To make a new passport, I need some photos. I did go to a photo studio in Bandung, but I wasn't sure that the Indo Embassy would accept those photos 'coz they're the standardized Indonesian passport photos and the Indo Embassy told me that they wanted the kind of photos that the Finnish government accepts as passport photos. Good thing was that I got a CD with my photo in it, so I only had to print out some photos according to the Finnish passport photo guideline.
The problem was printing them. First of all, here there are no studios where you can print passport photos from a CD. So I had to measure the photo carefully and then make several copies and then send them online to be printed by a photo company. The first time I sent them a jpg file, I realized I had made a mistake 'coz I ordered the wrong photo size. So I had to redo the whole thing and then picked the right photo size.
Why did I go to such length just to print some photos? Of course there is a local photo service where I can get 4 passport photos right away, but they cost at least €15 (yep, for just 4 bloody pieces of passport photos).
Anyway, enough about the photos...soon I'll have to type up a letter, asking the Indo Embassy to renew my passport and then I have to bring a copy of our marriage certificate, too. Today I ordered Helsinki Card online (only for one day) - we can pick up the card from one of their agents (I think we'll just pick them up from the airport) and we can go take the airport bus to our hotel (fortunately the airport bus passes through the hotel 'coz there's a bus stop behind it). We have to pay €5,90 per person.
So these days I've also been browsing through the kinds of museums or attractions that we can visit 'coz by having Helsinki Card, we can get discounts to many tourist attractions - sometimes we don't even have to pay to get inside many museums. :-)))) The only museum I've been to when I was in Helsinki was Ateneum Museum . Back in 2004 there were modern art collections in the museum.
Photo taken from hereI almost got lost when I tried to find the museum back then, you know? I'm such a lousy map reader hi hi hi...I actually went to the opposite direction to where the museum was supposed to be. I kept walking and walking until I realized I was in an area where there couldn't possibly be museums hi hi hi hi hi...it's hard to describe, but I just knew I was far away from where a museum could be, so I went back and I kept walking and walking and finally I found it hi hi hi...
That was also why I let R2 read the map when we went to Singapore. I just followed him wherever he told me to go HA HA HA HA HA...like a good sheep following its shepherd HI HI HI HI HI...
Ahem...OK, enough rambling, time to blog-hop a bit.
P.S. We'll be staying in Scandic Continental Helsinki. The hotel has a swimming pool, so I'm gonna bring my swimsuit with me HO HO HO HO HO HO...I wanna swim 'coz I swam only once when I was in Bandung ('coz it rained a lot after the first week).
Considering how much you are hopping about all the time, I would imagine that you would get bored quite easily if you just stayed put for a few minutes. At least it makes your life that much more interesting. Okay, so how do you say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in Finnish and your native tongue.
ReplyDeleteWow, €15 is quite a lot! Here we have an option either bring our own passport sized photos or just let them do the job at the Immigration Dept, but I guess it'll be different when dealing with the embassies (?)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, after you have settled the matter later, the bright side is that you'll be having a short holiday with R2 he he he... Hey, ain't it going to be cold swimming during winter?? I have no idea about this. ;P
Bogey: HE HE HE...Actually I can stay put (I'm a rather low-energy person) - it's just that I have so many things to do on my list so I feel a bit freaked out ha ha ha...
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas in Finnish is "Hyvää Joulua" and in Indo "Selamat Natal".
Happy New Year in Finnish is "Hyvää Uutta Vuotta" and in Indo "Selamat Tahun Baru".
CMG: Yes, in our own country we don't have to bring our own passport photos - we just need to bring "ourselves" to the office he he he...but it's a different case with the embassies.
Yeah, indeed I'm gonna be having a short holiday with R2 - though it'll make me broke, we can visit museums etc.
Oh, the swimming pool is indoor and the water temperature is kept warm he he he...so don't worry! :-D
Looks FUN hotel :D When I went to the embassy last time, I don't have to bring any photo. Because they took my photo while I was there, the price including.
ReplyDeleteHow annoying about the photos.
ReplyDeleteAnd map reading, I just can't manage it either. I panic if I see a map!
What a hassle! The photos are really expensive, I used to complain about them being expensive in Czech Republic, and they are just half the price in there!
ReplyDeleteThe World According to Me: Yeah, well, at least the second one turned out GREAT HI HI HI...so I didn't have to print more pics ha ha...Ah, so you're like me when it comes to map reading? COOL! ;-D
ReplyDeleteBitter Chocolate: HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...So you felt better after reading my post? ;-D