3BT: Random Days

1. Exchanging heartfelt emails with my MIL. :-D

2. Beautiful wintery pinkish sky (two days in a row) with a half moon hanging SO LOW above the horizon (it looked SO huge) when I rode my bike to work. Too bad I didn't have time to take a pic of it, but it was just AMAZING.


3. My trusted bike (which is perfect for my height). Without it I wouldn't have been able to do many things in a practical way.

4. Discounts, discounts, discounts for food products!

5. Belgian chocolate with lovely fillings (would have never tried 'em if one customer hadn't told me how delicious they were). Mmmmmhhh...

6. My homemade roast duck tasted HEAVENLY and we had mint-chocolate ice-cream and strawberries for dessert. Yum yum...

7. A friend has sent me a package filled with Indo goodies, so I can't wait to get it 'coz it's filled wish some stuff I haven't even eaten in a LONG time. WOOOHHHOOO!!! THANK GOD for angels on earth!

8. Hubby for warming up my legs and body at night and for scratching my back whenever I need it. :-D



9. I've ordered the light therapy lamp and I'm waiting for it to arrive. ;-D

10. Hubby greeting me at night with hugs and kisses whenever I have an evening shift. :-D

11. SAUNA is one of the GREATEST inventions EVER, esp. for a place like Finland HUE HE HE HE HE HE...

Blessed Days!!!

Today I went shopping with my MIL and her elder sister. They're really ANGELS!!! They insisted on buying this and that and I had to refuse some of them since I didn't want them to spend too much money. Plus I don't have too much space left in my suitcase. Correction, I don't have any space left in my suitcase, but hubby hasn't packed yet and his suitcase can only be filled up to 20 kgs only. Sure each of us can bring a 7 kg-backpack, but I don't want to lug around a backpack that heavy if I don't have to he he he he he...

I found a pair of cheap WARM indoor shoes in one of the stores we went to (€6), which I was going to pay, but my MIL insisted on buying them for me. BLESS HER!!! Don't you agree that they look SO warm and nice????

I also got plenty of warm hugs today from my MIL and her elder sister HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...



Still no word from the library, though. Oh well...right now my head's so full of the preparation of going to Indo and Singapore.

Yep, yesterday I booked two flight tickets to Singapore already (ValuAir) and I've booked the hotel room, as well, even though I still need to wait for the confirmation about this hotel room. I hope they'll confirm my bookings soon (they say it takes 24 hours to confirm it). I can't wait to meet my Singaporean blogger friends HO HO HO HO HO...

I'll arrive in Singapore on Thursday, October 16th and fly back to Indo on Monday, October 20th.

I'll be in Bandung from October 8th until 24th, then I must fly back to Finland. :-((( Well, it's going to be interesting to see how I feel like when I'm back in Indo. I'll definitely tell you later after I get back to Finland he he he he...

This image describes what I feel like today: SHOWERED BY LOVE!!!!!!!! THANK YOU, GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

3BT: August 14, 2007

1. Both of us saying the EXACT same words at the EXACT same time and we ended up laughing together.

2. Another MIRACLE happening yesterday. A friend of mine living here (a British woman and her family) called me to tell me about a basic Finnish course for foreigners. It starts next month. She's SO SWEET to have thought of my possibly not having received a letter about that particular course and she volunteered to call them to register the three of us (herself, her hubby, and me). HALLELUJAH for God's ANGELS on earth!!! HALLELUJAH for His divine intervention so that there is finally a Finnish course in this little village. (Side note: Do you know how LITTLE is the chance for anyone to organize a Finnish course for foreigners in such a little village like this???? Almost zit!!!).

3. The EXCITEMENT bubbling inside me for I'm enrolled in the course (my friend confirmed to me already about it last night - usually they only provide limited seats, so I'm HAPPY I'm in!!!). YIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!

4. Feeling my facial skin rejuvenated after putting on some face mask. MMMMMMMM...I LOVE face mask!!!

3BT, August 1, 2007

1. Talking to my parents via Skype Out. THANK YOU, Skype!!! It's been a while since I talked to them, so it felt SO GREAT knowing they're doing okay.

2. Listening to my hubby's heartbeat. God's given another day together with him. Must cherish it well. ;-D

3. Fingernails. When you feel the itch somewhere, THANK GOD for fingernails. Doesn't it feel HEAVENLY when you scratch the itch with your nails???? AHHHHHHHHHHH YESSSSS....

4. The sound of a key turning in the door, meaning my hubby's back home again.

5. Knowing that two best friends visited my parents the other day just because. THANK YOU SO MUCH, My Angels!!! I know my parents also LOVED their company based on what my Mom told me about on the phone yesterday. ;-D

Random Stories

1. Went to Lidl today to buy ruispalat for my hubby. He eats ruispalat whenever he has a heavy meal. When I was there, I browsed around as there were always discounted items. I found this discounted bottle of multivitamin. There were two types of them side by side. The left bottle was orange/white, whereas the right one was blue/white. The discounted tag was right above the orange/white bottle, but I was a bit confused as the discounted tag also said the same thing as the non-discounted tag above the blue/white bottle: Moni Multivit. Mineraali. The label on the orange/white bottle was Moni Multivitamiini Mineraali, whereas the label on the blue/white bottle was Moni Vitamiini & Mineraali. However, finally I decided to take the orange/white one as the discounted tag was directly above it. When I paid for the ruispalat and the multivitamin bottle, however, I found out that the multivitamin was at full price.

I pondered upon it a while, but then I came back inside to check on the tag again. I actually don't like claiming for stuff like that 'coz I don't like to be seen as a fussy woman, but I'm on a tight grocery budget and the multivitamin was on a 43% discount and it wasn't exactly cheap without the discount. So I went back to the cashier and she called her supervisor and the supervisor checked it out with me. She was at first also a bit confused, but then she realized that they had put the tag above the wrong bottle, so she gave me the discounted price anyway and gave me back the money. Phew!!!

2. Last weekend my brother-in-law spent a night at our place again. He talked to me about lots of things. It felt SO GOOD to be able to talk in English, even though I knew it was a bit hard for him to have to talk in English. My sister-in-law also took me shopping. Turned out she didn't like shopping that much, so we didn't spend that much time at the stores. However, it was nice to be able to talk to another woman in English. She's a bit taller than me, but still tiny. She said that in northern Finland, since the natives were small people, the stores here sold clothes with smaller sizes, whereas it was harder for her to find smaller sizes in southern Finland. (She lives in Pori, way south from here)

3. Arttu's eldest brother's coming to town with his eldest son this Thursday. Saturday is Arttu's eldest brother's and Dad's birthdays. Yep, they have the same birthdays. I think I'm going to make my famous chocolate pudding with vla (the vla is made of chocolate milk, rhum, 2 egg yolks, and maizena). Arttu LOVES the vla SO MUCH so that he says that he wants the vla WITHOUT the pudding!!! LOL!!!

4. The temperature here can be pretty weird. Yesterday morning when Arttu woke up at 6.45, it was as hot as 28'C. However, an hour later when he was ready to go to work, it dropped down to 20'C. This morning it happened again. It was 26.5'C outside when he woke up, yet when he went to work, it was only around 18'C. Strange but true.

5. Bought some discounted items yesterday at one of the stores here. They are having a big sale (50-70% discount). I found that I had to try on everything before I bought them as the sizes differed SO MUCH depending on the material used and the style. I ended up buying two T-shirts, one tank top, and one 3/4 pants (they all had DIFFERENT sizes). Guess how much I spent for those 4 items? Only €10.75!!!! YEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! ;-D

6. Yesterday and today I got emails from different angels on earth. Words of encouragement. Words of comfort. Words of joy. Just after I got the news from my brother. Now I feel SO warm inside, knowing that God listens to my pleas and tears and He cares about me. Let me just bathe in His love...and truly enjoy the fact that God has sent His Angels to help me.

I'm in a "poetic" mood today, so let me just copy and paste this WONDERFUL poem from this site: Inspiration Peak.

These Are My Wishes For You
Sandra Sturtz Hauss

May you find serenity and tranquility
in a world you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding will always be there,
even when you feel most alone.

May a kind word,
a reassuring touch,
and a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts
as well as receive them.

May the teachings of those you admire
become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

Remember, those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours
are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less than you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter
that is more important than its form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters,
but instead place immeasurable value
on the goodness in your heart.
Find time in each day to see beauty and love
in the world around you.

Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard
you may be more than compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.
May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility.
Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent
on another's judgment of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.

I just HAVE to share this one as this is SO GOOD, so click here: Letting Go

Judge Me If You Think You're Holy

Ever wished someone dead? I did. Twice. It's not something I pride in, but I just want to share it here.

Let me tell you the first time I had that wish. When I was in elementary school, my parents had a joint venture with someone and then the business went worse. They stopped doing the business and then Dad found a job through one of his cousins. This cousin also knew that someone who was my parents' business partner. This cousin gossiped about my Dad to this person and thus this person got mad. This person accused my Dad of such-and-such and then hit his face. At first I didn't understand what had happened. All I knew was that my parents came home crying. It was the first time I had ever seen my Dad cry. After I found out what the problem was, I knew that Dad wasn't crying because of the physical pain, but because of the betrayal, being accused of something he wasn't. I got SO angry at that time so I wished the perpetrator dead. I didn't understand yet that there was a third person who made the perp angry.

The second time I wished someone dead was yesterday. I felt like a total bitch. If you'd read my earlier post entitled "Dad", you'd known that my Dad's changed lately. Yesterday I asked my brother via SMS whether my Dad was still yapping and snapping at my Mom. My brother said that that day he got angry and he snapped at my Mom and made Mom cry (again, for the umpteenth time!). Since I'd always been closer to Mom (sometimes I feel bad for Dad as it seems he can't connect with his kids better than Mom does), there was one second that I felt a HUGE surge of anger. Being a woman, it's so much easier for me to understand Mom's pains. Well, I also know for sure that my brother is on Mom's side, as well. I know it's UNFAIR for Dad, but in a way he makes it hard for us to be on his side (even though he may not be able to help it).

Well, I cried as well because I could just feel Mom's pains. She'd been SO supportive to Dad. I know she has her faults, too, but still she doesn't deserve to be treated that way. NOBODY deserves to be treated that way. Another problem was that Dad couldn't say sorry without raising his voice. He's an emotional man and he sees things black-and-white and I guess his ego also prevents him from saying sorry calmly. I don't get it when I hear this sentence, "Love means never having to say sorry." For me, the ability to say sorry sincerely and calmly is crucial.

Anyway, that second I snapped and I thought that it'd be better if God took away my Dad. Then a second later I felt SO guilty that I prayed to God to take away my anger and to forgive me for having such a morbid thought. The truth is, I know that my Mom'll be able to live happily still without my Dad, but I'm not too sure that my Dad can live happily without my Mom.

I think I've also felt weird these past week ever since I heard the news about my Dad's symptom of stroke. I feel somewhat "guilty" because my life here is going on well and I'm enjoying my time with my husband, whereas my family in Bandung's going through such turmoil and I can't help much except just to pray for them. I feel somewhat bad to my brother as I can't help much, whereas he and his girlfriend had helped me before and on our wedding back in Indo. I feel also "guilty" if I don't enjoy my happiness here as it's God's blessing to me. I also feel guilty because I can't be there for my Mom. How do you feel happy and guilty at the same time? How do you balance the two? Should I feel guilty only when I think of them and then enjoy my life here when I'm not thinking of them? It's a weird mixture of emotions. I just hope that things would be better between my parents. My Dad wasn't always like this. There were times when they could laugh at something together until they both almost peed in their pants. I LOVED those moments so much!

Sigh...I guess this is one of my random posts. I was just thinking today that everybody needs angels. Angels can be in the form of strangers or anybody. A touch/word of grace, a touch/word of love, a touch/word of understanding, someone who listens, someone who cares, someone who makes a difference in your life, someone who enlightens you, someone who shows interest in you, someone who thanks you, someone who pats you on the back, someone who believes in you. Angels...I'm SO GLAD God has put His angels everywhere on earth.