About a month ago or so I was feeling sick and tired. Of what? I guess the correct answer would be "the fallenness of mankind". I wasn't sick and tired of mankind per se, but just that part of mankind, including that part in myself (or maybe especially 'coz I know that part exists in myself).
I guess the trigger was when I read this online forum that talked about two different people from two different cultures and the heated debate went on and on and on. There were at least 100 "commentators", but I only found about 1/10th who were the voice of reason. Some of the commentators made me feel sick and disgusted.
It's so easy when I look at that fallen part in myself that for example if I'm struck by someone, my instinct would be to strike back. If I'm hurt, my instinct would be to fight back or to have my revenge. Maybe for different people, the "fallen" parts are different than mine. But still the fallenness exists.
I don't mean to say that I'm giving up on mankind, but I'm just saying that there are times when I just want to get away from humans 'coz the fallenness of mankind makes me sick.
I talked about this topic today with a friend and she said she thought she was the only one going mad ha ha ha...she also experienced this and she said that she also wanted to get away from people in order to "reduce" the amount of possible "negative thoughts/feelings/reactions" that come from dealing with other human beings.
However, at the other end of the spectrum, after feeling so disgusted and sick like this, I wonder why God still loves us just the way we are, despite ourselves. I mean logically thinking I know that God is love, but my human brain is wondering that after all the wickedness and ugliness that humans can do, isn't it beyond AMAZING that He still loves us? That He's sent Jesus to die for our sins? I still can't comprehend the depth of His love for us...it's WAY beyond what my human brain can understand. Having billions and billions of "children on earth" behaving the way we are many days a year...I'm THANKFUL that God is God.
Hey, guys!
I've been tired this week, so every time I come back home, all I want to do is SLEEP!!! The past few days were the worst as I could take a nap for 3 straight hours ha ha ha ha...and yet I still woke up tired in the morning.
Anyway, I haven't been writing about my trainings lately. Here are some more tidbits:
1. Two Finnish guys who came at different times actually thought I was a Japanese girl ha ha ha ha...One of them asked me what the Japanese word for "thank you" hi hi hi...
2. In the office we have a visitor book. In the book we have to guess the visitors' nationality. The first week I had my training, on the busiest day there were 96 visitors in a day (normally around 50-60 people). However, the number has dwindled considerably, since this week regularly there are only about 30 visitors.
3. A German couple came over today to ask for a person's address. The person used to work in the local tourist office. Apparently that person had made such a WONDERFUL impact on that couple. They came here to Sodankylä years and years back, since the first thing the woman said when she came over was, "Oh, my, you've got a new office now!"
Fortunately my senior was there, so he could help them locate that person who used to work at the office. The German couple thanked him VERY much he he he he...I hope they have a FUN meeting!
Speaking of making a difference through your work, I remember when I visited Singapore in 2000 with my Aussie friend. We went to a shopping mall and found a tourist info office there and the guy who was there was VERY professional. I was TOTALLY impressed (still am!) with the amount of information he gave us. He must've spoken to us for about 45 minutes. First he asked us where we came from and then he asked how long we were going to be there.
Then he gave us plenty of suggestions on what places to visit, WHEN would be the best time to visit them, and he even pointed to us all the cheap shopping places! MARVELOUS!!! I felt SO glad that we dropped by at the office. It was SO satisfactory!!!
Quite an inspiration for me!!! :-)))
Okie dokie...I'll blog-hop tomorrow, OK? I'm just going to relax right now and enjoy comics hi hi hi hi hi...Have a BEAUTIFUL weekend, friends! ;-D
Sorry I haven't been around. I've been VERY VERY tired. I think there's some kind of bug going on since today some of us suffer from a headache. Ugh!!! I think I'm going to ask Arttu to coin me again today to make sure I'll be fit tomorrow. I just don't feel 100% myself today, though this morning I felt perfectly fine, but after lunch break it was just horrible. Even our teacher's got a headache today!!!
Anyway, today we received news from our teacher that the course would be continued still, even though the French girl left the class. You see, yesterday we were worried that the course would stop since we once heard that there should be at least 8 students in order for the course to be opened. Phew!!! Yesterday I was a bit sad since if the course stopped, that meant that I wouldn't have enough money to buy the plane ticket. Well, I'd have enough, but that meant that I wouldn't have any spare money to use in Indonesia and that wouldn't be good, right?
And we still don't know if the course is going to continue until the end, since the Swedish guy in our class is waiting for the mine to open again here. He used to work in a mine until it closed down, but there's news already that the mine is going to open again in April or May. If he stops going to our course and works at the mine again, MAYBE the course will stop, but by then, I'll get enough student money to buy a plane ticket to Indo. Phew!!!
Another thing we have to do soon is to find ourselves a training place. Gee...I thought that they'd assign us to do our training somewhere, but now we have to find it ourselves??? We'll see if my husband can help in that area...hmmmm...I'm really not confident enough to ask around to know if they'll accept me as a trainee, you know? HE HE HE HE HE...
And today our teacher also told us about a national Finnish proficiency exam that would be held NEXT MONTH. If we want to take the test for free, then we should take it during this course. It sounds a bit "silly" to be honest, since we'll have only been learning it for 2.5 months during this course when the exam is held on April 12th, 2008. However, since it's for free, then why not find out how far we'll have gone by then, right? The actual exam fee is around €125 €77.
THAT meant that we'll all have to try and practise MUCH MUCH more. I must say that this is really making me a bit stressful since we're taking the intermediate test as per our teacher's recommendation. If I pass it, it'll make me VERY HAPPY since in 3 years, I can apply for a citizenship without having to take the test again. However, if I fail, at least I know what the exam is all about. I just have to make sure that I don't push myself too much to get good grades and just relax.
This kind of exam reminds me of the free exam that our faculty paid for us on our last semester at the university. It was a grueling affair, taking hours and hours. And we had to do a separate speaking session at TBI (The British Institute) where we were paired up and we had to go into a room where we were asked to do different types on conversations based on pictures or questions. In the room there were one native speaker and one TBI teacher taking notes about our conversation and our conversation was recorded on tape.
I guess that the national Finnish test would be more or less the same (reading comprehension, listening comprehension, grammar, writing, and speaking). The only difference is that we'll only speak to a microphone instead of having to speak with a partner in front of a native speaker.
We'll see how it goes then. That means that I'll probably not be able to blog-hop too much during weekdays, since I'll really focus on learning more Finnish and memorizing more words and reading more Finnish texts until the exam is done. So pardon my absence, okay? I'll try to blog-hop during the weekend, though. Take care, everybody!!!
Everyone, sorry since I haven't been able to blog-hop since yesterday. Yesterday evening after I woke up from my nap, I felt really out of sorts. It was really strange for me as I woke up feeling angry and cranky. Then I started feeling the onset of a headache and then I started feeling nauseous. It felt SO nice to lie down and close my eyes. Then I decided to drink some ginger drink with sugar, which helped me burp over and over again...but I still didn't feel like a human yet. So I asked Arttu to coin me (scrape my back with a coin and some balm) and only after that I could fart and I could feel more human again.
Thus the hiatus from the blogosphere. I'm DEAD tired again now, so I'm going to take a nap first and then I'll do my homework and blog-hop if I have more time. If not, then I'll blog-hop tomorrow, OK?
Don't worry, though, this morning I felt GREAT when I went to the course he he he...
Hi, guys!!!
I haven't been writing since I was SO tired ha ha ha...My brain just refused to work well. I'm not used to my new schedule yet, so by Friday I was half a zombie already, but still a cute zombie, though (if I may say so myself HUA HA HA HA HA...). *wink*
Friday went fine. No homework, but I'm gonna try to make a list of the verb changes form so that I can learn more and more verbs plus the changes. Have I told you how much I LOVE preparation and plans? I know I'm not the most flexible person on earth, but I'm trying to be flexible. However, if there are things I CAN prepare and plan, I'd rather do it. It's just how I'm wired, I guess.
I realized one thing about learning a new language. One of the hardest things is to learn the nuances of a language, the connotations or subtle difference of meanings behind certain words. No matter how well a person's vocabulary and grammar, but if that person doesn't learn the connotations of the words, then he or she might use the wrong ones. Sometimes I try creating a sentence and I ask Arttu if that's the right way of saying what I want to say, but he will correct me. Why? Because that certain word has a slightly different meaning than what I want to convey. It is tough, but also interesting.
Funny thing is that when I went to my in-laws today and I heard the conversation between Arttu and his second brother, it was SO TOUGH to understand since they talked VERY fast and they shortened many words. When Arttu's second brother asked me something in Finnish, I had to ask him to speak slowly he he he he...
Today has been BEAUTIFUL. When we arrived at my in-laws, it was SO foggy and white. White everywhere. When I went out to go to their sauna, I couldn't believe my ears. The birds were singing and this time there were SO MANY of them that their song was SO loud. Can you imagine standing still in the middle of a vast snowy, foggy yard and being entertained by possibly 50 birds singing TOGETHER at the same time? It was as though time was standing still, you know? I almost didn't want the snow to melt away he he he he he he...
Plus it was SO refreshing to go outside from a 60'C sauna to a -10'C weather without wearing my outer pants (only long john) and jacket. Of course I wouldn't have stayed outside too long, but it felt GREAT!!!
Then Arttu's second brother came along and gave me his new wok. You know something INCREDIBLE? The kind of wok that he gave me was EXACTLY the kind of wok I had been WANTING TO BUY, but I didn't since I didn't want to pay for it HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...THANK YOU SO MUCH, Jarppa!!! ;-D I think it'll be VERY useful in the future since the wok is pretty deep and it has a lid on it, so when my family gets bigger, it's easier for me to cook bigger portion of meals HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...
Okie dokie, I won't write too long. Just wanna tell you all that I've been doing fine, though more tired than usual. And as usual I got food from my mother-in-law HE HE HE HE HE HE...;-D
Oh yeah, almost forgot, one of my ex classmates, IN, had finally given birth of a baby boy today. She sent me SMS, saying that her baby boy was born in the AMBULANCE since the labour was so quick. As I've told you before, if women are going to give birth in this village, they have to be driven away to Rovaniemi (around 1.5 hours from here). Gee, I can't imagine giving birth in an ambulance, but the most important thing is that the mother and baby are fine no matter where she's giving birth he he he...
I'm going to visit her later on. I wonder what to give her, though hmmmm...Have to browse around in the stores he he he he he...I also don't know when I can visit her, but I DO want to see her as she's a friendly person. ;-D
This morning Arttu woke me up again since I couldn't drag myself out of bed ha ha ha...Not long after that, he laughed and said to me that I made lots of noises last night. He told me that I had snored and farted a few times at the same time during the night. He tried touching me to make me move so that I'd stop snoring. Gladly I did stop snoring once he managed to make me move my position HI HI HI HI...I still CANNOT believe that I snored AND farted at the same time!!! Unbelievable!!!
Today went well. I got plenty of practise again, but I couldn't take a nap even though I'm SO tired. I guess I should just go to sleep early again. Last night I went to be already at around 10.30 pm. Maybe I snored since I was so tired???? Hmmmhhh...I don't snore a lot, though. Well, at least not that I know of HA HA HA HA HA HA...Nobody had ever told me that I snored back in Indo. I don't know if it has something to do with the fact that the air here is so dry or not. Just weird. I used to sleep in the same room as my brother for years, but he never told me that I snored in my sleep (he's an early bird, unlike sleepyhead me).
Oh well...no homework today, but Finnish words and phrases are swimming in my head. It's been like that ever since the course started. Whenever I try to sleep, my brain keeps on repeating the lessons today or what I heard today.
One funny thing about being in an international class is that it's easy to get lost in translation ha ha ha ha ha...I had lunch in the kitchen with the French guy and the Thai girl. Both of them don't speak English fluently. The French guy speaks Finnish pretty well since he had lived in Helsinki for 3 years. When we were talking, sometimes I had to translate what the Thai girl meant to the French guy. My grey brain cells definitely have been working quite diligently these past few days ha ha ha...
Being in an international class also means that you've gotta be good at guessing and reading body languages. Even if you can't understand every single word that someone utters, you need to be able to read between the lines and just take a (sometimes wild) guess. VERY interesting, challenging, and fun!!! I can't wait to learn more things from the teacher and from my classmates.
One thing for sure, though, if I don't get enough sleep, I'll be in HUGE trouble since I need to REALLY concentrate on listening to either my teacher or my classmates who don't speak much English or who speak more Finnish than English. So I'll still be a sleepyhead no matter what HA HA HA HA HA HA...
Side note: I know what Arttu's going to say if he read my last paragraph. He'll say, "Excuses, excuses..." LOL!!!
