1. The national Finnish test is OVERRRRRRRR HA HA HA HA HA HA...I FEEL that I could only answer pretty well 50% of the whole test, but never mind that...it's over now and I feel relief. Why? Because I don't have to try to jam in too much info in such a short time anymore. I can enjoy the process of learning Finnish without being too much in a hurry he he he he...
2. Talking to my friends on the bus. SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!! ;-D
3. Still being alive and being able to witness some of Arttu's hair turning grey. ;-D And I still think he's SO sexy HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
4. Splurging a little bit of money by buying shrimps prior to the test. I decided to indulge myself a little HO HO HO HO HO...
5. Feeling grateful that I can go back to Indo in October (read: that we have enough money to buy the tickets). I would never have imagined that we could have been able to buy two plane tickets to Indo so soon. ;-D
6. Mom telling me via email that she's going to take time off while Arttu and I are in Indo so that she can be with us. Mom's THE BEST! ;-D
7. More stolen kisses at the course during break HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
8. The teacher decides that we deserve one free day after doing the tough test last Saturday, so we're going to have a LONG holiday on Vappu (1st of May). May Day falls on a Thursday, so we'll have Friday off as well (and of course the whole weekend off). YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!!
9. A VERY good post office worker. I sent my passport and a form and photo to register myself. The whole thing was sent to Indonesian Embassy today through registered letter (and I had to enclose enough postage for them to send it back to me), but the post office worker helped me go through it as I was so confused about so many things HA HA HA HA HA...Plus he speaks ENGLISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! ;-D
LOVE that guy!!! I'm SO grateful that he understood what I needed even more than me!!! Don't you love that kind of service? ;-D
The author of this blog will be absent until the beginning of next week as she is busy preparing for her Finnish test this Saturday. She thanks everybody who has been very supportive. She TRULY appreciates her blogger friends.
She'd love to tell a little secret, too, though! She says that she's been reading Japanese comics online every now and then to help release the tension due to the upcoming test HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...*wink*
She's going to her in-laws on Sunday instead of Saturday, so she won't have much time to blog until Monday. She hopes that everybody will be in good shape until she comes back to the blogosphere. She misses everybody SO much!!!
She'd love to share this story with all of you as she doesn't want her blog to be boring...
Somewhere In Time Part 1
The stories of people's lives intrigue me, impress me, induce me to feel a mixture of emotion churning inside me. Recently I have heard glimpses of other people's lives and that made me feel that I had been living quite a protected life. It also made me wonder about the crossroads in our lives. Had we chosen a different route, everything would have been SO different. Had our parents chosen a different route, would we have been born on earth?
This woman whom I had recently met decided to open up to me about her life. She said, "When I first met my current husband, I didn't love him. My first husband left me for another woman when our second daughter was only about a year and a half. I worked too hard and that drove us apart. Then years later I met an expat who was interested in me. We became a couple, yet one day I found out that he had a wife. I broke up with him right away.
From then on, my trust in men gradually became lower and lower. Building a relationship based on love becomes such a stupid thing to do for me. It even crossed my mind to sell myself for money. After all, I needed the money to support my two daughters. I never really did it, though it did cross my mind a few times.
But then my current husband found me and he asked me on a date. He doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, whereas I sometimes go to the bars to drink a little and have fun. He didn't mind that, though. We went on several dates and finally we got married after I got to know him for a few years.
Things were rough in the beginning, though. His family didn't accept me right away. I cried a lot and asked my husband why they didn't accept me. It took them a while to open up their hearts to accept me. I think one reason was that my husband had never had any girlfriend before he met me. He just lived to work and he even worked on weekends. I told him that when we got married, I didn't want him to work too hard as I wanted to have some quality time with him, as well."
I nodded and nodded while listening to her story. Her family life history was a tragic one, as well. She lost her mother when she was young, then her Dad found another woman who was only interested in his money. After some time, the other woman left him to be with a richer man. Then in the end her Dad died due to some illness. One brother died to some illness and she lost a sister due to a car accident. Another sister died from drowning as she was swimming after she got heavily drunk.
Her story made me feel amazed. I feel that life has forged some people into warriors and warrior princesses. Whether or not you choose to be negative and bitter and pessimistic, it's all up to you. It's supposed to be easier to be thankful when everything is fine and smooth, but the fact is that we are prone to grumble and grumble and grumble. It's so easy to lose perspective on the most important things in life and scrutinize all the little things in life with a magnifying glass.
Humans are fascinating. Have we really learnt so much more important things compared to those cavemen? Are we so much more sophisticated than them when we're still struggling to understand what happiness means? When our technology creates more problems as well as giving more solutions?
Questions, questions, questions...I shall continue next time with another story. Until then, adieu, my friends, and take care!
1. The Upcoming National Finnish Test
I haven't had time to write about the YKI test (the national Finnish test). The other week I found a practice test online, including the listening test recordings. The test is still FAR beyond my ability right now, but funny thing is that the realization just throws away any kind of pressure I have on myself.
I don't know about you...but for me, when I feel that I think I may be able to do something very well, but I'm not 100% sure yet, then the pressure I feel can be SO high, but then when I know it's WAY beyond myself and yet there's no harm done in trying to do it, then I feel FREE of burdens and I can just give it my best shot and enjoy the process even more. ;-D
2. Trip to Rovaniemi.
Tomorrow hubby and I are going to take my sis-in-law and nephews to Rovaniemi for their flight to Pori. If nothing comes up, we're going to look around a bit in Rovaniemi since I hadn't really gone anywhere there except to Santa Town he he he...I'm SO glad to have a thoughtful sis-in-law who wants to show me around he he he...
The only problem is that the eldest son, who's a teenager already, doesn't want to do that ha ha ha ha...The youngest one is still eager to do things with the adults, but the teenage one...well, you know how teenagers are HA HA HA HA HA...;-D
3. Meeting A Jerk:
Today I came home and decided to bake cheese/sandwich bread, so I went back to Lidl after I found out how much ham and cheese I should buy. At Lidl, I was doing my own business as usual without noticing anybody else much...when I was near the frozen veggies section, suddenly a guy who stood around 1 metre away on my left talked to me.
I thought he was confused about something and he needed help, but when I turned around and looked at him, he suddenly came closer and put out his hand and said, "Terve" (hi) softly. Since I disliked being rude at people, I put out my hand and replied, "Terve."
Then he started becoming more confident and he started talking to me in Finnish, though I didn't understand every little word he said since he talked softly and quickly, but I managed to get "Nippon". I assumed he thought I was a Japanese, so I said to him that I was an Indonesian girl.
He looked confused when I said that. It seemed he was looking for some words, so I just kept on browsing on the frozen veggies section. I thought he would back away, but instead he came closer again and he said something which I didn't really get, but I managed to hear "vaimo" (wife). Since I got more scared about him, I immediately said, "My husband is Finnish." He looked surprised and he was laughing and nodding and he backed away.
I THOUGHT he would go away for good, but you know what he did next? OUTRAGEOUS!!! He came back after walking a few steps away and he asked me for some MONEY!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! He looked PERFECTLY healthy and young and he was asking me for MONEY?!?!?!?!?! Unbelievable!!!
After having lived in Finland for more or less a year now (I just realized that tomorrow's my 1 year anniversary), I had never come across anyone like that except in bars when some guys got drunk, but then again in the bars I am never alone, so I feel safer. Oh well...quite an experience!!!
4. One Year Anniversary in Finland Tomorrow:
Speaking of my 1 year anniversary in Finland, it's a coincidence that tomorrow we're going to Rovaniemi to do some window shopping he he he...I've always wanted to go back there anyway. And we're going to look for my mom-in-law's birthday gift there, too. Her birthday is coming soon (3 days earlier than Arttu).
I should recharge my digicam so that I can bring it to Rovaniemi tomorrow he he he...
5. Baby Clothes.
I've been bidding for some baby clothes from a Finnish website. I want to bring many baby clothes to Indo for my brother's baby since it'll be MUCH cheaper to bring them there myself. Plus I don't know when I'll be able to go back there to bring the clothes, so I'm going to buy them in different sizes. I'm not going to buy the smallest sizes in case the baby's born big HA HA HA HA HA...
I can't afford buying new baby clothes for them, but I'm sure they won't mind getting second hand clothes. After all, babies grow so fast and it's better to have plenty of clothes to change, right? HE HE HE HE HE...Arttu has been shaking his head since I'm a bit obsessed about finding cute second-hand clothes online HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...
Okie dokie, better send this and then bake the bread and then blog-hop a bit he he he...Have a REFRESHING weekend, everybody!!!!
