Suomen historiaa.

In order to practice some Finnish, Juha assigned me an essay on Finnish history. I was, however, allowed to make it up as I went along. So here's what I ended up with...

Suomen Historiaa

Suomi on uusi maa. Viisikymmentä vuotta sitten Suomi oli ruotsilainen alue. Ruotsin kuningatar halusi suurta linnaa. Siksi hän rakenti Tampere – Ruotsin kaupunkita. Se jälkeen tulivat liian paljon venäläisia idästä. Venäjän kuningatar halusi, että Ruotsin kuningatar kuole. Muuten Christian Albertssonilla oli idea! Hän päättäi, että hänen linnansa ei oli turvallinen. Kaikki maa Tampereella tuli Suomeksi, ja Suomi oli vain ruotsalaisen kuningattarelle. Venäjän kuningatar oli niin suuttunut ja mustasukkainen koska hän käy lomassa Siberiassa. Aleksi muodosti liitouman valleneen henkilön kanssa. Mutta tämä liitoumaa epäonnistui, kun valleneet henkilöjä valitivat jäädä Suomessa ja pitää maan. He kysyivät ruotsilailta kuningattarelta, jos he voisivat asua linnassansa. Christian sanoi ”HALLOOOOooooo, joooo! Tervetuloa linnaan!” Ja nyt suomalaiset juhlavat itsenäisyydenpäivä kuudes joulukuuta, koska tämä päivä on heidän lempipäivä!

Grammar.

Allow me to clarify my emo-ness from yesterday and use words to explain instead of emo-pictures found on Google when inputting song names haha.

So after I finished reading and doing exercises from "From Start to Finnish," I sort of felt, and still feel, as though I've hit a wall. I have some problems with cases - as many people do, I'm sure - and I'm trying to work those out before learning more grammar. I don't want to overwhelm myself any more than I already have and build anything on a crumbling foundation. I've thus decided to spend a little more time on the "easy" aka. basic stuff and blog/babble about it on my blog. [Feel free to skip this post if this is of no interest to you, or read it and learn a little about how the Finnish language works.]

Alright so where do I begin?

As a basic introduction, Finnish has few pre-/postpositions. Instead, state of objects are expressed by inflecting the end of a word to convey a certain meaning.
In the house = talossa [where -ssa means 'in', and talo is 'house']
There are 15 different ways to inflect a noun, adjective, adverb, even preposition or postposition...in the singular [let's keep it simple for now.].

Additionally, there are two different roots for each word, the strong root and the weak root. Type A words are strong in the basic, partitive, illative and essive forms and weak in all other singular forms. Whereas type B words are weak in the basic and partitive forms and strong in all other singular forms.

In order to categorize words and eventually learn their patterns, it's easiest to think of them as 13 separate groups [if only I were joking]... or at least it makes things feel as though they can be learned, instead of just stared at.
- words that end in vowels
-> ending in 1 vowel
-> ending in 2 vowels or a consonant
-> old words ending in -i
-> words that end in -e
-> words that end in -li, -ni or -ri
- words that end in -si
- words that end in -nen
- words that end in -in
- words that end in -is, -as or -äs
- words that end in -us/-ys/-os/-ös/-es
- words that end in -ton/-tön
- words that end in -ut/yt
- words that end in -nut/nyt (-lut/lyt, sut/syt, -rut)
- words that end in -uus/-yys, -us, -ys
- words that end in -el, -en, -er, -ar
- words that end in -tar/-tär

That was slightly more than 13 but some of the vowel endings might actually be the same. Either way, those categories help divide the different patterns that words in the partitive and genitive form follow. Oftentimes when learning words, knowing the partitive and genitive forms (strong and weak respectively) is enough to form all other cases.

I think that's enough for now. I know that lesson jumped from knowing nothing about Finnish to not understanding anything but I hope I got most of that right. I've been trying to learn all the groups lately and their respective partitive endings [I didn't even delve into that above]. The next step is learning all their genitive endings... and then slowly going back to the plural case forms that will soon cause me much less grief.
I hope this post didn't sound too whinny. Or at least that it conveyed my sense of frustration with hope and a decent amount of effort being put it.

<3.

Shampoo Suicide.

This song is how I feel about the Finnish language right now, and most probably tomorrow too.


Photo Credit here.

Li.

I very much like Lykke Li. She's a super cute singer from Sweden. I've randomly come across some of her stuff over the past few weeks so I thought I'd share it with you all.

This is one song she's doing vocals for:
Until We Bleed - Kleerup ft. Lykke Li.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rGvq3cdJkk&feature=related

And this is some of her own stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/user/lykkelivideos?blend=1&ob=4#p/c/6C7A15F2088D236A/1/LkBOi2x6zH8
Make sure you check out "Soundvenue Up Close" after clicking to the right of the main screen for her videos.

Wensday. [I mean that is how we pronounce it anyway.]

On Monday Donna messaged me to ask if I wanted to come with Helsinki with her on Wednesday to drop off her husband at the airport then hit the shops! I was so excited!!! I had also been dreaming about the vegetable salad I'd eaten at Maya - a Mexican restaurant - and I got to take Donna there! We hit the shops thereafter. Donna bought a beautiful purple wallet and a silk shirt from Esprit! Then we drove home and chatted the whole way back... Donna also sampled my muffins - all THREE batches - and has been raving to all of Tampere about them so I'm really happy someone other than Juha enjoyed them too!

Last night I got a big of downtime before heading out! Anne, Nina and I met up and dressed up [although beforehand] and headed to Lavatanssi - a barn dance that happens every year. Everyone dresses up in 1920s barn clothes and they teach you dances there and then and you can then do them all together. It was pretty entertaining to watch! People had really gotten creative with the theme... I felt like I was in a movie almost! Unfortunately, we didn't partake in the dancing BUT we chatted lots, so no time was wasted!

Today, I decided to make apple cinnamon muffins... they're out of the oven, I've taken tons of pictures and they're ready for sampling. Sadly, I haven't worked up the courage to try them yet. So I can't say how they taste just yet.

Tonight, after my Finnish class, Donna is coming by to pick up me and Juha and bring us to her place. She's making her INFAMOUS goat cheese salad [tweaked to perfection, or so I'm told!] and I'm really excited about it. Our friends Lauren and Kimmo were supposed to come along as well but turns out Lauren got the flu bug. Get well soon Lauren! [even though you don't have the link to this blog quite yet.]

Stay tuned for muffin pictures. [Yes, I'm talking to you Kelly <3.]

Globe and Mail morning.

With the passing of Obama's health care plan and all the news in politics in the past few days, I turned on my computer this morning to get up to date. Quebec is still trying to separate... nothing new there. And now the Bloc has even sunk so low as to compare itself to the France's Resistance during the Second World War. Earlier this week though, I read something interesting about Quebec's financial situation...click here. It would be interesting to see them separate, except of course for everyone living in Quebec who doesn't want to separate.

Otherwise, the climate change debate in Canada - and all over the world - is just plain frustrating. I only skimmed through this article but it seems that nothing is getting done, nor will it get done so long as Harper's in government [but honestly, very rarely does anyone ever so anything in government to begin with]. So politics feels a lot like... high school, haha.

Other Globe and Mail headlines include "Polluted water kills more than all violence: UN," "Mexican Drug Violence Escalates," "Hungry burglar breaks into restaurant, cooks chicken and rice," [okay that one was funny] "Sandstorms across China prompt health warnings," "Lost B.C Snowmobiler found after two days" ... and so on and so forth.

But it's sunny today and I'm gonna study some Finnish!

What do we do in Tampere on a Sunday night?

Yesterday was another lazy day. I hung out at home, baked coconut flour raspberry muffins and made Green Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk. I wasn't too excited about how the muffins turned out, although Juha was... and I guess I warmed up to them later. But the soup was hands down, delicious.

Speaking of delicious, my mom told me about this site, through Yahoo, with which you can save all your bookmarks, tag them and it organizes them for you. You can make an account or use your Yahoo account and access it from anywhere. Especially since getting into cooking, I have 1000000 recipes saved all over the place and it's getting kind of confusing. I started using it yesterday and I think it will really simply life. Of course, it's also useful for many other purposes - not just cooking. Check it out, www.delicious.com.

So anyway, getting to the point. Last night Heikki asked a bunch of people if we wanted to go tobogganing after everyone was done with work. So around 10pm 6 of us [me, Juha, Heikki, Mia, Pena and Eeva] all ventured out to a ski slope about 10km away. We brought little sleds with us and little butt things to slide on.

[That someone's random Finnish, frozen baby on a 'Pulkka.' I just thought this post needed a picture.]
I can't remember how many times we climbed the hill and went down but it was a lot of fun :D. We tried going in pairs too and at the end, the boys all went in one toboggan. It was pretty impressive! I couldn't believe they all stayed on.

After that, Eeva and I went with Pena and Juha to suck some hose... [because one of the company cars had the wrong kind of gas in it and they had to get it out...] The girls stayed in the car. But the whole sucking thing didn't work out so the car was towed this morning. Luckily, no one had to get gasoline in their mouthes. I've seen it happen and it's rather unpleasant. The taste sticks around for at least 24 hours.]

So today! I have to head to the post office and send off a bunch of things, after which, I'm free for the day. Tomorrow, we hit up the bowling alley!

Last Night. [The Strokes.]

So yesterday was a pretty action-packed day! We woke up around 8am, got ready and headed to the gym to play badminton from 9am to 10am.
Needless to say, with my current diet and the lack of carbohydrates, I was exhausted all day. BUT there was so much to do! I came home, showered, watched *****, my new TV show... which is just too embarrassing to reveal to the INTERNET and all of you who will lose all respect for me. Then I did a bit of Finnish with Nina through FB chat. Basically I asked her to give me 10 Finnish words in basic form and I had to say them in partitive singular and genitive singular. I did okay. And most importantly I now know that ring is: basic form= Sormus - partitive singular= Sormusta - genitive singular = Sormuksen!
[And if that's wrong then I guess I don't remember haha...]

Anywho! Then Nina and I met up and headed over to WokWok for some fabulous food and company! Donna, Lauren and I like to meet up there on Fridays for lunch. We also bring friends to widen our circle. This week I brought Nina; Lauren brought her friend Candice, who is visiting from Florida, and her husband Kimmo. Donna invited her son, who was going to join us after school but he never showed up. Either way, we sat around for ages, as we often do, and ironically both Finns had to leave before we did. [I say ironically because I have a feeling that hanging out in a restaurant for hours on end at lunch time is not a Finnish custom.] But I have to say that WokWok is very tolerant of our needs - nutritionally and conversationally. Service and staff alike, are super friendly.

I headed home after about 3 hours, bought some more almond flour and raspberries on the way [my obsessions] and came home to the boys [Juha, Jonne and later Ossi too] playing NHL 95. I was feeling pretty drained so NATURALLY I sat down and studied some Finnish... then my mind wandered over to my computer... watched a bit of ***** and then started browsing recipes. In light of equality day yesterday, I decided to bake the boys some brownies... but let's call them experimental brownies... there was indeed a disclaimer. I say experimental because I hadn't tried Irina-friendly brownies yet and the Stevia does add a rather odd sweetness to them. But they were okay. I had some last night and today too and if you're not used to Stevia then they definitely wouldn't qualify as heavenly but otherwise, a nice break from vegetables.
[BTW, I've been making the avocado salad like... everyday haha. Changing little things here and there. Still obsessed!]

I'd spoken with Anne about going to a gig at night and then everyone decided to join so it was nice to get a big group. Ironically, it appears that absolutely no one is single in Tampere. Anne and Jonne came with Kalle and Niina then Juha and I showed up with Ossi and Kaisa. And in the upcoming days we have a few dates with other Tampere-based couples haha... it makes me laugh.

The set actually lasted about an hour, if not a little more and I really enjoyed it. Some of the songs - maybe 2 - made me a little sleepy but I can't blame the band, I was exhausted as it was. The band was Kiki Pau [or according to me earlier on in the day Kaka Puu or Koko Pau/Puu... and other such combinations.] You should check them out by clicking here. I especially like "Just Real." [Great song!]

As a side note, the weather is getting pretty gross in Tampere. The snow is melting and it's wet everywhere and snow is falling off building and killing people and you have to be careful. [I don't think the death rates have skyrocketed or anything, just something to be aware of though.] We took a cab to the bar and home last night and the flat fee [before driving anywhere, the driving is extra] for a cab on a Friday night [prices change here depending on time of day - do we have this in Canada??] is 8e!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luckily we were 4 people so nothing too drastic. But 8 euros is 12$... and then you presumably travel more than 5 meters.. anyway, I'll stop being cheap haha.

Alright, back to my Finnish so I can eventually post about the complicated stuff I'm learning. I just have to understand it first.
-----------------------------------------------
N.B. Turns out I stand corrected! Two of the people we went out with on Friday: Kalle and Liisi [whose name I thought was Niina] are not a couple. Alas, there are still single people in Tampere!

If you have time to play with your food...

The other day I bought an avocado thinking it could be a nice treat. I love avocados for their taste and texture and best of all, the fun recipes you can try with them.

I've made guacamole quite a few times since getting to Finland so for lunch today [I'm still staring at it mesmerized, I decided to write this post first...] I decided to make an avocado salad. After inspiring myself from www.allrecipes.com, I came up with this...



And since most people, myself included, find it easier to drool over pictures of food than to actually make it, I thought I'd do a picture post on making this salad. This way, you can see how easy it is, and you might feel inclined to put your pizza back in the freezer and try something else. [That comment was directed at all my student friends struggling to eat like a normal person. Macaroni and cheese, anyone?]

Irina's Avocado-Tomato Salad
Makes 1-2 servings.
- 1.5-2 juicy tomatoes.
- 1 peeled, de-pitted and sliced avocado.
- 1/8 diced red onion.
- a small handful of walnuts.
- a small handful of grated beets.
- extra virgin olive oil.
- a dash of pepper.

Step 1.
Peel, cut and pit avocado. Arrange in bowl or plate in any way you desire.




Step 2.
Cut tomatoes and throw in bowl... or arrange ;)


Step 3.
Dice your 1/8th of a red onion and throw it in.


Step 4.
Add some grated beets for extra sweetness and some walnuts, if you'd like. I didn't have any cashews but I think those would've gone best!


Step 5.
Top it with some extra virgin olive oil and a bit of pepper and voila!
Lunch/side-dish is ready. The best part is, you can play around with the ingredients. I just threw in the beets because I'd tried this amazing salad in Helsinki that had some very eccentric ingredients, but it was nonetheless delicious. I'm also going through some beet fanaticism right now [see Dwight Schroot in The Office] and I happened to have had some grated beets in the fridge!

In any case,
Enjoy :)

Interview.

I'm coming clean. I've been really secretive these past few days because I was pretty nervous. But I had my first interview today!
I'm really excited to be over and done with it, and like they say, every interview is a learning experience so I'll definitely go in more confidently next time. Even though it went okay; I can't complain. I'd read up on some much interview prep, it was coming out of my nose... well, not actually. But you get the point.

I'm not going to say which company it was for - because I just don't want to put that on my blog - or what the position entails exactly. We'll just save that for next time we see each other. And either way, nothing is sure yet. They're checking up on my background... which I can confidently say is clean. Not even a speeding ticket... although I have my fair share of parking tickets but those go to the car, not the person :P. And I should hear back in 2 weeks or so - whether or not they decide to hire me. I really like that. It's a nice touch. If you send your resume in, and even take the time to go in for an interview, someone should get in touch with you to let you know what they thought and why they're - at the very least - not interested. Unless of course you're a high school drop out applying to chair a university or something really out of reach. But overall, it sends a really positive message about the company. Most of the time, I put a lot of work into my cover letters and when I don't hear anything back, it's frustrating and disappointing. Even that "thank you for your application but the position has been filled" email gives you some closure.

In any case, I realize this whole post sounds apathetic but I did go off on a bit of a tangent. I'm going to continue looking but I'm also happy to have been asked to interview somewhere close to home! Working within the city would be amazing because commuting to Helsinki five days a week might start to take its toll. So I'm hopeful about the possibilities and will continue my search while I wait :) !

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones.

You know those nights when you get home from seeing people and you can't help but smile to yourself? Nothing overly exciting happened while you were out, no one was drunk (although there may have been drinking) but somehow you enjoyed yourself immensely? And all the while you ask yourself how did you manage to piece together such a delightful collection of friends?

I'm not talking about an evening I had recently, but rather a book I just finished today. It's called The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith. The novel is set in Edinburgh and is composed of 100 chapters, all of which were first published in a newspaper before being bound and printed as a book. McCall Smith revives the forgotten 'serial novel' as he gets into the heads and lives of a dozen realistic characters leading normal lives. The plot isn't clearly defined and you find yourself enjoying your time "spent" with the characters and their daily run-ins. Still, there is enough to keep you interested and intrigued. [wow - I just had a really hard time spelling intrigued...]

Also, I should mention that the author is Scottish and used to be a "distinguished...Professor of Medical Law" before becoming a full-time writer [according to Amazon.com]. The book contains some passages of Scottish pride which are beautiful, subtle, yet not at all imposing. Apparently he's written over 60 books so I'll be keeping an eye out for those! And if you're looking for a good read, I suggest you check him out.

To do or not to do...

So I've been thinking about starting a spin-off blog where I can post the recipes I come across and stop doing that here. I will kindly accept comments regarding this... right now all my recipes are gathered on little pieces of scrap paper on the fridge.

TODAY!

I have class at 6:30pm and before that, I'm going to do some hard-core Finnish studying. I also want to get around to finishing the book I'm currently reading and writing a little blurb about it on here.

I'm also a little peeved because yesterday I finally got around to scanning a copy of my transcript and to upload it online for a job application and guess what? It's not working! It first said it only accepts upload .pfd, .doc and .rtl [or something...] and after I put it into a work document... the link dies. So I have to look into that. And lucky for me - there's no person to contact on the website and the company is a huge multi-national! So where am I supposed to call?

Reading...

So as I told you guys previously, the library honoured me with a membership card. I took out a ton of books. The first one I decided to read is "Grand Central Winter." The forward was written by Kurt Vonnegut and that's what originally caught my eye. The book is more or less a memoir of Lee Stringer's life on the street, which lasted about 10 years, and his transition from crack addict to writing addict. I, for some reason, take an interest in reading about addictions and I found this novel so much more refreshing than other seemingly-similar memoirs.

I read "A Million Little Pieces" during summer before first year and that book made me feel all sorts of horrible emotions, even though I really enjoyed having gained the insight into the main character's complicated mind. [I say main character instead of author before of the controversy surrounding the validity of some of the author's "memories."] While James Frey evoked some really unpleasant feelings in his readers, Lee Stringer didn't attempt any of that. He describes his experiences with a nonchalant attitude that doesn't make anyone feel bad. He embraces his freedom from rent and taxes, even when life gets a little harder. He recounts tougher experiences with thoughts that don't exactly show a desire to be free of his addition and these feel honest. Nonetheless, Lee did clean up in the end and this collection of tales is proof of that.

So yeah, I like the book. And it was a quick read. I definitely recommend it.


Currently reading: The Unbearable Lightness of Scones - Alexander McCall Smith.
So far, soo good.

Work as a result of The Hangover.

Yesterday, thanks to my darling boyfriend, I clocked 3 hours of PAID work time. Basically he was too... ill... to drive himself and do his deliveries so I drove him and coached him to smile nicely and be polite to the customers even though all he wanted to do was hurl...

So it all started Thursday morning! The day was looking pretty busy but I was looking forward to the running around - even without the energy. I got up at 9am. Studied Finnish from 10am to 12pm and then I took a lunch break. This break was rather extended because I figured I wouldn't have much time to laze around later. I watched some TV online and ate lunch. Then around 2:50pm I left to meet a friend. We scouted all the second hand and Asian shops in the area; I spent 40 euros. BUT I bought: a really nice sweater, a soap holder, a candle holder, many spices, ghee, some warm GREEN mittens...and some other stuff... In total, I think we walked about 6 or 7km. I got home at 6pm, exhausted, ate a small dinner and ran out the door at 6:20pm to get to Finnish class... another 1km walking there and back... came home at 8:15pm to Nina, Juha and Juuso. Nina brought her brother's dog over for a visit so Juha could meet him too. They bonded before I got home :)
I ate another small, quick dinner and we rushed out the door to pub quiz... another 700m or so walk. We hung out there until about 11something and then Eeva drove me home. The boys said they'd be going for a drink at Semafori and they wouldn't be long...

I got home, exhausted, read a little, watched some Ugly Betty and went to bed around 12:30am.

3:30am - I am awoken by the sound of ... Juha. Anyway, long story short, I managed to get him to bed.

Okay so one down, one to go... I laid in bed... tossed and turned... Juha snored and his stomach protested the alcohol as it tried to make sense of what had happened... the stomach that is. I got up around 5am to check Facebook. I turned the light on in bed and read a little... before I knew it 7am rolls around and nothing. I felt wide awake. And my day went on from there...

I met Nina and we walked to Sokos together. I was impressively coherent all through the day and didn't even feel tired. I later realized that I have a really regular sleeping schedule and this tends to happen to me a lot. I miss a night of sleep and it's fine. If you start missing more, that's when it gets problematic. I was gone for maybe 3 hours or so. Once I got home I found a half-dead zombie-like version of Juha. He'd apparently tried taking the garbage out and walking around the building a few times to feel better but to no avail. Then around 5:30pm he started getting calls from the primary driver who needed help with his deliveries. Since Juha didn't feel up to driving, I drove and he delivered. We did 5 deliveries in 3 hours... one of them was to his co-worker who was also at the bar before.

I was pretty happy about the whole day's events! I earned the first bit of salary that I'd earned in the past ... well... let's just say over a year [because I worked for free in the summer.] And the money I earned offset my shopping splurge from Thursday! Not to mention I felt like I'd really been needed for something! [Which is a great feeling as you seek employment.]



To add the cherry on top of the cake, we made Indian spiced cauliflower and green beans with rice for dinner! It was absolutely delicious... but maybe could of used a few extra vegetables. We didn't take any pictures though. BUT then for dessert, I used the almond-flour waffles I am so fond of and added berries, banana and cinnamon! Awesome. And yes, there was some late night Yatzee! [note the dice.]

Now I gotta run! Päivi and Anna are coming over for lunch!

Recent inactivity.

So one of the reasons I haven't been blogging much lately, other than my recent passion for cooking, is because I've been generally overwhelmed. I'm not talking culture shock this time, but rather life-overwhelmedness. Days and weeks go by really fast, yet I don't feel like I'm accomplishing a whole lot so I'm trying a new approach.

I want to wake up earlier in the morning. Slowly start rising around 8am instead of 9am... that change can be gradual and I'm not sure if fully recommended since I can barely keep my eyes open around 11pm anymore. I do, however, often make it to midnight!

I want to study Finnish first thing every morning. I've been waking up and eating while I check Facebook and decided, that's just not a good way to start the day. I had emails and messages piling up all over the place and nothing was getting done. I wasn't even blogging because I couldn't be bothered at the time. I think a much better way to start every day is with a couple chapters of Finnish. For example, I did that this morning and here I am! Blogging and taking pictures of soup haha.

I want to start focusing my job hunting efforts into one field. I've been feeling like I'm spread a bit too thin. I have my English tutoring efforts, my applications to recruiting companies, my writing [which is purely for fun right now], my university applications [which are finally more or less done! - I say this because of my one lose end in Montreal], my language school applications... etc... As you can see, this can get quite out of hand. So I've decided to make goals and stick to them and gradually work my way through my top priorities first and then tackle all the other stuff.

And now, my next goal is to eat lunch and watch an episode of House!
Hyvää päivää!

Flavour of the Week!

Ladies and Gentleman,

I'd like to show you the very first soup I've ever made from scratch! It's a cabbage, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, green bean, onion and beef medley of awesomeness. Just thought I'd share the love.

Let me know if you're interested in the recipe. I won't go as far as to post it since I don't expect anyone to run to their kitchens, spoons in hand and make this today haha.

Friday.

You'll have to forgive my tardiness. I'm a little behind on blogging as I've had little energy to do much of anything lately.

Last week, my goal was to get to page 100 of my "From Start to Finnish" language book by Sunday. I proudly reached my goal Saturday afternoon and gave myself Sunday off. Of course, this made for a difficult start on Monday as I felt too tired to study much. But anyways, let's go back to Friday.

On Friday, I attended my very first demonstration. [Yes, this may shock some of you who know me well.] Anne invited me to come along with her and I jumped at the opportunity to try something different and do something useful. The event itself was an anti-fur demonstration. Apparently the fur trade has already been outlawed in the Netherlands and Ireland and the people we walked with wanted the same laws to be put in place in Finland.

Personally, I think the fur trade was useful before synthetic fibers started being used for warmth and I can see why people would be attached to it historically. On the other hand, if you think about it, it's a little useless and causes unnecessary harm [aka. death] to animals and needn't be killed. So although I can't pretend this issue is something I think about on a regular basis, I saw merit in demonstrating against the fur trade and trying to incite some change.

I felt a little funny being there at first. It's really hard for me to separate real protesters from fake ones in my head but this was a challenge I knew I'd sort of have to confront while being there. By fake protesters, I mean people who just like to protest anything. For example, there were individuals at my university who were in favour of abolishing tuition AND the teaching assistants' strike to increase their salaries from $32/hour because this is Canada's lowest TA wage. UNBEARABLE! Those poor starving TAs... and where should the money to fund such wage increases come from if you abolish tuition... Anyway, I didn't mean to get all riled up. But I'm not a big fan of those people... so back to the anti-fur demonstration!
It was really interesting and I really enjoyed myself. I was a little sleepy and Anne felt the same. We were both in dire need of a nap but still, we were given a sign [I wish I had a picture of it] and we marched with it. We were both annoyed at one of the protesters who decided that drinking a beer while demonstrating would be a good idea. I guess Anne and I saw eye-to-eye on what should and shouldn't be done at these things. The march took us up the main street, down a secondary street and in front of a department store which sells fur. Standing in front of that store made for an uncomfortable 10 minutes or so as we chanted "Shame on you Halonen" in Finnish. [Halonen is the name of the store, and incidentally, the Finnish president's last name. But that was only coincidental.] We then headed back to the main square. There were some speeches but we ran home because after over an hour outside, our feet were numb from the cold.

It's hard to really reflect on everything because the demonstration was in Finnish so I couldn't tell how people were feeling. Anne mentioned there was some hostility in the air and people seemed pretty angry. Yet Anne and I both felt that the right approach would be just to smile and inform people, instead of being angry at them. Since everyone was there with friends, we all joined up in little groups and took what we each thought appropriate from the experience, and gave what we thought was appropriate in return. I'm probably not making much sense now and I have half a mind to delete this whole post but I'll keep it anyway.

Point being, if there are any policy changes, they won't be instantaneous but if you hear anything [Anne!] then let me know.


Post-nap, I hung out at home in the evening and then went to see Janne Laurila in concert with Anne! [It was indeed an Anne-filled day!] I was really excited for this show because I'd heard a few songs by him [ok seriously, just one but that day two!] and I liked his style. I was pleasantly surprised when he played a whole set and I enjoyed every single song. I guess it's handy he works at the bar right near my house and plays shows there pretty often. I definitely want to see him again.

That's it for my Friday update. I'll write more later but for now, I have a date with a handsome fellow named Juuso and his owner's sister, Nina.

Randomness.

Finnish people make some pretty funny sounds:
Ai! Ui! Höh! Jeeeeee!

... okay maybe "Ui!" is my own weird noise. But I just wanted to start my post on a random note. And point out the funny sounds that Finnish has, ALTHOUGH all languages have them. It's just hard to be aware of them. But I say all this with love and warmth. <3.


In other news, I need to be employed so... employ me?
Kthx.

I just made some tasty coconut macaroons! And by tasty I mean, they smell good, but I haven't tried eating them yet haha.

Janne Laurila tomorrow following an anti-fur demonstration! [I don't think it's the kind where you throw paint on people or anything haha. I'll keep you posted.]

Narration.

It's funny... I realized today that as I go through each day and events occur to me, I narrate them in my head as if life were a book. I'm not going to compare my life to a movie nor a TV series, because let's face it, people wouldn't stay tuned in for very long, but I think inside my head there might just be a book hanging out in there somewhere. So after being awake for 8 hours today, this is what I've composed so far...


I woke up at 9am this morning, a little groggy but nothing too serious. I started my morning routine much like any other day: bathroom, make coffee, stir yogurt, check Facebook, etc. Juha got up at the same time and started his own routine: bathroom, check Aamulehti [lit. translation is Morning Paper], drink coffee, eat breakfast, etc. He looked up from his computer at one point to announce that today is supposed to be slippery. Instinctively I told him to drive carefully.

My morning was a little boring but that boredom was necessary to complete some university applications. I had to write something called a degree supplement... basically, European schools are supposed to write this for you so you can send it to schools you apply to after you graduate. Since McGill is not a European school, I had to write my own and ask someone to sign and stamp it. The purpose of the whole thing is to describe the context of the education system in your country and the nature of the degree, program, its structure... etc. I thought it would take me the entire day but it turns out, it wasn't so hard. It just involved some copy+pasting from the McGill website and some linking information. I even found an awesome chart for the Canadian Education system that made me really happy! Click here to see this magical chart which won't actually impress you much.

After finishing the supplement, eating lunch, watching an episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, eating a snack and studying some Finnish, I headed to the university to print off all my application documents and photocopy my passport. Just as I was walking down this little hill on my way, I thought about how I haven't updated my blog. As if by pure coincidence, at that very moment I find myself sliding down this aforementioned hill smack on my butt and I can actually feel the wetness through my pants. Last time I fell, I felt embarrassed. This time I just felt annoyed. I brushed all the snow I could feel off and headed along. So much for driving carefully - try walking carefully when a thin layer of snow covers huge ice patches formed by the recent BLAH weather. This brings me to a new point about Finnish weather, after all the beautiful snow has installed itself all over the city, it has to go somewhere when the weather gets warmer. Since the sewage system can only take so much, once we start dancing around the zero degree mark, we also have to start dancing around pond-sized puddles and deep slush. This exercise and bit of extra caution tends to put people in a bad mood. Understandably since I don't think anyone likes to have their feet wet.

I made it to the university unscathed by any more ice patches, met Juha, printed all my documents and turned them in at the near-by post office. It feels SO good to finally have three-quarters of my applications handed in! Of course, I still need to provide them with proof that I did actually graduate, but I won't be getting my diploma until June 2nd anyway so no point worrying about that. What I am worrying about is my progress in Finnish. I've been learning a ton of words lately but honestly, who wants to discuss how wide, narrow, fat, skinny, long, short, etc, etc, a book, person or day can be? How about food in general? [as if I don't do that enough] Or even the weather... yes, I now am armed with at least a dozen adjectives that relate to weather, seasons and more! So yeah, I learned all those words and many more, but I don't really have active use for them at the moment. I could write some stuff on here but that would involve BEARING my soul to you all AND boring you to death. So for now, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

GO CANADA!!

We had a bunch of friends over last night to watch the game and sadly, disturbed our neighbours, who sent us a message at midnight that the rules indicate that quiet time begins at 22 o'clock and old people live in the building. I guess the TV being on max at midnight gave our youth away...

Sid Kitchen attended the party and made blueberry pancakes for everyone! I made raspberry waffles and TOOK PICTURES!


These little almond-flour waffles almost made me jump for joy and cry because they taste soooo good and are so easy to make. I really wish there were more sporting events to bring friends together and get them to cook for one another like we did last night. However, I guess we don't need a sporting event to do that though... we could just make dinner dates haha. But there was something super awesome about yesterday too and it wasn't JUST the fact that Canada won and everyone skipped home :).

In other news, I AM A MEMBER OF SOMETHING IN FINLAND NOW, and that something is the public library. I strolled in there today and they gave me a library card! Just like that! All I had to do was show my passport. And not only that, but the woman let me speak Finnish with her, and translated when I looked confused [even though Juha was there.] Which was really nice, because often they either speak in Finnish with Juha or in English with me. I took out French, English and learning Finnish books and you can extend the 4 week due date online and I'm so excited!!!

In a less exciting turn of events, it seems that I can't get permanent residency right now after all. We went back to the poliisitoimisto today to see whether you can apply if you have sufficient funds to support yourself and the woman told us everything we already knew, and then discouraged us by adding that we can apply if we want to, for a 45e fee, but SHE wouldn't approve such an application. "Työ on paras." [Employment/work is best.] GAHHH! That was annoying. Juha and I both had to put in effort to be nice to her, especially after she made me feel like crap last time I was there. But what can you do? Either way, I hope to receive acceptance to universities soon and THEN I'll go back and be sure that I'll be approved.

After that fine morning, we ate at the uni and ran into MUTUAL FRIENDS! and put up posters everywhere for my tutoring position. I also applied for an internship today that would be my very first choice for a job this summer! [Global company, summer intern, logistics, Tampere-based!] I'll let you know if I hear back. The deadline was March 31st so I'm early on that so it might take awhile to contact candidates.

I think that's it for now. I'm a little brain-dead from learning too many Finnish words today! >.<
... I just hope I can remember them all tomorrow!