freezing in finland : comments

Autum

flussziege — 2008-09-14T09:59:00Z

While summer was quite rainy this year, autum started out at its best and most beautiful.

Von september 2008

Changes

flussziege — 2008-09-14T09:28:00Z

At the beginning of the month I started a sort of "getting to know the place"-internship at the local hospitals adult neurology unit. There's an acute as well as a rehabilition ward; a neuro and a memory polyclinic. Besides doctors, nurses and psychologists, there's physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a speech therapist, social workers,...
Although it's (as I expected) quite hard to re-adjust from 2 months of being at home to 8 hour workdays, I'm quite excited. So far I have been spending a lot of time getting to know the place and the workers; getting an idea of what kind of patients there is, getting familiar with the "paperwork" that goes along with the job,...
The workers there have received me "with open arms". Basically everyone has been offering to tell about the kind of work they do. They also let me know not to be shy and ask questions as they come up.
Especially my direct colleagues have been taking a lot of time for me; discussing cases with me; answering questions, letting me watch in on their work if possible,...

Besides that, I have bravely signed up for 3 classes at the community college. The first one started on Tuesday; a combination of aerobics, muscle build-up and stretching for "the elderly, overweight and those who sit in front of the desk a lot". As I expected, I'm the youngest of the group. Besides me there's maybe 2 women under 60 years, but let me tell you, those "grannies" are in good shape! So far I like the class, since the teacher shows alternative exercises for those who have for example knee or back problems that keep them from doing certain exercises.
The massage techniques- class started on Thursday. It also seems to be quite good. The only problem is, that we're 11 people in the class and we practice usually in pairs. That means, there's always a group of 3 who has less time for practicing... and enjoying...
The sign language class doesn't start until the beginning of October. That's a good thing, since it's right after the massage class. Hopefully my hands can handle that...

During my 2 months at home my neighbor and I started a routine of going for walks with Seita together in the afternoons. So far, we've been managing to keep that up. I find it, a bit to my own surprise, very refreshing to go walking right after coming home, even though at that moment I feel more like sitting down and not taking another step outside.
And when I have the classes after work, my neighbor takes out Seita for me. I'm lucky.

Visitor

flussziege — 2008-09-14T08:57:00Z

After my trip to Germany last December, I hadn't seen any of my friends or family. It was one of those strange years - things just kept happening and changing plans.
But in the end of August, one of my best friends came to see me for a long weekend. She arrived on Thursday evening (almost didn't make the train in time; I had told her the wrong train station in Helsinki... Oops!) and stayed till Tuesday morning.
And even though the man was moving to a new apartment on the same weekend, we managed to have ourselves a good and relaxed time.
We spent hours walking through town or in the forest with Seita; had a barbeque on an island in the river (with the REAL thuringian sausages! ;p) and of course went to Bingo on Saturday. Where our "Bingo-granny" surprised everyone by announcing the numbers in German as well as in Finnish.

Von august 2008

Of course, we had lots of good food. Salmon with vegetable rice, a raclette evening,...
Sunday was the moving day. My friend spent the day with Tapsa and Seita. We walked to town together, where we met Tapsa, then I went to help moving. I was at the man's old place at about 12.30 and back home around 18.30. Everything went quite well, but I had a huge allergy attack in the evening. ;p Must have been rather funny looking.

Tuesday morning, very early, my friend left (and we found out that it costs an extra 6€ to order a cab for a certain time... On top of the nightfare the 6km ride to the train station cost 23€...!) and I went back to sleep for another 2 hours before starting my career at midday. ;D

thanx ;p

flussziege — 2008-07-28T09:42:41Z

thanx ;p

congratulations! =)

Idoru — 2008-07-21T13:07:58Z

congratulations! =)

Finally official

flussziege — 2008-07-20T18:51:00Z

For almost a year I was translating and explaining papers concerning my studies; trying to find explanations, what exactly my title means that no-one here has ever heard of; and was hoping that there would be some way around the 300,-€ expensive "Terveydenhuollon Oikeusturvakeskus" (National Authority for Medicolegal Affairs). Well, there wasn't, so I ended up sending half a kilo of papers to Helsinki to get them checked. And last Monday, after only 3 months of waiting, I finally got the answer: I'm now officially allowed to work in Finland, in my own profession!!!!

ELISA or: How to lose time and nerves

flussziege — 2008-07-04T11:14:00Z

In the spring of last year me and Tapsa got ourselves new cellphones along with 2 year-contracts. From ELISA, one of Finlands biggest telecommunication companies. Unlike in Germany, where the phone itself is basically free with such a contract, in Finland the phones full prize is payed in monthly rates as part of the phonebill. 10,-€ in my case.

My contract was in Tapsa's name; as a foreigner I hadn't lived in Finland long enough to get my own contract.

Then Tapsa and I split up. Phone still in Tapsa's name, I still hadn't lived here for more than 2 years - so the bills continued coming to Tapsa's address. No problem, we thought, they come early enough and with enough time in between, that they'll find their way to me in time.

But unfortunately ELISA had started using a new billing system in summer. Being busy sorting out our lives, we didn't really notice that there wasn't cellphone bills coming for about half a year. well, of course we got internet and home phone bills - everything seperately - otherwise we might have noticed even then.

The bills that hadn't come in summer started coming in December, I think- about once per week, deadline immediately. Until I got them, there was usually already a second and third one. Well, I made sure to pay them all, though it was sometimes hard to find the money.

On January 21 tapsa and I went to a local ELISA shop trying to get the contract in my name. we explained the situation and the woman said, no problem. But then the computer didn't work, she took all the information down and promised to take care of things and send us the neew contracts.

The next 2 bills still went to Tapsa's, nor did we ever receive contracts. In the end of February Tapsa went to the store himself. After that, the bills came to my address - with Tapsa's name on them.

So on 14th of March we went to ELISA together. And surprise - the computer worked and we left with new contracts IN MY NAME. Cost only about 7,-€, which nobody ever told us. Oh well, as long as it works.

YEAH right.

Shortly afterwards Tapsa got a huge bill. At first we didn't understand at all, what it was, but turned out, it was all the remaining monthly rates for the phone at once. So again we went to the store to ask, what had happened. There we got to hear, that they can't help us with that. We'd have to call the customer service - preferably immediately after 9 a.m., because then we might get through in less than 2 hours. But of course, both of us were at work then.

Good thing, that a friend is working at the customer service and wanted to help. She got us a new contract, though still in Tapsa's name (for some reason it's impossible to get that into my name). So basically, I got to pay my 10,-€ per month again, just not along with the phonebill anymore. Or something like that.

Along with the contract came a list with the reference numbers for all the monthly payments. I payed the first bill 4 days ahead of the deadline - and got a message from the friend the next day: Don't pay, the reference numbers are wrong.
Well, too late. I had payed, it wasn't my mistake and I wasn't willing to pay again.

The new list arrived in time for the next rate, which I duely payed. And 3 weeks after that, Tapsa gets another letter along with another list, saying: the reference numbers were wrong again, wait for the new list.

The numbers on the list in the letter were the same as on the former one, so I didn't dare use them and waited for the new list, which never came. So the last rate of 10,-€ was overdue (2 weeks).

And Tapsa got a letter from one of those companies who collect outstanding money for other companies. Funny enough, the amount there was the original amount, including the rates I had already payed.

So we decided to try calling ELISA again. After waiting for only about half an hour, we even got through. The customer service woman was soon as confused as we were. Evidentially, there was tons of contradictory information in the computer. In the end, after about another 30 min, she said she'd sort it out and call back the next day.

Now it looks like I'll get to pay my monthly rates again, though the contract is still in Tapsa's name. They also said they'll take care of the collecting firm... Let's see.

Winter

flussziege — 2008-06-27T11:04:00Z

is over even in Finland and so is a great, though exhausting spring. Today is the first day of my summer vacation. Lots has happened:
My internship was a great experience. I learned lots - for example (most surprising) that I like working with kids- and my finnish language got a huge boost. Somewhere along the way I quit the cleaning job. After that I was only 5 to 6 days a week at work, and that proved to be more than enough. I had been in the internship for 3 months when I got hired to write the testphase report (in finnish!) of a project I had already earlier (as part of the internship) been working in. The job was at the local university's continuing education center - exactly where my language courses had been - and was supposed to last about a month. In the end I got a new contract for another 3 weeks, which ends on Monday. Inbetween I was back in the internship for 1 week, taking part in a course for autism- and Asperger patients and their families. Besides all that, my last wisdom tooth was removed (in a surprisingly short time with surprisingly few problems afterwards and a shockingly huge bill for one who's used to free dental care). And about 3 months ago I sent about half a kilo of papers to Helsinki, hoping they will explain enough top convince officials that I'm well enough trained to go to work... So far the decision hasn't come (why should they hurry, it only costs 300€) and I'm starting to get a bit frustrated - I can't apply before I have it.
And now I have two days 'real' (as in 'payed') vacation, then I'll be unemployed. With a bit of luck I'll start another internship at the hospital in August, with even more luck, the letter with the decision arrives soon. In any case I gotta start thinking about where to apply to, get my CV updated and some applications written, so I can send them immediately when I'm finally hopefully allowed to.
Of course, most of all, I'll enjoy my free time with the man and Seita. Depending on the weather and how fast Seita gets used to walking next to a bicycle, we might even go for a short cycling trip.

Sunday morning, 8:15; -16°C (3.2°F)

flussziege — 2008-02-24T16:12:00Z

incredibly important and busy... ;p

flussziege — 2008-02-07T20:47:00Z

After almost a year and a half of experiencing free weekends, I'm finally back to my (almost ) 7 day-work-week. And I like it quite a bit, though it's a little bit tiring. ;-)
I made it into the course that I had the interview for, and started an internship basically right away. I was a bit worried about how it would go, with the language and everything, but after almost 2 weeks there I have to say it's great. Very many different and soooo interesting things; I think I'll learn a lot. About myself, as well. In theory I spend 3 days per week there, 1 day at university and 1 day in my course. But since I also have the chance to go to schoolings, take part in groups and because I make my own schedule according to when & where there is something to do for me, those times overlap quite a lot.
And while it seems that work-related things are developing quite nicely, I'm also doing rather well in my personal life.

flussziege — 2008-02-07T20:40:00Z

And now...

flussziege — 2008-01-08T20:53:00Z

...winter seems to be coming. Finally! The weekend was rather coldish, around -15°C. And plain beautiful. Even though there's barely any snow, everything was frozen white. In combination with a (clear) blue sky and the sun- bummer!

Riding the bicycle ain't as easy anymore with those temperatures, I noticed. ;p But at least there's a great lot of fun in it for the old people at work- they were teasing about my red face all day long... Poor me. ;-)

Well, it's not quite that cold anymore, but we did get a bit of snow. Seita was very excited about that- she was jumping like a kangaroo, so in the end, I guess we both had a blast.

Other than that, I'm enjoying my more or less free days. Yesterday I had an interview for the next course that I applied for, which basically consists of job application training and internship(s). My online course in finnish language also started and I still have plenty of books and papers to read. It's nice, just the right mix of free time and something to do.

Finally home...

flussziege — 2008-01-02T18:52:00Z

Being in Germany was fun- and stress. Getting home was good- and stressful... ;p I got to Joensuu at 9 p.m. on Sunday, and had to be at work at 9 a.m. on Monday. Good thing that I got to sleep at Virve and Keijo's again. The morning brought a nice surprise- there was two of us cleaning! And suddenly we had sooo much time. Straight from work I walked to Tapsa's to pick up Seita. Nice enough, Hanna, Niko and Hiisi were also there, so we actually got to spend some time together before they drove back to Helsinki in the afternoon. Together with Hanna and Hiisi we then went to the dog park, where we also met Virve and Niila. There was plenty of dogs there for a change, so they actually ran a lot.

Then Virve and I took my bags to my place, picked up cooking stuff, went shopping and back to Virve and Keijo's to start making the food. We made sushi and a salmon roll with cream cheese inside, cut tons of vegetables, had cheesecubes and pickles,... Schneemaennchen brought her awesome noodle salad- well, there was enough food.
The evening was great- just a few friends and our dogs, relaxed and fun.

At midnight we watched the fireworks from the big bridge. And suddenly it was already (not so) early in the morning and bit by bit we flaked...

About 3 hours later I got to go to work- fully awake of course, without breakfast and morning coffee... I managed surprisingly well, and for the first time even got done and had time left. Back at the apartment I finally got COFFEE. And food. And got shocked by Keijo, who's definitly the only human I know who can handle doing the dishes before breakfast.

And then I got a ride home home. ..
Today I already had an appointment at the employment office, then met with Irina for coffee. Because the weather was great- finally a bit colder (-8) and sunny- I walked home. Then I did lots of organisational stuff and now my REAL vacation can start. ;p If only a day or 2... Tomorrow I'll go for a looooooong walk with Seita.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nine days Germany

flussziege — 2008-01-02T17:57:00Z

Obstacles

flussziege — 2007-12-22T23:02:00Z

I made it - I'm in Germany for christmas. It was a rather interesting trip, though.
On Thursday I was still a bit busy getting Seita's stuff ready and cleaning the apartment a bit. At 8 Tapsa came to pick up Seita and I went to toewn to meet Virve for a beer. On the way I was thinking that I'd been quite stupid- could have got my stuff packed already and taken it to town and spent the night at Virve and Keijo's, who live close to the train station. When I mentioned that to Virve she said "What's the problem- we can still do that!". So we went to there place, to the car to my apartment, packed my stuff in 15 min (I never ever before packed without at least 2 days of planning!!! It was very scary... ;p) and got going. So far it even seems that I have everything. Wow!
After 4 hours of sleep I somehow made my way to the train station. Everything went quite well until I got to the airport. The plane was supposed to leave at 14:45. When I came into the departure hall and checked the table, there was this ugly red field next to my flight saying "estimated 15:15". Oh well, could have been worse. I checked in and at some point went into the security area, found myself a cheap English translation of the Kalevala, got some more coffee and settled down for a long wait. At some point they corrected the estimated departure time to 15:35... then 16:05...

I think we left at about 16:30.
The flight was actually quite nice- I sat between a polish French- teacher who works as a CNC programmer, and an elderly finnish lady, so I was talking English and Finnish in turns. The plane landed in Berlin at basically the exact time that my train (of course paid for already... but at least that was the cheap one) was leaving. Then we got to wait for our luggage for ages, and the bus to the train station left when I was almost at the stop. By then I was considering flying back home.
The rest of the trip went well, though, and in Leipzig Romy and Katrin picked me up at the train station, prepared for a girl's night, and we immediately headed for the christmas market. Tons of stands, lights, food, drinks, things, people and my 2 best friends- the perfect medication after a shitty trip.

We had some Glühwein (hot seasoned wine) and food, then mead and more food. On the way to Katrin's place we stopped in a small bar for a beer, then spent hours with wine and talking at Katrin's.

The "morning" we spent walking through Leipzig.

It's nice, with all the people and smells and sound in the street. There was a lot of musicians- a string quartet, accordeon players, ... And a Finnish christmas market, which I found quite hilarious considering the fact that I didn't see one in Finland!

In the afternoon Romy and I took the train to Gera, where I met with my parents and brother- and headed of to the christmas market. ;-) More Glühwein and food.

Last day at school

flussziege — 2007-12-22T22:22:00Z

On Thursday the language course ended with a celebration, as usually. We were told to be there at 9.30 to get our picture taken- we were there, the picture got taken at about 9.50... That much about "In Finland we're always punctual...!". ;p The whole procedure took a while - as one after the other thought it might be nice to get the picture taken with his own camera, too. (Including me, of course!)

The actual happening was very nice - a short, funny speech, coffee and cake, lots of address exchange, picture taking and hugging,... And gifts. ;p I got a great book from our teachers, about North Carelian nature with awesome pictures. Of course, the teachers got gifts from us, as well.

I think it's gonna be quite a strange feeling not to be in the course anymore- I'd basically been in those courses for as long as I've been living in Finland. It was a very good way to learn the language and something about culture, but also to meet people. Especially this last group I liked very much and am gonna miss it.

After the party we went to the employment office and waited for a loooong time. Afterwards I still had some shopping to do, then one of our Russians was very nice and gave me a ride home. And not only that- when I said that I'd still have to go back to town to go to KELA, she said that she'd also have to go there and we could go together. She saved me a lot of time with that!

a doggy day

flussziege — 2007-12-19T16:55:00Z

Sometimes

flussziege — 2007-12-18T13:13:00Z

I should maybe just keep my big mouth shut. What did I say about christmas carols yesterday? Today we didn't just get to listen, but also to sing... Was quite funny, actually. Most of the time, anyway.
We had quite a nice christmas party. There was tons of food- candys, chocolate and cookies, of course, cakes- but also fruit and salads and "palatschinken".

And finnish christmas carols. And a christmas quiz. And gifts. And a very happy Santa... ;p

So busy...

flussziege — 2007-12-17T19:00:00Z

Christmas is coming up with a speed that's starting to get scary- on Friday I already get going. Before that, there's still "pikkujoulut" (christmas party) at the language course tomorrow, my interview at the hospital on Wednesday, and the "course over"- party on Thursday- followed by everyone marching to the employment office to show the diploma.
Talking about christmas- on Friday I decided to get myself some christmas feeling and walked to town with Seita. We even got there surprisingly fast, considering that she's sniffing everywhere- only 1.5h. Yeah, and there we were- on an empty marketplace with some christmas decoration and lights, a few people walking around and the only "music" the bass out of a car that drove by. No christmas market with food, Glühwein, handicrafts, loads of people and music... So back at home I called my mom and told her that we have to go to christmas market first thing on Saturday. Or if I'm really lucky, we'll already go Friday evening in Leipzig with the girls. Scary enough, I'm even looking forward to hearing christmas carols. Don't think I heard a single one this season. And that to me! ;p
In the meantime I'm trying to read as much Neuropsychology as I can. The problem is- it's all very interesting, and I tend to want to check out this detail and that link... The Oliver Sacks books came just in time and help a lot- it's fun reading them and he describes the diseases quite lively.
Yesterday after work I was gonna help Virve and Keijo cleaning their old apartment. We even had a great plan- since they live near my workplace, I'd take Seita to them before work (by bus), and then go there immediately when I got off. Yeah, but- on Sundays, the first bus doesn't go before 9.30- 2 hours to late. And coming back home to pick up Seita and going all the way back would have been a project of about an hour and a half- senseless. So in the end I just cooked for all of us and we had a nice evening together.

Virve has a bad eye infection and therefore has to stay home- and she's bored. So I went there this afternoon with Seita. We took the bus again- third time in a week, new record. She's not even barking at it anymore. Luckily the drivers (so far) all like her and don't seem to mind waiting a minute, until Seita also decides to sit down. ;p Anyway, first we took the dogs to the dog park, where we basically had to force them to play. Later in the apartment, of course, they had too much energy. We still managed to cook and plan our New Years Eve. At least the food- there's gonna be a sh.. ah huge load. I'll make Sushi again... Num.

Beautiful day

flussziege — 2007-12-12T20:10:00Z

That's the way...

flussziege — 2007-12-11T21:01:00Z

Today I get out of school and my phone rings: "Hey, it's Minire- are you hungry? I'm making pizza, you can stop by on the way home!" How I missed that! Having coffee, pizza and tea together, talking or not, just spontaneously.
Almost at home I met a neighbor who told me how great my dog is- all quiet! (And sooo cute...;p) The other dog that lived there before was barking all the time... YEAH!
Seita's eye is way better- she had fought the cactus and lost, which she payed with an eye infection. Now she's very energetic again. Luckily we met another puppy on the evening walk and they played for a while.
And I finally, after at least 7 looong evenings, basically finished translating my 2 page thesis description from English to Finnish. Found plenty of very useful documents while googling words- and those I ~~have to~~ will love to read now (in Finnish, of course :/) before next Tuesday, so I'll get an idea again what my job is all about. Been a while.
In the language course it's more easygoing now that the tests are over. Some Finnish history, which I think is a very good idea, some "what would you like to repeat",...
Then I was on the phone with a good friend for quite a while- and afterwards found my living room looking like that:

Say goodbye to Seita's pillow! ;p I just had to laugh- good thing I had been strong earlier today and didn't give in to the urgent need to clean! (LOL and duh!) And after all, who could be mad at those eyes for long?

River at night

flussziege — 2007-12-10T21:55:00Z

Ha!

flussziege — 2007-12-07T18:16:00Z

Today I got my first pay slip. And that's a very good thing, because I basically spent the money already. In a sudden attack of "I have a job, I'm rich!" I ordered 3 books (by Oliver Sacks) that I always wanted. My excuse: they're job-related. ;p Now I'm waiting for them to come...

What's going on?!?

flussziege — 2007-12-06T12:21:00Z

Last night it was still snowing; and this morning I wake up and the world is grey, dripping, slippery and WARM- almost 4°C. I want my winter back!

final exam

flussziege — 2007-12-05T13:56:00Z

Today was the day- language course finals. Starting at 9.00 with text understanding, which was still sort of okay, I think (though I had a bit of trouble understanding some of the questions). That was followed by vocabulary and grammar- there they lost me. I looked at the words and felt exactly like I did in the very first test, right after I came to Finland. I was basically guessing my way through. Writing was okay, listening & understanding mixed, and talking- oh well, stressful. ;-) Now I'm glad that it's over. Tomorrow is the Finnish independence day (and German St. Niclas day) and on Friday we don't have to show up in school either, so I'll have 2 free days. Nice!

There you go...

flussziege — 2007-12-04T15:15:00Z

Two hours in the snow with Seita were enough even for her- she's sleeping now. Ha! But honestly, walking through 20cm of snow is a da... good workout. I think I'll be quite sore tomorrow.

picture! picture!! =)

Idoru — 2007-12-04T13:47:55Z

picture! picture!! =)

SNOW!!! Lots of it!

flussziege — 2007-12-04T11:54:00Z

Today is most definitely a nice day. Not only did we get tax returns (I'm loving it!), but it's been snowing the whole night through and hasn't stopped yet. Looks so beautiful! I was quite happy that I'd Ieft the bicycle at home, though.

very pretty....

Idoru — 2007-11-30T19:51:35Z

very pretty....

Joensuu

flussziege — 2007-11-30T14:57:00Z