A VERY interesting day, everybody!!! I woke up at 7.10 am and had time to do Taebo with Billy Blanks, then I had breakfast and packed my lunch and read some notes to prepare myself with my Finnish course and then I was off.
I was a bit late (I left home at around 9.50 am for my 10 o'clock lesson), so I walked fast. Along one road, there was this one old guy who turned around and started talking to me in FINNISH!!! Talk about practising Finnish HA HA HA HA HA HA...I told him that I didn't understand him since I only spoke a little Finnish. He then asked where I came from and upon reaching the traffic lights, I hit the button and he said that we had to wait until it turned green. That much I understood. He kept on chattering merrily even though I couldn't understand all of what he was saying hi hi hi...I understood the part when he said that the day was cold and when he asked me if there was snow in Indonesia ha ha ha ha...Then gladly we parted ways and I said goodbye to him. It was nice, though, meeting someone that friendly. *grin*
Anyway, I reached my class 5 minutes before it started. It didn't start at precisely 10 am since they were waiting for all the students to come. Upon arriving, I noticed an Asian woman sitting already and she noticed me right away HA HA HA...There were 3 rows of tables and 4 chairs on each row and I sat at the back row. The Asian woman sat on the second row and she kept on turning around HA HA HA HA...
Then my Brit friend MC called me since she couldn't find the place. I knew the place already since Arttu took me there once. After all, it is on the same floor as where his office is. After I gave her proper direction, she found the place and she came into class not long afterward.
Then the introduction started. Our Russian teacher doesn't speak fluent English, but gladly she understands most of what we're saying in English and she has an online dictionary to help her translate the words into English HA HA HA HA HA...THANK GOD for technology, eh? There are 3 computers in the room, so it helps!!!
Before we started the introduction, we were given a folder along with the writing paper and the pencil, pen, and eraser. I also noticed a table filled with two hot thermoses and cups and buns. Turned out we had two coffee breaks and OF COURSE I took the bun since it looked SO delicious and it was really YUMMY HO HO HO HO...Free buns!!! YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! ;-D What can you say? I'm a foodie HA HA HA HA...
After that, we introduced ourselves to our teacher (after she introduced herself to us, of course). There's an older Swedish guy, a French guy, a Thai woman, a Russian woman, a French woman, me, a Turkish guy, my Brit friend MC and her husband. There's going to be another student coming later on, so there'll be 10 of us.
From what I gathered today, the Turkish guy, the French woman, and the Thai woman don't have much knowledge about the Finnish language. Even though my own Finnish is still limited, at least I have the basic grammar in my mind and some vocabulary. But those three people really suffered in the class, I think. I had time to speak to the French woman during one coffee break and she was totally confused. The Asian woman also expressed the same thing.
The teacher tried to translate her words into English or Russian, but still she started at a pretty fast pace. I'm SO THANKFUL that I had had time to learn some basic Finnish grammar and vocabulary before I started this course. Otherwise, I'd also have to either learn REALLY hard on my own or be as absorbent as a sponge (read: be a genius that absorbs everything very quickly). I understood at least half of what the teacher was saying in Finnish to us. But of course after her added explanation in English, it all became MUCH more clearer ha ha ha ha ha...
Today we've got some homework. We're asked to write down what we expect from the course: the lessons, grammar-wise, exercise-wise, and everything. GREAT idea!!! I have an idea already on what I expect, and it's going to be fun since the other students will also give her ideas, so it's going to be helpful. ;-D
I'm pretty optimistic about this course even though the teacher doesn't speak English fluently. After all, there's always a silver lining behind every cloud, right? HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...
After I got back home, I felt SO sleepy, yet I couldn't take a nap due to coffee. I only drank 3/4 of a CUP of coffee, can you believe it? Tsk tsk tsk...I think tomorrow I'm gonna look like Zombirella (a female zombie) HA HA HA HA HA HA...
Anyway, starting tomorrow we'll get a full-time course, so it's gonna start at 9 am until around 3.15 pm. I don't mind getting lots of homework later on, since I really want to make the best out of this course before our baby program starts. After all, without a kid to take care of, I can really focus on this course HE HE HE HE HE HE...
Okie dokie, that's all my report for today. Oh yeah...it was around -12.5'C in the morning when I went to the course, but it got up to -11'C when I got back home. It was a sunny cold day. VERY beautiful.
1. Hearing news about the full-time Finnish course starting February 4th until July 10th and the possibility of getting some money as a full-time student (don't know yet how much I can get, but IF I can save enough to buy a plane ticket to Indonesia, then I may be coming home at the end of this year!!!)
2. VERY tender duck. YUM, YUM!!! Never tasted duck that tender even though the duck was obviously HUGE (the ones I had in Indonesia were so small compared to this one).
3. Hubby didn't complain when he had to go back to the kitchen to turn off the light as I had forgotten to do so. I said to him that I was already warm under the blanket, so I didn't want to go to the kitchen. You're SO WONDERFUL, Hubby!!!! ;-D
4. Planting my eyes right above his so that all we could see was each other's blurry eyes and then giggled together HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
5. Hubby getting me some yoghurt as he was about to get some while we were watching a movie, so I didn't have to get up and get it myself. I felt like a princess HA HA HA HA HA...
6. Watching a full moon above the apartment building across the street. Very beautiful!!!
Today I received an SMS concerning our evening classes. It seems they are now postponed to a later date. It seems that our teacher is on a long-term sick leave. You think that's bad news? Turned out it was good news HE HE HE HE HE...
Why? Because today came a letter for me from the employment office. The letter states that the full-time Finnish course for foreigners is going to start from February 4th until July 10th. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!! It's REALLY going to happen!
So it was good that the evening classes haven't started yet 'coz otherwise we would have paid the money to them and then we'd have to drop that class once the full-time course starts. The full-time course is not only free, but I'll probably get some money afterward from the government since I'm then listed as a full-time student. Another YAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!! ;-D
That means that even though I can't blog for money a lot during the full-time course period (especially if I get lots of homework every day), I don't have to worry about getting some income.
The bad news is that I won't have much time to blog or blog-hop. I'll also have to reschedule my exercise and cooking time. I don't know yet the official weekly course schedule (they'll contact me again later), but if I'm not mistaken, it'd be Mondays to Fridays at 8.15 am till 3.45 pm.
When Arttu came home during lunch break and I told him about this full-time course, he checked the calendar, laughed, and said, "You only have one full week left (next week) before you have to start waking up early." Yeah, yeah, he knows I'm such a HUGE sleepyhead, so it's gonna be rather hard for me to get up early ha ha ha ha...
I told him, "Well, then, you're going to have to help me wake up, even if you must spank me." LOL LOL!!!
Funny thing was that we found out that the course would be held on the same floor of the building where Arttu works HE HE HE HE HE...So we'll probably go to "work" together then, since he starts working at 8 am.
I'm REALLY REALLY happy now about God's timing and my decision to postpone having kids. Imagine if I have a kid already now...I won't be able to go to the full-time course, right? God's timing is SO PERFECT!!! And we didn't even expect this full-time course to start, since we didn't think there would be enough participants that enrolled in this course. So I'm ECSTATIC!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone game to jump around the house with me and dance in joy? Let's DO IT, theeeennnnn...Btw, I THANK everybody who's been praying for me so that this full-time course starts. OUR PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_______________________^
Just got news from employment office that they're starting a real full-time Finnish course next January. So it's gonna be 8 hours a day from Mon to Fri for 5 whole months. YIIIIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAA!!!
I'm SO THRILLED 'coz the chance of that happening here is SO slim. Plus since it's a full-time course, we're gonna get some lunch money from them. After all, it's a part of an integration plan for foreigners. If our Finnish is good enough to survive in the working world, then there's a bigger chance for us to get a real job here.
The bad news is that I'm gonna be SO busy, I think, esp. since I'm not a morning person and esp. if I've got plenty of homework each day he he he...so I don't know how frequent I can write in my blog anymore by then, but rest assured that I'll still be visiting your blogs whenever I have spare time. ;-D
I feel SO VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY HAPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYY!!!!! GOD'S TIMING IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
Let me sing this song for my Incredible God...THANK YOU for Your provision!!! "Your love makes me siiiinnnnnggggggggg...."
