Untitled for now.

I AM

2011-09-21T20:22:00.003+03:00

STRESSED.

Once. Again.

Not. Fun. At. All.

I just want to be at peace and happy.

Been too busy

2011-09-19T20:38:00.006+03:00

I've neglected this blog...and the other blogs too.

But here's a summary of what I've been up to over the past few months; since summer started and is now over =(

Started 'working'... thanks to a couple of Malaysian friends I have here. Still with them, currently.

Moved out of the suburb and into the city. Felt somewhat liberated but worried at the same time. But it turned out well...in the beginning.

Started school.

And having fun while I'm at it.

Started dating again.

*fingers crossed* I'm happy at this point =)

Got a new phone (finally!). Thanks to Angeline, the sweetheart, with her help, I manage to open a line with the local phone company. Sometimes, I think Finland has got too much legislations. *shrugs* So I'm finally on Whatsapp (who's on Whatsapp??!!), finally able to tweet and FB update on my phone, finally able to take photos and actually use them (I've had camera phones but the cameras were next to being useless), finally able to do a lot more. Finally, a touch screen smartphone =D

Two months into school, work's piling up. The first few weeks were orientations + parties. People here know how to be serious and have fun at the same time.

Work at the part-time workplace piled up too. And those were shitty days.

And then there's the housemate situation. Not a very nice thing to be added into my calendar and mind at the moment. I really do not need additional stress.

I had a test today. It was supposed to be an easy test. The questions are random, I was aware of that. So the difficulty of the paper depended on my luck. And I had questions of a topic I deliberately skipped just cos I thought they would not be too technical. I almost failed, though I passed. But I'm still very disappointed at it. It feels like the day I failed my first Physics test in Form 4, all over again.

My Sunday was ruined, because of a certain someone. It ruined my appetite and my mood for the rest of the day. Sadly, I still encoutered the same effect today, when my classmate mentioned about her. I was happily having my big and awesome chicken thigh lunch when my classmate asked 'so what are you going to do about her'. At the thought of her, I felt a churn in stomach and I lost my appetite for my chicken =( I hate it when it happens. I freaking love food ok. Don't ruin it for me.

Tomorrow's wine tasting class is cancelled (yes, I have wine tasting classes for free :P ) and there's no replacement. So yay, free morning. But I have an assignment due tomorrow afternoon for another class, and then the Grand Dinner on Wednesday. My class of 30 will prepare a 4-course dinner. My group's in-charge of the first starter and it'll be awesome. Just you wait =)

Seriously?

2011-09-18T22:09:00.000+03:00

I am tired too.

Thanks for ruining my Sunday.

363: A little experiment

2011-05-27T23:06:00.009+03:00

Once, a friend told me to 'do one thing that scares you every day'. I tried to remember that but I always get chicken shit scared of doing some things anyway, if not get all nervous and talk about it all the time and then blowing away the chance of actually getting something out of it. But never mind that, now.

I did something out of the ordinary yesterday. I wouldn't say it's something entirely scary, but still, not something I would do at all.

I created a profile on an online dating website.

Before you think I'm all desperate for a man, I am not. I am simply curious how an online dating website works, what kind of people you get in there, and partly also because I've been watching (a reality TV show) and reading on successful career-driven women (and men) turning to such sites once in a while, to either look for potential partners or short flings.

Still, I was kinda scared - scared that I'll get unwanted attention. So I first created a fake profile, with the first name that comes into my mind as a username, and did not upload any photo - cos I just wanted to 'browse through' :P Naturally, I did not get any messages and had only 1 or 2 visitors.

Two nights later, while reading more of Catherine Townsend's articles, I somehow got inspired to just do it. So I did. This time, I carefully picked out a username that wouldn't reveal my real name and doesn't sound desperate, picked out the right keywords and wrote a little something about myself, and uploaded a photo - just to see who and how many messages I would get =D

So I put up my new photo of fake pouty lips and eyes that looked elsewhere.

I set all this up before I went to bed close to 3am. I woke up the next morning at 10am, I had 7 new 'lovemails' waiting for me to open. In the next 2 hours, I had 4 more new mails. And after that, they just kept coming in 3s and 4s. I was so excited about it and the messages I got were hilarious, so I shared this with one of my best friends who lives in London at the moment and had a good laugh about it.

Most of the men who wrote to me lives in Sweden and wrote to me in Swedish. Some in Norwegian and Danish but mostly Swedish. Scandinavian languages are somewhat unique. So unique that when you use Google Translate on them, the English translation becomes ridiculous and makes no sense.

For example:
'Are you a girl/woman who is mobile?' whaaaat?

And the funnies:
'Cute. How email it? See you tomorrow in Gothenburg?'
'would you keep up to Copenhagen today?'
My profile clearly says I live in Helsinki, dudes.
'Move right to norrköping .- let me know if you want to be seen' No, I don't want to be seen lol.

And then the cheesies:
'Do you know a good, nice guy like me and maybe get together and see what it leads to.' Really??
'Hello! How sad to see that the mail basket huh even when logged in ida But know one thing! YOU are out there and waiting just for me!' Uh, I don't think so...

One friend decided to tweak my profile by adding the lines 'Please send me messages in English. Swedish is a great language but it's not one that I master.' It did not work.

The youngest who wrote to me was 19 and the oldest 47. Average age was 30. Most of them were not exactly very attractive but there were a handful of them who could be eye candies. Some have kids, some were clearly looking for hook ups (most of them are anyway), some looked miserable, and there's even one guy who clearly wrote in his profile 'looking for a mistress'. He sent me a virtual flower. ...

Unfortunately, this was a site that's sustained by a membership fee and I had only 24 hours of free trial. I couldn't reply anyone even if I had wanted to. By 7pm, I decided to update my profile a little bit to see if I would get more responses, since I did not know what was going to happen to my profile after 24hours (no, it did not say in the website). So, I uploaded another photo. This time, an old and infamous photo of mine I've used frequently, on Facebook and sending out for casting opportunities.

In the next 3 hours, I got another 11 new 'lovemails'. Yea, they call it lovemails. And then again, they kept coming in 3s and 4s and 7s. By the end of the 24 hours, I've had a total of 49 visitors and 55 mails, 6 of which are from the same people. So that makes up to 49 new mails. Not bad. I got more than what I would've expected.

It was good laugh for a while. And then I got sick by just looking at it.

It's truly a cheese fest and a perv nation.

11 days to one year

2011-05-19T13:02:00.004+03:00

I'm in this phase of my life where I'm pretty bendable, in the sense that I can easily adapt to new situations and perceptions by accepting or following the current. Which, is good and bad at the same time, maybe. Being open minded is one thing. Being open minded and losing yourself in the end, is another. It's scary to think when you have a teenage child. It's even scary being myself now.

I like rom-coms, does not mean I don't enjoy other types of movies, and does not mean I don't live in the real world at all.

The problem is, I was suffocating.

376: Supposedly 335 days in Finland

2011-05-04T18:40:00.003+03:00

*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.

350: Jane Monheit and other jazzy songs

2011-04-08T23:13:00.008+03:00

Read up some old posts of mine, just to see how much I've changed or how far I've achieved. I went back to as far as the time I broke up with the ex. And after that, at one point of my life, I stumbled upon Jane Monheit and was listening to her songs every day, together with a few other jazz songs.

This particular song struck a chord in me. At that time I said, 'Listening to songs like that, makes me wanna take a stroll in the park or lie down on the grass staring into the black sky with that someone I love.'

Now it makes me wanna slow dance.

But it's interesting how I'm remembering the song almost exactly one year later, and my feelings are about the same one year ago.

349: Joy, sorrow, and an eye-opener

2011-04-07T23:10:00.007+03:00

Joy, is when you have 287 pages of something you are unfamiliar with, to read. For an exam, of something you are entirely unfamiliar with. Good luck, me.

***

So I found a place where I could potentially work, for at least a short time, or I could carry it on during my studies, *if* I get accepted to study here. We tried out on Sunday, with me working for free. It's a Chinese restaurant near where I live now, in Nummela, and not in Helsinki. That, was my first worry; lodging, transport, distance. But that another story. I went to work anyway, thinking I'll decide after Sunday when I would know better.

It was a nice and good experience. I've never worked in a restaurant as a waitress before. Never in my life. I have always wanted to but I just never had the chance. I was in fast food and then a receptionist but never chanced upon a waitressing job, for some reason. So, this was my waitressing cherry being popped.

People were nice and patient enough to teach me and show me how things are done. The owners, husband and wife, both from China, were quite nice as well. The chefs were from China and Malaysia (small world!), and they were also very nice people. Work was manageable, although my favourite word of the day was 'Anteeksi', which means sorry in Finnish.

I did not manage to take any orders, unfortunately. It was something I was looking forward to as I wanted to use that opportunity to improve on my Finnish. But because orders had to be written in Chinese as the chefs could only read Chinese, I was at a disadvantage as I was not educated in Chinese. I can speak, read a few characters, but I can't write. So, all I could do was service.

On that day, I learned how to balance multiple dishes and glasses on a tray on one hand without tipping them over and walking in a fast pace; I learned how to stack plates of different sizes up on my palm and arm, together with all the forks and knives and gravies in between that made them friggin' slippery; I learned that time is of the essence, so you should carry as much as you could and if possible make only one trip to the kitchen (soiled dishes) and one to the bar (soiled glasses); and I learned that you should never eat the garnishes on the dishes, because they are only there to garnish, and not to be eaten. Really. Seriously.

But on cleanliness, for a Chinese restaurant, I'd say they're pretty clean.

It was nice to be in such familiarity; speaking Chinese and a few different dialects with the Malaysian chef, eating fried noodles, steamed fish and stir fried pak choy (all these I haven't had for a long time), and sharing the same channel since we're from the same culture. But their hiring method was a little, um...let's just say, more towards their benefit, which was my second worry from the beginning. I was not exactly thrilled to know my potential employers could be Chinese. But I continued to give the benefit of doubt.

In short, they want me to commit for at least 2 years, work 6 days a week, 50 hours in total, and the pay is low. Knowing that I would want to study in the near future (the most is one year from now), they already told me from that day I wouldn't be able to do that. So, it basically means, I would be overworked, underpaid, and not able to do anything else at all for my personal growth. I'm not giving away 2 years of my youth doing something I know I won't be happy for. This is not my goal. My goal is to seek self discovery and development, and not work my ass off in a foreign land for the money so I can send home (although, that's part of my hope but it's not my main goal).

So, the search continues. I've got 2 more weeks left before my permit expires. Good news is, I can still stay, but I'll be on visitor status for a maximum of 3 months.

I guess the plan now is to sit for this entrance exam in May, and then hope to get a positive answer by June/July. And then apply for a student's permit, which will still require me to find a job as I would need to prove my financial support, but it'll be easier as there are more jobs that would hire students.

So yea. First, I have to read 287 pages of the reading guide. Good luck, me.

346: Buses and Trains

2011-04-04T09:46:00.004+03:00

You know how at some point of your life, certain songs are exactly how you feel, when you hear them? Or when they come straight into your mind and when it's played in your head, the lyrics tell exactly what you're thinking of and how you're feeling.

This is my current song:

Buses and Trains - Bachelor Girl

Hey Mom
Why didn't you tell me
Why didn't you teach me a thing or two
You just let me go
Out into the World
You never thought to share what you knew

So I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
Which is kinda the same
I've sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I want to do it again

Hey Mom
Why didn't you warn me
Coz about boys is something i should have known
They`re like chocolate cake
Like cigarettes
I know they're bad for me
But I just can't leave 'em alone

So I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
Which is kinda the same
I've sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I want to do it again

(And I walked)under a bus
I got hit by a train
And it felt so good
I wanna do it again
I wanna do it again
*Hey yeah yeah*
(wanna do it)
Oh, felt so good

Hey Mom
Since we're talking
What was it like when you were young
Has the world changed
Or is it still the same
A man can kill and still be the sweetest love.

So I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
Which is kinda the same
I've sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I want to do it again

So I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
Which is kinda the same
I've sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I want to do it again

(And I walked)under a bus
I got hit by a train
And it felt so good
And I wanna do it again

342: STRESS

2011-03-31T21:41:00.003+03:00

I'm feeling very frustrated right now. Stressed and frustrated. So stressed that my period came 5 days earlier. That's rare; and how stressed I actually am.

For the past 2 weeks, I've been living every day without knowing what will happen in the near future, without knowing how to plan. At. All. When asked about my plans for the future, I have no answer. Not because I'm not planning. But because I can't plan. I have no friggin' idea at all.

I've been in a similar situation before back in KL. But things were easier back then, looking back now. Opportunities were more plentiful, I had more advantages and I had more connections. But it doesn't mean that I made a mistake by coming here. Things might not be clear right now and this whole coming to Finland thing might turn out to be a catastrophe, or otherwise. Only God knows. Bottom line is, I need this experience.

Some of the days I feel like crying. Some days I actually cried. Some days I couldn't sleep. Most days I have weird dreams; maybe I've been thinking too much. One day I even lost the car key. But thank God for honest and reliable Finns as it was submitted to the local police office. No change of locks needed. No car has been stolen.

I've never felt so rejected in my life before. I know it's not the worst compared to others, but I'm only comparing to my own life now.

I don't believe this is the end of my story. It can't be so abrupt, or can it? It should be more, it should last longer. It shouldn't end here.

329: Life is a rollercoaster ride

2011-03-18T23:25:00.004+02:00

I know I haven't been writing anything here for more than a month now. De-motivation might just be an excuse. Definitely not busy, although there were times I was actually busy, but there were also times when I had lots of me-time, which I took to fill with watching movies in my room.

At the moment, I'm writing on 3 different blogs - here, NDH, and Project Wear and Tear organised by NDH. In a typical week, I get about 4 - 5 nights when I don't feel too tired or much like a potato. I try to squeeze in things to do during my me-times. That is, to write in one of the 3 blogs (Proj. W&T is supposedly a must every week but I'm quite a failure at that), read stuff on the internet (sometimes random stuff, other blogs, sometimes news), look for jobs in every portal there is out there, compose different application letters to potential employers (which most of the time take a while), at the same time catch up with friends online and of course, watching some movies. There should be more things I've done and want to do but until I can recall, these are some of them. And which is hard to squeeze everything within the week, where each night is only about 3-4hours long.

Oh, well. It's coming to a year I've been here in Finland. It has been over 9 months now. If I had gotten pregnant, I would've given birth by now. But that's not the point. I want to stay in Finland for a longer time, and in order to do so, I need to get a job so I can apply for a work permit that would allow me to stay. I know I should start job hunting 6 months before my year ends. And I did; starting from December, 6 months after I've been here. Unfortunately, my residence permit ends earlier than my contract with my host family. Well, I arrived later as well. Damn red tape.

Nevermind, it's a long story. Thing was, I had to extend my permit in February (hoping it would grant me until May). And because of my carelessness, it expired earlier than I thought it would. So I was 2 days late in submitting my forms. I had to submit a new application all over again. Thankfully, not paying as much as I had paid back in KL. 80€ lesser. Still, it was a hefty fee. In the end, I got my new permit (on Wednesday), but sadly, it will expire on the 19th of April. 120€ for one month extra time. Not worth it. But at least, it's better than nothing.

Another thing was, I was hoping to get a job before I had to submit for an extension so I would avoid paying 120€ twice. That didn't come. And at that point, I've been hunting for 3 months, attended 6 interviews and sent out probably between 15-20 applications for various jobs. So when I got the new permit (and after living for 2 weeks without knowing what the future holds for me), knowing that I've only got 1 more month to be legally living here, I was crushed. Honestly, I wasn't feeling very positive.

I gave myself a deadline that I should get a job before the summer starts because by then, everyone will be on vacation and no one will be hiring, if not most. I had wanted this new permit to end according to my contract, which is at the end of May, so I would have time right before summer starts. It'll be my safety net. But now, I'm kinda left hanging. What will happen after the 19th of April if I don't get a job? Should I be exiting Schengen countries and re-enter so I can have 3 more months? I can do that, but I can't be an au pair for the family anymore because you're not supposed to work as a visitor. And if I do, I'd be cut off from having an income. I can't afford that. Moreover, there could be a chance that it would be a more complicated process if I should apply for a work permit while on a visitor's status. Argh, damn red tape.

Anyway, so yea, that's what I've been doing all these while, if anyone has been wondering. Some days I'm stressed, some days I'm not. Some days I feel so stressed that I get bad skin and breakouts as though my period's gonna come 2 weeks earlier. Other days when I'm not, I can afford to sleep early, have a good rest and wake up at 7am the next morning. My mom texted me recently to tell me one of my cousins passed away due to brain haemorrhage. Apparently, it was because of stress and pressure and she told me to look after myself and to pray more for His guidance and care. I took it lightly as I didn't think I would be that stressed. The next day, I got my new permit, I haven't found a job, I have no idea what's going to happen next, and I felt the pressure and stress building. I take my words and thoughts back. Life is fragile. My cousin was only 37 years old.

On the lighter side, Helmi's a very cute girl. She and Eliel just turned 9 three weeks ago. Recently, she's always asking me, 'Julie! Are you happyyy?' Sometimes I say yes, sometimes I say no, sometimes I say maybe, sometimes I give a rant. And her next question would be, 'Whyyy?' Yesterday, she asked me, 'Julie! Are you going to stay in Finland?' I said to her, 'Well, I can't stay in Finland if I don't get a job.' And she went, 'I'm gonna get you a joooobb!' (in a comical deep voice). I laughed and said, 'How are you going to get me a job?' And guess what she did? She showed me her puppy eyes! Omg that made me laugh so hard. Later that night, we had the same conversation again and at one point she said, 'Why no one give you a job? Because they dunno you're so gooood?' Hahaha...yes, baby, they don't :P

The Hunt for Roti Canai

2011-02-25T10:05:00.007+02:00

*A good local friend of mine, Tom, detoured to KL one sunny weekend from his Thai holiday. This is him guest blogging about his adventures. -Jules

On an emotionally tumultuous day eleven years ago a skinny, bespectacled boy took off his school uniform for the last time. To this day the grey tie lies forgotten in a dusty corner, the shirts and trousers packed away never to see the light of day. It was the day I left Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar and Malaysia in 2000.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it, KTJ is a respected boarding school in the middle of a jungle. It is surrounded by a fence, patrolled by guards. One of the strongest memories from my time there was this dark grey haze clouding the school for a week after a local pig farmer was forced to incinerate all his stock. Swine flu was rampant in the area during the time and drastic measures had to be taken to contain it. The cloud and the school as well as every tutor, teacher and pupil in it smelled like bacon for a week.

Apart from the cockroach-infested boarding houses, drills, detentions, rules prohibiting public displays of affection, and lasting friendships formed under the Proctor’s punishing gaze, KTJ had something else to offer. Namely food. Nothing quite compares to learning about the cuisine of a country than the meals served at schools. At KTJ they were good, away from the school, even better. Let it be settled once and for all then: Malaysian food is the best in the world. The best of the best – the uncrowned emperor of all the dishes in the world – being roti canai. This particular dish was also the reason for my return.

Okay, fine. Not even the most hardcore foodie would travel to the other side of the world for just one dish (unless it was this). Served with chicken, fish or lamb curry, roti canai is more buttery than a gang of greasers. It’s also the dish I’ve been dreaming about for the last eleven years. So, off to Kuala Lumpur I flew.

Good thing I knew a few people from there.

Friday. As I arrived at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal near Kuala Lumpur International Airport I was already starving. Not stopping to waste my taste buds at the airport cafeterias, I hopped into a taxi giving the directions to KTJ. Arriving at the school gates was an eye-opener. Were the gates really so low? Where was the barb-wire from the fences? Why were the guards so amicable? Waiting at the foyer near the teachers’ common room was my old Drama teacher. Him leading the way, I was taken to be the assistant teacher during a drama class where the kids were only beginning to learn English. Nothing had prepared me to be reminded of how much I enjoy acting. Not to mention being part of that class and helping the kids out. I enjoyed it so much I forgot how hungry I was. To rectify this horrendous oversight, I made my way to the Tuck Shop, the small kiosk selling snacks. Here it was that I had my first authentic Malaysian meal after eleven years: chicken rice with sambal (a chilli based sauce) and a can of coke. Though not a religious man by any definition, it was still an epiphany.

The very same evening I had another revelation. An old friend from the KTJ days took me out that night. After much back clapping, hugs and whoops of glee, I was taken to the Sultan Lounge at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Just as a 5-star hotel should, the lounge was impeccable and packed with beautiful things as far as the eye could see. Bottles of Möet & Chandon resting on their icy beds, a Cohiba Esplendidos enhancing the chilled out smoky atmosphere, it was hard not to like the place.

One of the first things on the drink menu for that night was an introduction to a local drink. Whisky with green tea and soda. I lost count of the times we had the following conversation:

Friend: “You don’t have to drink it, if you don’t like it.”

Me: “Don’t worry about it, I like whisky and this sounds too interesting not to try.”

Friend: “Yeah, but really, if you don’t like it…”

This went on for a while until the bottle of Johnnie Walker Green Label (really, what else was it going to be?) and the necessary complements arrived.

Sip.

Me: “Dude. This is the only thing I’ll be drinking from now on.”

And during my time in KL, it was, as evidenced by the following night.

Great night, but no canai.

Saturday. Beef rendang for breakfast. Heaven. Fast forward to the evening and a Chinese place on Jalan Alor near the Changkat area. The smell of durians wafted on the streets as we passed them on our way from Bukit Bintang. Although wafted may not be as accurate of a description as it being more like being hit in the face with a two-by-four. If you’ve ever smelled durian, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, then there’s one more thing to add to your bucket list.

Having free rein, my friend ordered all the good stuff. Stingray with some sambal and fresh lime, a Chinese omelette with oysters, and some mussels spiced with garlic. I was in heaven for the second time that day.

Julia, the wonderful hostess of this post had kindly provided me with Tim the Tomcat’s number, and Saturday night was my great pleasure to be taken out to Zouk.

Tim: “The only thing I wanna know is where you wanna go, and what you’re drinking.”

Me: “It’s your home, so anywhere. And whisky and green tea.”

Tim: “Done.”

Great guy. Entering Phuture, the R&B club at Zouk, I fell in love with KL just a little bit more.

Another great night, but still no canai.

Sunday. Always a chilled out day. At Nirwana’s in Bangsar, having breakfast off a banana leaf, it truly was. Some rice, chicken curry sauce, fried chicken and bitter gourd washed down with iced red tea. Cured the remnants of a hangover without any problems. Then it was time for me to mosey on over to the bus station and head off to the airport. With a belly full of all the good stuff, it was not hard to appreciate the trip.

And the canai? Never had it. Tried to hunt down a place on Sunday, but for some reason all the restaurants only served it in the morning and later at night.

I finally did find a Malaysian restaurant in Helsinki. Their canai was delicious. But not the same.

Looks like I need to go back.

274 - Everything in between

2011-01-25T21:05:00.015+02:00

So, Valentine's Day is approaching soon and apparently back at home, a certain group of people are campaigning against the celebration. First, it has never been a problem. This is the day where restaurants will be filled with reservations for two, flowers would be sold at ridiculously high prices, young couples will flock the cinema catching a movie together...everywhere will be packed.

Two, I can understand that the ustazah is concerned about young Muslims behaving un-Muslim like. Because church elders and pastors would also probably preach and advise against conforming to and adopting paganistic behaviours and celebrations, which is un-Christian. But to seriously say that on national TV, and to specifically say that how couples behave on Valentine's Day (you really have to hear the things she said) are the traditions of Christians, is beyond incomprehensible stupidity. Outrageously unbelievable.

Since when is Valentine's Day a celebration of the Christians?

As much as I wish (and I really, sincerely do) that everyone in my country can live harmoniously side by side, but when something like this happens, it's impossible not to feel attacked and insulted. I feel that this is friggin' disrespectful. Disrespectful because she got her facts wrong and tried to preach it to other people. Thus, the insult.

Like on another article I read, in a pre-school textbook (pre-schoolers have textbooks now???), 'mahjong' is explained as a Chinese traditional game. Oh. My. Gosh. Get your facts right, people! Seriously! Next, we'll be attacked on our gambling habits because our forefathers have been traditionally playing mahjong and therefore, no one should have any relationship with the Chinese.

I love my country. I really do. I wouldn't give up my citizenship. This is my home. And to see all these happening, is just disheartening.

***

Heavy stuff aside, I've been having a lot of fun lately. From cooking for my friends to having a Chinese New Year gathering celebration with the same people, and an additional few. Fun aside, I've also been going for interviews, following up on them, and writing to more potential employers. So far, I've gotten a few maybes, some nos, and not a yes. My permit ends this month, which means I'll have to look harder to avoid spending a large sum of money for a new permit, twice. Bottom line is, I need a job before the month ends. Of course, I've got Plan B and C but best lah if my Plan A works.

Helsinki's black Superman

He accepts cash only, thank you.

Dinner at Marette's

Made rendang.

This was what happened. I asked Tom to get rendang and fish curry paste during his weekend trip to KL. He got me the stuff all right, but they were imported from Thailand and Singapore respectively. Thus, a slightly different kind of rendang. And he got me fish curry powder cos the rest was just 'water'. *face palm* Never trust a white guy.

Nasi lemak. Burnt the rice a little and put too much salt. Hehe :P But still edible. The rendang overpowered it anyway.

Tuomas & Marette

Marette made Sunday roast; just the roast.

And then I had a headache and someone was a good friend =)

Satisfaction. I did feel better afterward.

Marette asked for the same service, which she didn't seem satisfied about.

Well, Tom was fooling with her.

But finally... =)

And Marette fed me her homemade pie, which led to Tom and I arguing about chili sauces.

Went to a bar in Kallio, had a couple of drinks, played cho tai di with Angie, Matias and Sasku, and I don't know who these guys are. Some of Marette's friends she made me take pictures with.

Marette

Us girls

Made nasi lemak rendang for the family during the week. The adults loved it, the kids freaked out at the fried anchovies cos 'they had heads'.

Grandma Riita had her nameday. So it was time for coffee and cake.

Cake, meat pies, and Grandma's awesome blueberry pie.

CNY dinner at Angie's!

Angie's version of yee sang.

Fried wantons and Joy's yummy seaweed salad.

Nasi lemak again. This time, there was sambal belacan.

Half of the people. Brought my classmate, Paulina, along.

Lou sang! But bad shot :P

The aftermath. Funny stuff we said while lou-ing too, like 'Hope Polish football team will win the next World Cup'. - Paulina. She's from Poland =)

Played Alias. It's like Taboo, but with more rules.

And it was very fun too.

Some LOL moments:

Matias: Two words, with a line in between.
Me: *thinks* is it horizontal or vertical? What line???
Me: Do you mean a hyphen?
Matias: Yes!

Matias: Another word for cups.
Me: Glasses!
Angie: Police!
Matias: Correct!
Me: Cops or cups?

Paulina: *points to Marette* She is...?
Sasku: Dumb?

Matias: *to Angie* We have...?
Angie: Sunlight lamp?
Matias: Love! !!!

Made rojak and served as dessert. But not everyone liked it bwahahaha :P

And as usual, we went out to a bar after that. Went to Gaselli (the really Finnish bar) and the karaoke bar again. This time, it was for Paulina. She hates the place now :P And Marette kept feeding me with Sex On The Beach after learning I could drink Passoã and like it. Crashed at Marette's and apparently experienced my first hangover the next day. I literally felt like a potato.

CNY potluck open house tomorrow in the ambassador's house. Food and friends! Not cooking this time. I'm only bringing oranges. Easy peasy. Will see Marette, Sasku and Paulina again. Hopefully no more hangovers.

249: Weekends

2011-01-17T01:26:00.007+02:00

Went to town last weekend, met up with Marette and her date and headed to Sasku's place for drinks and karaoke. Karaoke didn't really materialise due to some technical problems, but Marette sang anyway. Halfway through some drinks, Sasku took out a booklet I gave him before; a booklet on the flavours of Malaysia.

He pointed out to me that he tried to make nasi lemak, following the recipe printed on the booklet, because I told him that's the most popular food in Malaysia; something we eat at any time of the day. The more we talked about food, the more hungry I got. I asked for food and he showed me his fridge, his kitchen...There were enough ingredients to whip something up. Better yet, there were enough ingredients to make nasi lemak. So ta-daa!

It's my first time making it (cos why make when you can always get it for RM1) and it's not too bad. No one got sick, at least. I learned to make nasi lemak, my hunger was satisfied, and my craving for nasi lemak fulfilled. Ok what.

The sambal was in the wrong colour, though, but got the taste there la. *pats self on the back* Will improve next time.

Most importantly, Sasku enjoyed it. It's important that he didn't feel I wrecked his kitchen and wiped clean his food stock :P

Sasku

This weekend, I went to town again to meet up with another friend. Made a mistake of not checking the weather forecast before heading out. Thinking that the weather's has been about the same for the past few days, and also it has been 'warmer' for the past week, like between 2°C to -3°C compared to -10°C. So I happily trotted out in my usual layers. Usually, it would be enough even in -10°C. But on Saturday night, it was exceptionally cold for some reason.

Kappeli's muffin and hot chocolate

It was probably -13°C when I headed out of the house. You know it's cold when the hair in your nostrils feel like they're frozen. Went to Kappeli to get a cup of hot chocolate and a muffin, cos I was hungry and hunger definitely do not help in keeping you any warmer. Andreas came, he had something too and then we went to this Latin American themed bar called Bar Llamas, somewhere near Bulevardi.

Orange & chili and kiwi & lime shots

I thought they'd have a wide array of cocktails here (most bars in Helsinki make the crappiest cocktails) so I asked the bartender, 'What's your specialty here?' And I got a reply, 'We only have normal teas, you can check it out over there.' Riiiight.

We decided to start off with margarita anyway. Or at least, a variation of it as they were out of triple something that usually goes into margaritas. It was ok, not as good as usual margarita but drinkable haha. Not like I know a lot about cocktails anyway.

But it's an interesting place. Small, cozy, warm, quirky. And there were swings at the bar! But maybe it wasn't the best idea when a drunk decides to use it. This particular guy sat on one of the swings and started swinging himself back and forth and around in the crowded bar. Like seriously, dude? And then he tried to chat up with some Americans sitting next to him, telling them they're handsome and that his female friend's single and available, and then grabbing my ass as I stood up to leave =.= You know a Finn is drunk when he talks non-stop and is restless.

But still, it's a nice place. It's filled with young and trendy people and they look like they've got more yummy drinks here. So, it's in my list from now on. I would've taken more photos if my camera didn't run out of batteries.

We hopped to check out 2 other bars in Töölö area. Well, probably not the best idea. Like I said, I did not read the weather forecast. I did not expect the night to be so friggin' cold. It wasn't even windy, but it was freezing. We ended up in this Czech bar, had a couple of Belgium beers and nuts for munchies, and then had to leave at 2am cos the bar was closing. That's an hour or two earlier than the usual opening hours of other places.

Anyway, that was when I decided to be a superwoman. I needed to get back into the town area. Trams were no longer operating at that hour, so I thought I could take the bus. But then certain buses only stops at certain bus stops. I'm still not familiar with all the connections yet (there's probably like hundreds of them) so I just waited for the next bus to come cos most connections go into the town anyway. Then I realised, waiting is just going to be colder. So I walked. For about 30minutes. All the while shivering. I've never shivered while being outside before!

I think after about 15minutes of walking in the snow and on ice, I couldn't feel my feet anymore. Not only the toes, but the feet, up to my ankles; I couldn't feel them. Totally numb. It felt so surreal.

Reached my destination eventually, thought I'd get some warmth. But noooo, the bus station was surprisingly chilly cos it's usually comfortable in there. Or maybe it was just me who was feeling really cold. Too cold. Sat on the metal chairs and continued to shiver (like seriously!). It was 2.45am when I got there, my bus was to leave only at 4am. But good thing it came at 3.30am and allowed passengers to get in.

Warmth for a while, arrived back in Nummela after one hour, managed to catch some sleep on the way, drove home in the cold (the car was equally freezing), stripped and changed and hid under my comforter until 2pm on Sunday. -21°C is no joke =(

24th Dec 2010: This was how we celebrated Christmas

2011-01-07T22:47:00.012+02:00

(Some images here were snagged from Debs' album on FB)

Morning of Christmas Eve, traditional rice porridge was served with cinnamon and plum soup as breakfast.

In that one pot of porridge, there is a whole almond, which whoever gets it, will have good luck in the coming year.

And here's the lucky one: Jaakko.

We played Carcasonne before that. I love boardgames like this.

And then it was time to set up for dinner. Most of the food were made the night before. So it was just a lot of setting up instead of cooking.

These were the awesome starters:

Pickled herring and baked potato with some mashed up stuff in between

Smoked salmon on some kind of salad and traditional Finnish rye bread

Reindeer and either moose or elk cold cuts, hard boiled eggs with beetroot and apple salad, smoked salmon

Anu's salad with walnuts, blue cheese, other good stuff and vinegar

The rest of the appetizers included beetroot salad, pickled carrots, and different kinds of smoked salmon

The main course was the traditional Christmas ham. Here in Finland, they serve ham instead of the commercialised turkey. The ham was put into the oven at midnight on the eve of Christmas Eve, taken out right before dinner, had the skin removed, spread mustard all over, sprinkled with bread crumbs and back into the oven until it's time to be chowed down. Simple. No stuffing or marinating required. Original taste. You can't even taste the mustard after that but you can eat it with more mustard if you want.

I don't have any other good pictures of the ham. It was so delicious that I ate my slices straight after I took them onto my plate.

And then, Santa came, after much anticipation from the kids. He came in a pretty nice car too.

Santa greeted everyone in the house, we sang a traditional Christmas song to him and he returns a verse. I sang too. In Finnish! =D

The kids sat on his lap and he worked his usual Santa charm on them.

And I got asked to go and sit on his lap too. Damn shy, that I'm 25 and also it's my first time sitting on Santa's lap. But oh well, it's my only Christmas spent here. So. =)

If I went, Debbie must go too =D The sporting her even sang a song for Santa.

And then it was presents time. This is the first time I'm seeing presents by truckload just for one family. Like 85% of all the presents go to 3 kids. It's also the first time I had to buy so many presents for Christmas. 11 is a lot to me, considering that I almost do not need to buy anything in the previous years as there was never such a tradition in my family although we celebrate Christmas. Only 1 or 2 for my closest friends. And none when I'm broke :P

Another song before he leaves.

After he has left, it's opening of the presents time.

This pile belongs to 2 kids

Oklah, I'm also happy cos I got a few presents instead of one or none. All from Anu and Jaakko, and both maternal and paternal grandparents. I got a fleece blanket, a pair of ski gloves, a set of beautifully designed utensils, awesome Panda chocolates, and a book on the beautiful landscapes of Finland. I love my gifts ♥

Desserts were served after that.

Tiramisu/chocolate cake/grandma winging it

Traditional Christmas pulla (Luciapulla) and gingerbread made by Debbie, Helmi and I the night before.

The food was absolute yummers. I thought Debbie came to visit at the right time as she had the opportunity to taste the different types of food and all of the dishes are traditionally Finnish. Even with all the food bursting out of our seams, we continued to hang out with the kids, played with their new toys until the middle of the night.

I had a good Christmas this year. I'm very grateful I get to experience a different kind of Christmas celebration; one that is more of a family affair than just a party or holiday celebration. One with a different kind of spirit and different kinds of food. Oh the food. I wish I had more space. But as expected, we had to eat the leftovers for the next 5 days. God bless our stomachs.

...

2011-01-05T12:43:00.003+02:00

I think it's important to blog frequently cos your mood might change in a matter of days (and sometimes overnight) when you have different thoughts or when circumstances suddenly change.

Like now.

I had so much to say during the days leading up to Christmas and New Year's: my first interview here and Debbie arriving on the same day, preparing for Christmas Eve dinner, walking in an empty city on Christmas Day, driving over 800km to Ruka, Kuusamo with the host family for a ski trip (and more stories from this trip), New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Debbie and I took a small trip to Stockholm after New Year's Day and while sailing back, I suddenly felt heavy hearted for some reason. Maybe because it suddenly hit me that it was already the 4th of Jan and I still do not know answers to what I'm going to do next or how I'm going to stay here in Finland. Maybe because it was some matters of the heart. Maybe because Debbie was leaving in 2 days time and I won't have someone to talk to through the middle of the night anymore. It was a mixed of every feeling about everything.

But I need to get it out of my chest anyhow. I need to speak out in words, somehow. I need to read (not hear) my own thoughts and then (probably) analyse it or something. I need to have a clear head. I need to speak. I need to talk. My friends are in a different time zone. I'll spill it out here if I have to. I hate to be alone. I fear being alone. I hate it when I don't get new e-mails or new notifications in Facebook. I hate it that my phone, MSN and all other IMs of mine are so quiet now. I do not seek for attention. I just need communication and connections. With real people.

233: A brand new year

2011-01-01T14:32:00.004+02:00

Happy 2011 everyone! Just dropping by to wish everyone a happy new year. Hope this year would be better than the last. I've got tonnes to write about: Christmas, our Kuusamo trip, and New Year's Eve, which every one of them was a blast. Absolute blast.

Debbie and I are sailing to Stockholm tomorrow and we're staying in Helsinki tonight. So, won't be back again until Tuesday or so. And the kids ate the gingerbread houses yesterday, on NYE.

Till then, happy 2011 once again!

227: Winter break

2010-12-26T08:33:00.003+02:00

Christmas Eve was a blast. We had a scrumptious homemade dinner: lots of smoked salmon, different types of pickled herring, Christmas ham, wines, chocolates and cakes. Santa dropped by bringing gifts for the kids and the adults. And I mean gifts by the truckload. I've never seen so many gifts for one family before. I'll put up the photos soon.

We're leaving to Kuusamo, North Finland, in half an hour, bringing with us leftovers from the Christmas dinner. We'll be skiing and enjoying the snow (if we can withstand the cold), and probably some water activities in the spa; oh but let's see.

We'll be back on Thursday, knowing a city of gingerbread (buildings?) we made 3 weeks ago are waiting for us to devour on New Year's Eve.

Mine

Helmi's

Angeline's

Eemil's

Eliel's

In the meantime, check out Nordic Denim House. A place where you find the latest updates on good denim, fashion, pop culture and almost everything else. A platform I share with a few other great writers ;)

225: Approaching Christmas

2010-12-24T14:54:00.005+02:00

Christmas Family Day at Anu's workplace.

Carols singing celebration at Vihti Church with the grandparents.

Christmas markets at Esplanadi and Vanha Ylioppilastalo (Old Student House).

On top of that, Debbie's here! The airport lost her luggage upon her arrival and has yet to deliver it to the house =(

But tonight, we'll have a traditional Finnish Christmas feast/dinner at home. I'll write about it once I find more time to do it. Watch this space.

Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy your holidays =)

217: Opi Suomean Opiskelijat

2010-12-16T22:32:00.011+02:00

This part of my life goes into my little book called The Story of My Life, under the category of 'Awesomeness'. I came to a new country for a few reasons, but mainly to face new challenges and to get new experiences. One of the challenges was to learn the language, without actually knowing the level of its difficulty beforehand.

Nevertheless, there's always a bright side to everything that happens. In this particular class that I've been attending for the past 3 months, I've met interesting individuals from all over the world. Yesterday was sadly our last class of the course and this season. Sad that such an enjoyable class has finally come to an end, sad that we did not even see our teacher, Ilona, for the last time as she was sick, and sad that we will not be seeing each other so often anymore. But, finales should always be ended with a bang. So off we went to Baker's and there we were, 9 of us, each representing a country or two.

I'll let the pictures do the talking from here onwards =)

This was when we started, when everyone was still sober:

And this was after 'one glass' of drink:

The Mexican & the Cypriot:
Juan Carlos & Andreas

The Malaysian & the Estonian:
Me & Laura

The Dutch & the Finnish-Greek:
Timo & Stefanos

The tipsy French:
Olivier

Andreas & the Tanzanian, Henry

And the rest, I have no comments. But I will never forget 'Terviseks' ;)

I had an amazing time hanging out with these peeps last night. I didn't even mind paying an extra 5€ for the night bus. Hei, kiitoksia kaikille. Se oli hauskaa oppia suomea teidän kanssa. Toivottavasti tapaamme taas pian. Hyvää joulua ja onnellista uutta vuotta!

197: Friday night

2010-12-05T11:21:00.009+02:00

It was an honour that I was invited to Wambui's birthday celebration. Wambui's a classmate of mine from my Finnish class. Lovely girl. But living true to my Malaysian blood, I was late again. But hey! It was just because I misunderstood the bus schedule (it was a different bus number). So I had to wait an hour for the next bus. Pfft.

Anyway, Wambui's boyfriend, Petri, cooked up a delicious meal of Thai green curry and jasmine rice, which I didn't take any photos of cos I was hungry by the time I got there. Plus, I was a bit lost for a while looking for her street. So a 50-minute bus ride, about 10 minutes by tram, and probably another 10 minutes wandering in the wrong street and ended up chatting with a random stranger. I don't know exactly what time I arrived at her apartment, I just remember being hungry (and also that I kinda 'saved' my stomach for the occasion :P)

The desert that sent me to heaven

I made some fresh kuih gulung, just to share a little bit of Malaysian delicacy with her and Petri. I had a feeling that they were vegetarians and I had wanted to make a separate batch without eggs but didn't have the time to do so. But thankfully, they're not so strict when it comes to deserts. *Phew*

Everyone

The guests were Petri's family and Wambui's friends. Another chance for me to sharpen my Finnish as almost everyone speaks Finnish. Other times are with grandma, shopkeepers and random old ladies asking me if the bus was going to come. Oh, and random lady giving me directions; exactly like when I asked for directions in Portugal, she spoke a whole bunch of Portuguese to me as if I understood anything. But then again, in Finland, as I've been told before, you'd be surprised that most Asians here actually know how to speak Finnish.

Hyvää syntymapäivää!

Petri and Wambui share a beautiful old apartment that was built in 1925, which means it's about 85 years old. It has beautiful old hard wood flooring and with a little bit of makeover, the whole unit looks superb with the matching furniture and decorations that accented the entire space. One room apartment, cozy, and it represents very much about them and their lifestyles. Very relevant.

And since I was in town, I looked up some of my friends to see what they were doing on Friday night. Ended up in Sasku's place to sing karaoke with Marette, which was again fun because karaoke is always fun. And then proceeded to a bar in town later in the night.

We went to this bar, which was small and crowded like Barsonic (in KL, which I miss), and they play songs that everyone knows and will sing and dance to, like in Barsonic (which I blardy miss!), but also full of drunken people (not like Barsonic, no :P). It was an interesting night of watching people tumbling in their steps, falling onto tables knocking off glasses, falling onto the ground with their partner knocking off another guy falling onto their faces, the same guys going around the bar in their drunken state picking up women...and with both Sasku and Marette telling me, 'This is a really Finnish bar!' Lol. Oh and most of them are businessmen and probably 40 and above. And I got hit on a few times (even in the karaoke bar that we went to later on), all by middle aged men. It was hilarious.

All in all, I had a great night. Caught the 4am bus full of youths with midnight burgers and then passing out in their seats after that. Oh, and I tried a really nice shot, Koff + Bailey's. It's licorice, but the Bailey's makes it nice. I like that one. Still, I got all flushed up after that, like always. Pfft.

191: Winter, Christmas lights, Gingerbread

2010-11-29T23:51:00.001+02:00

Taken somewhere near Helsinki Cultural Centre, after watching a dance competition. The snow, the darkness and the unintentional street light shining on it made it look so beautiful.

Tried to make kuih gulung but dunno why the coconut filling was too dry.

Joined the hundreds of people to witness the opening of Christmas lights at Senate Square. That's the Christmas tree for the square, before the lighting.

And this is after. Nothing extravagant. Just some lights on the tree.

As well as the streets; nothing big. Finland is a very modest nation.

One of the smaller roads perpendicular to the main street of Aleksanterinkatu.

A close up of Santa's carolers together with the 3 Kings who followed the North Star to find baby Jesus. We didn't know the significance of the lion and bunny, though.

-12°C, the sun shone brightly and it was a beautiful day. Just the day before, we had a snow storm.

At sunset (about 4pm). Beautiful night sky. 7am also paints dark blue in the sky.

Gingerbread men, angels, snowmen, reindeers, stars, moons, candles, mistletoes, Christmas trees, candy canes, teddies...and a Homer.

Vihti Ski Centre, -13°C. Eliel continued to learn how to snowboard and Helmi went downhill skiing. I froze my toes and fingers, nose felt like it was going to fall off and I couldn't feel my face. This was when I literally felt we are living in a freezer.

Nevertheless, the weather has made it all very exciting for me. The snow really defines the season as it creates so many activities, like, shoveling, scraping of ice and snow on your windshields, getting your car stuck in it while you're driving, turn into ice on the roads and skid your wheels and also your shoes so you can fall on your bum, and blowing you away during its very mild snow storm. Really, it's mild.

Oh, but of course, there's the more fun activities like skating, skiing, snowboarding and sledding. Something you need 3-4 layers of clothes top and bottom and your hands and feet.

But not really, I'm just kidding =) Still, winter's quite fun. So far.

180: Father's Day

2010-11-18T21:25:00.011+02:00

Sunday, the 14th was Father's Day here in Finland. Anu organised a simple brunch and invited the grandparents. Also, it was my dad's birthday. So it was time to Skype my parents, who are in Perth at the moment. Ah, retired life. They have been there since end of September, if I remember correctly, and then they'll go back to Malaysia for a week before heading back to Perth again for some time. What they do there every day is basically morning walk, cook, clean, walk, and walk and walk. Oh well, it's good for them anyway.

Back to Father's Day. Apparently, it's a public holiday here as the stores were closed. And as usual, the person who's being celebrated (birthdays and etc.) gets breakfast in bed and cards first thing in the morning. And then the party later in the day. Nothing fancy this time. Just something casual.

The table, all set

Almost the whole spread of food

The dessert

The grandparents

Have I mentioned that Finland has got a pretty high divorce rate? I don't know the exact numbers or statistics but based on my personal experience at least, it sure seem like a common thing here. I know some of Helmi's friends' parents are divorced, some of my local friends' parents are too, and recently, one of the kids' uncles just got divorced too. And I knew it from Helmi, who just started talking about her aunt's new place and her cousin is sometimes at his mom's, sometimes at his dad's. My point is, an 8 year-old girl talking about separation like it's a norm to her. But common or not, it's still quite a sad news, cos I saw grandma crying while talking to the other grandma about it. Hey, they spoke in Finnish, but I can understand some now =)

On a lighter note, I went out on Friday night with Angie, her colleague, Joyce and a couple of her friends, all from China. We wanted to go to this club called The Tiger but was denied entry cos Joyce's friends were under 22. So we ended up at Jenny Woo bar, walked blindly into the gay area, stayed for a bit and then hopped to Huuma, another club nearby. To be honest, I didn't really like the place as it caters to a younger crowd (shit, either I'm old or the age limit is low), and the music was a weird mix.

Still, in the sea of white people, we manage to meet a random guy from Malaysia who was hanging out with his colleague from Japan. It's very interesting to see how two people traveled half the globe to meet. And the most interesting thing to me is that he's from Kampar, a very small town my parents are from. What are the odds!

Oh, and it snowed since last night and almost the whole of today. There was at least 2" thick of snow and the driving experience is absolutely different. It was like driving through a pile of dry slush. As the roads are icy, I skidded a little while making a turn at the roundabout and I wasn't even going fast.

7.30am

8.30am

Mr. Snowman

But it sure is a beautiful sight. Everything's white while the colours on the kids contrast the scenery, more snowball fights and snowman building, more snow angels and rolling on the snow. I've had my firsts on all these today. I made my first snow angel, I laid down on the soft and fluffy snow, I knelt down on the snow while making snowballs, I tried to roll a big one but failed, I watched the kids make a snowman and dress him up. Things like these, make my day =)

163: Winter's knocking on the door

2010-11-08T23:31:00.009+02:00

It was -5°C this evening and +2°C in the afternoon. I'm advised to start wearing my winter jacket already. I guess it's time to start bulking up with all the layers.

It rained sleet on Sunday (quite heavily too), and the jakun me ran down the stairs asking, 'Is this hail? Is this hail? Is this hail?' Cos it was small bits of frozen water and it was making noise on the window :P And yea, I damn hadap wanna see hail la. It turned everything white afterwards; the lawn, the roofs, the roads, and the car. The road was a little icy from the heavy sleet in the afternoon, so I was told to try to drive around nearby to have a feel of it.

But first, I had to scrape and brush the layer of ice away from the windshield and windows. Man, it was both freezing cold and tiring! I had my jacket and snow boots on, and 2 pairs of gloves. Yet, my fingers were painful from the cold. And this is only a very thin layer of ice. Come real winter, it's gonna be worse =(

This was the most whiteness I've seen so far, for this season at least. It's still autumn, technically. Winter starts in December and in Finland, November is a month where you'll get lots of rain and sleet. Not the best month. A lot of Finns travel south during this month for quick, warm getaways.

I still get excited every time it snows. Or in this case, see white fluffy things raining from the sky. This time, the white stuff stayed and changed the landscape, brightening everything even when it was near sunset. It literally put a smile on my face, made me get up every 30secs just to check out the view from my window, and I made shoe prints in the white lawn.

It has been a day since, and the sun was up today. Still, the white stuff stayed, at least in Nummela. But it was different in Helsinki. It's not white yet.

It now gets dark at about 4.45pm. The picture above was taken at about 3pm, when the sun was setting. And we've shifted our time back to GMT+2:00, which means we're now 6hours behind Malaysian time. Longer days, shorter nights. But honestly, it doesn't feel very much different now that it has been a week.

Funny though, I thought I would now be able to wake up earlier since the sun would now rise one hour earlier. But I still can't. And I get tired way earlier. Is it because of the 1hour change or the lack of light? *shrug*

150: Jaakko's birthday

2010-10-26T18:57:00.005+03:00

Today was the children's father's birthday. I didn't know anything until his parents came over with doughnuts and flowers and sang 'Happy Birthday' in Finnish to him...while I was washing up in the powder room near the entrance. I couldn't pretend I didn't hear anything, so after washing up, I went to him, wished him a happy birthday and gave him a hug...all done while still in my PJs and messy hair.

Way to go, girl.

It has been really hard to wake up lately as the sun rises so late in the morning. I always try to wake up at 7am but the sky only gets bright at 8-ish, 9am nowadays. And it's so cold you just want to hide under the comforter. So yea, I woke up at 10am, again. Pfft.

Note to self: wake up even when the sky is dark, cos winter will be even darker.

The sun is also starting to set earlier. Last week, it'll be dark by 7pm. This week, it's already dark by 6pm. Days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer. I don't know how well I'll adjust to this. I hope when Debbie comes here, she'll be fine.

Taken last Thursday, 5:45pm

Oh, Debbie's a friend from church in Nilai, who's visiting me from Oklahoma. For Christmas! I'm so excited! =D

Both sets of grandparents came over for iltapala in celebration of Jaakko's birthday, bringing more flowers and chocolates. We had coffee, tea, and mini pies with ice cream.

That's spiderweb in the background, decorated for Halloween

An otherwise nice picture if not for the shakiness

Fazer's mini apple pie & vanilla ice cream

One of the days during the week, I attempted to make beef pie without rolling out a pastry dough. I simply cooked the beef in the kids' favourite seasoning: taco mix, adding a dash of red wine, salt & pepper and beef broth, topped it with puff pastry sheets and popped it into the oven and prayed hard it would work.

It did, but it wasn't pretty. As my cooking normally depend on the ingredients I can find in the fridge, I used small rectangular pastry sheets instead of a large one so it was kinda like a puzzle :P But oh well, it was edible and the kids liked it. Although the normal words from them before they began to eat were, 'That don't look good.'

On Saturday, Anu took Helmi to Helsinki's costume shop to get her a costume for Halloween. After that, we went to the Asian store to get whatever I wanted to eat and needed to cook. We bought so many things from roti and pau to durians and rambutans. The same night itself, we had roti and curry chicken for dinner. It was heaven.

The next day, we had char siew and fried noodles. Not exactly the char siew we usually eat, but similar. The premix is from Thailand. The noodles were wok fried by Jaakko. Ang moh fried noodles Chinese style, ok, don't play-play.

Food and fun aside, I feel that time is flying. Maybe it's because days are shorter compared to before, or maybe it really is flying by really quickly. Winter's approaching soon. Everyone's getting ready for it. Poles are struck along roadsides for markings, the ice skating rink has been set up in a nearby field; all waiting for the snow. I've spent almost 5 months here now, another 6 more months to go. My permit expires in 4 months and I have yet to secure myself something that will give me the flexibility to stay and perhaps work. But fret not, they say. Something will open up eventually. Well, let's see. Hopefully.

I shall end this with some random fun the kids had with the dad after dinner.

145: Membuat poyo - a camwhore post

2010-10-21T23:21:00.011+03:00

First, I berbuat poyo.

Just because.

No particular reason.

Just wanted to be retarded.

Saje nak buat poyo.

Then I got inspired.

To be even more retarded.

By finger posing!

So I started counting.

But it turned out to be a not-so-easy task.

I had to retake so many times! =(

I'm such a camwhore failure.

But it was fun, just to poke some fun =)

138: It snowed!

2010-10-14T22:16:00.003+03:00

I turned away from the monitor for a moment, looked up and saw white fluffy stuff falling from the sky outside my window. I jumped out of my chair, opened up my window and stretched out an arm.

It was snow.

It fell lightly onto my palm and melted away instantly. It felt like foam.

I ran out of my room and exclaimed, 'It's snowing outside!' Ran back to my room, grabbed my camera, ran downstairs, put on my jacket and boots, went outside and tried to take some photos of the first snow of the season.

I still don't know how to shoot with night modes. Shutter speed is so slow that I have to stay very still to get a not-blur shot. With the freezing weather, it makes staying still even harder.

Anyway, the snowing lasted for only about 5minutes. After that, it looked more like rain. And then, it stopped. But still, it was exciting to see the first snow of the season, first time in my life.

Yep, I'm a snow virgin. Oh wait, I hope that came out right. Oh, whatever. This will be my first real winter.

136: Unmotivated

2010-10-12T22:16:00.008+03:00

Feeling quite unmotivated to write lately, on my blog as well as my journal. There are things that are bugging me but it's not like it's such a big deal. I'm just easily unmotivated by stuff.

On the bright side, I realised that Fall/Winter fashion is actually quite fun. There's so many ways to play with the layering and all and not feel stuffed in it. But on the other hand, because you NEED those layers, you can't leave home without them, cos otherwise you'll freeze.

The temperature nowadays is between 2°C to 4°C during the day with the sun shining. It's quite nice weather, actually. Just have to dress thicker, longer and warmer. But it's getting too cold to jog outside, at least for me. My nose and throat dries sooner than before.

Last week, I was told about the possibility of snow in this week. Yep, snow in October. But nah, it's not the kind of snow that everyone has been anticipating. It's the kind that would fall for probably a couple of hours and then melt away when the sun comes out.

It did snow lightly today, in Central and North Finland, as well as some other places more northern than Helsinki, which is in the South. And the first thing Helmi said to me when I picked her up from school today was, 'Julie! There was snow! I saw it fall like rain and it was white!'

Bah! I missed it. I was in the kitchen cooking =(

Oh, but I made shepherd's pie =D

Which I forgot the salt. Nevertheless, baked potatoes are always good. The kids didn't like it; neither the taste nor the looks of it. It's basically minced meat and mashed potato. I dunno why it doesn't even look appetising to them.

Helmi's throwing a Halloween party and today, I helped her make some invitation cards. We went to Tiimari to get paper, stickers and glitter, and Eliel got 12 pairs of top and bottom fangs. Both Helmi and Eliel were trying them on in the car and it looked really funny on them. It impaired their speech and they were obviously a little too big for them. But oh well, it was fun looking at them like that.

This was all Helmi's idea. I think it's simple and nice. She requested me to help her write the card addressed to Charlotte cos her mom's from NZ, 'Write in English so that her mom can read too.' Sweet lil girl. She even bought a 'Best Costume' trophy from Timmari. And I found it facinating that she came up with the agenda all by herself! The games they're going to play, when to eat, when to announce the winner for the best costume, etc.

Oh, I wish I could be at her party. It'd be nice to see the kids all dressed up as something. But I've already planned to attend the Cultural Evening by the Finnish-Malaysian Association. Ah, let's see.

127: This was my week

2010-10-03T23:04:00.016+03:00

Pictures paint thousands of words.

Sunday lunch: Home-smoked salmon

Homemade mixed berry milkshake

30€ haircut, a hole in my pocket.

Eliel's favourite sesame chicken

Bears of the World at Senate Square. No Malaysian bear. Just as I thought.

Belgian waffles and hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon powder with Andreas, my classmate on a Saturday afternoon in Kauppatori. Hot chocolate was good, but not the waffles.

Apple pie on pulla, or rather, pulla used as pie crust. Still, yummy.

Sunday dinner: Spaghetti ala cabonara. My favourite. With bacon some more!!

***

The Drama Kids

Me: What did you eat in school today?
Helmi: Something like from the pig inside. Like liver.
Me: Oh, liver casserole?
H: Yeah. It taste so baaaad. I almost died.
Me: HAHAHAHA!

Me: C'mon, we've gotta go.
Eemil: Oh! Wait! No! I gotta check something!
*runs into his room*
E: Where is it?! Where is it?! Nooooooooo!!!!
Helmi: Uh, did someone die?
Me: HAHAHAHA!

They are pieces of sunshine to me sometimes.

On a more serious note, I've overspent this month. Insufficient wardrobe is not fun. Most of my tops are either short sleeved or sleeveless. I needed to buy more long sleeves and leggings and tights. Omg, and boots and socks and jackets and a lot more. Sigh, winter is expensive.

On the lighter side of life, this was what we did on a Saturday night: light bantering.

I still can't believe we spammed someone's wall for 2 whole hours with random topics. Yet, I'm loving it ♥

118: Cuteness overload

2010-09-24T21:07:00.007+03:00

While sending Helmi to gymnastics, turned on radio in the car.

Helmi: What is the best band?
Me: Mmm, I dunno. I like Bon Jovi.
H: Do you like Lady Gaga?
Me: (Lol!) Um, some of her songs, yes. Do you like Lady Gaga?
H: A little bit. Matias likes a lot Lady Gaga.
Me: Hahahah...okay :P
H: But I like only a little bit.
Me: (I should so blog about it and immortalise it)

***
Lunch for the past two days were easy as Anu planned out for me what to cook :P First, it was makaroni laatikko. It's basically macaroni with meat cooked with spices and baked in milk and egg liquid. Easy and filling dish. But I still managed to screw up the steps pfftt. Still, it's edible. Just not as tasty as I expected.

I made in two dishes because Eliel caught me taking eggs from the fridge and went, 'No! No eggs! No eggs! It won't taste good!' Which I went, 'But it has to have eggs.' Then he retorted, 'Then I'm not gonna eat.' Bleh. He wanted just the macaroni and meat. So I put them in a separate dish just to make him believe it's without eggs.

Then it was what looks like kinkkukiusaus to me; something I bought from the store before and the packaging said 'kinkkukiusaus'. I have no idea what it means but it's ham and potato. Shredded ham and shredded potato and onions, to be precise. Another simple and fulfilling dish. Just mix everything and add cream. And walaa!

This is Saana, who comes over everyday after school. Sometimes joining us for lunch and loves cucumber a lot. She's sleeping over tonight and also Sean (I'm not sure how to spell his name in Finnish), Eemil's friend. We had a table full of kids during iltapala tonight. All 5 of them.

Yes, chess. A game I still do not know how to play. Way to go, girl.

115: Best night since 1969

2010-09-21T22:19:00.007+03:00

Saturday
Hari Raya open house at the ambassador's residence. Glorious food! But forgot to take photos. Urgh! Brought my host family to the party and little Helmi was overwhelmed by the sea of people. They didn't stay long but still, I'm glad that Anu and Jaakko had a taste of Malaysian food and experienced a lively open house.

Went out with Tom to his friends' house for drinks somewhere near Hakaniemi. Sasku, the host, was nice enough to cook up some delicious fried chicken and served us some really good chilli paste to go with it.

Sara, Marette, Tom; Sasku, Sara, Marette, Tom

Adjourned to a bar after lots of drinks, karaoke, and drunken Sasku and Marette. They were a fun bunch, though. I have never laughed so genuinely since Barsonic days, the radio gang and mama blondie. Jokes being told here and the sense of humour can be quite different. I still haven't exactly found someone or a group of people who shares the same kind of humour as I do, but this was the best night I've ever had in 3 months. Russell Peters? Bring it on!

Sunday
Anu's birthday. Nothing special planned except breakfast in bed prepared for her by her husband and Eliel being sick with stomach flu. And me missing sleep the night before and getting gastric. Yay.

Monday
Minä olen Julia. Minä olen kotoisin Malesiasta ja olen 25 vuotta. Minä asun nyt Haaparantaperhen luonna Nummelassa, Suomessa. Minä opiskelen suomen kursilla maanantaisin ja keskiviikkosin Helsingin Akuisopistossa. Minä puhun malaijia, englantia, ja kiinaa.

I wrote this last week actually. Notice how I could only start every sentence with 'Minä olen...' (I am) cos that was about what we learned as of last week. I think Finnish is a beautiful language in the sense that endings are created with specifics that you don't need to use so many words to express something. But the downside is that these specifications come with a lot of rules. Too many rules, in fact. At least, for me it is. And some words can be so mouthful.

Take for instance 'One thousand two hundred and seventy'. In Finnish, it's 'tuhataakaksisataaseitsemänkymmenta'. That's actually five words written as one. Don't ask me why.

Translation: I am Julia. I come from Malaysia and I am 25 years old. I am currently living with the Haaparanta family in Nummela, Finland. I study Finnish course on Mondays and Wednesdays in Helsingin Aikuisopisto. I speak Malay, English, and Chinese.

Correct me if I'm wrong somewhere.

Oh, and leftover spaghetti with smoked salmon for lunch. Mm, mmm.

There were 5 tomatoes but I got too hungry hehe

Today

Woolen socks keep me warm =)

Just because =)

111: Happy Malaysia Day

2010-09-17T23:07:00.005+03:00

I may be late, but then again, I'm a Malaysian.

Happy Malaysia Day. Hope everyone enjoyed the new public holiday. As for me, it was a usual Thursday, where I carried out my weekly cleaning chores. But I looked forward to this evening cos we were going to watch Swan Lake ballet performance in Helsinki's Opera House. I was lucky that my host family bought us good seats and ordered refreshments for the interval.

The ballet was beautifully executed. The stage, lighting, and costume designs were breathtaking. This was my first ballet experience and I was a little worried I couldn't understand as much as I was supposed to. But it turned out okay, as it was part theatre, part ballet. I didn't know how to interpret the dances but at least I could appreciate the story being performed. I've always like watching all these plays and dances but I've never given much thought about ballet, or maybe cos I've never came across such ballet performance in Malaysia. But seeing them dancing on stage made me wished I had learned ballet when I was younger.

Anyway, this morning, I learned how to make the perfect half boiled eggs, thanks to Yu Jin for blogging here. It was absolutely yummers!

Then afternoon came and I was thinking hard what to cook. Asked around for ideas and Jo suggested Hainanese chicken chop as I had chicken breast meat. Hey! Why hadn't I thought about that! It's not a hard dish to make, actually. So I attempted.

Not perfect, but passed. Eemil liked it. He said it was good. Helmi was super picky as usual, saying it doesn't look good, the chicken is soft, peas and corns don't taste good and the sauce won't taste good cos it has peas and corns in it....complaining all the way when she hasn't even eaten a single bite. *face palm* I think it's karma.

Iltapala tonight was good; shrimp pie with rocket salad, smoked salmon and red wine. And chill out music that filled the house. Mmm, bliss.

I do miss Malaysia, the food, the hustle and bustle, the festivals, and all my friends back in KL. But I'm not ready to leave Finland yet; not even after April. I dunno what I'm going to do or where exactly I'll be, but let's see. Till then, I hope you had a great Merdeka, Hari Malaysia, and enjoy all the Hari Raya open houses. I'm going to one tomorrow. Ah, good food =)

109: Absolutely random

2010-09-16T00:04:00.010+03:00

I was on my way to meet Tom in Kamppi after my Finnish class when a guy stopped me in my tracks and spoke a bunch of Finnish to me. I quickly said I didn't understood what he was saying and decided that he was drunk. He then explained that he and his 3 other friends were freshmen students of Metropolia University, Helsinki and they were in the middle of completing their final mission of a race, which required to bring something nice and beautiful to the last checkpoint. So, yea, they wanted to take me to the last checkpoint, which was in a park.

It was totally random and hilarious. I laughed so loud that I was slightly embarrassed by myself. But I have a feeling they were too drunk to feel offended anyway :P

Anyway, I told them I was actually on my way to meeting a friend and they started asking if my friend was a girl, how does he look like, bla bla bla and finally said I could bring him along. So I gave Tom a call and handed the phone over to one of the guys so he could explain. Besides, I needed some kind of clarification that this was genuine. Finland is a safe country, but still, it's best to take precautions.

Tom said go and he has participated in something like that before, so I went, dragging Tom along with me nyahaha. They wanted me to do something with them at the checkpoint, like, singing and started asking me what can I sing. I had no idea what songs they know and I'm not a singer. But for some reason, I suggested Pocahontas' theme song. Yea, laugh all you want cos it was such a mismatch. A hard rock loving nation and you suggested Pocahontas? Wth. Nobody knew that song so they decided to go with the chorus of 'We Will Rock You'.

Got to the checkpoint tent, queued up and all the while the 4 freshmen and Tom were babbling in Finnish and all I could catch was 'special guest'. Ok, certainly not knowing what was going on. Came our turn and everyone just started clapping to the rythm and singing. So I just joined in.

Then came another time I had absolutely no idea what was going on again. Everyone was just talking and communicating in a language I couldn't comprehend. All I could catch was 'japanilainen', which means Japanese. In my head, I was thinking omg did they just told her I'm a Japanese?

Then she said something to me and Tom answered 'itadakimasu' and she said something more in Japanese and Tom was cringing to find more Japanese words and I was like whaa-? Then she looked at me and said, 'Mitä kuuluu?' (How are you?) At this point, I was so proud of myself cos this was what I learned in class!

Ahem, so I answered, 'Hyvää, kiitos!' (Good, thank you!) And one of the freshmen went, 'Noooooo! You just ruined everything for us!' Whaa-???

Then someone kept telling me, 'Say something'. Say what? 'In you own language'. Which language?? My mind is so not trained for multitasking.

In the end, I was told they got a lot of points for it. Well, good for them, then. I hope they win. It was totally random but a good and fun experience nevertheless.

And oh yea, they were drunk. At least, half drunk.

108: Let's talk about food

2010-09-14T22:36:00.005+03:00

I told myself to blog as often as possible, partly cos I don't want to forget what I've done or achieve, be it something small or big. Most of the time, the highlight of the day will usually be food; what I've eaten or what I've made. Normally, it's the latter. That's because I now have all the time to cook and bake more than ever. In fact, to do just about anything I want =)

Yesterday, I tried to make lemon chicken for the family, since the kids don't fancy spicy food. It worked and they loved it. Not as yellow as I expected the sauce to be, but it still worked.

Then I tried making malaiko again, this time using a recipe my mom gave me. I probably used the wrong tin cos it came out too thin, and accidentally left it in the oven for too long. Problem is, my host family has no steam pot or anything to steam over the stove. They have a steam oven with multiple settings. Sadly, it's all in Finnish. So this malaiko attempt is an experiment for me, to see which setting suits best for Asian baking. This is the third attempt by the way.

To my surprise, the kids liked it. I was expecting them to say it's bad and call it another mushroom cake but it was the total opposite! It didn't meet my expectations, though. It was cooked baked alright, but the taste was different.

So I tried it again today, in smaller tins. Here, I used mini chiffon cake tins, cos they're the smallest tins I can find around here.

I probably found the right setting in the oven, but the taste is still not what I am looking for. The texture was also more compact than it should be; not light and fluffy. Thing is, there're only two types of brown sugar sold in the supermarket; organic and non-organic. Difference is of course in the price. I've always used the non-organic one in baking but it hasn't satisfied me once. I dunno if it's really the culprit but the brown sugar here is somehow wetter, if compared to the brown sugar available in Malaysia. Will try again with the brown sugar I saw in the Asian store.

Till then, hyvää ruokahalua!

106: In the mood for Halloween

2010-09-12T21:41:00.007+03:00

Helmi wants to throw a Halloween party and is in the midst of deciding what she wants to dress up as. She took out a box of costumes and props to look through today. Here is she with witch's wig, a crown, and a cowboy outfit, which she was shouting 'No picture!'

And here's me goofing around with the wigs I found.

Then Helmi decided to 'dress me up'. I dunno what is it supposed to be. It's like 3 characters combined into one.

In the evening, Anu cooked up some delicious tomato based spaghetti.

Saturday
Eliel took out some army stuff and guns to play during the day. I entertained myself by camwhoring with the army shirt lying on the floor, which sent Eliel to bemusement lol. 'Why are you taking pictures?' For fun and laughter.

Anu and Jaakko went for a slumber party in their friend's house to celebrate her birthday, so I was left babysitting the kids at night and bought pizzas for dinner. Come bedtime, it took me half an hour to get all of them to brush their teeth and go to bed, especially Helmi, who always tries to prolong her waking hours. But eventually, they all went to bed by 10pm.

Helmi taught me how to make something out of a yarn thread. She made a few and decided to put them on Pupsi. I find it so cute and hilarious!

Friday
Made some kiind of pork dish. I don't have a name for it. Was supposed to be honey and ginger pork but I improvised and put in other spices too. Anyway, it was yummy =D Except, the meat was too little for 6 people =(

This is a usual scene during meals. Any meal. The kids will usually read Donald Ducks while they eat. Sometimes, I'll join them, although the comics are in Finnish. But hey! It's another way to learn Finnish; with pictures and all.

Panukakku for iltapala

Thursday
It's autumn now. Days are getting colder, rainier, leaves are changing colours and falling.

Breakfast included this: Ham and Finnish squeaky cheese. Quite yummy.

Made pork curry with potatoes and raisins, following some of Diana's idea. Yummers!

Let's see what can be done tomorrow. Finnish class in the evening. But for now, hyvää yötä!

101: Salmon soup FTW

2010-09-07T22:06:00.003+03:00

I really, really like fish soup, cos it has milk and freshly chopped dill. Milk in soup is always delicious and the goodness of fresh herbs makes it even more awesome.

There was no dill in the fridge, so I added whatever spice from the spice drawer I thought would taste great, i.e. lime pepper (lime, coriander & lemongrass), citrus pepper (sitruunapippuri), and a bit of basil. I also added butter and cream besides milk, salt and pepper. Yeah, I know. Cream and fat. Oh, wth. It was hot and tasty.

Think salmon. Think salmon.

Finally Skyped with my mom today, thanks to the brother who's currently home to setup everything and teaching the parents to only accepting a call, cos more steps would confuse them. Turned on the video and the first thing my mom said was, 'Aiyo, face so fat already!' Yea, I did say I gained 8kgs, didn't I?

So yea, I mentioned about going on a crash diet last week, which I know I won't succeed. I was thinking of trying out the cabbage soup diet. But cabbage isn't really eaten in this family, so I scraped the idea the very next morning, knowing well I'll die if I just have soup 3 times a day for a week anyway. I decided to live with the saying, 'Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper'. Along with that, controlling the types of food I eat; reducing carbs towards the end of the day and increasing in protein, fruits and vegetables. On top of that, exercising twice a day; yoga (stretching) first thing in the morning and jogging (cardio) in the evening. I may not be doing it exactly right or a lot, but so far, so good. At least I don't feel 3months pregnant anymore. Let's continue to observe.

The 100th day I'm in Finland

2010-09-06T22:29:00.005+03:00

Minä olen malesialainen.
Minä puhun malesiaa.
Minä en puhu suomea.

Started my first Finnish class today. Interesting. Everything is taught in Finnish. Yep, I'm attending a Finnish class in Finnish. How ironic is that? I know it's good, but only to a certain level. The teacher's not too bad actually. I think she used easy words when teaching, together with loads of gestures, signs, pointing of objects and occasional drawings. I could guess what she was trying to say, so I'm guessing she's using simple Finnish to explain. I can't imagine what would it be like if I had not been here for 3 months before attending the class.

Made butter chicken today, Mom's recipe again. Marinated chicken with ginger and garlic juice freshly squeezed with my hands. They still smell like garlic and ginger. But it was yummy, to me at least. Gravy was a little too thick, chicken a bit too tough; I'll know what to do next time.

Salmon soup tomorrow. I need some protein.

96: The day the kids protested

2010-09-02T23:29:00.003+03:00

Helmi: What you're making today?
Me: Spaghetti
H: No spaghetti.
Me: But yesterday you said you wanted spaghetti today.
H: I don't want spaghetti.
Me: Then what do you want?
H: Favourite chicken.
Me: No favourite chicken.
H: Why?
Me: Cos we don't have the right chicken (Fav. Chicken is made from honey marinated chicken. We had un-marinated chicken breasts)
H: Go buy.
Me: No.

Tried a new recipe and made lemon & garlic chicken.

Eliel: *peeks* What is that?
Me: Chicken.
E: I don't want chicken.
Me: But I made chicken.
E: Then I'm not gonna eat.
Me: But I made chicken...
E: I don't want chicken
Me: Then what do you want?
E: Something. Pizza.
Me: We only have the pizza you don't like.
E: Go buy.
Me: No.
Usually, the kids will eat a little eventually. But this time, Eliel really did not eat at all! He seriously refused to touch the chicken even when I've given him a small serving. In the end, he settled for a packet of Mamee Tom Yam I brought from Malaysia. And Helmi? Played on PS3 and online games until Saana went home, which was about 4pm. Took a few bites on the rice, probably a bit of the chicken sauce and refused to eat cos it was 'too spicy'. I admit I dashed in too much salt and pepper.

But it all ended in my stomach, when I'm trying to control my diet. Meal plan today totally screwed, time wise.

95: The day I almost collided with another vehicle

2010-09-01T22:22:00.006+03:00

I was coming out from a junction after picking Helmi up from school. Poor girl had to wait in the rain for me to come over cos she called me when I was cooking. Anyway, I was driving on the second gear, slowed down, looked left and right, saw no car on both directions, I decided to go forward. Just as I was turning left, a honest-to-goodness white van zoomed passed me on the lane I was going to cut in to. I pushed the brake, interrupted Helmi by shouting, 'Whoa, shit! I didn't see that!'

It was a good thing that there was no other cars on the road. Honestly, it sorta appeared out of nowhere. The sun was glaring, the van was white...gahh. Thankfully Helmi didn't freak out too. She just went on asking 'Why Eliel wants meatballs today because yesterday we had meatballs and today we had meatballs in school too...' yadi yadi yada...

I had no idea what to cook today. Seeing there were chicken breasts and minced beef in the fridge, I went to Eliel, who was the only one at home then, for suggestions:

Me: What do you want to eat today, chicken or beef?
Eliel: (without hesitation) Chicken
Me: How do you want it?
E: Anything (common answer)
Me: Ok

So I went upstairs to look for ideas online. Little guy went to help himself at the fridge.

E: Julie! I want this! (shows me a packet of meatballs we opened yesterday)
Me: Meatballs? But we had meatballs yesterday
E: But I want.
Me: Would you like to have something else today?
E: No, I want this.
Me: But you had them yesterday. Why don't we eat them tomorrow?
E: No, I want it today.

At the same time, I was actually worried if Eemil and Helmi would be unhappy with meatballs AGAIN.

Me: What if Eemil and Helmi don't want to eat meatballs today?
E: But I want it now.
Me: Yes, but what if they don't want?
E: Then what?
Me: Then I'd have to make something else! (please don't make me cook different things for everyone)
E: But I want it now. I want it with this! (shows me a box of leftover spaghetti)
Me: Sigh. Okayy...we'll all have meatballs today.

But guess what. No complains. I mean, WHO would complain about meatballs? Pfftt :P

Helmi: When are we going to have spaghetti?
Me: When do you want?
Helmi: Tomorrow?

We had spaghetti once last week.

Me: If you can, would you like to eat meatballs everyday?
Helmi: *shakes head*
Me: How many times would you want to eat meatballs in a week?
H: *thought for a while and gave me one finger*
Me: Spaghetti?
H: *thought, one finger*
Me: What else?
H: Tortilla?
Me: Oh yea, tortilla. How many times?
H: *one finger*
Me: Pizza?
H: *one finger*
Me: Favourite chicken?
H: *five fingers*
Me: Five?! You'll be eating favourite chicken everyday!

Well, now it sounds a bit redundant la, otherwise it wouldn't be called favourite chicken, would it? But I've decided. Spaghetti once a week is okay. Well, okay, maybe not every single week, but yea. Spaghetti it is, tomorrow.

93 - Hyvää Nimipäivää

2010-08-31T00:03:00.005+03:00

It was Eemil's name day. Nothing grand, but grandparents came over with small gifts and for coffee and doughnuts. Riita and Timo were in Kuusamo last week and brought reindeer sausage for Eliel. From the outside, it looked like Chinese sausage (lap cheong), except it's dry and not oily.

Salty, which is what makes it yummy. Reindeer cold cuts are also salty. I wonder what's the amount of salt they use to preserve the meat.

It's heartwarming to see Eemil serving his grandparents coffee and bread and all, responding to all their requests and asking them what they need and etc. Not an everyday thing. And he does it willingly.

Sometimes, I feel snacks and drinks in Finland are crazily laden with sugar. Well, can't beat the Americans but still, a lot of snacks I've had so far are sweet; even common bakeries like pulla. And it also seems to me that a lot of Finns like to drink cordial juices than water. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Aleksanterin leivos or Alexander tart that has raspberry-apple marmalade in between

I've decided. I'm going to go on a crash diet and work out more in efforts to lose some stomach fats. I've gained 8kgs since coming here, gained some inches, faced difficulties putting on my jeans and I can't push my bracelets all the way up to my arm anymore, cos cannot pass the elbows =( And my side view makes me look like I'm 3months pregnant. Cannot. Cannot. Cannot.

But it has been so cold lately. It was like 10degs yesterday and I don't have a sweatshirt or a hooded jacket to wear. Oh yea, we also went swimming at the swimming hall yesterday, where everyone gets naked in the locker and shower room. Really, nudity to Finns is natural. Nothing to do with sexuality at all. But still, I was damn shy la. I can't swim, so I soaked myself in the jacuzzi and went to the slide. A bit pointless for me to be there :P I really wish I can swim.

Dear God

2010-08-29T11:44:00.004+03:00

What is it that You have planned for me? Why bring me here only now? Why not sooner as planned before? Could I have been on my way to achieving something if I stayed on? Could I have pursued further interest in a certain someone? All the opportunities, all the things that I've ever wanted, was blessed upon me but I don't have the chance to enjoy them. Not all of them, at least. And here I am tearing my hair out trying to figure out what I should do next for the sake of my future.

Sigh.

Please, dear God. I need a sign. I need...something. Just anything.

Day 91 - Diana & Henri's Summer Wedding Reception

2010-08-28T23:48:00.007+03:00

I was invited to Diana and Henri's wedding reception at their home at Otalampi, about 25minutes drive from where I live in Nummela. I didn't want to arrive empty handed so I thought I'd make some banana chocolate chips muffins. Dashed out to the store before its closing hours and searched high and low for chocolate chips but couldn't find any. So I bought what I thought was closest to it.

Came home, lalala, blended in all ingredients, and just as I was ready to bake them, Helmi came by, looked at my ingredients, picked up the empty packet of 'chocolate chips', and said, 'Why you put this?' I said, 'Cos I'm making banana chocolate chips muffins.' To which she replied, 'This is not chocolate.'

That was when I only realised the packaging said 'Tyrkisk Peber' and there was fire behind those text. 'This is spicy.' Omggggg!!!!

Turned out I put in turkish pepper, a type of candy that tastes like licorice, or maybe it is licorice, I dunno. Banana and licorice?! I've got no words.

It's the first time I made something I don't like it myself. So I made another batch of chocolate banana muffins using cocoa powder. Just in case.

Banana+turkish pepper; chocolate+banana

On the other hand, I made some meringue. A tad too big. Oops. Dunno what's up with me lately la. Screwing up recipes (not just this time), spilling half a pot of water onto the induction, overcooking due to very poor estimation skills, bah!

Oh yeah, and a macaroni casserole I quite like. Actually, I'd like anything cream based. Nothing in it except cucumber, capsicum, and shredded ham. Basically, those are the things I could find in the fridge. No cheese, though. Sadness.

The drive to Diana's place wasn't too far, but it was through fields and forests. Thankfully, I took along a detailed map with all the names of the roads I'll pass by, just so I won't ever ever get lost in the middle of nowhere. It's a good thing that almost all roads here have signs, though. And pat me on the back cos I drove manual all the way to Otalampi without dying fire hehehe.

Henri & Diana smashing a bottle as a symbol for happiness; Di and I

Let's see what else I've learned these past few days:

- there's a candy called 'Turkish Pepper' and the crushed version is meant for ice cream
- spooning meringue balls doesn't mean spooning big dollops
- use the key to open the gas tank to refill gas
- continue to drive, even if the road has got no more tar
- whackit!'s ep13 is officially out to embarrass all of us
- all the kids ever want out of the episode is the big mama gun and getting wet in the whack chamber. seriously.

Day 89 - I'm getting fatter

2010-08-26T23:16:00.001+03:00

Yesterday, Jaakko was home, so he was pretty much in charged in the food department. Lunch was grilled honey chicken with french fries and salad, tea time snack was munkki (it's like doughnut. This one's with toffee icing on top. Yummers), and then pizza for dinner cum iltapala.

Iltapala refers to the light snack eaten after dinner, before going to bed, usually between the hours of 7-10pm, according to Prof. Wiki. The kids are usually told to go to bed at 9pm or 9.30pm, so they have their iltapala normally at 8-ish. Yes, and then they go straight to bed. Actually, light snack here means bread, yoghurt, or fruits. Something really light. On the other hand, the pizzas were good.

Today, lunch was the leftover pizzas from last night, I tried to make egg tarts and it was quite tedious, and dinner/iltapala was tacos. Yes, I'm feeling my waistline is expanding. In fact, I measured myself two days ago; it has increased. I has a sads.

Anyway, it was my first time making egg tarts. Don't be fooled by the colours of both pictures; one was taken in the day and the other in the night. A little bit charred, not so pretty, but otherwise, taste and texture is quite tasty. Soft pastry, just what I wanted. But not flaky, though =( The first batch I made, the pastry was too thick and there was not enough space for the filling. Ended up with a thick pastry bottom and no taste of the egg filling. Second batch, well, I haven't tried it yet, but as you can see, I didn't have enough filling for all the shells. So, I ended up with very not pretty egg tarts. Plus, I left it in the oven a tad too long. Gotta improve next time.

Day 87 - The day I forgot to take photos

2010-08-24T22:16:00.010+03:00

But here's a quick update of the previous days:

Saturday
Watched Inception with Angie & Matias

Had Thai food for dinner

Came home to 3 crayfish saved for me

Which I learned to eat with a special tool. It was such a chore to eat this tiny shrimp.

It was an experience, nonetheless. It involved a lot of sucking, prying open, and scraping the shells.

Sunday
Fresh homemade bread is awesome. Eaten with hot wiener soup.

Monday
Tried to make the same kind of bread on my own, by reading a Finnish recipe using a dictionary (the Net was down, so no Google translator). It took me like an hour to decipher. Thankfully, the bread was not too shabby.

Doodled with Helmi in the evening

Introduced her to drawing paddy field haha :P

Then she took out her Topmodel colouring books, where you can make up faces drawn on the pages, or dress the models up by drawing and colouring. Yea, Helmi's into dress up games, supermodel/topmodel themed games, fashion shows, etc. She's also dubbed the nerd in the family, as she can spend a long time playing games online. Sometimes, I get stuck with having to play Skywire or Twinshot with her. She knows more mini games sites than I do. All I know is Yahoo! Games and Miniclip.

Seriously.

Thus is the Cyber Generation.

Day 83 - Every Friday is Candy Day

2010-08-20T22:56:00.005+03:00

And Julia's chocolate day. Ever since I took a bag of chocolates on one fine candy day, I've had a strange craving for chocolates. I've never craved for chocolates or anything sweet before. In fact, I can't stand food that's too sweet. Anyway, today is candy day for the kids, meaning, they get to mix and pick their choice of sugar laden stuff.

Eemil stayed at home today, because he was not feeling well since yesterday, and requested for chicken burger from Hesburger. I tried to convince him to eat other stuff at home, like baguette sandwich, soup, ready-made pizza, but he doesn't like baguette cos it has herbs in it, absolutely hates soup, and the pizza topping is not his favourite (or any of the kids', as a matter of fact). So I went to get the chicken burger, bought a small bag of shredded ham, and made pizzas out of pita breads I found in the freezer for the other kids; because formaggi & pomodori is 'really not good' (honest words from the kids). They only eat ham and cheese.

Ham&cheese, hawaiian, and vegetarian

A dying butterfly Helmi and Saana picked up and tried to feed it with sugar

Day 82 - Bananas are probably therapeutic

2010-08-19T21:29:00.005+03:00

Banana cake, a request from the sick boy.

Day 81 - Keskiviikko

2010-08-18T21:37:00.004+03:00

Overslept.

Malai ko attempt #2 failed.

Cut my shaggy dog bangs.

Learned Switchfoot first sang Christian rock songs.

Made sweet and sour chicken.

Finally managed to catch Friends on TV.

Caught the sunset.

Day 80 - I've been procrastinating

2010-08-17T22:05:00.008+03:00

I should, and will, from now on, post at least one photo to summarise my day.

Saturday
Woke up to a rainy morning. Perfect weather to stay in bed. But what I love most about (for now) Finland would have to be the fresh air (I fully agree with Angie). It's so fresh, it feels so good. Jogging in the morning, opening up your lungs to breathe the fresh air, even for the short 15minutes, feels awesome. And it feels even cooler and fresher after the rain.

I really wanted to go back to yoga since the yoga classes I attend in Celebrity Fitness was really good, to me, at least. It made me sweat a whole lot more than I usually can. No meditation, of course. Only the exercise. I looked up online and found some of the basic poses I did before. So I tried to recreate the sequence using my (lack of) memory, together with some slow, relaxing music. Didn't work out that well, perhaps because I kept getting up to check what was the next sequence hehe.

Other than that, we went into the forest to look for mushrooms and blueberries but there were no mushrooms and very little blueberries.

Wear your boots, so you won't get muddy

Mushroom hunting

And then Helmi and I started making paper crafts, from hats to boats, which we set to sail.

Our captains

Helmi had joy in sinking her boat and passengers

Sunday
Maailman Terven Kansa 2015 (The World's Healthiest Nation 2015), a joint campaign promoting healthy lifestyle and with the goal to make Finland the healthiest nation in the world by 2015, organised Perhepäivä (Family Day) in Finnair Football Stadium. We went to check the event out as Anu's workplace is one of the partners of the campaign.

Here, I was exposed to a children's rock band called HeviSaurus.

Check that out, man

Look at those dreadlocks!

Came home after Big Bacon from McDonald's, and had homemade banana ice-cream Helmi and I made during the week.

With chocolate syrup. Yums

Monday
Ocean's Twelve was on TV tonight. I was watching it for the second time and fell asleep halfway through the movie. Not because it was a boring movie, but because for some reason, I was quite tired.

Today
Tried making 'malai ko' using the steam oven but tak jadi. I should try another mode next time. The twins wanted noodles (Eemil's at camp), so I made noodles. But it wasn't Helmi's favourite noodles, it was chow mein noodles, which is actually similar to her favourite noodles. Still, she had to comment they were not noodles; they were spaghetti. Eliel had two servings, which made me happy.

Cycled to Prisma and back, and chalked our street.

My angel, her angel

She insisted that we write 'Finish'

Helmi learned 'hopscotch' today (hope she remembers) and says 'winny' and 'stopsticks'.

The chorus

2010-08-14T23:36:00.002+03:00

Wish someone would say those words to me:

Switchfoot - Yet
All attempts have failed
All my heads are tails
She's got teary eyes
I've got reasons why

I'm losing ground and gaining speed
I've lost myself or most of me
I'm headed for the final precipice

But you haven't lost me yet
No, you haven't lost me yet
I'll sing until my heart caves in
No, you haven't lost me yet, yet

These day pass me by
I dream with open eyes
Nightmares haunt my days
Visions blur my nights

I'm so confused
What's true of false
What's fact or fiction after all
I feel like I'm an apparition's pet

But you haven't lost me yet
No, you haven't lost me yet
I'll run until my heart caves in
No, you haven't lost me yet

If it doesn't break, if it doesn't break, if it doesn't break
If it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love
No, if it doesn't break your heart, it's not enough
It's when you're breaking down with your insides coming out
That's when you find out what your heart is made of

And you haven't lost me yet
No, you haven't lost me yet
I'll sing until my heart caves in
No, you haven't lost me yet
'Cause you haven't lost me yet

Why are emo songs so damn nice la =(

At the moment

2010-08-14T11:43:00.004+03:00

Currently feeling like this song:

Switchfoot - Let That Be Enough

I wish I had what I need
To be on my own
'Cause I feel so defeated
And I'm feeling alone

And it all seems so helpless
And I have no plans
I'm a plane in the sunset
With nowhere to land

And all I see
It could never make me happy
And all my sand castles
Spend their time collapsing

Let me know that You hear me
Let me know Your touch
Let me know that You love me
Let that be enough

It's my birthday tomorrow
No one here could now
I was born this Thursday
22 years ago

And I feel stuck
Watching history repeating
Yeah, who am I?
Just a kid who knows he's needy

Let me know that You hear me
Let me know Your touch
Let me know that You love me
And let that be enough

Simple. Yet it's so full of meaning.

Day 74 - Has time flew by?

2010-08-11T22:39:00.010+03:00

It has been almost 10 days since my last post? I never thought it was actually that long. I stopped writing for a while since some days went by with nothing extraordinary. Oh well, let me just break it down. I've got a few things I'd like to share too.

Tuesday
Drove again. This time with Anu instructing. Better, but my heart still fell into my stomach. And I went into the wrong side of the road. But yea, still better. Oh, and I taught Helmi how to write some Chinese characters.

Numbers

And my name =D

Wednesday
Drove again with Anu. I stalled the car fewer times, and was requested to drive Eemil to his ice hockey camp the next morning. Tried to make some videos with Helmi so I could share it with everyone. At the moment, the video I took can only be seen here, which you have to create an account with Ustream to view them (but it doesn't take long too, really!). I tried uploading to Youtube, but there was no sound in the video once it's uploaded. I dunno whyyy....I'm such a tech noob lah.

Helmi wearing my sleep mask

Thursday
Drove Eemil to camp, stalled the car twice (it's an improvement!), drove myself to Citymarket to get some breakfast, and then drove home. Alone! Friday Helmi woke me up by screaming my name from downstairs. When I peeked out, she said, 'It's cleeeeaaaaning dayyyyyyyyy!' Oh yea, it is...it is....zzzz... Helmi's a great kid. She loves to help, be it cooking or cleaning. But she's a funny kid too. She said she's going to clean her room. Halfway through, I found her plopped down on her chair watching a movie on her Mac.

Saturday
The family went to the summer cottage. I went to the city again, for a traffic light themed party that didn't quite happen. Met up with Angie and Matias, who both made efforts to dress accordingly (thumbs up!). Angie wore red, while Matias wore purple, claiming that his wardrobe is colour challenged and that's the best he could come up with. Well, purple does contain red. I wore yellow and blue, which is mentally green. The whole idea was to wear red if you were attached, green if you were single, and yellow if you were in between. You get the gist.

Mr Tom invited us to the party and he didn't even check out the place himself pfftt :p But we had fun, sitting on a bench drinking ciders, looking out at the Helsinki Zoo, which is located at an island, and listening to free music that was blasting from a Motor Show expo from across us. Headed to Aussie Bar in Kamppi to meet Tom and his friends, and then went to Baker's to meet more people up.

Managed to order a Flaming Lamborghini for Tom, by chipping in with Heikki. Bartenders here do not know this drink. I didn't try with other cocktails, but it seemed to me that they're equally bad in mixing cocktails too. Unfortunately, the Flaming wasn't as spectacular as it was supposed to be as the bartender did not mix everything into a glass. Instead, he separated all 4 shots into 3 shot glasses, told Tom to sip from one glass that was flamed up, and then proceeded to mix the other 2 shots into the first shot glass. Ooh, and guess what. We actually googled for the recipe; thanks to Angie's iPhone.

Sunday
Woke up in the afternoon to find out that Jaakko and Anu was out in the city too in the previous night, since the kids were sleeping over at their grandparents' place. And they came home only at 4.30am! Oh sweet date night. Then we went boating at the summer cottage in the afternoon. And swam in the lake. I swam in the deeper waters with a life jacket. Pahahaha. Eliel's also a funny kid. This was how he was trying to show me how to swim:

'Julia! Do like this!' *shows a move*
'Julia! Do like this!' *shows another move*
'And now, I fart.' *proceeds to fart in water*

The boat we hopped into

Then I made kuih sarang semut, half successful. It didn't taste bad, just that the 'nest' part was only at the bottom. The twins didn't like it, with Helmi saying it tastes like mushroom cake. She hates mushroom, by the way.

Pfft.

Monday
Last day of holiday for the kids. As usual, I was Helmi's playmate.

Tuesday
Walked Helmi to school in the morning and jogged on the way back. The air is so fresh and crisp in the morning. I felt so refreshed coming back from the morning jog, although it was only like 15mins. Or lesser. Must do this more often.

Wednesday
Helmi told me school on this day starts the same time as the previous day. So I happily woke up at 7-ish, close to 8am, to find that all the kids had left for school. It actually starts at 8am instead of 9am on Wednesdays and the rest of the week. Oh well, went for my morning jog nonetheless. Took a longer route. Came home feeling good, refreshed, and enjoyed the rest of my home alone morning watching Beautiful Mind, which made me cry. But it was a good movie.

My Finnish classes have not started yet. I've decided to take up a less intensive class, which will start in September, for twice a week in the evenings. Time wise, it seemed like a more suitable choice for the convenience of everyone. Since the beginning of the week, I've been thinking what I should do when my contract ends here. I mean, I've been thinking about it all this while, but I think it's time that I think about it more seriously this time.

I've been here for over 2 months now. And before I know it, 1 year will pass really quickly. I'm still thinking if I should study or work. I want both, just a matter of which I should put priority in. If I should study, should I stay in Finland or move elsewhere? And if I move elsewhere, how can I support myself? Of course, I want to travel too, and I should since I'm here in Europe. But that would be later as it requires me to find some moolah, which I'm also trying to get more at the moment. Hey, if you guys need help in anything, don't be shy to contact me, ok?

And oh, I'm invited to a wedding at the end of this month. I'm so excited! =D

Day 65 - The making of korvapuusti

2010-08-02T23:17:00.004+03:00

Pullaa is a type of Finnish spiced bread. Korvapuusti, is a type of pullaa, which is rolled with buuter, sugar and cinnamon, and it's supposed to look like this:

Image nicked from Google

But here's what I managed to whip up:

I rolled the dough to this size that I can feel muscles forming in my arms. It deserves a picture.

Butter, sugar, and cinnamon

Then, let it rise

Ta-daa!

I know. Not as pretty as it is supposed to be. As I'm writing this, I just got hungrier. I must go get something to munch.

Back. McVities ftw.

Test drove the manual car with Jaakko in the evening. My heart almost stopped. I need more coordination exercise. I had problems on the hill. I had problems pushing the accelerator and releasing the clutch at the same time. I had problems relaxing. I didn't even look out for cars. I saw an oncoming car on my right and I went, 'Oh, there's a car.' But Jaakko went, 'Yea but you can go.' In my head, I was like ok what do I do now. At the same time my mouth went, 'But there's a car...' Which made Jaakko to say it again, 'Yea but you CAN go.' It took me a few seconds to realised, 'Oh, right.' Just keep on the right, dearie, just keep on the right side.

Eliel was so adamant to follow us, until I had problems on the hill, which the car got stalled, and I must've restarted the engine a hundred times until I got the car to move and not jerk again. This was when Eliel requested to be dropped off at his cousins' at Aapontie cos 'This ride is scary'. It was hilarious. And embarrassing at the same time.

So much for the 21st century independent girl.

Day 64 - I made meatballs

2010-08-01T23:24:00.010+03:00

And I liked it

I think at one point in my life I told myself to learn how to make meatballs, Swedish meatballs in particular, because it was someone's favourite. Like a pro procrastinator, I never did. And I simply forgot about it after we both went on with our own lives. Plus, there's always Ikea.

I'm currently listening to songs by David Tao, for some reason. It's really nice to hear some Chinese once in a while. Not that David Tao is my favourite Chinese singer, but he does have some nice songs. Kudos to Spotify for the streaming.

Went for Malaysian Canteen at the ambassador's house in Espoo yesterday. Was supposed to meet Diana in Helsinki and then go together but that didn't happen. And I was being a klutz as usual, forgetting to print out bus details and map to the given address. I didn't even take the address with me in the first place! Then Diana was so sweet to tell me which bus to take, where to take it, which stop to stop, and what not.

I showed the address to the bus driver, and he shook his head and said, 'This bus doesn't go there. It goes to Haukalahti'. I was like, 'Where the hell is Haukalahti'. Called Diana who called her hubby who called me back to confirm 'Yes take that friggin' bus'. And I caught it in the nick of time. And then she texted to tell me that the 20th stop of bus 111 is Telämäentie, it is after Westend and before Matinkylä. I was like, 'Wah, so detailed, thanks!' Then I realised the bus doesn't stop at every single stop so I didn't actually know exactly how many stops I've passed. I punched myself again for not printing out bus details from home that has all the bus stop names. Lesson learned: bus drivers do not know all the bus stop names.

But thank God he dropped me off at the correct stop even though he said, 'The bus doesn't go to Matinkylä and you are already in Westend.' I got off the bus, and I was like, 'Where the hell am I?' It was really like being dropped off in the middle of nowhere. All I saw was trees left, right, centre. But it was actually not that hard to find places here, unlike in KL. Oh you need me to be there? Yea, sure, I'll be able to find my way...3 hours later. Or like a friend who told me he was driving to somewhere in KL for an interview and had to follow the signboards, and they turned from blue to green, leading him to Ipoh. It was just so hilarious.

Anyway, no pictures of the glorious food cos I forgot. But it was oh-so-yummy. Assam fish, ayam masak merah, roast chicken, accar, nasi tomato, kuih ubi kayu, cucur udang, pulut panggang... zomg. My only regret was that I didn't take more. I spent more time talking this time.

Ate with Jeci and Taavi, a Finnish-Malaysian couple I met at the previous event, and Tom, a friend of theirs who once lived in Malaysia, and who was very kind to invite me to his surprise birthday party planned by his friends. So yea, I went out for the first time. The surprise for Tom was a bungee jump arranged for him, which unfortunately it didn't work when he was ready to go. So, boo, no jump.

150m. Highest in Finland. Since 1989.

Had a small picnic, more friends came, and then we headed to a bar called PRKL, with heavy metal music. But when the alco kicked in, nothing really mattered anymore. I had a fish shot, which is made of Fisherman's Friend. It was black and minty. And it gave me the effect like Jagermeister did; stars in my eyes. Bought a beer, but maybe it was wiser to buy a cider instead.

Food and drinks around the right company always taste better

Tom receiving a sweet birthday card meant for his mom with kind comments from his friends

Part of the whole party

Took the 1am bus home, not knowing that it'll cost 5€ more (hurhurhur) and the street in Nummela would be so dark that it's pitch black. But I had fun. It was a great night out after so long. I love the fact that the music is not blaring loud that people can still hear each other especially the bartender, and also the fact that indoor smoking is not allowed so that your hair doesn't smell like smoke when you get home and you don't have to wash it twice a day after a night's out. Still, I miss Barsonic - the lights, the colours, the music, the people, the drink!

But I guess it's really time to move on.

Day 62 - Always stay on the right side of the road

2010-07-29T23:33:00.004+03:00

I cleaned the car today. Jaakko took it the car wash, changed the batteries, wipers and tyres, and now, it looks just as good as new. Damn, I forgot to take a picture. Will do so tomorrow. It was so dirty before, with all the dry leaves and cobwebs and sand, plus it has been dead for one season.

Tomorrow, Jaakko will try to get the road tax and then the car is good to be driven on the road. Not only do I have to coordinate myself to driving left handed and on the right side of the road, I have to revise my manual driving all over again. The last time I've driven a manual car was like 7 years ago in driving school. And not like I did very well then. I was just on par :P

I went to test drive the SUV with Jaakko yesterday, cos that's the only car they have that is automatic - just in case. It's big, long, and a little scary since I've never driven such a wide and long car before. But it was okay. I just went extremely slow and tried to get familiar with the signs and roads.

Wish me luck in driving! =D

Day 61 - Yesterday we picked wild blueberries

2010-07-28T19:47:00.005+03:00

Blueberry shrubs

Today, we made blueberry pie.

Yummers

And had some guests over.

Meet Onni

And his mom, Satu

Day 59 - Hello from Finland

2010-07-27T07:30:00.004+03:00

I'm back from Portugal, the land of egg tarts, warmth, colours, old buildings and brown people. And awesome beaches. I've tanned myself to my brownest, leaving triangles in strategic spots. I didn't have the time to visit all the places in the city as I planned, as I did not have enough time and the city of Lisbon is actually quite big. In fact, there are so many other places in Portugal that are worth checking out too.

Being in Portugal made me notice how clean and peaceful Finland actually is. I love the warmth of the sun and the colours spread out all over the places and on the people. I dunno if it's because it's summer, but I don't usually see a lot of colours in Finland, generally. Lots of black and whites around, and earthy tones and dark blue and grey. Not that Portugal was psychedelic colourful, just that seeing more vibrant colours after a long month made me happy.

I love being in Portugal. It was indeed a good place for a holiday. Especially in the villas we lived in. Quiet and idyllic. And full of colours. But two whole weeks away from Finland also meant two whole weeks away from my only connection to my friends and family back in KL: the internet at home. My Finnish SIM card doesn't work outside Finland, so that sucks. Good thing I haven't terminated my Maxis line yet, but I should do it pretty soon to avoid paying more bills than I can handle.

Certainly, there are lots of pictures, lots of words, lots of memories, and maybe some reflection. I'm still quite on a holiday mood. I should be reflecting on some things but my mind keeps wandering. This holiday was definitely, just a holiday of sightseeing to me. Maybe one day, I'll go sit down by the lake with my journal and my imaginary friend and start pondering on some things.

Maybe one day, I'll have someone to rant to whenever I'm down, like now. My best friend is 5hours away and I can't hear her voice when I tried calling her. I haven't slept a wink since 7.30 last night, and even that, was done on the plane. I know I'm going to be awfully tired and I'll look haggard. But really, I really needed someone to talk to. Badly. Am I having fun? Hell, yeah. Leaving everything you've built up for the last 6months for nothing at all, is actually quite fun.

Day 44 - Prepping for Portugal

2010-07-12T23:32:00.003+03:00

I'm going to visit the country that once conquered us for a long time and left a very important mark in our history. I'm going to soak in the sun and be enthralled by the beautiful old architecture, while enjoying their famous egg tarts, or custard tarts and perhaps a cup of coffee. That's a lie. I will never enjoy a cup of coffee.

Anyway, plane leaves at 7am, means we have to be there at 5am, means we have to leave at 4.30am, means we have to wake up at 4am. Great.

I'll probably be offline until we come back on the 26th. That's 2 weeks from now. And I already know I'll be on a different plane coming back, which is 2 hours later than the family's, which means I have to bum around in Portugal airport for an extra 2 hours. Hmm, maybe I can find internet then.

In the meantime, here's something for someone who did not believe:

Things are not only made in China, Ryan =)

Day 43 - Swimming. Again.

2010-07-12T00:57:00.005+03:00

My 3€ bag, 4.95€ flip flops, cold water, almonds from Tallinn, and a book = bliss

Third day in a row. Swimming in Myllylampi. Today was the hottest. I felt like I'm roasted.

Chilling in the yard, while waiting for my paint job to dry.

I now have a brownish tan, with two triangles on the front and one at the back, if you know what I mean. I've always wanted to try sunbathing and tanning, since I can never be fair, I might as well just get a sun kissed tan. I dunno exactly what my tan is like now, but it's not something I dislike =) Not the usual greyish dark tan I always get after going under the sun.

I definitely need more white clothes.

Day 41 - The day we went swimming

2010-07-10T00:19:00.006+03:00

In the evening, Anu asked me, 'Do you want to go for a swim?' I just went, ok. Thinking since the weather has been hot recently. According to everyone, it is the hottest it has ever been. Bearable for me at some point, but I'll still sweat sometimes. There's still wind, so it's not too bad. At least now I'm not afraid of wearing light and thin clothes. I see some of the locals walking and driving on the street shirtless. I guess it's really hot for them, since the temperature has been between 27degs to 30degs. And dry.

So off we went. I thought it was a swimming hall. Turns out, it's a lake where everyone can go and swim. It reminded me of beaches back at home, like in PD. The air was filled with joy and laughter, the sound of water splashing, picnic mats and families with kids everywhere you turn. It was also a breezy day.

I took a dip in the water seeing Helmi wanted a companion. Not too cold. Great! I went deeper. There was a consistent breeze. The deeper I went, the colder it was. I think 15minutes later, I decided to go back to shore, and continued on my book...and left Helmi in the water alone :P She said it was okay!

She came up after a while and asked me to join her again. I said, ok, I'll give it another try. I dipped my whole body in this time and stayed in the water. Yea, this feels just nice. Maybe I should just stay this way. Then I tried to swim, which I failed. Helmi tried to teach me how to swim, which I still failed in copying her. She dove into the water and did a headstand, legs up in the air. And then I went, 'I wanna try to do that!' To which she told me to go deeper until the water reaches my chin. That was when she literally pushed me further. Until I could feel the steepness of the ground. And that was when I freaked out and said, 'Helmi, this is deep! Are you going to save me if I drown?'

But I tried turning myself upside down underwater anyway. I dunno how well I did, but I got water going into my nose forcefully that it went up to my head and I thought I was going to faint. Not very smart there. At least I tried and know how it feels.

Came home and had homemade burgers with a choice of rye or mixed wheat bread, and burger patties with cheddar or Swiss cheese.

Burger patties with cheddar cheese

Healthy burgers indeed =)

Day 40 - Where did all my money go =(

2010-07-09T02:38:00.004+03:00

Spent grand total of 83,50€ today. I hope that's the final figure cos I really do not want to spend anymore. Oh, and another 12€ to my PayPal. That's a total of 95,50€. OMG.

I promised the birthday boy I'd buy him something. He took me out of my shopping to his game store, and picked his Warhammer figurines, each costs 12,50€. Each friggin tiny figurine cost 12,50€. He picked five. And then asked if I could pay 2 and he'll pay the rest. That's quite considerate of him. But still, I spent 25€ on two tiny figurines. The next birthday, I shall take the lead. Now I really wish I had bought him something from Jyväskylä.

Those 2 unpainted figurines. 25€! But once painted, it actually looks quite cool

Set under construction and Eemil's growing Donald Duck collection

Desperate for a bag, I found one for 3€, although not something I really want but the size and colour is good for now. I wanted a sling bag but I couldn't find one that's nice and cheap. Summer's here, so I went to get some skirts too =D I think I bought everything under 10€ each. Still, I managed to spend 50€ in total. For 11 items.

Took the bus home cos shopping was interrupted :P The 280 bus now cost 8,50€ one way =( I hope I have enough bread for Portugal.

Day 39 - Puuhamaa

2010-07-07T23:25:00.007+03:00

Grandpa Paavo took us to Puuhamaa today. It's an amusement park with water slides and rides, one hour drive away. Same concept as Sunway Lagoon, in the sense that it has got both dry and wet parks; except not so fancily decorated. It's actually a pretty old place, according to grandpa, about 20 years old. He used to bring Anu and her brother here every summer. So it was kind of a no wonder when I thought everything looks old and kind of cheaply decorated.

Did not take a lot of photos this time since we were going on water slides and dipping. I had to keep my camera away in the locker. And then again, it ran out of battery by the end of the day.

I have to admit, the idea of going onto water slides again was exhilarating. Climbing up the towers was still okay. Until I sat down on the slide and looked down. Oh.My.Gosh. My heart skipped a beat. I couldn't believe I was doing this. Then thoughts ran through my head. What will happen in the end? How deep is the pool? What if I drown? I can't swim!

I love this ride as you can control when to turn you upside down forward backward and stop and hang in mid air.

But I still went. It was exciting, yet scary at the same time. I realised these thoughts began to come into my head only in the recent years. It's like somehow I've grown older enough to 'value life better'. *shrug* I've got an advice: why not do EVERYTHING that you've always wanted to do before you turn 25. Or 24. Or before you start working like everyone. Before you start having loans and shit. Before you make any commitments. But hey! Grandpa went on the slides too! I wish I took a picture.

I still wanna bungee jump. Pleeeaaassee let me have my bungee jump before I turn any older. And sky diving. And sky high rollercoasters. And AJ Hackett stuff. And rock climbing. And many more I can't recall now. I hope I won't develop a fear for heights in the near future =(

Overall, the day was fun, although there were the siblings disagreements on which ride to go to, whether to stay or go home and etc. since Eemil is now in his growing up phase, he thought everything was now boring. The rides were nothing extravagant, but Helmi seems to think everything is fun. Eliel just follows the big brother, although he's Helmi's age. He was like the neutral one when Eemil and Helmi argued.

Some kind of snooker-mini golf

Speaking of Helmi, it's as if everything to her seemed to look fun lately.

When I clean the windows:
Helmi: Is that fun?
Me: You can try.
Helmi: *after a few minutes* I'm tired...I don't want to do anymoreeee

When I cut the leaves off the strawberry, which is a meticulous job, and we had a big box of it:
Helmi: Is that fun?
Me: You can try.
Helmi: *after a few minutes* I'm tired...I don't want to do anymoreeee

When I iron:
Helmi: Is that fun?
Me: Um...it's heavy, and it's very hot :P

When I decorate the cake on the side with cream, another delicate work:
Helmi: Is that fun?
Me: Lol. Um...
Anu: No.

She's so cute lah!

Day 38-Eemil's 12

2010-07-07T02:44:00.005+03:00

Hyvää syntymäpäivää!

Eemil's 12 today.

And tomorrow, we're going to Puuhamaa with grandpa. It's a recreation park, with water slides and trampolines.

I will blog more...when I have the energy.

Day 37-Back from Oulu & Jyväskylä

2010-07-06T02:28:00.003+03:00

I'm finally back from a week of traveling and sightseeing. But I haven't found the time or energy to upload photos or update this blog yet.

Eemil's birthday is tomorrow. Everyone's preparing for his party; cleaning and cooking all day.

And for some reason, the computer's lagging like a bitch. I have no idea why as this has never happened before. I thought Macs were not supposed to lag. Or is it that it never crash?

Anyway, I'll be back. After the party.

Day 28 - Back from Tallinn, Estonia

2010-06-28T02:30:00.005+03:00

No time to blog.
Leaving for Oulu in 7 hours.
Will be there for 4 or 5 days.
And then Jyväskylä for the weekend.
With Angeline and Matias.
My feet hurts.
My leg muscles are sore from all the walking.
I need a foot massage.
See you again on Sunday.

Day 25 - Flower picking

2010-06-25T01:23:00.004+03:00

Went to pick some wild flowers with Helmi today. When Anu told me I could go and pick some flowers with Helmi, I was thinking to myself, uh okay. So I pick flowers and then I arrange them in a vase. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'll do it.

I don't have a green thumb. I have zero artistic skills when it comes to flower arranging or anything to do with plants. Remember to water the plants? I don't even remember their existence! Oh the flowers are dry? Omg! I didn't even noticed them! Sigh.

So off we went. Picking random flowers and came back to arrange them in little vases. I made a jungle =D

The spread of food tonight was glorious again.

And then I made bread pudding. Too thin, as the tray was too big.

On the bright side, I'm going on a short holiday, starting from tomorrow. I will meet Angeline in Helsinki tomorrow, and experience how quiet it is on a public holiday. It's the midsummer festival, or juhannus in Finnish. I hadn't realise how big a deal it is until now. People go back to their hometowns, families go to summer cottages, there'll be parties, drinking, drinking and more drinking. Yea, that's what I heard. Doing it Finn style.

We will leave Helsinki on Saturday to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, south or southwest of Finland across the Gulf of Finland. Somewhere there la. And we'll be there for the weekend, meeting friends and hanging out. It's my first trip since I got here. And the first time I plan for my weekend. I is excited =D

So, till then, tata! I'll be back online on Sunday.

Day 24 - Wednesday

2010-06-24T01:45:00.004+03:00

Slow day today. Made the kids' favourite chicken - honey marinated chicken cooked with powdered garlic and cream. Simple dish. I've been wondering what this dish was since they told me about it. It's actually a very nice dish. I would have 3 or 4 servings myself.

Yesterday was also another slowish day. Lunch was dinner leftovers and then I decided to make some cookies. Bran and raisins. But found out later that Eliel and Eemil hates raisins. *face palm*

Bran and raisins cookies

Anu came back in the evening and announced, 'Let's go to grandpa's birthday party.' Ah, ok. How spontaneous. Anyway, grandpa's house isn't far and we've just seen each other 2days ago. 'Party' was just dinner at the garden, which is very relaxing. Weather was good, food was good, company was good, although everyone spoke Finnish most of the time. Oh yes! I held my drink when served. And then grandma lifted her glass and said 'Tervetuloa' and something more and others replied something I couldn't understand and drank. So I just followed =D

Awesome food

I'm guessing the Finns are more of fish and vegetable lovers. Whenever I take food, I realised by the time I'm done, my plate is always piled up with food, as compared to the others. And then I take a second serving after that. I hope I'm not an embarrassment yet. I took one bratwurst and half a cheese sausage, and when grandpa asked me what do I want for the second serving, I said 'one of each'. Everyone else took one. But really, I love my meat =( It can be a good change though, the amount of meat versus the amount of vegetables. At least I can pile up on my fibre intake.

The kids' table across the garden

Met Jaakko's brother, together with his wife and kids. The family lives opposite the grandparents' house. After the main course, the kids brought their dog over, named Onni, which means luck in Finnish, much to Tessu's disapproval.

Meet Onni

Poor Tessu was tied up during dinner

Meet Tessu

It's really nice that at meals like that, there's always dessert. It came after an interval of a visit to grandma's greenhouse.

Look! Grandma has a greenhouse!

Dessert was blueberry pie and a certain raparperi pie. Raparperi, according to Wiki, because no one at the party could translate it for me, is a type of rhubarb. I still have no idea what it is exactly as I've never seen it before, but it was yummylicious =D And you'd have to eat it with something that has calcium, I dunno why. So it was served with vanilla ice-cream.

The table

Pies and ice-cream

It's really refreshing and interesting to attend meals at someone's home. It's where you'd pick up the culture and the way things work. I hope in my time being here, I'd be able to sit down and dine with other families just to have more exposure.

My host family's neighbour, Aanti, was so nice to ask me if I wanted to know a friend here, since I'm new and all. He told me about his niece, who is about my age, and thought we could get to know each other. She can improve her English, while I can learn Finnish. I thought it was such a great idea! So he gave me her number. And then I asked, 'Is she working now?' And then he looked at me, a little bewildered, and said, 'Yeah she's working now, for the summer. She's about 18.'

OMG DID HE JUST THOUGHT I WAS 18 AS WELL?

Lol.

But I texted her today. And she replied. Very happy to meet me next week. I'm happy people are so nice here =)