*Originally written yesterday, 4th of May.
I'm finally free. My exam is over. I can finally sit back and relax for a while.
Now, I'm a little bored. But that's just today, maybe.
I woke up at 11am today, after sleeping for more than 12hours. Well, that's cos I woke up at 4.30am yesterday to catch the 5.45am bus to Helsinki, just so I could reach the school in Haaga by 7.15am. The exam was scheduled to start at 8am but registration was opened from 7.15am. Plus, I haven't been to the school before, so I thought I'd go early, just in case I get lost.
But not only I didn't get lost, I instantly made 3 friends at the train station. One guy who asked me on the train if I was going to the exam, and 2 other girls who came to us at the station. So we walked together to the school, hung out and talked for the entire day.
Overall, the exam was quite ok. I had to take the essay language test as I didn't have any IELTS or TOEFL to submit. The paper asked to elaborate on a sub-topic of one of the 26 topics in the reading package (that was delivered in the form of 300 pages). I was worried for a while as I could not remember much of what I read (it was the very last topic in the reading material and I read it only once). Since the question asked about the change in transportation and infrastructure in the next 85 years, I just made stuff up. No one knows about the future anyway.
And I passed. (Yays!)
Then came the time for the written exam. Multiple choice. I was told it would be tricky so I had to make sure I really read the reading package. True enough, it was pretty tricky; in the sense that they asked and quoted word for word from the reading package. Like seriously, unless you've memorised all 300 pages by heart, you most likely won't be able to answer. Thankfully, I could answer *some* of the questions and was pretty confident about it. I just don't like the history questions that involved numbers e.g. Which year did the first Chinese restaurant open in downtown Helsinki? Urgh, I hate to memorise numbers.
And then the interview. Had to wait 3 hours in between so we went for lunch. Spent 5.50€ for chicken curry pasta and salad and gorged on it cos I was sooo hungry. This time around, I was grouped with a new bunch of people. Standing at the corridor of the classroom with no speaking a word, there was some kind of tension in the air. But once we got in and were required to discuss about our answers to the 3 questions, everything seemed to be at ease. Everyone was quite talkative, participating in giving opinions and what not, and 1.5 hours went by pretty quickly. Initially, when we heard the interview was going to be 1.5 hours, we were like 'Omg what are they going to ask us for 1.5 hours??' But hey, there we were, not having enough time to elaborate on our stories :P
I went back to Nummela, since I didn't need to go back to the school the next day. Talked to Anu for a while, had a sandwich for dinner (with fresh salad grown in the 'greenhouse'!), watched a little bit of TV in my room and fell asleep until morning. Bliss. Dirty, but well rested =)
***
Today's the 5th of May. Two weeks ago, I was offered a job (another yayers!) by a fellow Malaysian friend, who's one of the partners of an Asian grocery store here. It started out as a favour/help just so I can stay here in Finland as my permit was expiring in 2 days. I went to his office the next day to get the contract, came back and submitted the papers for the permit and was told to come back today and pay 120€. I did just that, but now I'm told to wait another 4-6 weeks. And at first, they didn't even seem to know where my papers were. In the end, they found it and told me they now have to send it to Vantaa and then back here and then bla bla bla and it will take 4-6 weeks. Urgh.
Anyway, it's back to waiting again. About 1.5-2 months of waiting for answers from both sides. I'd be so crushed if I hear another rejection from either party. These are my last hopes. My applications to previous jobs have returned with negative responses. If these last two options are also not fruitful, I guess I'll be showing my face back in KL.
It has been a while since I last wrote something. Mainly because I was preparing for the exam (300 pages is really a lot to read). Also, I didn't want to shout out loud yet about the job and all, just in case. Cos I'm really good in jinxing things.
Life has a been a real roller-coaster ride so far. One day, I'm happy and everything's sun-shiny, the next day's gloomy and indefinite. And then the cycle repeats.
A lot of things happened in the past month, though. I got fined for speeding (Lol!), I went to a kid's birthday party and got a job from there, went to church one Sunday after finding out about English services, met up with someone new, rekindled a friendship, attended more interviews, had a great time at another Malaysian event again, met up with Paulina and dragged her along to a friend's party.
Last weekend was Vappu (Labour Day) and it's celebrated as a festival in Finland. I've got photos but my uploader's not working for some reason =( Anyway, on the eve of Vappu, the town is filled with loads of people, mostly students (and in a type of overalls with different colours representing their schools), balloons, coloured hair spray, face paint, etc. and the capping of Havis Amanda, the statue. This year, there was a live band, soap in Havis Amanda's fountain, and confetti before and after her capping. Apparently, the best Vappu ever.
I think I've been quite lucky. I had an unusually warm summer, a good winter with loads of snow (which is also not typical), and experienced a good Vappu ceremony compared to the previous years. Maybe it's a sign, that I don't have to stay here longer to experience it all? :P But I hope not.
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