Before I begin telling you about the key, I just wanted to share something cool that I just saw online. It's a camera extender called 
Xshot! It's a gadget that's lightweight (and of course extendable) so that we don't need to ask a stranger to take pics of us. Pretty cool, eh? Maybe I should ask hubby to give it to me for my next birthday (it costs only $29,95 for a regular compact digicam extender - there are several types of Xshot in the site) ha ha ha...
Anyway, I forgot to tell you the other day when I forgot my apartment key when I went outside. First of all, in the morning I went to the supermarket to buy some groceries, then I stayed home for a while and in the afternoon (at around 3 pm) I went out again, BUT this time I wore a different jacket 'coz I felt too hot when I got out the first time. When I left the apartment the second time, just as I was closing the door, I remembered that I had left my apartment/bike keys inside the pocket of the other jacket. Darn!!!
Good thing I didn't leave my mobile inside ha ha ha...so I did go and buy some stuff that I needed in a store, then at around 3.45 pm I called R2 to ask when he would be coming home (usually he comes home at around 4 pm, but sometimes he does overtime). I told him what had happened and I said I'd wait for him to finish work in a flea market (the flea market was right next to R2's office). Both buildings are actually located near our apartment (thanks to our apartment's location that's smack dab downtown) - around 1-2 minute walk away.
So I browsed around the flea market and then at 4 pm R2 called me to say that he was ready to go home he he...Then he told me that while I was in Indo, he had also forgotten his keys TWICE HA HA HA HA HA HA...I asked him why he hadn't told me about this when we chatted while I was in Indo, but he just smiled. Then I said, "I bet your conscious mind must've put away those experiences at the farthest corner of your brain."
Then I asked him how he could get inside 'coz I was still in Indo. He said that he had gone to the office of the company who owns the building he he he...Fortunately the office was located right on the first floor of the building, so he didn't have to go faraway to get the key.
Ahhhh...where did our brains go? HI HI HI HI HI...Anyway, Christmas is coming soon and the end of the year is near...I wish everybody has had a beautiful weekend! Tomorrow and on Monday there's this Christmas market downtown, so maybe I'm gonna have a look at it and take some pics.
In Indonesia, not everybody owns mailboxes. People who live in housing complexes normally have residential mailboxes, since the developers have included them in their housing plans. My parents had only started to own a mailbox around 7 years ago, since they were renovating something in the house and the main handyman said that he could make a mailbox for them. Even so, the mailman doesn't always put the letters in the mailbox. I guess he loves handing the letters or packages personally, eh?
Speaking of mailboxes, it reminds me of the time when I tried working in a factory. They also didn't have any commercial mailboxes. If there were packages from UPS or FedEx, then they would be piled on top of the reception desk. Then each of the person who was waiting for the package themselves had to check whether the package had arrived or not. There was nobody assigned to give them out to the appropriate person or department.
Here in Finland I notice that people have their own mailboxes or at least mail slots on their apartment doors and in offices there are commercial mailboxes, as well. What is it like in your country? Does everybody have their own mailboxes? How about offices? Do they have commercial mailboxes, too?
No, no, no, I'm not planning on moving anywhere, but yesterday we helped Arttu's second brother moving his stuff from the truck to his girlfriend's apartment. We arrived there at around 7 pm and it was -9'C. He said it was freezing HE HE HE HE HE HE...We stayed there a while after we were done with it. Well, it wasn't really done yet. He still has to go back to Pori twice: one time to get the rest of his stuff and the second time to clean up the apartment before he can finally settle down here.
It was pretty funny when he offered us tea or coffee, since the apartment was pretty new to him, so he had a bit of a hard time trying to find everything HA HA HA HA HA...His girlfriend's apartment is very lovely. It's actually like a small housing complex, so there aren't any second or third floors, so there are just plenty of apartments near one another. Her apartment has two bedrooms and it's clear that it's a girl's apartment from the moment I entered the hall HA HA HA HA HA...Even though single guys here can also decorate the apartment well and neatly, there's just this distinct female aura that I can't explain. I'm sure you know what I mean, though HE HE HE...
I LOVE the paintings she put on the living room wall. The big painting is a painting of autumn leafless trees on a long stretch of a road. The colours are mostly white and brown and black. Splendid!!! I also love her sofa and her antique cabinet and living room lamp. No, don't worry, I'm not envious about it. I just thought that it was a nice place to live he he he he...
Another funny thing I found out was that Arttu's nephew (his eldest brother's youngest son) actually wanted to move here, as well. When Arttu's second brother said, "But you have to go to school!", he replied, "I can move to the school in Sodankylä." HA HA HA HA HA HA...Apparently he really likes living here much better than in Pori! ;-D
OK, now let's talk about my full-time course. At first I thought that the first course would be at around 8 am, right? WRONG!!! I got a letter from the firm that organized the course and they said that it would start at 10 am the first day.
Not long after that, my Brit friend MC called me and said, "We have a HUGE problem!" Turned out that she had called our full-time course teacher and she couldn't speak fluent English, though she understood English. Well, at least MC has warned our teacher that the majority of the students will not be able to speak proper Finnish at all, so she needs to brush up her English. MC also said that we'd talk about the rest of the days of the course, whether we'd start at 9 am or 10 am.
Last night Arttu also mentioned this problem to his brother and we were joking about it. I told them that I'd better bring my thick dictionary to the classroom and whenever the teacher said something I didn't understand, I would have to ask her to stop and then I would have to look up the words in a dictionary. That would be "fun" HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...Ahem!!!
I know that it IS good if we're forced to speak in Finnish and to listen to Finnish all the time, but the problem is...if we don't even master the basics yet, how are we supposed to do it, right? It'd be more ideal to listen to Finnish during the whole class if we know some Finnish already and we're already in the intermediate level. Oh well...it's gonna be VERY interesting. That's for sure. I'd better brush up my Finnish, as well, 'coz I haven't studied it well for a while. Oops...there goes my New Year's Resolution HA HA HA HA...Not to worry, though, once the full-time course starts, I'll be studying Finnish more diligently than ever HA HA HA HA HA...
Okie dokie...now it's time to blog-hop!!! ;-D
Yesterday during lunch break, I asked hubby if he could buy some potatoes for me. He said that he would be coming home late. I was going to write it down on my grocery list, but then he asked me when Lidl was closed on weekdays. I found their brochure and turned out they were closed at 9 pm. So he said, "Okay, I'll buy them for you. After all, that way you don't have to carry 2 kilos more burden in your grocery bag." (Side note: The potatoes come in a 2 kg bags)
YIIIPPIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE!!! I LOVE him SO MUCH!!! Anyway, I waited for him to come home while browsing the internet, blog-hopping, and studying Finnish online. I waited, and waited, and waited. The apartment felt empty without him. Even though sometimes we're busy in front of our own computers in our apartment, but still we can tease each other or tickle each other or kiss each other.
When the clock turned to 7.30 pm, I finally turned on the TV since there was Joey. I thought it would be fun to watch it, but it wasn't the same without him. I missed hubby's giggles. And I missed the occasional funny or crazy or wacky comments while watching movies. I missed laughing not because of the movie itself, but simply because of hearing his laughter. I missed holding his warm hand throughout the show or movie.
You know, sometimes we'd both create a crazy ending of a TV series while watching it. For example, if there's this climactic scene that's cut off by a commercial, we'll say, "Then they'll all die and here comes the last one-liner in the middle of the screen: Life sucks and then you die." And we'd both giggle together he he he he he he...
Well, finally he came home at around 8 pm, hungry!!! He grabbed some toast, cheese, and smoked reindeer meat and ate ravenously!!! After that we watched Heroes and Jericho and I told him that watching TV wasn't the same without him, especially when he did start giggling or blurting out the occasional wacky comments he he he he...
I just wanna say to hubby:
1. Enjoying the cleanliness of our apt. after I cleaned it. I mopped the floor for the first time ever since I moved here HA HA HA HA HA...Lazy me! LOL!!!
2. Being hubby's "shadow" HUA HA HA HA HA...Sometimes I like following him around just like his shadow and he'll shake his head in disbelief when I do that. *tee-hee*
3. I'm going to get a new wok pan. YAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!! Arttu's 2nd brother's moving here at the end of the month and he offered me a brand new wok pan that he had never used. He said that if I didn't want it, he'd throw it away. OF COURSE I replied right away and said to him, "NOOOOOOOOO, DO NOT throw it awaaayyyyy!!!" LUCKY me, I guess!!!
4. Arttu's second brother's kindness and thoughtfulness in offering me the wok pan. THANK YOU, brother-in-law!!!
5. Tucking hubby on the sofa before he took a nap and hearing him say "thank you" with such an ADORABLE face. I LOVE spoiling him every now and then HE HE HE HE...
6. Being alive. Just being alive and well. And being able to enjoy all the delicious food and fruit he he he he he...Still having my own teeth to bite and chew food. Yum yum...
Addition:
7. Seeing hubby wiggle his foot every now and then, begging me to tickle it HUA HA HA HA HA...It's ABSOLUTELY priceless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They say that France is one of the most romantic places on earth. I can say that I'm looking forward to visiting this place someday. Now let me daydream a little, okay? What if I had all the money in the world to buy anything I want? Then one of the things I'd buy is a ski chalet in Chamonix. I found FSI Property and they offer various types of property in Chamonix.
There are plenty of offers on property chamonix, ranging from a studio apartment, a one or two or three bedroom apartment, chalets of different sizes, country houses, etc. complete with gorgeous pictures. Prices start from € 80,000 for apartments and € 400,000 for chalets.
They also cater to individual needs. So if you happen to be rich enough to buy a hotel or if you're interested in something that's not listed there, you can always contact them and their friendly and professional staff promises to help you ASAP.
Let's go back to my daydream, shall we? I'd REALLY love to buy this LOVELY chalet. I love the wooden walls as they make the ambience look so homey. It's only 66 sqm, but the land surrounding it is 660 sqm. My dream vacation house!!! There are two bedrooms in this chalet, so that means I can go there with my friends, too, or with my kids (when I have kids later on)! What a wonderful way to spend a holiday!
Yesterday before we started our class, another classmate of mine talked about an ongoing strike in Finland. The nurses are on strike, though she said that it was actually forbidden to do such a thing in Finland. They had decided to stop working altogether. I was shocked when I heard that, 'coz three of my classmates are heavily pregnant. One of them should be due last week already, another one is due next month, and the third one is due in January. My pregnant friend told me that people were being directed to other cities AND countries (Norway or Sweden) in case they need help right away. If you're interested in reading the details, go here: Helsingin Sanomat. It seems that 12,000 nurses will resign all at once if they don't get what they want. Imagine the chaos if it should happen! I do hope the officials will find a way to settle the matter!!!
I forgot to tell you that the other day I realized that my friend wrote down the wrong apartment number on her envelope. Our apt. number should be 18, but instead she wrote 20. Funny thing was that the postman/woman must've known already that it was for me (I'd been getting some mails from my bank and some other stuff, too), so he/she delivered it right to our door he he he...COOL!!!
In Indonesia, the postal service SUCKS. A friend of mine was sent a few lipsticks from her sister from Aussie, but when the package came, there was the letter without any lipsticks. It's happened already to some of my friends, as well. It's REALLY dangerous to send stuff to Indonesia via regular postal service. The problem is, they hire High School trainees to help them out (as apprentices) and they open and repack registered letters. You can imagine how tempted those High School trainees are when they see imported stuff in those packages. I'm not saying that ALL of them are like that. I don't even know whether they are the ones who do it or the people who work at the post office. I'm just saying that things sometimes get lost when they're sent from abroad to Indonesia. I just distrust their service he he he he...
