3BT: July 30, 2010

1. Hubby running to welcome me from work today 'coz I had an evening shift, so we hadn't met at all today 'coz I was still asleep when he got up to work and when I left to work, he wasn't home yet.

2. Watching a TV series together right after I got back from work. This was a surprise for me 'coz I thought he would be gaming with his buddies as usual, but no, he spent time with me this time and I TRULY appreciate that.

3. After work, I sent an SMS to Mom to ask about their health. Mom had just done a blood test and she went to the doctor again. Everything was OK except her cholesterol level, so she has to really be careful with her diet. And oh, she's feeling MUCH better already! ;-D

4. Mom told me that Dad looked better and now it seems Dad realizes that he has to be more careful with his diet, as well - considering that he has diabetes and he has to keep his glucose level normal. I hope he keeps on remembering this and I hope he won't be upset whenever my Mom or bro or SIL reminds him not to eat too much food that contains sugar.

5. Found out that we've got some Tiger Lilies at the side of our house and one of them has just bloomed. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!



6. Watching my mustasilmä susanna or Black-eyed Susan vine or Thunbergia alata growing bit by bit...it's intriguing the way the branches grow...here, you can see it yourself!



7. Seeing familiar faces at work today (regular customers) who have smiles on their faces.

8. Seeing MANY more täpläsievikki flowers blooming. At least 40 of them. :-D Here's a pic of two of the buds...


9. Remembering to leave a love note for hubby before I went to work today. :-D

10. Had a nice, long chat with a close friend before I went to work. :-D

3BT: Random Days

1. My täpläsievikki (Nemophila maculata) has finally produced flowers! YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!




2. Ice-cream on hot summer days/nights...

3. Hubby getting me the movies I'd told him I wanted. :-D THANK YOU, Bunny!!!

4. Got a tablecloth as a present from my MIL's elder sister. It matches the colour of our carpet in the kitchen!



5. Though my parents are sick, they found out about it before it got worse. And my brother and wife are there to help them ASAP if they need any help.

6. Finding a warm toilet carpet on a bargain, so I bought one for our downstairs toilet 'coz in winter the floor is SO SO SO cold.

7. Our lawn mower has arrived and R2 says that it's his job to cut the grass HA HA HA HA...And after cutting off the grass, lots of mosquitoes have run away ('coz they've lost their hiding places). YEEEEEESSS!!!!

8. Having a part-time job instead of a full-time job, so even though I sometimes get evening shifts, on other days I can still spend plenty of quality time with R2 (who has an 8-to-4 job).

Translating Documents

After getting married with hubby, I had to translate some documents to English using a sworn translator. Because I also needed someone to help me get the stamp and signature of some departments in Jakarta and I lived in Bandung at that time, I browsed through some advertisements on the newspaper and contacted some of them.

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Prayers Needed

Found out two days ago that my Dad's check-up result wasn't too good. My Mom and bro had been trying to get him to have a check-up to no avail. Finally the other day my SIL managed to persuade him to go to the lab for a check-up. Anyway, my Dad has diabetes and due to the high glucose level, he suffers from protein leak (the kidneys aren't functioning well). Moreover, his lungs are swollen. The doctor told him to really control his glucose level and to have a low protein diet.

This morning when I woke up, I read a message from my brother about my Mom. My bro checked her blood pressure this morning and everything was fine. An hour later, though, she complained about having a headache and they noticed that her lips had turned sideways a little bit. My bro freaked out, so he took her right away to the doctor despite the fact that he was sick (he had a sick leave due to influenza). It was "good", though, that he was on a sick leave so that he could rush her to the doctor right away. When they arrived at the doctor, her lips had turned normal again, but they found out that her blood pressure had spiked.

My bro told my Mom not to be stressed out about Dad. Sigh...it's one thing to hear bad news about one parent, but hearing bad news about BOTH of them really made me feel weak in the knees today.

So for those of you the praying type, please pray for them too...I'm trying not to worry about them, but can't say that it doesn't affect me. It's hard to know what really happens when you're so far away, but I'll keep updating about their conditions later.

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Reflection: The World I Knew

Most of this post was written last Friday:

I've been listening to some old Indonesian songs that I loved tonight. I have this eerie feeling of being transported back in time and space...I could almost smell the things I used to smell there and for a second I wasn't really in Finland at all. A whole different world enveloped me for that split second and it was quite an experience. The smells, the culture, the atmosphere, the custom...everything...and I feel like a different person now than the me back then. Not only 'coz of the time difference, but also 'coz I've been living in a whole different country and I've been absorbing different customs and culture and smells inside my head.

My home country is a strange country for me now. There have been so many changes happening there that I don't know. New buildings are built, new shops are opened, some old shops are closed, some old buildings have been torn down, political situations have changed, some people look older, some kids have grown so much in the past few years, some people have died, some babies have been born, some people have gotten married, some people have separated, etc. There are so many other little things that create the web of life that have escaped me.

The world I knew back then no longer existed. I guess I've known about this all along, but this time it just hit me with a bigger force than before...this wave of realization...what an experience!

Image taken from here

Weekend With Family: Butterfly Pics + Video Clip

R2's eldest bro and family came over on Saturday, so we went to my in-laws' place and had a beautiful hot day there. The temperature was probably around 22'C but due to the lack of wind and clouds, it probably felt more like 26'C under the sun. The eldest son brought his girlfriend with him and we were all amazed to see the youngest son 'coz he'd grown SO much taller than last year and his voice has changed. Next year he'll probably shock us again with his height he he he he...

Then R2's eldest bro and girlfriend stayed in our place last night. R2's second brother came over as well and we played cards until late ha ha ha ha...

Anyhow, I got the privilege to see some BEAUTIFUL butterflies in my MIL's garden when we just arrived there. Here are some butterfly shots (click to see a bigger version):


Special THANKS to Carena's Designs for the use of Carena Spring Meadow Collection to make this scrapbook page.

And I've managed to take some short video clips of the butterflies in action. I've combined them in this video clip. If you wonder why my hands seemed to be so unsteady, it's 'coz when I zoomed in, even the SLIGHTEST movement would shake the video clip, but I think overall it's a decent video compilation ha ha...



OK, I'll blog hop later. At least I still have some free days before I have to go to work again 6 days in a row he he he...Hope you've had a lovely weekend, people!

Fun Moments at Work

Today is such a WINDY, COLD day (even though it's sunny). My poor mustasilmä susanna (Thunbergia alata) obviously didn't like the cold wind. I left it out last night, but they were fine. However, only an hour or so of cold wind and the leaves were dying already. Good thing I checked every now and then, so I rushed them inside and now they seem to have grown back to life. PHEW!!! My poor, poor babiesss...

Anyway, wanna share some fun moments at work he he he...

1. A pair of old guys came in while I was sitting at the cashier.

Guy #1: "Hey, from your facial features it seems that you're an Asian."
Me : "I am an Asian."
Guy #1: "Do you speak Finnish?"
Guy #2: "OF COURSE she speaks Finnish, silly!"

LOL LOL LOL...

2. A pair of old ladies came in...

Lady #1: "Hey, you're working here." (Side note: it's more like that she was surprised to see me working there)
Me : "Yes."
Lady #1: "Where do you come from?"
Me : "Indonesia."
Lady #1: "Oh, such a distant country. Why did you move here?"
Me : "My husband is Finnish."
Lady #1: "OH! Well, you speak Finnish well."
Me : "Thank you." (smiling)

3. A guy came in and then I told him how much he had to pay, and he said, "Well-counted!"

Oh, THANK YOU for the compliment he he he he he he...

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4. A pair of older guys came in...

Guy #1: "Look, there's a Japanese girl working here."
Guy #2: "Yes, it's nice to see a different face here."
Me : "Oh, but I'm not Japanese. I come from Indonesia."
Guy #2: "Sorry?"
Me : "I come from Indonesia."
Guy #2: "Ohhhh...such a long way from here. Well, it's nice to see you here anyway."
Me : "Thank you."

5. I think it's really beneficial that I look Asian 'coz if someone wants to ask me something, then they would definitely speak slow enough for me to understand and they would use gestures to describe what they want to ask HE HE HE HE HE HE...

6. I'm surprised at how many people are surprised to know that I speak Finnish. Maybe they think that foreigners who live here can't speak Finnish well enough 'coz of the lack of full-time Finnish courses in this area. But anyway, it's really good for my self-esteem to hear many people say "You speak Finnish well". And last but not least, I TRULY appreciate some people who have expressed how nice it is to see a foreign face in that place THANK YOU, people!!!

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P.S. Mind you that I don't always understand everything yet and sometimes a customer asks me something I'm not sure about, so I always turn to my coworkers to ask about that, but at least most of the time I survive ha ha....

Flower Pics

Yesterday was a tiring day for me 'coz I had to go back to work after my morning shift to do an evening one (though I got a few hours' break in between) due to the sick leave of one coworker. So I did a 10-hour work in total and I was tired when I got back home (and hungry). Good thing I had no work shift today, but tomorrow and Thursday I'll be busy again, so maybe I can only blog-hop on Thursday night or Friday.

Found out some flowers' names from MIL (Finnish names of course).

First flower is Vuohenjuuri (can't find the Latin name):



This second flower's name is Tuoksuvatukka (translated as The Fragrant Hair):



Third flower is Apinankukka or Monkey-Flower or Mimulus luteus:



The fourth one is peurankello (reindeer clock) or Campanula glomerata:


This below pic is taken today. They've bloomed at the side of our house, right next to the rose bush (which is called Juhannusruusu or Midsummer Rose)



Found these beautiful flowers in MIL's garden...they're the purple variation of the ones in our garden...Aquilegia flabellata is the Latin name.




And you know what? Autumn signs are here already ha ha ha...Take a look at this pic! 'Coz the temperature dropped a few times to below 10'C, a few leaves have turned yellow. I've also found some yellow leaves on the trees in our garden.

Cabin Trip July 2010

On Friday right after work, we went to the cabin. R2 could go back home earlier 'coz he had done some overtime before, so I didn't have to wait at home for him to come back home. I took SO many pictures 'coz many of my MIL's flowers have bloomed and there are also some interesting creatures in the garden he he he he...

Here are some of the pics...can't share all of them all at once, though ha ha...

First pic: Saw this funny-looking bumblebee with those orange parts on its hind legs. Actually MIL spotted it first, so I also took a video of it 'coz it was TOO hard to take a good pic of it - it kept on moving about unpredictably. Busy bumblebee he he...


Here's the video clip of the above bumblebee:



MIL and I also pulled out some weeds from her strawberry field, she also noticed this white spider. It was SO tiny and SHY!!! It kept on hiding under the leaves, so I had to turn them around to take some pics of it. That was my thumb on the first pic btw.


More pics of the white spidey from different angles he he...




Last but not least, we had the privilege to see a family of black grouse (teeri) when we drove back to my in-laws' place from the cabin. Unfortunately couldn't take clear shots of them from inside the car (I didn't dare get out 'coz I was afraid they'd run away to the woods). Here are two clearer pics of them:

In this pic, they were already running away to the woods...but you can see at least two of them.



In this pic they were still on the path leading to the cabin. These are the kiddies he he he...


OK, now I'm gonna blog-hop a little before I go to bed. Take care, people!!!

Life Insurance

As you've probably known already, my Dad used to be a life insurance agent and of course the competition in the life insurance business is fierce. Every company needs to develop their own special life insurance packages as interesting as possible so that customers would want to be interested in buying them. Whether the company offers lowest life insurance rates, a combination of life insurance and scholarship program, a combination of life insurance and investment program, and many more attractive programs with different pros and cons.

Here in Finland when someone loans some money from the bank to buy some property, the bank immediately offers life insurance, house insurance, and even car insurance at special rates. In Indonesia, the combination of life insurance and scholarship program is popular. Why? Because sending your kids to good schools there costs a fortune, so it's very profitable to buy this kind of insurance program so that when it's time for your kids to go to school, you don't have to pay the full amount of money needed to send your kids to school.

Before buying an insurance program, you've gotta make sure how reliable the company is. Secondly, you need to figure out what kind of program suits you best and what you need most from an insurance program. After all, everybody wants to pay less to get the highest amount of profit available. However, if something sounds too good to be true, you should beware that you don't fall into a trap. Take time to do some research before you decide on buying any insurance program so that you won't regret anything in the end.

He and She: Language Mix-Ups

Because in Indo language there're no separate words for "he" and "she", just like in Finnish, after living here for about 3 years, I've started mixing up the use of "he" and "she" in the English language. I guess it's normal in a way 'coz in this case Finnish has the same usage of "he/she" like Indonesian language.

Another problem I've encountered is that it seems there are two separate parts (or compartments?) of my brain - the Finnish part and the English part. For example: whenever I work in a Finnish environment, I always try to use my Finnish brain. Meaning I need to focus on understanding Finnish and then using Finnish as a reply - i.e. using my Finnish brain. So, when sometimes foreign tourists come, I have trouble switching to my English brain. One time when I was trying to tell the tourist how much he/she had to pay, I mixed up the words, so I used both Finnish AND English (I said the first number in English and then the second one in Finnish). ARRRGGGH!!! How annoying is that?

I think it occurs more often now 'coz in my daily life I use my Finnish brain more often than my English brain. Even at home with R2 I try to use both English and Finnish - though sometimes when I panic about losing my English ability, I use more English than Finnish, but then the dilemma is that if I use more English than Finnish, then I feel that I'm not using fully the resources that I have on hand (I mean his being a native Finnish speaker). ARRRRRRRGGGHHH!!!


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Side note: I remember one time when I was doing the training at the hotel, the boss came over and said something in English and 'coz I was using my Finnish brain and I was trying to think of what kind of Finnish words she was saying, it took me at least 5 seconds before I finally realized that she was using English to talk to me!!! And right away she said sorry and she switched to using Finnish again.

So, the next time I had to use English again, I had to literally take a few seconds to switch to my English brain before I said the numbers correctly in English. Then they all came out in English. Phew!!!

And I've started thinking more in Indonesian than in English these days - which is a shame actually 'coz it took time to really use English actively in my daily life. But anyway, what happens happens...another thing I realize is that when I'm stressed out and I need to count quickly and act quickly (like whenever I am a cashier), I find myself counting in Indonesian. Why is this weird? Because before I started learning Finnish, for years I had forced myself to count in English (even when counting in my head), but now I've resorted more to Indonesian than English.

Maybe one reason is 'coz Finnish has more similarities to Indonesian than English (and Facebook has helped me use Indonesian more often than before). After all, Finnish and Indonesian pronunciation are similar. Secondly, the usage of "hän" (in Finnish) or "dia" (in Indonesian language) as opposed to "he" and "she". Thirdly, Indonesian and Finnish use the same kind of statement to say "half past (what time)". So, instead of saying for example "half past six", we'd say "half (to) seven" both in Finnish and Indonesian.

What language is in my head when I'm writing my blog posts? English, of course. Well, just wanna let you know the kind of mix up going in my head these days when it comes to languages. If somebody has ever experienced something like this, please do let me know so that I know I'm not crazy ha ha ha...

Interesting Article

When we went to my in-laws last Saturday, I read an interesting article in a magazine (Finnish Reader's Digest or Valitut Palat). The writer is wondering if women's age is equal to dogs' age he he...Why did she wonder about that?

Firstly, she read about a movie critic who said that Jennifer Aniston was too old to be a Bond girl (Jennifer Aniston mentioned in an interview that she wanted to be a Bond girl). However, in actuality Daniel Craig, the new Bond, is only a year older than Aniston.

The writer then mentioned other examples, such as Sally Field. In the movie "Punchline", she got the role of Tom Hanks' girlfriend. However, six years later, in "Forrest Gump", she became Tom Hanks' mother.

Another example was 36-year-old Anne Bancroft in the movie "The Graduate". There she played as a mature housewife, whereas 30-year-0ld Dustin Hoffman was a fresh college graduate.

What do you think, people?

Garden Photos of the Day

Today was quite a day. In the morning until about midday, it was 30'C, then it started thundering and it rained for a while. Then the sun came out again for a while, then it got cloudy again (along with thunders) and now it's sunny again, though the temperature has dropped to 25'C.

Today I received my paycheck, but for some reason they made a mistake. I had submitted my tax card before I started working, but they must have not gotten it, 'coz they reduced my income by 60% (the law states that if the worker hasn't sent any tax card, they'd use 60% as my income tax). I was SHOCKED when I got the report, so tomorrow I have to tell someone at work about this so that it can be amended.

Now on to the pics...finally my kang kong seeds have germinated (they started germinating yesterday actually):


To Rita, here's the pic of the red flower and the leaves, so I don't think it's kurtturuusu 'coz the leaves are totally different.


Here are the flower buds of the above flower:


I guess this is sunflower, right?


We've just ordered a lawn mower, so our garden looks like a jungle ha ha ha ha...so many white flowers:


Here are the close-up pics of the flowers:


Wanna know how small they are? Here's a bee on top of the flower.


Okay, now I'm going to blog-hop a bit before sauna. Yesterday and today I did some gardening and also exercised using Wii he he he...I need a strong back for this part-time job, people...not to mention having a strong back is important for the rest of my life ha ha...

3BT: Random Days

1. Fresh peaches on a hot summer day. When I lived in Indo, I had never eaten fresh peaches - just canned ones (and I LOVE those canned ones too!) But still no canned peaches can beat fresh ones! Yum yum...

2. Feeling surprised when I saw the rose bush in (almost) full bloom today...look at these lovely pics!





3. Watching droplets of rain water on the flowers' petals:




4. Finding discounted DVDs in a supermarket and now that I have some spare time, I can watch them in peace.

5. It's nice to have a part-time job instead of a full-time job 'coz then I have time to tend to my garden, to watch the above DVDs, and do many other things.

6. Hubby's initiative (can't tell you what he did, though) LOL...

7. Finding a new type of flower blooming in the garden. If anyone can tell me the name of the flower, I'd appreciate it!!! The diameter of the flower is about 3.5 cm.


8. Exercising some parts of my muscles that I didn't know existed with my Wii CD. Felt GREAT after I finished my exercise. Can't wait to do more exercise tomorrow (to help me sleep earlier 'coz gotta do a morning shift on Thursday). :-D :-D :-D

9. Both my parents are OK and enjoying life and my brother and his family are OK too.

10. Thankful that summer here isn't THAT hot - we can survive well without air-con or even a fan. All we need to do is open some windows during the day.

11. Mosquito net for the windows! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

12. Thankful that the first floor of our house is rather cold, so it's comfy to sit inside the house even on such a scorching day outside (it's even cooler than outside on such hot days).

Why, Birdie, Why?

I worked on Fri and Saturday, so didn't have much time to do anything else, especially 'coz yesterday we went straight to my in-laws after I got back from work. In Kelujärvi where my in-laws live, there were so many young birdies flying about - but some of those unexperienced baby birdies flew SO fast and banged themselves against the windows. I saw two of them flew again right after they banged themselves on some window - the "collision" was hard enough that I could actually hear the noise, you know?

One time MIL was worried after we heard the bang on the window, so she and I went out to find out if it had lived or not ('coz we didn't see it fly back up). It was lying on the ground under the window...good thing the grass was tall and thick, so it provided a cushion after the fall, but still it was such a loud bang that the little birdie must have at least been seeing stars.

MIL picked it up to check on it and it was screaming as she did so - probably afraid that we might do something bad to it or something. Here are some pics that I took:



MIL held it for a while and then decided to try to put it on a pole to see if it would fly, but alas...it fell down again, but don't worry, as I said the grass was thick, so it wasn't a painful fall. I was going to lift it up again from the grass, but then it finally FLEW!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!! Mission accomplished! The birdie probably just needed some time to recover from the shock. MIL was worried that if it couldn't fly again, some big bird would eat it. Yeah, the law of nature is brutal.

Anyhow, I was SHOCKED to see that the chye sim seeds that I planted on Thursday have germinated already!!! Here are two pics of them:



WHOOPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Hope they continue growing well. Now I'll blog-hop a little. Tomorrow I've gotta work again (morning shift), so hopefully I can sleep early tonight 'coz if I lack sleep or am too tired, it's gonna be hard to concentrate on telling the customers in Finnish how much they have to pay ha ha ha ha...

Oh yeah, but first two last pics of my other plant that I wasn't sure would actually germinate...Nemophila Maculata or Baby Blue Eyes or Five Spot or Täpläsievikki in Finnish. There are no flowers yet, but they are growing pretty well, I think. I forgot when I planted the seeds - must be about a month ago. Can't wait to see the flowers!!! (hope they'll produce flowers for me!!!)