Closed Doors

Just wanna share about my training again. This month is my last month at the daycare. A week ago I asked the boss if I could possibly continue there and she said yes. But I had to contact the employment office 'coz they're the ones who make the final call when it comes to this type of training. Turned out that a new law prohibited me from doing this type of training 'coz I had collected 12 months of training in different places. I was so bummed when I heard about this, 'coz I was already thinking that I could spend 4 more months with the kids instead of just one more month with them.

Then I started to think about going back to school first - the kind of vocational school where I could study for about 3 years that would enable me to become a daycare worker once I graduated. The first batch of application was last month and I was thinking that there might be another one in July if they needed more students to apply. So I contacted them to find out about this. Turned out that they had too many applicants already this year, so they advised me to try to apply for next year instead.

So next month I'll be unemployed again and I won't even be able to try to find another training place 'coz I've used up my "quota". The only thing I can do is either try to run my own business or find a suitable course organized by the employment office. I can of course try to wait for other opportunities to apply to the vocational school, but I'm not too sure about studying other subjects.

So I've had slammed doors twice this month and I'm just trying to believe that God has the best plans for me and that any door is closed, it's for my own benefit (even if I don't understand it). When I first heard about the fact that I couldn't continue the training there, I was so sad that I wanted to cry, but right now my defensive mode is on, so I'll be fine. I just hope that I won't cry on my last day there when I have to say goodbye to the kids, 'coz then they'll be confused. So if you're the praying type, pray so that I will NOT cry that day, please!!!

Other than that, life's been GREAT...spring has come and the weather's been rather cold this week, but I can see some green grass already in some parts of the village...

P.S. Oh, and although most of the time the kids at the daycare are pretty good, they still need to be reminded over and over again to behave, especially when they're in "challenging mode" or when they're in a bad mood or when they're cranky.

Some of them have grown closer to me, but my problem is that they still don't obey my words as well as they do the teacher or the senior workers there. Probably 'coz they know I'm only a temp worker or for some reason I think they tend to think of me more as a playmate instead of an adult he he he...but nevertheless I've learnt SO MUCH by doing the training here and I've learnt so many more interesting Finnish terms/words that I wouldn't have been able to learn on my own ('coz I wouldn't have known that they existed!).

So we'll see what door will be open for me in the future...:-)))

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3BT: Random Days

1. Being back home, doing our usual routine again after a nice holiday.

2. Getting free accommodation for a week after we got news that all the flights to Finland were cancelled and we could also move all the flights to another date without any problem.

3. Hubby for helping me with the dishes and laundry.

4. One kid jumped into my arms (actually climbed into my arms) and kissed my cheek a few times and on a different day, he licked both my cheeks!!! :-D And we had fun when I twirled around a few times with him in my arms. :-D

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5. Another one wanted to jump into my arms, too, so I let her. :-D What a joy to be able to hold a child in your arms! :-D

6. Reading a book for one kid yesterday and we had small chit-chats in between.

7. Being able to go to my in-laws again and spend a nice day with them.

8. Seeing the kids in their different costumes yesterday on Labour Day at the daycare. They were all SO CUTE!!! :-D Some had wings, some dressed like princesses, etc.

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9. Finding cheap socks on a discount in Crete, so I bought 5 pairs 'coz I KNOW I'm going to use them all here in Finland. Each pair cost only 1 Euro and they are cute! :-D

10. Buying three novels during my holiday (two in English, one in Finnish) HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

11. Wii game night with bro-in-law and girlfriend yesterday. We played golf for a few hours and only went to sleep at around 3.30 am HA HA HA HA HA...

12. Wii eve with hubby on Thursday and then having a sauna afterwards - we laughed a lot while gaming together. We hope to continue this habit 'coz we both want to lose some weight.

13. The kids seemed to be happy playing with the sea shells I bought from Crete as a souvenir for them. :-D

14. Found yam in the supermarket and now I'm trying out my Mom's dessert recipe using yam. Hope it turns out well! ;-D

Crete Diary #2

I haven't got too much time 'coz gotta clean up the house a little before our guests arrive. Well, just R2's elder brother and girlfriend for a game night he he...'coz tomorrow's Labour Day. :-D Gonna play Wii or something, I guess. R2 has bought some food and refreshment for us he he he...

Here are two video clips I've uploaded...

1st clip is a view around Hersonissos port:



2nd clip is a view of the ocean, taken from a place on the other side of Hersonissos port:



Hope you enjoy the clips! I'm gonna blog-hop only on Sunday 'coz tomorrow we'll go to my in-laws' place.

Crete Diary #1

When we were at the hotel, we tried mini golf once 'coz it was free. Here are some pics of us playing mini golf. I must say it was my first time trying it, but I managed to get hole-in-one TWICE in different holes HUA HA HA HA HA...I felt GOOOODDD!!!!



However, we couldn't swim as much as we wanted to 'coz the water was still FREEZING. Fortunately there was an indoor swimming pool (albeit a small one) and I swam there twice. We did swim in this pool below twice, though.


Here's a photo of us sitting on the free shuttle bus to downtown Hersonissos:


There are many trees like this around the area, apparently more for decoration purposes or something.


I LOVE this store's facade 'coz it's just SO pretty!


Along the beach in Hersonissos, there are so many restos with a beautiful view like this (note: those flowers are REAL):


We tried visiting different restaurants to try out their food he he he he...

Apparently in summer there are usually many Dutch tourists in Hersonissos area, so many cafes/restos offer Dutch menu, such as the one I ordered below:


It's called Bami Schotel (10 Euros) and there's also Nasi Schotel and Lumpia, etc. I must say that the satay sauce tasted so similar to the satay sauce in Indo, so I was VERY VERY VERY happy with my order. ;-D

I've uploaded some videos to youtube, but they're still being processed, so I'm going to link them later on bit by bit. Gonna exercise now after a long break he he...

Back from Crete!

As some of you might have guessed, our holiday was extended due to the cancelled flights all over Europe (or at least in most countries in Europe). That's why only yesterday afternoon we arrived back in our place. We're broke due to the extended holiday, but at least it was still within our budget, though once we found out that we might not be able to get back home as planned, we had to really be on a tight holiday budget - but still the weather was perfect the week of our supposed holiday (ranging between 17-29'C) - a day or two after that it rained for a few hours until midday (it rained hard), so we could only get out to the city after midday.

Haven't had time to blog-hop or do anything much 'coz we had no internet access while we were there (our mobiles aren't connected to the net) and we didn't want to spend much time at the computer rental (of course). Unfortunately 'coz it's not high season yet, all of the museums were closed still.

Good thing was that even though our flights were postponed (first to last week's Wednesday and then to last Saturday), we could still stay in the same hotel for free (really impressed with the management of the hotel), though we had to move rooms twice. Funnily, the first time we had to move to a different room, we got a MUCH better unobstructed view 'coz there was a balcony straight from our bedroom. :-D :-D :-D Lucky us! :-D

Anyway, I'm not going to write too long yet...just wanna tell you that I'm alive and kicking ha ha ha ha...and I'll share some pics with you here...tell you later about everything else and I'll blog-hop bit by bit sometime this week...hope you're all doing fine!

1st pic: The view from our bedroom window (the first room we stayed in during the first week). We stayed in Village Heights Golf Resorts, Crete. The dark blue part below the sky is the ocean.


2nd photo: The view from our living room window of the second apartment we stayed in (I'll show you a video clip of this view later on). Again the dark blue part is the ocean.


3rd pic: View of the sea in Hersonissos.


4th pic: Another view of the same spot, taken from a lower ground. LOVE this idyllic place!


5th pic: Seagulls "dancing" right above our heads in the hotel area one beautiful day...there were SO many of them (many more than I could capture in one pic)!

Horse Farm

Today we went to a horse farm where the kids could ride a horse and play with the cat. There was also this horse-driven ride cart, so they took turns in riding the horse and the cart. I took plenty of pics and some video clips, but for privacy reasons, I can't publish their photos, so let me just show you a photo of me with the cat in the farm.

For some reason the cat was really into me HA HA HA HA HA...he was really friendly and he started coming towards me a few times, so it was SO hard for me to get a pic of him 'coz he kept on walking towards me. One time he even jumped to my lap!!! :-D He was big and cuddly and warm!





Anyway, I bid you people adieu for a while 'coz we're going to Crete island soon. Will post many pics and tell you stories when I'm back. HUUURRAAAAHHHH!!! Can't waittttt he he he he...

Competitive Nature

It's funny when we hear kids talk about simple stuff. Here's an example of a conversation that I sometimes hear in the daycare (just an example):

X: "I invited 10 people to my birthday party."
Y: "Really? I invited 18 people."
Z: "Oh yeah? I invited TWENTY people!"
U: "I invited A HUNDRED people!"
P: "I had a hundred and FIVE guests!"
X: "I had A THOUSAND!" ---> notice that this is the first kid that started the whole thing.

Then it would keep going on and on and on if one of us hadn't stopped them by saying something like: "Okay, enough competition! Now back to...(whatever it is they were doing before)"

When did we learn to be so competitive? Is it ingrained or did we learn it from adults (from our interaction with them or from their interaction with others)?

I wouldn't really categorized myself as a very competitive person. I think I have just a little competitive side, but not too much. I mostly felt more competitive when I was still at school (usually about grades), but now I'd love to think of competing with myself - trying to be an even better version of me, because we all learn at different paces and we all learn differently 'coz life throws us different challenges/problems.

What do you think, people?

Another Snowman!

Feeling SO sleepy now 'coz I had a bit of a hard time to sleep last night. Why? Four days of holiday (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon) made me sleep late and wake up late, so when it was time to sleep last night, my body wasn't used to the usual schedule anymore. Ugh...

However, that didn't stop me from making a snowman in our yard today HA HA HA...here's my latest creation. Wanted to make a MUCH bigger one, but didn't have enough energy. Besides, 'coz again I couldn't simply roll a small ball around to make a big ball, making this one took a lot of time 'coz I had to build it the hard way - one handful of snow at a time.

The difference is that this snowman has eyebrows HA HA HA HA HA...and also "arms" and hands.



Went by bike to work today, though it took a long time 'coz there was slush and ice and water everywhere. If I had ridden my bike fast, I'd have fallen so easily in many parts. Good thing was that I could see the GROUND/GRASS in some parts already. WOOOHOOO!!! Spring is definitely here! The temperature today is around 5'C, SO warm!

3BT: Random Days

1. Holding hubby from the back when he's sitting on the long kitchen bench. Feels SO GOOD to hold him like that!

2. Making a snowman in April HUA HA HA HA HA HA...I decorated the snowman using the bird seeds scattered on the ground under the bird feeders.




3. Looking at this: Such a WARM day!



4. Getting a CUTE compact new vacuum cleaner. It's VERY VERY light (unlike the old one), so I had no trouble getting it up and down the stairs HO HO HO HO HO...

5. Chatting with one of my best friends for about an hour today.

6. Not worrying about fresh water supply. The other week there was water trouble in my in-laws' place 'coz it seemed in that area the water pipes froze, so they couldn't get water for some time and that made me realize how much we take for granted the abundant fresh water supply.

7. Holding a child's hand while he was getting ready to take a nap - while listening to the teacher reading a story and getting a smile from him when I held his hand.

8. Hubby holding my hand when I was afraid to walk on some slippery ice towards the car in my in-laws' yard.

Happy Easter!

Just wanna say to everybody who's celebrating it:


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Yesterday at the daycare a priest visited us to talk to the kids about Jesus, His death, and His victory over death. The teacher had been teaching the kids some Easter songs and she'd also been reading about Jesus to the kids. It was funny when the priest started talking to the kids, some of them butted in 'coz they wanted to share what they knew he he he...Some of the workers there had decorated the gym hall to symbolize Jesus' journey - from the last supper to the cross to the tomb until He rose again.

After the priest said that she wouldn't give any of her children as a saviour over mankind's sins, one kid asked, "Then why did He do it?" The priest said, "Because God loves us so much."



Funny thing was that one kid said, "But I would give my own kids to save mankind" HE HE HE HE HE HE...

And then there was also a talk about heaven and one kid said that he would bring all his earthly stuff to heaven - as well as his pets (and then the other kids started talking about what they wanted to bring to heaven) HI HI HI HI...The priest of course explained that in heaven there would be no need for material things 'coz it'd be so much more beautiful than earth. It was endearing to see some of them getting really excited talking about Jesus and answering the priest' questions and asking her questions.

Anyhow, we're not doing anything much 'coz R2 has to be on-call again until Monday, but we'll still drop by at my in-laws' tomorrow as usual. We're just taking it easy before our Crete trip next weekend. WOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! :-D