Snowy Weekend

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...

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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

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Full Time Course and Moving

No, no, no, I'm not planning on moving anywhere, but yesterday we helped Arttu's second brother moving his stuff from the truck to his girlfriend's apartment. We arrived there at around 7 pm and it was -9'C. He said it was freezing HE HE HE HE HE HE...We stayed there a while after we were done with it. Well, it wasn't really done yet. He still has to go back to Pori twice: one time to get the rest of his stuff and the second time to clean up the apartment before he can finally settle down here.

It was pretty funny when he offered us tea or coffee, since the apartment was pretty new to him, so he had a bit of a hard time trying to find everything HA HA HA HA HA...His girlfriend's apartment is very lovely. It's actually like a small housing complex, so there aren't any second or third floors, so there are just plenty of apartments near one another. Her apartment has two bedrooms and it's clear that it's a girl's apartment from the moment I entered the hall HA HA HA HA HA...Even though single guys here can also decorate the apartment well and neatly, there's just this distinct female aura that I can't explain. I'm sure you know what I mean, though HE HE HE...

I LOVE the paintings she put on the living room wall. The big painting is a painting of autumn leafless trees on a long stretch of a road. The colours are mostly white and brown and black. Splendid!!! I also love her sofa and her antique cabinet and living room lamp. No, don't worry, I'm not envious about it. I just thought that it was a nice place to live he he he he...

Another funny thing I found out was that Arttu's nephew (his eldest brother's youngest son) actually wanted to move here, as well. When Arttu's second brother said, "But you have to go to school!", he replied, "I can move to the school in Sodankylä." HA HA HA HA HA HA...Apparently he really likes living here much better than in Pori! ;-D

OK, now let's talk about my full-time course. At first I thought that the first course would be at around 8 am, right? WRONG!!! I got a letter from the firm that organized the course and they said that it would start at 10 am the first day.

Not long after that, my Brit friend MC called me and said, "We have a HUGE problem!" Turned out that she had called our full-time course teacher and she couldn't speak fluent English, though she understood English. Well, at least MC has warned our teacher that the majority of the students will not be able to speak proper Finnish at all, so she needs to brush up her English. MC also said that we'd talk about the rest of the days of the course, whether we'd start at 9 am or 10 am.

Last night Arttu also mentioned this problem to his brother and we were joking about it. I told them that I'd better bring my thick dictionary to the classroom and whenever the teacher said something I didn't understand, I would have to ask her to stop and then I would have to look up the words in a dictionary. That would be "fun" HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...Ahem!!!

I know that it IS good if we're forced to speak in Finnish and to listen to Finnish all the time, but the problem is...if we don't even master the basics yet, how are we supposed to do it, right? It'd be more ideal to listen to Finnish during the whole class if we know some Finnish already and we're already in the intermediate level. Oh well...it's gonna be VERY interesting. That's for sure. I'd better brush up my Finnish, as well, 'coz I haven't studied it well for a while. Oops...there goes my New Year's Resolution HA HA HA HA...Not to worry, though, once the full-time course starts, I'll be studying Finnish more diligently than ever HA HA HA HA HA...

Okie dokie...now it's time to blog-hop!!! ;-D

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