankkarock in Korso (in der Nähe von Helsinki/Espoo) und dann eben dieses WE bei Suomi-ilmiö hier im Stadion in Tampere! Ich war in Ankkarock mit Laura, Sanna und Matti (und zum Teil Johanna, eine Freundin von Laura) und das war ja toll. Die Hauptsache davon ist dass ich meine Lieblingsgruppe Kent (aus Schweden) zum dritten Mal in Finnland gesehen habe!!! Wunderbar!! Bin einfach die größte Fan :) Dazu habe ich auch Scandinavian Music Group, Hanoi Rocks (schrecklich...), Von Hertzen Brothers und The Hives gesehen! Es hat nicht geregnet und die Toiletten waren rein, wenn man Festivalen ins Betracht zieht ;) Wir hatten wirklich viel Spass und alle fühlten am nächsten Tag wie wir ein Marathon gerennt hatten...so viel frische Luft!

Suomi-ilmiö habe ich mit meinem Team von der Arbeit besucht und wir hatten Glück VIP Tickets zu bekommen, d.h. Zugang zu einem getrennten Teil für uns, wo es Sitzplätze, Baren und leckeres Smörgåsbord gab! Die einzige schlechte Sache darüber war dass man davon überhaupt keinen Blick auf der Bühne hatte und die Musik sogar nicht hören konnte...ein bisschen Schade aber im Endeffekt nicht so schlimm weil wir nur in diesem Teil während der Pausen zwischen Bände usw waren. Sonst sind wir ganz vorne vor der Bühne gestanden und haben viel getanzt! Da hatten wir auch Glück 4 Finnische Bände zu sehen, nämlich PMMP (toll), Popeda, Ismo Alanko und Eppu Normaali (etwas enttäuschend...)! Danach sind wir in Teerenpeli gegangen und später in Bricks (eine Kneipe/Disko), die Beide ganz gut und gemütlich waren!

Ansonsten habe ich meinen Rücken wieder verletzt :( Ich habe ehrlich gesagt die Nase total voll davon. Alles was ich möchte, ist normal trainieren zu können, ist es wirklich zu viel zu fragen? Ich meine, nur 2-3 mal pro Woche (light contact) Thai und 1mal Yoga. Was für Unglück ist das wenn er immer wieder schmerzvoll wird. Ich weiss, ich sollte duchtiger mit den Übungen für den Rücken sein aber trotzdem habe ich das Gefühl dass es wirklich nicht fair ist und es ist so frustrierend. Ich kann deswegen nie ein gutes Rythmus beim Training finden und halt, nie wieder Fit werden. Pff. Mal sehen...

Finnish summertime

Well, as short as it's been so far, summer in Finland has already well surpassed my expectations! It's just been glorious :)...splitting sunshine, pure blue skies, hot sun and lakes that shimmer all shades of pink, red and blue: härligt!

The pictures here were taken from Onkinniemi which is just a wee bit further up the road from Särkänniemi. I just popped down on Wed evening with Laura to observe the sunset over Näsijärvi. Breathtaking...what else can I say. This is the life. Long may it continue.

Scandinavian Road Trip

Nyt minä olen takaisin Tampereella :) ja aurinko paistaa...joka tarkoittaa että minä olen onnellinen!

I'm about to go out for a round of golf at Messukylä but thought I'd post a wee update before doing so. So, after a rainy, busy, brilliant 3 weeks in Scotland spent working, meeting friends and family, trying to relax, shopping, training and having coffee (fika), I set off on the epic road trip back to Finland with Emma and Liz for company!

We left early in the morning from Glasgow and drove down to Newcastle where we took the ferry (27hrs) to Bergen in Norway! Admittedly it does seem a bit Irish to go south only to go north again but so it was ;) The ferry was great, we had a Commodore class cabin with a sea view and it meant we also had access to the Commodore lounge, with big lazy sofas, free tea, coffee, fruit and biscuits! They even had internet but it was so brutally slow I couldn't stand using it!

On arrival in Bergen, we drove off to find our hostel; that was my first endeavour driving on the "right" side, but it was pretty ok. Later-christened "Wanda", my sat nav was invaluable on the trip! She became our friend...and even started having feelings (like being grumpy in the morning) which I thought was pretty cool for an inanimate object!

We spent 2 nights and 1 full day in Bergen, sampling the delights of the local fish market and going up the funicular railway to a gorgeous viewpoint; North Sea on one side and the majesty of the Fjords on the other: stunning! We also visited "Bryggen" which is an old mittelalterisch harbour area, now a UNESCO world heritage site, very nice!

From Bergen we headed north along a hairy, narrow road filled with tunnels and scary oncoming traffic, towards Sognefjord, where we stumbled across an idyllic camp site where we stayed in a wee cabin right on the Fjord side. Emma felt compelled to go for a dip in the fjord which If I'm being totally honest didnt actually think she would go through with but she did! Respect. I mean, we're talking about water surrounded by mountains on which there is permanent snow...couldnt have been too pleasant!!

We then headed south east towards Oslo. We stayed for 1 night in our tent there in Ekeberg camping which was less than delightful I have to say...we arrived pretty late to find a spot next to a road with minimal trees. Thankfully, 2 very kind Swedish gentlemen helped with some hints for our wonky Tesco 3man tent, which incidentally wasn't long enough for me to stretch out in. We had the feeling in Norway too, that everyone is rather starey...all eyes on us tout-le-temps...but perhaps it's the funny steering wheel on the car. hmm. Still. Eventually we just stared back.

In Oslo we met Vidar and Magne (2 friends from Munster!) which was awesome! They both travelled some distance to meet me and my friends, I felt very honoured indeed. It was really cool catching up with them in their home country and having them to take us around Oslo and show us the best parts; the opera house (love it!), the fortress and Vigelands park with all the cool naked statues! I really loved Oslo and found it a very liveable place, it had some really nice residential quarters in the city, just lovely! Of course, you'd need a Norwegian wage in order to afford living there...and a very good job ;)

The next day we quickly visited the Viking ship museum before crossing the border into Sweden! We did so via Kongsvinger and headed for Torsby which is a small town but where I wanted to go because I had read about the Finnish settlements in the area and in the larger "län" of Värmland. So we popped into the tourist info where we chatted with a lovely wee lady (me also in Swedish with her!) who advised us about a hostel etc. We stayed there after a nice meal on the terrace of a restaurant by a lake and the next day went to the Finnkulturmuseum before driving about 10k into the middle of the forest to find the traditional Finnish settlements. It was really interesting. We ate some pancakes and tentatively avoided the "traditional" Finnish delicacy of "Motti " and something else which escapes me right now!

We then started the longest stretch of driving (but quick given the better roads) from Torsby to Stockholm, via Karlstad in order to pop into IKEA for some Swedish meatballs, of course. Emma was driving most of the way so I go relax a bit, it is tiring driving and concentrating so much. We got to Stockholm at about 9pm and found our hostel, which was very nice too. I think the standard of hostels in the Nordic countries is much higher than in other regions, and still not too expensive! Pretty knackered, we had an early night in anticipation of our busy day visiting Stockholm the next day. For me it wasn't hugely exciting considering it was the 3rd time I'd been there in almost as many months! Nonetheless the weather was good and we had a lovely day. In the evening we met Ann-Mari, my Finnish friend who is living and working there for the summer. It was fun and then we crashed! I had to get up at 5am to go for the ferry to Turku the next morning and Liz and Emma flew back to Glasgow that afternoon.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip with great banter! I really don't think I've laughed so much in ages!! Thanks chicas!

En route to and back in Finland

Scotland in the summertime

It has rained since I arrived in Scotland on Midsummer's Eve...seriously, I don't think the weather could get much more miserable...and this is what they call summer, pff. It didn't bother me the first week since I was busy working but since this weekend and the beginning of my official holidays, it's been a bit of joke!! Only accentuated by the fact that the weather has been glorious down in SW1 in Wimbledon, which I've enjoyed watching!

Today I'm cheering for Andy Murray, a fellow Scot and British No.1 (replacing boring-as-hell-Henman) who faces Rafa Nadal in the men's quarter finals. Gutted though because I really want both of them to go forward...watch this space!

On Monday I got 2 wisdom teeth out, it was less dramatic and painful than I had anticipated but now one side of my face is quite noticeably swollen up. I fully believe though, better out than in! At least I won't need to visit Hatanpää any longer...that I can do without! Thankfully my engelchen Agata came through from Edinburgh to visit on Monday and so that took my mind of things for a while, so great to see her and catch up on all the gossip and her life in Scotland, whilst I'm not there ;) wunderbar!

Trying to tie up loose ends and get everything I need for my trip back to Suomi sorted...surely there will be something I forget...invariably!

Kesälomat

So, the time is nigh....summer holidays here I come! Heading to Scotland (sunny Glasgow) on Friday, Juhannusaatto, for a wee stint at "home"!

I am, however, working for the first week in Scotland; mostly with the Scottish Enterprise and a joint international study we've been doing with them, amongst other things.

My wisdom tooth has once again got infected so I will hopefully be getting that extracted next week by Andrew. This morning was reasonably amusing, I had to go to Hatanpää (the public emergency hospital in Tampere) to visit the dentist (Hammaslääkari). She asked in Finnish whether I understood and I told her some and she took that to mean ALL, blatantly, but it was fine, I managed to understand her in the end, I was quite impressed with myself! :D

She took one quick look in my mouth and just prescribed antibiotics. Result.

However, on leaving the hospital building I got a wee bit disoriented and couldn't find the bus stop...so I wandered around for a while, stumbling upon some buildings and a part of the hospital which I later ascertained was the mental institute! That explains the screams I could hear from the buildings, fear! I must say though, the patients have a very nice view, right on the banks of Pyhäjärvi!

Well, 1 day left in the office and then I'm offski! I anticipate missing Finland though whilst I'm away (that is, a sunny Finland, to be more accurate!) and all the wonderful Finnish customs!

Hauskaa kesää kaikille!

Hermia Kesäpäivä in Evo

25 of us from work headed to Evo, a national park area near Hämeenlinna in Finland, for our company summer day. An early start, the bus left at 8am, but everyone was in high spirits! It was sunny, warm and it boded well :) 1.5hrs later we arrived for breakfast, including the obligatory coffee (kahvia) and got our brains in gear for some strategising, values and group work before lunch!

After lunch it was time to hit the outdoors! We split into two groups to head into the forest in search of beaver lodges, 1 group walked there and the other went in canoes (later we would swap means of transport for the return journey!). We certainly found the beaver lodges but the creatures themselves were far more elusive (sadly), it seems they come out and work most at night! Most of us were suffering from the evil Finnish mosquitos at this point, that is, those of us who didn't use any of Kirsi's 10year-old shoe polish-resembling Scout mosquito repellent!! Just as a point of reference, Finnish mosquitos are much larger than the typical Scottish midge and they just love your blood....bastards!

On reaching our mid-forest clearing we had some games and activities to do all together. There was frisbee golf, archery (a lot of fun but I have now got such a nasty purple bruise on my arm...it's really hideous!), measuring the height of trees (geometry at its best!) etc! Our team did pretty well (there was me, Harri, Vito and Timo) and came 3rd overall!

Then we had some snacks and the drinking began ;) We headed back to Evo-centre in great anticipation of our savusauna (smoke sauna) and the chance to swim in the lake for the first time this year (properly i mean, where there is no hole in the ice!) and it was AWESOME! so refreshing after a somewhat sweaty trek and believe it or not, the water was pretty warm (someone said 16degrees but I think more like 20!) gorgeous! After the smoke sauna there was the regular sauna and some swimming and messing around in the other lake, whose water was even more pleasant!

Then it was dinner time, which was lovely (from what I can remember ;)) no really, we had a very entertaining discussion (me, Vito, Jenni, Matti, Tiia and Sanna) about Finnish v Italian girls etc etc! the wine and good humour was flowing and soon it was time to head back to Tampere in the bus...which was equally entertaining, including much singing (in Finnish and Italian) and banter!

Some folks bailed out in Hervanta and others (including myself) headed into the city centre and onto the boat which is a pub, on the lake!

All in all, it was SUCH a fun day! I love the Finnish summer, way of life and culture! It was just so nice to hang out with the folks from the office in different surroundings...you guys rule! Ich hab euch Lieb!

Mänttä

We spent our work team day in Mänttä (about 1hour north east of Tampere) last week, in a lovely cottage on the side of a lake. It was so peaceful; very conducive to working, strategising and of course relaxing! In the afternoon we went on a quad bike safari through the forest and at one point, through the lake, it was sooo neat! The quads were 3000cc so pretty fast and on one straight stretch (an old air strip) we got to test what they were really capable of! Need for speed!!

A blessing in disguise

Ich fühle mich wie ich irgendwie was schreiben möchte aber weiss nicht genau was...

Die letzte paar Tage sind bei mir etwas seltsam gewesen. Das ist auf jeden Fall nicht zu bezweifeln. Vieles ist wohl passiert und jetzt weiss ich nicht genau wo ich stehe. Ich schreibe immer noch etwas kryptisch weil ich auch nicht möchte dass jeder die Einzelheiten weiss. Ich habe nämlich zwei Sachen gefühlt, die mehr oder weniger neu bei mir sind...die Beide sind sogar die extrem Gegenteile von einander!

Ich denke Ich glaube an Schicksal aber Ich will auch nicht zu viel zu bald sagen. Es ist komisch wie Sachen sich manchmal passieren, wie man überhaupt nicht erwartet. Und das Gefühl dass man nicht etwas haben kann, was man so gerne will. Das ist aber frustrierend. Könnte es die Chance des Lebens sein? oder ist es nur eine falsche Hoffnung? Ich habe mich aber entschieden, dafür zu kämpfen, da ich nichts zu verlieren habe. Ich soll meine Instinkte vertrauen.

Que sera, sera. Time will tell.

Petanque fun

Well, it was a case of the rookies v the pro's in yesterday's Petanque (Petankki in Finnish) competition. 2 teams from our workplace, Hermia, took part; COSS and Ubi-ladies! I was part of the latter ;) The vast majority of us had played maybe once before in our entire lives and so came with no expecations and had nothing to lose, lol!

Needless to say we came last and 2nd last respectively...haha. It was really fun though, us in our illuminous yellow Hermia vests and brand spanking new shiny boules ;) whereas all the others' boules were so old and very well used! Quite entertaining.

I have to say though, although we finished last, we certainly didn't make fools of ourselves and we definitely pulled some quite stunning shots out the bag ;) Good job guys!

24hrs behind bars

This week I went to jail in Sweden, how exciting! haha! well, no, I wasn't a bad girl really, it was all planned. I was there for a work conference with Kirsi and our hotel was a converted prison, last used as a prison in 1975, situated on one a Stockholm's many islands called Långholmen. It was actually really picturesque, there were beautiful gardens there with red tulips, Lily of the Valley, bluebells and all sorts, gorgeous!

We even spotted a Swedish dog-sitting service, it was hilarious, 3 humans and about 30 dogs of all shapes and sizes, just trotting along. I was amazed that they all got on so well and that there was no fighting. Although it seemed problematic when a different dog who wasn't part of their gang came along and threw a spanner in the works! haha!

Well, it was quite an intense stay in Långholmen prison, but worthwhile, I have loads of new contacts now and the project will hopefully go well. The food was excellent and the sparkling wine even better ;)

Vappu 08

So, Vappu in Finland is over! and well, it was special :) certainly very different for me because we don't have the same kinds of traditions in Scotland as there are here. In fact, we don't do anything. In Tampere the whole event mainly revolves around the "teekarit" : technical students from the TTY (Tampere Technical University).

On Vappu Eve I celebrated with the Aiesec guys at the sauna party in the city centre. It was really neat, very chilled and musical; we had to invent a song as a ransom in order to get the local committee's kidnapped mascot "Ernesti" back and I have to say, we did a great job, with Juhani playing guitar and a collection of different musical styles (rap, opera, metal and boy band!) the end-product was pretty cool and most heart-felt ;) !

Then some of us went along to the bridge in the city centre where at midnight every year the technical students crown one of the big statues with a white cap too! It was a bit of an anti-climax to be honest, not really all that exciting. The place was packed with people though, I've never seen Tampere so "alive". Good vibe but too crowded so we headed home!

On Vappu Day we had a picnic on the banks of the river rapids, whilst watching the fresher technical students go 10 by 10 into big cages, lifted by cranes and dipped into the cold water!! It was quite amusing to see, definitely a unique inauguration for them! Families, other students and randoms like us turned out to watch and it took about 4 hours (there were like 1000 students at least!). The weather was good but a little more chilly than the other days so we went for coffee to a nice little french-style cafe afterwards and then met up with some friends for a few drinks later! Not too wild and crazy but definitely enjoyable. It's useful not to be hungover today anyway...working from home though which is nice!

Matkustaja

Just back from a long weekend in Riga with the parents. It was lovely! both in terms of seeing them again and of the city and the weather. Apart from on Friday, it was sunny the whole time, albeit windy, as we'd say in Scotland: the wind was "baltic" !

Almost no one spoke good English there which at the beginning I didn't fully understand but on learning about Riga and Latvia's history, it became clear! Latvia was occupied by the Soviets (and of course the Germans earlier) and only gained independence in 1991!! I should have tried speaking German, we'd definitely have gotten further...

There were so many Finns, Swedes and Danes in Riga too, I felt like I hadn't left the Nordic region! it's nice to be a bit of spy though. Thankfully the city was low on trashy British stag/hen parties :)

We even went to the seaside (a place called Jurmala) on Sunday, I love it, it feels so liberating to me to be by the ocean. Water is definitely my element.

Anyway have to make it short since I'm about to leave for Helsinki, we have our annual JPT seminar there tomorrow but are driving tonight, need time to prepare in the morning!

Gegenteile

Diese Woche hatten wir eine Mischung von sehr guten Nachrichten und eben auch sehr Schlechten. Erstens habe ich entdeckt dass am Dienstag Marjut 2 Wochen früh (!) ihres Kind bekommen hat. Die Beide sind gesund und alles geht ihnen gut. Darüber freue ich mich natürlich sehr.

Auf der anderen Seite kamen spät Gestern die Nachrichten dass eine nähe Kollegin von mir, die eine Weile wegen Krankheit fehlten, war gestorben. Ich finde es, ehrlich gesagt, immer noch so schwierig richtig zu kapieren. Ich meine, Ich kenne sie nur seit 6 Monaten aber wir haben trotzdem Sachen zusammen erlebt, insbesonders Teamtage und sie war auch dabei als wir den schottischen Abend bei meinem Chef hatten. Es war immer sehr gut mit ihr zu reden. Sie zeigte eine wahre Interesse an Schottland, an der Englische Sprache (die sie eben auch so gut beherrscht hatte) und ich fand ihres Leben auch sehr interessant. Sie hatte 1-2 Jahre in London gewohnt, darüber konnten wir auch reden und ja, die Kleinigkeiten sind das was man vermisst, wenn jemand nicht mehr da ist. Vor allem habe ich einen solche tiefen Mitleid für ihre arme Familie, sie verlässt 2 Kinder (Teenager) und ihren Mann. Es ist einfach so tragisch und ich weiss sie wird hier bei der Arbeit sehr vermisst werden.

Ich denke ich habe komisch reagiert...ich war und bin natürlich traurig aber Gestern war ich besonders böse auch. Ich weiss nicht genau auf wen, nur dass ich das Gefühl hatte dass ihr Tod überhaupt nicht fair war und ich frage mich irgendwie wie soll es erlaubt werden, so früh zu sterben. Natürlich sterben leider viele Leute viel zu früh, aber es ist nur wenn es in deiner Nähe passiert dass du es wirkich greifen und spüren kannst. So unrecht. Unserer Team wird zu der Begrabung gehen und das möchte ich wirklich tun, um ihr meine Aufwartung zu machen. Es ist wichtig.

Man soll jetzt weiter arbeiten aber Heute habe ich dabei Schwierigkeiten. Die Stimmung ist nicht normal, selbstverständlich und jeder braucht seine eigene Zeit um nachzudenken, glaube ich und um sie zu erinnern.

It's just another bombtrack...

Well...it's not exactly been the best week on the planet. It started off well and went seriously downhill after Monday...only to improve by Fri/Sat really! I had done quite a lot of sport last week and last wknd (i.e. 3x Thai, 2x gym and 1x floorball) and was feeling really good and nice and healthy and then BAM, on Tuesday my back starts to get incredibly painful...it's screwed up again! It's a recurring injury (first happened after yoga in Germany in 2006) and is really not much fun at all, as I'm sure anyone with back problems (or even without) would agree with. I suffered it for a couple of days before going to see a sports doctor who referred me straight away to a physio. Went to see him and got some really good electrode treatment; basically to numb the muscles, let them relax and then let the endorphins flow so as to relieve the pain. After that I got a cold pack and then massage treatment. I think it really did the trick, the pain is mostly away now although my back doesn't feel 100% normal yet. So i'll have to go back for a couple more such treatments. I'm amazed, since in the U.K. you would wait 6 months for a physio appointment!

So apart from it not being much fun, i'm quite bored as well since I'm not allowed to do any training for another week, not even sauna ;) and yes, I know, I'm such a bad patient. It's just really frustrating with injuries and it seems to be one thing after another with me. All the bad luck...

Yesterday I went with some friends to watch my Thai club in Tampere's Thai Boxing show! It was really good. Lots of exciting fight action with 2 KO's and 1 TKO. It was also interesting to watch Milja fight (she trains at Chitalada Finland and is world champion, amongst other things!). It always makes me want to get back into the ring, after watching a show...hmm...i think im too old. Lol. or too injured...

So i've been experimenting by cooking some lasagne this afternoon and need to go and rescue it now!

Spring is finally in the air!

Yes, it's true. The last of the snow is melting away, the temperature has climbed into double figures once or twice (let's not get ahead of ourselves now...!) and it's EVEN been sunny for the past few days, unbelievable!

Well, it's amazing how much I took the sun for granted in Scotland, ok, yes I know, it doesn't even come out that much there but definitely more frequently than it does here in Finland. So, now I'm greatly appreciating every waking minute we have with sunshine...that's my tribute to the sun. we love you.

Of course the clocks also went forward at the weekend and now it's light until about 20.30, herrlich! It was really odd coming out of training when it was just dusky and not pitch black. I'll see how I feel in the middle of summer when there's only 2-3 hours of darkness, no doubt i'll be complaining in the other direction!

Well, I'm just about to go out for a nice evening walk and chat with Piia, then back here for some hot chocolate and biscuits ;) it's all good.

Ultimately I'm reeeeaaaaally excited about the weekend because that's when the Caley guys will be over here to fight the Tampere fighters from Chitalada club (where i train here) and the show is on here in Hervanta! woo hoo! can't wait :D

Påsk i Stockholm

Jag har precis tillbringat en underbar påsk här i Stockholm tillsammans med Winter C! Jag gillar staden väldigt mycket, den är så jättefin, särskilt "gamla stan" ! Första dagen var jag ensamt eftersom Catherine kom fram på fredagen och så jag gick och gick och gick vidare genom staden och de olika ön. Det gör lite ont på benen nu ;) men det lonar sig iaf! Jag besökte Sveriges Riksdag i fredagen, vilken var jätteinteressant faktiskt, och fint också! Det var en tysk kvinna som tar oss runt, konstigt men bra eftersom nästan alla andra besöker var också tysk...I lördagen gjorde vi Vasa museet och Skansen, på Djurgården, båda var väldigt bra! Igår var det då mer tid i gamla stan, vi ville göra en båttur men fick inte eftersom det var utsåld :( (men det har jag gjort idag i snön, kunde inte se så mycket...!) Så gick vi till Södermalm och vi har fikat två gånger, jättemysigt som alltid! I kvällen var cocktails och gott mat på menyn :D Som sagt var jag på båten idag, också på Mynt museet och igen i gamla stan och i centrum! Nu sitter jag på Arlanda och väntar på planet tillbaka till Finland...det tar två timmar fortfarande, typ tråkigt men...sånt är livet när man reser så mycket!

NICE adventures

I have some peculiar desire to sing my heart out just now...I might just do that ;)

Music is my soul. You have probably noticed that i'm always plugged into my ipod. I'm totally and utterly lost without it, i kid you not.

Well, I'm back in snowy Finland now. Got back late on Friday night from my trip to Ostrava, Czech Republic, where they have delicious, cheap beer! love it! hmm, one could say that alcohol featured quite substantially on this trip, lol. The social sides of these NICE project meetings are always great. The other partners are just lovely, great banter is guaranteed! On the Wed night after an interesting visit to the Landek Mining Museum and a yummy traditional Czech meal (also at the museum restaurant), our hosts drove home and the bus took us to Stodolnie (an (in)famous street in Ostrava with the highest density of bars and pubs per sq m in the Czech Rep!) where we continued the party in the "Dublin Pub", obviously! At this point (I realised the next day when trying to understand my hangover) it was only "me and the boys" and being bought drinks, it was rude to refuse and thus I was drinking the same as them....oj, oj, oj! Later on we were joined by Judith and Dieter who had both flown into Ostrava from Germany in the evening.

I was very impressed with the Czech organisation of their workshop. There was a nice mixture of company presentations, a run-down of the actual project in the beginning and then 2 presentations from the partners, from Timo and Christoph. It was all very professional and the hotel was lovely. Thumbs up!

The only downside was the last stretch of the journey to Ostrava from Prague...we flew in a small, propeller jet aircraft and the turbulence was horrendous, I felt soooo sick! It's like being on a bad rollercoaster but you can't get off for 1 hour...I thought I might have died by the time we eventually landed in Ostrava. So, as you can imagine, I was particularly looking forward to the return leg of that part of the journey but it turned out to be fine! Judith, Dieter and I even got to fly business class for some reason, don't know how that happened really...also with an invitiation to the business lounge in the airport which, quite frankly, was a bit of a joke: there weren't enough seats for everyone who was invited there, it was way too hot, the only member of staff there was a Czech girl who couldn't speak any English (much to the annoyance of a Swedish woman who wanted some wine!) and we only had half an hour to sit there anyway...

Well, now i'm looking forward to my next trip abroad and it's this Thursday to Stockholm! woo hoo! Winter C and I will spend Easter weekend there, cannot wait, so much to see and I get to practice my Swedish, hurra!

40 miles from the sun

I'm feeling quite chuffed after doing my first OC duty...for those of you who don't know, OC is not Orange County or whatever else, but Organising Comittee! Yesterday, Noora, Jani and I were the OC for the elections and the founding meeting of Aiesec Tampere; the unification of Aiesec TUT and Aiesec University of Tampere (TAY). Now were are one.

It was tiring but great fun, we made 2 big salads, had crisps and carrots etc with dips and we made a delicious chocolate and fruit cake!! credit goes to Noora for that, I must admit, great job! The event was in Juvenes Sauna in the city centre which is a really smart place, small and cosy, although the actual sauna is very big. There is a rooftop terrace with views of the Tampere sky-line, not bad at all!

Today has been very chilled so far...slept long and made my first freshly brewed coffee at home in my coffee machine: skånerost, yummy! Actually I'm going to go swimming soon...just letting lunch digest first. This coming week is gonna be a bit hectic I imagine, lots to do in the office on Mon/Tues and then literally at the crack of dawn on Wed, I'm off to Ostrava in the Czech Republic for our final business networking workshop for the NICE project. It will be a good trip I think, looking forward to it!

In the meantime, I'm trying to plan some sort of short holiday for April time, I'm now thinking about a long weekend in Riga, since the flights are costing next to nothing right now...I hate Ryanair but for 20euros return, all taxes included, you can't really complain. We'll see...it's definitely cheaper than going to Lapland, I could save that for summer time...can't believe I've not been able to go skiing for more than 1 day this year, it sucks. I really miss it and feel like I need to go, otherwise I'll just get worse and worse...

I've also been thinking about trying to drive over here on the wrong side of the road...! It's a bit daunting and I'll probably wait til there's no ice/snow, i.e. summer time too...I mean the roads between cities are pretty simple I'd say, mostly just straight, but driving in the city centres would be another kettle of fish...perhaps a summer road trip, if anyone comes to visit me anytime soon!? would be nice!