Inflammation

I have several reasons why I haven't been blogging, but the latest reason is that I've been having trouble with my wrist/hand/arm. First there was ganglion cyst, but it disappeared on its own after some rest and after I started wearing a thumb/wrist stabiliser at work. The stabiliser helped me at work, but apparently my wrist hasn't completely healed yet as the inflammation flared up again. So now I'm again banned from doing anything strenuous. Not sure how long it's going to take. I guess it's going to take as long as it takes. Definitely bad timing for me to have a long sick leave at work since it's near Christmas, but it's not that I want to experience something like this. 

The doc prescribed me a stronger dose of pain killer last Friday, but after taking two pills I had a allergic reaction to it, so I stopped taking it immediately. The pain has subsided a lot now, but I still don't dare do anything strenuous as the doc told me that I could only start gentle stretches in a week. 

This problem has made me realized just how often we rely on using our fingers/wrist/hand movements each day. And it also makes me feel awed at those people who've managed to live their lives with less limbs (or even without limbs). 

OK, time for me to rest up my hand again. I made this with an app on my mobile, so the quality of the photo was reduced a lot, but anyway, just want to show you a lovely pink sky that I saw sometime last week. This is a photo of semi-frozen river downtown.

 

Suspect: Pollen Problem

Before I continue writing about my parents, I just wanna share this revelation!!!!!! I've lived in Sodankylä for a little over 6 years, but only this year I've started developing ear problems (ear pressure). In the beginning I was worried that it could be caused by something serious after I had been browsing online (especially because it occurred after my BPPV symptoms), but nowadays I suspect that the cause is pollen problem. 

You see, the first time I felt that the ear pressure was related to sinusitis was because during my BPPV attack, I had trouble breathing (my nose felt blocked). I got back up, browsed online, felt that the area around my eyes were tender if I pressed them and found out that it could be sinusitis. Then I remembered that R2 had bought himself a nose spray to help him with his runny nose a few weeks before. So I used the nose spray and in an instant I felt relief! 

Afterwards I started feeling ear pressure for weeks...it was torture! At some point my ears became so sensitive that they couldn't handle any loud noises and I even felt some distortion in my hearing ability (which was more pronounced when I was listening to songs in my youtube song list using a headset). During our holiday to Kuusamo, though, the ear pressure was gone right away, but when we got back home, it started again. On and off. Last week it happened again and it got bad enough that I decided to use R2's nose spray again to test it out. Within half an hour the ear pressure was gone!!! 


Then I started browsing online again for a more natural type of relief, because I don't want to keep putting chemicals into my body by using the nose spray (and lots of sites warn me that it can be addictive) and I found a saline nose spray and Neti pot. I went to the pharmacy and tried out the saline nose spray first, 'coz I wasn't sure about how effective it would be. 

Today I went to the supermarket to buy some grocery and then I went to clean our veranda which was COVERED by a thin layer of yellowish pollen. It was seriously like a blanket covering everything and right after that, my ear pressure started again. It was like someone was playing "drums" inside my ears and it wasn't the best kind of feeling EVER. I hurriedly used the saline nose spray three times within half an hour and voila! Now the ear pressure is 95% gone!!!!

I think I'm gonna go and get the Neti pot soon because in the long run it's cheaper to use than the saline nose spray. Phew!!! I'm sure glad that it isn't anything more serious, you know?  
 

A "New" Language Problem

When I first started doing this part-time job, many people who came wondered about how well my Finnish could be, so they would speak to me slowly and clearly and they would even use body language as well. However, now that I've been there for at least half a year and most of them now assume that I can understand many things (though they don't know how much I know), they have started talking to me about different topics in a faster speed if the store's not too busy. That in itself is actually nice - having conversations with people in Finnish is nice.

The problem is that sometimes I only understand the gist of what they're saying without understanding EVERY SINGLE WORD, so I'd attempt to mimic their body language and facial features as best as I can, as fast as I can in response to what they're telling me.

Other times I have no problem understanding every word or almost every word, but there are times when I wonder if what I'm guessing is right or not 'coz Finnish words have many different meanings so it depends on the context and 'coz I still don't know all the meanings of the words, there may be some misunderstanding.

Anyhow, the thing is that many times when I only understand the gist, I don't have time to ask the person if what I think he/she means is right or not 'coz usually there are other people whom I need to serve next or I need to do something else quickly. All in all fortunately there has NOT been any BIG problem when it comes to this new problem. It's just something that I've just realized recently and I just want to write this in this blog. I guess I just need to keep on building my vocabulary then. :-D

P.S. Found a birthday gift for MIL which I gave to her already today (unfortunately the size was a little too small but she can exchange the size tomorrow - YAY!!!!) and I've ordered one for R2 (their birthdays are only 3 days apart). Tasks done!!! Went to visit MIL today and she said that it seems that her back is getting better, though she's not sure how OK it is 'coz she's been taking painkillers he he...I sure HOPE it's getting better even though it may take some time to heal. :-D

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!!!


glitter-graphics.com

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...

Yahoo Spammy Update

After sending an apology email to everybody in my yahoo address book today, I received a reply from one of them, who stated that she had the same problem a few weeks ago. She changed her password the day she found out about the problem and then about a week after that, Yahoo asked her to change her password again and there hasn't been any more problems so far.

I've changed my password and deleted everybody in my address book (after making a copy in my HD). I don't want to have to delete my yahoo account if I don't have to 'coz I've got plenty of important things stored there, but do let me know if any of you receive any more spam emails later on, OK?

However, I'm not going to link my yahoo mailbox to my blogs for some time, until I know that everything's OK. Anyway, I'll blog-hop sometime this week. Today R2 and I cleaned up the snow in the yard and R2 cleaned some snow from our roof. I took some pics and short video clips of him up on the roof, but I'll share with you later he he...

glitter-graphics.com

Quite a Scare!

For those of you who tried visiting my blog yesterday but couldn't, there was some problem with one advertising link embedded in my HTML page. Yesterday I couldn't even view my layout at all. JulianaRW helped me in solving the problem by telling me to delete that particular code embedded in my HTML page. Glad to know that now my blog is working fine again (I HOPE!).

Anyway, I've been browsing for the best type of transportation to go to Helsinki in order to renew my passport. So far I'm thinking of going there early January 'coz there are some interesting events in Helsinki then. I don't know yet if R2 can come with me or not. If he can't come, then I need to figure out my schedule and type of transportation so that he can still go to work normally. I mean, if I decide to go by train or plane, he has to take me to Rovaniemi and he needs to pick me up from Rovaniemi again (it takes about 1,5 hours by car to go there).

We'll see how it goes. I plan on staying there for one or two nights (depending on whether or not I go there alone and how many events I want to see). Now I need to make some money 'coz I'm going to spend quite a sum by going there he he...

P.S. In Bandung I bought a few packets of Chinese herbs for "fertility" purposes. I just thought, "Oh well, why not try a few?" I drank it two days ago and yesterday and it tasted SO awful. Ugh...R2 has to drink his part next week (once a week)...can't imagine his face when he drinks it later he he he...

Reversed Role

Yesterday I pushed someone away. It certainly didn't make me feel good, but it also made me feel relieved. Remember the story when my closest friends felt overwhelmed by my long emails that I wrote so often when I first moved to Finland? I leaned on them for support too much, and in the end they got burnt out. One of them told me point blank that she couldn't spare more time for me due to her life schedule. Only then I fully realized that I had been having too high expectation of them.

Well, that was what I felt about that friend whom I pushed away (let's call her Uni). She isn't one of my closest friends, but she's also a close friend. Since I have less time for myself and to do anything else after my full-time course started, I have less tolerance for anything that ruins my mood.

I know that Uni has had problems lately, but when I come back from the course, I'm tired already and it just ruins my mood to read her complaints again and again and again. It's fine to hear a complaint once, but if you're tired and you just want to relax and you read it again and again and again in different ways...after a while you get burnt out. In the end I didn't even want to read her messages anymore, let alone replied them. However, I didn't resort to not reading and not replying. I resorted to explaining to her about my situation.

I knew it would hurt like hell, just like what happened to me when one of my closest friends told me point blank about the facts of life. I HOPE she'll understand me, though right now she must be SO disappointed at me. She replied briefly to my explanation, saying, "I know you're busy right now and that you have your own life. I'm sorry to have shared my complaints with you. I'm not going to bother you anymore."

Sigh...it's not that I don't want to hear her life story, but if I keep on hearing bad news, bad news, bad news, then in the end I don't know anymore what I have to say to support her. I know the situation she's facing now sucks BIG TIME, but then again when you've done EVERYTHING you can and still you can't change it, all you can do is either find another way out or just wait until the door is open. She keeps on wanting to change everything and make it faster...she keeps on asking me to analyze, too. It's draining me out whenever I read about her messages and all I see is problem, problem, problem...

Oh well...I asked Arttu if he thought I was cruel by doing this to her and he said no. Well, one thing for sure is that now I understand MUCH better what my close friend felt when she pushed me away. And I'm glad to say that now I no longer bombard them with emails he he he he...