3BT: Random Days

1. This funny conversation between two female and a male at a supermarket.

F#1: (tapping the other female's shoulder in front of her) "Good evening, girl."
F#2: (turning around) "Oh, good evening, girl."
M: (behind the two of them) "Evening, girls."
F#1: (turning around) "Evening, boy. Well, we are both girls and you are indeed a boy."

Hint: All three of them were retired HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHH...LOVE a good sense of humour!

2. Hubby went away for a pre-Christmas party with his boss and coworkers and I got a sweet SMS from him. 

3. Despite the fact that someone got sick at work and there was nobody else to replace her and it was the day before Finnish Independence Day (when the store got closed), it went very well at work. 

4. Our store is closed for Independence Day, so everybody at work definitely gets a day off. :-D 

5. Listening to this Christmas song:

Language Troubles Again

Every now and then at work we have Russian customers/tourists. I assume they have their own business there because many of them buy so much stuff (good for my workplace, hey! :-D). However, it can also be challenging to communicate with them, especially if they're the older types because they don't speak any English. Sometimes some of them speak a little Finnish, but sometimes not. 

The other week I had these encounters.

I've finished serving a woman who bought tons of stuff. I remember that she bought 15 big packs of chocolate powder (to make chocolate drink). She started packing her stuff because she wanted to get tax refund, so my other coworker was dealing with that while I stayed behind the till. Once she had finished packing, my coworker asked me if I could refund some money to her. It was as if I had counted the chocolate powder packs wrongly. The customer had packed everything up in many bags except for 10 packs of chocolate powder. 

We tried to communicate in English, but to no avail. My coworker was confused and so was I, because I felt that I had counted them right. Mind you, all the bags were tied up, so it would have been too hard to open all of them up just to count the chocolate powder packs. Yet the customer kept on pointing towards the 10 packs of chocolate powder that she had left on next table. My coworker again asked me if I had counted the chocolate powder packs wrongly, but I said I remembered there were 15 of them and the customer must have put 5 of them in one of the bags.

Then it hit me!!!! She wanted to return the 10 packs of chocolate powder packs because she probably thought 5 would have been enough. So I said to her with big gestures, "So you don't want these 10 packs?" 

Then she replied, "Yes, yesss, don't wanttt..." (pointing to the 10 packs on the table).

HALLELUJAH!!!! Finally we were progressing. My coworker wasn't able to start processing the tax refund if this matter wasn't sorted, so I returned some money to her and then it was all settled. Phew!



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Anyway, that same day not long after the above incident, a Russian man came over to my friend who was behind the till. He had a tub of yoghurt in his hand and he asked my friend something in broken English. My friend didn't understand what he wanted, so I decided to follow him.

He pointed to the tub of yoghurt and asked, "Three?"

I thought he wanted to buy three tubs of yoghurt, but there was none left on the shelf, so I told him I'd come with him.

When I reached the spot, I realized that there were still plenty of yoghurt left. Then he asked again, "Three? Banana, vanilla?"

I thought he wanted me to read out loud the different kinds of flavors that was available in English, so I started naming them out loud.

He shook his head and said, "No, no, three...banana, vanilla...Do you have at the back?"

After we did this a few times, I finally realized what he wanted. He wanted three kinds of flavors in each tub of yohgurt, so I told him, "Ahhhh...you want three flavors for each of them. No, no, unfortunately we don't have it. These are the only options available."

He asked again, "You don't have at the back?" (he meant in the warehouse)

I replied, "No, no. Just these." 

Then the woman who was with him said something in Russian that I assumed meant, "It's OK. Just take some. These are fine, too."

It felt GOOD to finally be able to decipher what he wanted he he he he... 

Tidbits At Work: I'm Not Crazy!

The other day I was working as the cashier in our store and then a coworker came by with her children to buy groceries. It was rather quiet at that time and before I started serving her, I pressed the button to call another cashier. My coworker turned around and then turned back at me with such a surprised look on her face and then I realized why she had that look.

I laughed and said, "I'm NOT crazyyyyy!!! It's time for my break, so I pressed the button."

She laughed, replying, "I was wondering why on earth you'd call another cashier because I saw nobody else behind me." 

LOL LOL LOLLLLL!!!! 


Oh yeah, while talking about this theme, today after work I went to another supermarket to buy something that wasn't sold in our place. While there, I browsed around to see if they had other interesting offers or products, so I was walking slowly around the store when a grandpa stopped me by asking, "Can you tell me where the cat food section is?"

I don't remember him at all, so I don't know if he just thought I was working there (which was odd because I wasn't wearing the store's uniform and I definitely looked like a foreigner so I had no idea why he knew I could speak Finnish), but I thought that I wasn't in a hurry anyway, so I asked the worker there where the cat food section was and he asked me to come along with him.

So I did. I showed him where the cat food selection was and he told me to take some for him. I had NOOOO idea what kind of cat food he was looking for, so I asked him what kind of cat food he was looking for - dry or wet? He told me that he usually bought the ones in bags, so I picked one and he said, "Yeah, that's the one. Take some."

Again I got a bit confused because that type had three different flavours and I told him about the selection, but he said, "It doesn't matter which kind."

I picked two and put them in his cart, but he told me to take more, so I asked him how many cats he had. He said it was a stray cat that had been abandoned by somebody, so he took the cat in. How thoughtful of him! :-D

After I took about a dozen in total (they were small bags), he thanked me and we parted way. What an interesting encounter! :-D  
 

3BT: Random Days

1. Me: "I want my Mother's Day caaaaakkkkeeeee!" (a joke based on Creepshow movie where the dead guy demanded to get his Father's Day cake)
R2: "But you're not a mother."
Me: "Awwww shucks...that hurts..."
R2: "That means you can have your cake every day."
Me: "OOOOOOOOOOOHHHH BRILLIANT idea! I LOVE IT!" :-D

P.S. The words "you're not a mother" didn't hurt me at all. :-D WOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

2. I broke my beloved big mug by accident (that I got for free from a flea market owner), was sad for a few days, then went to one of the flea markets here and found a replacement. It was a little bigger and it only cost €2. Here's a pic of it. YEEEEEEEEEEESSSS!!!

3. Being in touch with some new friends via FB. :-D

4. Getting an additional work shift on Sunday due to a coworker being sick. It's nice every now and then because it means getting double per hour. :-D

5. Saying the EXACT same word with hubby at the exact same time while watching a movie.

6. A brilliant ninja fight scene at the cliffs in G.I. Joe movie. 
 

Wet Christmas + Letter Update

I worked on Christmas eve and after that we went to get MIL and then we went to the graveyard. The temperature was still below zero that day (but not too cold), so Winter Wonderland was still intact. We lit some candles in front of FIL's graves and MIL brought some leaves to decorate it. Here are some pictures taken in the new cemetery and the old cemetery. There were lots of people and there were already so many candles everywhere. 

 

Christmas Day was really wet. Until today the temperature has been above 0'C, so it's been really slippery and wet out there. What a weird end of the year! So much of the snow has melted away and it gets SO dark outside. If the weather prediction is right, the temperature will be below zero again only after New Year. We shall see about that. This is my first time experiencing December like this (including some watery rain). Usually at this time of the year there's at least as much snow as in the photos above.

Anyway, I had a funny story from work. I had an evening shift on 23rd and before work started, I had told myself to remember saying "Hyvää Joulua" (Merry Christmas) at the end of each transaction. OK, so everything went well for a few hours until one time I was serving a guy and after that I said, "Kiitos (thank you)" but instead of saying Merry Christmas, I said "Hyvää viikonloppua" (Have a good weekend) instead. Yep, I managed to wish someone a good weekend on a MONDAY!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...Well, at least my mistake managed to make the guy and the customer behind him smile. LOL LOL!!! 

Anyway, I had fun again tricking hubby with the Christmas gift. This time I wrapped one of the gifts three times with some wrapping paper (it wasn't a big gift, so I didn't have to use too much paper) and then I wrapped it with some bubble wrap and then I put it inside a bigger box along with the other gift and then I wrapped it with some wrapping paper again. Watching him struggle to be able to see what was inside the gift was WORTH IT! WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! :-D :-D :-D

In this post I'd also like to say that I've finally written down the letter for my mom. It was bittersweet to write. I ended up writing a 4-page MS Word document (plus one paragraph on the 5th page with font size 12 Times New Roman). I know it's going to be overwhelming for her to read, but I want her to know what we've been through because I hope that she'll take comfort in the knowledge that God has healed our bleeding wounds and dried them up and He has used our pains to comfort others in a similar situation. So PRAISE THE LORD for our infertility!!! 

I haven't heard anything from my mom yet, but I know she needs time to digest everything and calm herself down (bro said that she was crying after reading the letter). Bro helped me explain to her what kind of support I needed from her - bless him! I've sent her a text to let her know that she's appreciated and loved. I hated the fact that I had to send the letter (I thought about it for weeks before finally writing it down), but I feel that it's important for us both that she knows how far we've come. I want her to be released from the burden of thinking and praying for our miracle pregnancy, because that's not what we want anymore. We've buried that dream and I want her to do the same. I want her to be happy for our little family.

On Being Unique

Note: I've saved this post in my draft folder for a while now...it wasn't properly finished yet, but I thought I'd just finish this right now and publish it.

There are advantages to having a unique face (read: the only Asian working in the store) in my line of work. For example, if I have done a little extra something for a customer, he or she will probably remember it better than if the deed is done by someone else. However, last year there was a surprising incident that happened while I was on my summer holiday.

Last year I earned 3 weeks of summer holiday, which was divided into 2 parts. After I got back from my first week of summer holiday, my manager told me that the other day a grandma came back and claimed that she had returned something to me, but I hadn't given her the money.

My manager checked my work schedule and found out that I wasn't working that day and then she found the receipt in the office (because everybody who returned things to get their money back had to sign a receipt) and she showed it to the grandma and asked, "Is this your signature?"

She said yes.

Problem solved...but I couldn't help thinking that because of my face and someone else's fading memory, I can also be accused of doing something or not doing something. Good thing there are receipts!!!

You see, many people living here are already pensioners, so I don't blame the old lady for her fading memories. But it was the first time that I felt the disadvantage of having a unique face: if I do make mistakes, it's easy for people to remember me! Fortunately speaking up till now people have been forgiving. THANK GOD for forgiving people!!! 


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Interracial Facial Recognition

In one episode of The Good Wife series, a crime witness is asked to identify the perpetrator (they are of different races) and the witness managed to pick up the wrong one. In the end of course they find out the right perpetrator, but an investigator for the law firm finds out about interracial facial recognition or cross-race effect.

Pic source: http://www.glitter-graphics.com

Basically speaking, normally people of a one race have trouble identifying faces of people from a different race (unless they've spent much time with the people of that certain different race). It has happened to me and R2 as well.

When we were watching Ip Man, R2 stated, "I really like watching Asian martial arts movies, but my problem is that they all look the same and it's hard for me to remember which is which." Yep, I can understand his problem, especially during fast action scenes when many people are fighting one another and there are many people involved in the fight/war/battle. And in some Asian action movies, the pace of the movie is very fast, so it's kinda hard to distinguish which is which if you're not used to Asian faces.

When I first started helping out at the daycare, I also had the same problem in remembering the kids. Mind you that there were only about max. 15 kids in the class per day (normally between 10-12 kids at once), but some days some kids didn't come or they came earlier than the others and vice versa. Thankfully they had put the pictures of each kid in the hall along with their names below it, so I took a pic of that with my mobile phone and at home I tried memorizing the faces and the names so that I wouldn't mix them up. After all, some kids had certain needs and if I didn't remember which was which, there would be trouble.

My Japanese friend has also told me a similar problem. She's volunteering in schools in this area and she's been to many different schools and she's met so many different teachers, but the problem is that she doesn't remember which is which anymore - except perhaps the ones that she's met the most.

That's also my problem when I started working in my current workplace. Let's just say that approximately on a 6-hour shift as the main cashier, there are at least 200 transactions (during high season the number can even be over 300 transactions). In the beginning everything just whizzed by, but after some months I started remembering the regular customers' faces.


At my workplace, every now and then, a certain customer wants us (the cashiers) to hold a certain product for him/her to pay later during the day or even the next day. Many times over I can't even remember the person who's booked that certain product, but fortunately normally I'd ask them to write their names down and then they do come back and let me know in detail about what they want.

Another type of problem that I encounter sometimes at work: I remember one day a grandpa came by and said, "Remember me? I came here yesterday." Errrrrrrr...that's a really tricky question. Unless something remarkable or weird or crazy happened when he was there and unless he was a regular customer, I would probably forget about him...but then again it made me feel kinda sad that he was hopeful about my remembering his face he he...Ahhhh...life oh lifeeee...Now I'm rambling...

A Child's Innocent Embrace

The other day at work an old lady came to pay for her groceries, but she said to me that she didn't want the milk carton that she took 'coz she had taken the wrong one. Mind you that the milk section was at the back of the store, so I told her to just leave it at the cashier so that I could return it to the original place later on.

After serving a few more customers, there was nobody in line, so I took the milk carton and ran to the back of the store 'coz I didn't want the next customers to wait too long for me to get back. While running on the fourth aisle with the milk carton in my hand, I spotted a little girl in the middle. She was standing there in the middle of the aisle, halfway between me and where the rest of the milk was at the back of the store.

We locked our gaze at one point and we realized who it was we were looking at. She's this little girl who's been really friendly to me ever since we met at the store 1,5 years ago. Her parents are also very friendly and she has a little sister. At that time, her parents and little sister were near the milk section.

Anyway, when the little girl saw me, she smiled so widely and started RUNNING towards me with arms wide open...In my hurry, I couldn't break her heart. She probably thought that I was running towards her!!! (FYI: She did this once when they were at the store and she saw me from afar) So when we were close to each other, I stopped, knelt down, and gave her a hug.

I was a bit worried what her parents might think of me hugging her, but from the side of my eyes, I could see them turning around at us and laughing. Phew!!! She really made my day that day! :-D Before then, all we had ever exchanged were words and smiles and occasionally I gave them some candies he he...

Anyhow, here are some photos I took with my mobile camera (not such good quality), but anyway...


2nd pic: The sun peeping from behind the trees at around 2.30 pm yesterday. Felt marvelous to be able to see it again after such a long time!


3rd pic: The back of a hotel in Sodankylä.


4th pic: Very light pinkish sky.

3BT: Random Days

1. Hubby helping me set something that I failed to do on my own and he never made me feel like an idiot for not being able to do it.

2. A customer said one of the nicest things I'd ever heard in my entire life. He made my day (and made my eyes wet)!!! :-D Bless him!

3. Rainy day at work the other day helped me and my supervisor. It especially helped my supervisor 'coz she has a lot more things to do than I do.

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4. A sunny day after the rainy day. :-D

5. Missing hubby. After spending a whole month holiday and then going back to work, I missed spending more time with him.

6. Sturdy raincoat. Big, protective, and comfy enough for me to wear while riding my bike under the downpour.

7. Another customer (an old lady) said that I had been missed at work during my holiday. Bless her!

8. Finally getting some free days from work - due to some sick coworkers I've had my plate full at work.

9. Wonderful memories - and reminiscing them.

10. Clean air, abundance of clean water, and the lack of noise and traffic.

3BT: Random Days

1. A customer told me, "Don't EVER stop working here! I'll be disappointed if you stop working here." :-D :-D :-D

2. Gave the little girl whom I adore (who also likes me) some candies. :-D

3. Spring is finally here. Though there's still some snow left in the yard, but yesterday I spent half an hour sunbathing on the swing while reading a novel.

4. Going back to my regular exercise regime after not having been doing it regularly for months.

5. Taking this silly picture and making MIL giggle so much. Note: Actually R2 was the one who inspired me. He was eating some candies and he bit off a little bit of one part of the candies and shoved both candies to his teeth to make "fake fangs" so I followed suit and R2 took this pic.


6. Knowing that MIL has many friends who take her out on a walk or invite her in or do other things with her 'coz it doesn't seem that FIL can go back home to live with her anymore.

7. MIL has been going to sauna with us here once a week and we've had fun playing cards together in our kitchen table.

8. Doing spring cleaning (only halfway done), but it feels GREAT to have a clean house.

9. Having some days off due to Easter holiday and being able to relax at home with hubby.

10. A few days ago I got my return tax information (which will be transferred to my bank account in December) and this is the first time I can get MUCH more than I thought I could get ('coz I had started working last year). WOOOOHHOOOOO!!! I can save the money in December!!!

11. Having a caring, understanding immediate superior who laughs and smiles a lot and who works well under stress. I don't think I can handle it being in that position.

12. Finding a pair of cute sandals in a local auction online shop for Ken (which I hope are still too big for him so that he can wear them later). :-D

13. A few days ago I ordered a not-too-expensive outdoor grill (to be used with coal). Can't wait to grill some food outside. I'm dying to grill some fish and eat it with soy sauce with chili!!! :-D Maybe I should invite my MIL, BIL and SIL to have a grill party sometime. :-D

14. Being able to understand jokes when customers throw some at me. A few years back I felt stumped 'coz I had to have jokes translated by hubby to me and it's just not fun to have to listen to translated jokes 'coz then it's not fun to "laugh later on your own", so I'm THANKFUL to be able to understand jokes.

15. Having a hubby who rarely complains (the only time he complains is when he's frustrated about fixing a computer or gaming or when there's a long queue, but other than that he rarely complains) and I don't want to take that for granted.

16. Sense of humour and people who smile. :-D

17. Hubby's making pancake today. WHOOOOPPPPEEEEE!!! :-D

A Great Day at Work

Yesterday I had a great day at work. For some reason it was a rather quiet day - I guess 'coz it was snowy in parts and the wind was pretty strong. The last half an hour was REALLY REALLY quiet.

What was great about yesterday? Here are some reasons:

1. I got to talk to some regular customers. It's nice to "bond" by having chit-chats about this and that.

2. An old woman asked me if I dyed my colour or if it was my natural hair colour. She said, "LOVELLLYYYYY!!!!" HUE HE HE HE HE HE HE...THANK YOU! :-D

Side note: MANY people in Indo dye their hair blonde/red/brunette, whereas I've seen plenty of people here dye their (blonde/brunette) hair BLACK!!! Yeah, go figure!

3. I met the little girl whom I adore (who likes me) with her Dad, but at that time I wasn't at the cashier. He then told me that she wanted to buy something and give me the money herself (she's 2 years old), but 'coz I wasn't at the cashier, he asked me about my work schedule this week. So he said to the daughter, "How about we come on Friday so you can buy some candies from Amelia?" HI HI HI HI HI...

4. Another old woman asked me the usual questions (where I'm from, how long I've stayed here, have I gone back to Indo at all, etc.). When I told her that I hoped to go back to Indo in autumn, she said with a smile, "Go bring a friend here. He or she is VERY welcome!!!"

That's such a NICE thing to say! :-D

5. When I used a stool to change the price tag on the higher shelf, one regular customer said, "Be careful, don't fall down!" :-D THANKS for caring!

6. A lady (whom I had never met before) asked me the usual questions and she said nice things about my Finnish. I can tell that she's an open-minded people about foreigners living in Finland and it's just nice to meet someone like that. :-D

And today??? One time when I was about to put something on a higher shelf, I had a hard time 'coz the stuff on each side of it was making it hard for me to put it in place, then an old grandpa who was passing by (a regular customer) helped me hold it up so that I could do it more easily and then he joked, "I can reach a little higher than you can!" (he's not that tall, he's only about 10-15 cm taller than me - FYI I'm 145 cm) hi hi hi hi...but I TRULY appreciated his help - AND his sense of humour. :-D

On occasions like these, I feel that there's hope for mankind still, you know? :-D

First Snow 10.10.10

Yep, the first snow this year came on such an easy date to remember: 10.10.10. However, it melted right away 'coz the temperature down here has been above 0'C. At least the weather report says it's going to snow again tomorrow and the local newspaper has been asking people to guess when the permanent snow starts and they promise to give a reward for that ha ha ha...I guess it IS in a way fun to think about when permanent snow actually begins this year. We shall see...

I've been busy at work and I've visited my MIL twice this week, so I haven't really had much time to blog nor blog-hop.

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Now let me share some funny things that've happened at work:

1. A man came in one evening and gave me his debit card to pay, but when I was about to take it, he suddenly remembered that the debit card machine was right in front of him, so he could just insert it by himself.

Upon remembering that fact, he joked, "Oh, I just wanted to stay here a little bit longer, you see? That was why I gave you the card instead of inserting it on my own."

I laughed and after the transaction was finished, he said, "Now I have to go, but next time I may stay a little bit longer" HA HA HA HA HA HA...

2. I met one of the daycare Moms the other night and after she paid, I said to her to send my regards to her daughter. She smiled and said, "Yeah, she HAS been talking about you many times."

I was nicely surprised and asked, "Oh, she still remembers me?" (and my name, too?)

She said, "Oh yeah, she does remember."

I was slightly surprised 'coz the daughter had a holiday earlier, so she wasn't there the last day I was working at the daycare, though I remember her giving me a huge hug the last day she was there. :-D

3. One younger male customer (he must be in his early 20s) has been REALLY naughty (he has naughty written all over his face). First of all, once he pretended that he didn't bring any money, so when it was time for him to pay, he asked me, "Can I just bring all these stuff outside?" with a cheeky grin. Doohhhhh...

Another time it was his buddy who was buying things and when it was time for me to give his buddy some change, he reached out to my money box to get it himself. I slapped his hand a little and he just laughed. Dohhhh!!!!!! Bad boy!!!

4. One time a woman thought I was an adopted child HA HA HA HA HA HA...My MIL said that it was probably 'coz there's been lots of adopted children from China hi hi hi hi...

OK, time to blog-hop now. Hope you've had a BLESSED weekend, people!!!

On The Other Side

After having worked for a few months, I've learnt more things about being on the other side of "something" (in this case being on the other side of the customers' POV). There are things I wouldn't have known otherwise.

For example, sometimes for some items, the bar codes are incomplete (due to the wrong printing process) or for some reason the bar code label was ripped off (either partially or completely). Many times when this happens at work, some customers would insist that they remembered the prices of those items and they just expected us (cashiers) to type in the prices just like that. What they don't know is that in order to type in the prices, we need the supervisor's key to authorize it. Using the key, we then have to choose what kind of product it is so that it's shown on the receipt.

Another thing that I've experienced is after several busy hours being a cashier, it's so easy to lose the ability to count. I've shared this with a fellow colleague and she also said that it happens to her, so I assume it happens to the others, as well. Sometimes it gets crazy when the customer asks me to give me their change by exchanging some of them with coins. Or it gets even crazier when some customers give me so many coins to count as payment. When my brain is so tired already and I notice the queue getting longer and longer and I still have many coins to count, it gets rather stressful sometimes 'coz I just have to take my time to count carefully.

One time somebody gave me a BAG full of coins as payment. Thankfully it was filled with only one and two Euro coins. Had it been filled with 50 cent, 20 cent, 10 cent, and 5 cent coins as well, I would have probably freaked out he he...

Another thing that is a slight problem for me is on very very busy days, sometimes it's hard to have enough time to take a break (even though it's our right to do it). Sometimes in the middle of our breaks, we have to go back out there to serve the customers and other times it's just impossible for us to take breaks on time ('coz we have to do it by taking turns with the other workers). That's why whenever I have my break, I tend to try to fill my stomach as much as I can (esp. on very busy days) 'coz I don't know if I can take the next break on time or not. Glad to know that there've been calmer days, too. Phew!!! And it's nice to hear one thoughtful customer saying that we (workers) needed calmer hours (days) as well so that we could take a breath in between busy hours (days). :-D

All in all, I'm more appreciative towards those people who work in this type of job. Before I started working, I had NO idea what they had to deal with he he...Anyway, here's another autumn pic...taken from someone else's house near the river ha ha...

Weekend Work + New Apartment

Had work shifts this weekend and then yesterday went to my in-laws. We helped them move some stuff to their new apartment after we had sauna there. Not sure yet when they're officially moving to the new apartment, but they're not really in a hurry. At least now they can move things up to the new apartment bit by bit.

When we got there, I liked the place already. It looks cozy and it's located in a peaceful area. It's not too big nor too small for the both of them. My MIL wants to buy a new sofa to spruce things up, so the living room is still empty except for the carpets and a small TV table and an old armchair that she had kept for years. She wants to bring their rocking chairs there, but I think the living room would be too small for them, esp. 'coz she wants her computer and her computer table there as well as the new sofa.

Let me show you the pictures of the living room and the bedroom. The apartment is about 55 sqm and it has a small sauna (just like what they want 'coz they love going to the sauna just like most Finns). I think they're going to enjoy living there in winter (esp. 'coz they don't have to clean up the snow from the yard nor take the firewood back and forth from the shed to the house) he he...I sure DO hope they're gonna enjoy living there.




The kitchen area is big enough to put a rectangle dining table for 4 people - you can also put a fifth table on the other side of it. MIL has also brought two pots of flowers there to make the place look more inhabited and soon she's going to test-drive the place, I guess. I mean, she's going to try to sleep there one night to see how it feels like. Of course first she needs to fill up the place with enough utensils and food and other stuff, too he he he...

I can't wait for my poster (the photo collage) to arrive. It should be sent to us tomorrow, so I hope the postal acts quickly in sending me the notification 'coz I want to bring it to her already this Saturday if possible. :-D :-D :-D

Fun Moments at Work #2

Just finished talking to Mom via Skype. Talked to Dad also for a little while, mostly just reminding him to take good care of himself ha ha ha ha...Had fun talking to Mom as usual. She sounds well and not stressed out, so it's good.

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Anyway, as promised, here's a list of some fun/touching moments at work. These days I TRULY appreciate the elderly even more 'coz more often than not (or actually always) they're the ones who take time to talk to me at work. I TRULY appreciate their effort/interest in talking to me.

1. An old lady asked me how I felt about living in a foreign country. I answered, "Because I've lived here for about 3 years now, I feel at home here now."

Upon hearing that, she said, "Well, I just want you to pull through." ---> it's hard to translate it from Finnish, but it's just TOUCHING for me to know that she wants to make sure that I not only "survive" here in this foreign country, but am also able to manage living here and or working here well.

Due to my PMS and the thoughtfulness of this lady, I had wet eyes after she went away...he he he he...

2. An old guy said to me with a smile right after paying, "Arigato. Is that the right way to say it?"

I said, "It's Japanese!"

He, who probably realized that I wasn't Japanese that very moment, asked, "Where do you come from?"

I replied, "Indonesia."

LOL LOL!!! I guess he just assumed I was Japanese based on my looks ha ha ha...

3. One old lady who's ever met me a few times at the store said this while gathering her stuff, "Did you ever work here prior to now?"

I replied, "No."

She said, "Really? You work so fast that I thought you're experienced already."

I smiled and said, "Well, thank you for your compliment." :-D

See? See??? The elderly are REALLY nice people he he he...

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4. While I was scanning some stuff for a couple of elderly, the guy said, "Hey, can I ask what your name is?"

I then pointed to my name tag and said my name, but he said, "Oh, but I can't read it." Obviously the name tag is too small for his eyes to read, so I said my name again.

Then he said, "Nice to meet you! My name is ...." ---> This was the FIRST time a customer had EVER told me his/her name he he he...

I smiled and replied, "Nice to meet you too." We didn't shake hands, though, 'coz I was busy scanning stuff for them.

Then he started babbling about what he did for a living and I listened and replied appropriately he he he he...

Then the also very friendly wife smiled and said, "You're so small. Look at your fingers! Your fingers are even smaller than mine!" (at that point she reached out her hand and hold it next to mine)

I laughed and said, "Yes, that's true."

Then they asked me where I came from and after the wife finished paying and all the goods were packed, the guy kept on standing in front of me and talking about this and that until the wife laughed and grabbed his arm and said, "Come on, let's go. Those are not our stuff. There's already a line of people behind the cashier now. Time for us to go."

The guy seemed a bit surprised and said, "Oh, really? These aren't our stuff?" and he was still talking while his wife dragged him away, laughing at her talkative hubby hi hi hi hi hi hi...

5. Yesterday a couple came by and then the guy said to the wife, "This woman (meaning me) is our neighbour."

I was surprised, so I stated my street name and he told me their house number on that street. Funnily enough, that was the first time a customer had ever said "woman" to me - other times they always refer to me as "girl" and many times I hear them ask me whether I'm studying here he he he...Do I look like a student? HA HA...

6. A UK tourist said to me after he paid, "Thanks so much, darling. Jesus loves you." That was the FIRST time someone has EVER said those words "Jesus loves you" to me after I moved to Finland, and it was quite a touching moment for me and I also had wet eyes after hearing those words. :-D

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Strange But True

1. Again it happened and I still can't believe it. For two nights when we're apart (hubby's having some kind of computer training in Helsinki), both of us can't sleep well at night...it's frustrating when you have to get up early to work in the morning and you have to concentrate and focus 'coz you're working in an environment when everybody speaks Finnish. If I don't get enough rest, my brain would work VERY slowly and I'd get in trouble. Luckily today I didn't have to be the cashier. Phew!!! Today I helped arrange many things on the display shelves.

I sweat after doing that for 5 hours and got REALLY REALLY hungry he he he...

2. On Tuesday before I go to work (I had an evening shift that day), a little girl (probably around 5 years old) dropped by our place and rang the bell. I opened the door, astonished. Without missing a beat, she asked (in Finnish of course), "Are there any kids in the house?" (obviously she asked that 'coz the ex-home owners haven't taken away their daughter's play cabin and swing set from our garden)

I said, "Unfortunately no."

She asked again, "Are there any kids coming to the house sometimes?"

I said no again.

She then asked, "Do you live alone?"

I said no again and told her that hubby was at work, then out of curiosity, I asked, "Where do you live?" just as she was starting to leave the front door.

You know what she said? She said, "Why do you ask?"

Oh dear!!! She had asked me all those questions and I wasn't allowed to ask her just that question? LOL LOL!!! I was just wondering where she came from, 'coz she obviously walked across our garden from another garden, but I wasn't sure 'coz I didn't follow her as I had to prepare myself to go to work in a few minutes.

P.S. The girl's face looks familiar for some reason...dunno where I've seen her. Maybe in the daycare or some other place, but she was definitely not one of the kids in my class when I was helping out in the daycare.

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3. Today at work came an old man and an old woman (not sure if they were husband and wife or not). They then started yelling at each other: the man started it, actually. The old woman had a walking stick and all her hair was white. The man yelled, "Come on, woman, are you going to buy EVERYTHING? The car is waiting outside with the driver. Hurry up and get it done!"

The woman was obviously upset, 'coz she yelled back, "Stop yelling at me! What are you talking about?"

And it kept on going and going and going for at least one minute...I noticed that all the other customers had their heads turned to the couple 'coz those two were just too loud.

Ridiculous! I mean, if he had wanted her to do her shopping fast, why didn't he offer to help her pick the things she needed so that they could get it done, right? After all, as far as I could see, the man didn't have any walking stick and he could walk faster than her. I shook my head in disbelief and just sighed. What a mess!!!

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P.P.S. Got a compliment about my Finnish yesterday by one customer. :-D I'm REALLY THANKFUL for everybody who expresses encouraging words towards me, 'coz that really helps me know whether I'm doing the right thing or not (I mean in terms of learning Finnish).

And today I managed to help an old guy find something, although I couldn't help him find another thing that I didn't even know (I had to ask my colleague to help him find that 'coz I didn't really understand what he wanted - there goes to show I still have a LONG way to go with my Finnish, but at least there are always my coworkers to ask for help HA HA HA HA...).

3BT: Random Days

1. Hubby for having changed many cables in the house and having rearranged many things neatly and added new light switches to make my life easier. LOVE to have a thoughtful hubby.

2. First day at work went TOO fast that it was blurry - I had no time to think nor be too anxious 'coz I spent half of my working hours there to be in the cashier. Made mistakes and made the line of people wait a couple of times when I had to call my senior to get help, but at least most of the customers were patient enough to bear with me, the newbie. A few were curious enough to find out where I came from and they were really nice to me: one of them even said, "Hey, it's nice to see a new cashier! 'Coz we live nearby, we're going to meet often as this is the closest store to our place". :-D

My MIL also dropped by as promise to find out how I was doing and I met another familiar face who always smiles at me whenever we meet. They brightened up my day! :-D

3. The fast-paced working environment meant that time flew and before I knew it, I had finished my shift HA HA HA HA...

4. Seeing lots more yellow wild flowers blooming in our own yard (they hadn't popped out before)...simply GORGEOUS!!!

5. The "exercise trick" on Sunday worked 'coz I could fall asleep earlier at night to make sure I had enough rest before starting my work shift at 7 am on Monday.

6. They've added another work shift this week, so I'm gonna work every day for a few hours (at first I didn't have any shift on Wed). This is good, esp. 'coz R2's leaving to Helsinki today to do some kind of computer training and he'll only be back on Sat afternoon. That means I will have plenty of things to do while he's away - plus the more hours I get, the more money I can get HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...

7. Eating this zesty, minty rice at my friend's place. Rich of flavour!


8. Making my own Wedang Ronde and they taste SO good!!!!


9. Being surrounded by dandelions in the HUGE field in my in-laws' place. On the second half of the video, you can see the strawberry field (covered with net) and the dandelions were still asleep 'coz it was rather cloudy. I took the video from the second floor in my in-laws' place 'coz that was where we spent the night.



10. Almost killed a pot of flowers given by an aunt when I moved them to a bigger pot and added fertilizer. However, noticed that they got dried and and the flowers started to die one by one, so I changed the soil again and this time I didn't add any fertilizer and now they start blooming again bit by bit. So they just didn't like fertilizer!!! ;-D

Adjusting to Training

Hi, fellas! I've been pretty tired these past two days. As a matter of fact, I'm going to take a nap soon after publishing this post. I'm gonna catch up with you people this weekend, OK? After my nice holiday in Rhodes and being at home for a month, I need time to adjust with this 8-hour work schedule.

The first day at work I did a 5-hour cleaning job of the hotel (there was a short break in between and also a lunch break) and after that I was told to read the company's brochure. After I was done reading the brochure, I had nothing else to do. So it was a bit boring at the end of the day.

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I thought I was going to have some physical pain today from the cleaning job, but nothing except the fact that I hit the sack at around 9.45 pm already (I fell asleep in just a few seconds - at least it felt like it HA HA HA...). On second thought, maybe it didn't hurt at all 'coz I mostly dusted instead of changing the sheets and other stuff.

Today was a MUCH MORE interesting workday as I got to edit some travel brochures and also check the typos and check the prices and everything else to make them look good and helpful for the customers. There are some missing info, which I've told the boss, so I'm not done doing this yet.

Not sure why (I'm not on my PMS, just finished my period), but I'm TOTALLY WHACKED. Just want to sleeeppppp for 12 hours hi hi hi hi...Hubby teased me by singing, "Sleepyhead, sleepyheaddd...you are a sleepyhead..."

So this sleepyhead is going to sleep now. Just wanna let you know how it goes. Oh, yeah, I'm sure there'll be more cleaning days later on when the main worker there gets a long summer holiday. At least it'll be good for my program to lose some weight. I've gained 6 kgs since I moved to Finland 2 years and 4 months ago and so far I've lost one kg. Don't wanna gain more weight 'coz that means I have to buy new clothes - I'd rather save money to buy a plane ticket to Indo rather than buy new clothes he he...

OK, nap time!!! Take care, everybody! Until this weekend!