Seeing a lot of dentists

Last week wasn't great at all. I haven't seen so many dentists for ages as I did last week. It started as a small ache in the back tooth and turned out as a gigantic pain which didn't let me sleep at all. I'm so glad it's over, even though it ment a root canal work.

I have all these good plans, but I feel like I'm facing all sorts of obstacles. I begin to wonder. Maybe it's a sign. Maybe I'm trying to do too much.



I quess we could all learn from my dog Jekku. He knows how to live a relaxed life. At the moment he sleeps on his back, paws facing to the roof. Last month I took a photo of him while he was birdwatching near Vartiokylänlahti (Vartiokylä bay in Helsinki)

Janis and me

"Sittin’ down by my window,
Honey, lookin’ out at the rain."

This Janis Joplin song has always been my favourite. Somehow it's so sad, but there's this undercurrent of independency there like in most of her songs. Ball and Chain is my music for the melancholy moments, and the moments I'm remembering the past moments of melancholy. It reminds me of my first year here in Helsinki in a student flat, a small room 12 m2 and a window facing north. A rainy autumn - first autumn alone.


I don't really listen so much music nowadays. When I lived alone, I used to play a lot of lp's and cd's. Now it's just occasionally in the car. No wonder that my music taste has deteriorated. Not to mention that I would know what's hip or cool in the music scene. I don't. I'm turning into my mom and listening to old tangos.

*Lyhyt oli kesän ihana aika, muistot jälkeen jää*
This was from Finnish tango "Punaiset Lehdet" - Red Leaves

The dog is sleeping under the table, perhaps I should do the same and go to bed.

Sudden deaths

It always stops you, when you hear that someone you know has suddenly died.

Last week I heard that Mr Pentti Vainio from SAK (the biggest labour market organisation in Finland) had died in the helicopter crash near Tallinn. Today another sad message, a chief economist of Nordea, Juha Ahtola had died in cancer.

I remember Mr Vainio as a colourful person, who was very direct in his words. A true trade union guy.
I knew Mr Ahtola better, I shall miss him and his clear explanations and views of the near future of Finnish economy. Media lost a good commentator.

Helicopters and fears

A Finnish helicopter crashed today down in the sea in its way from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland. There were 12 passangers in the helicopter and now they all lie in the bottom of the sea.
A helicopter belonged to a company called Copterline. It was carrying 12 passangers and a crew of two. Six passanger were Finns, two Americans and four Estonians.

I've been always afraid of flying. I would never fly with a copter and I don't like aeroplanes either. I tend to keep my eyes shut during the landing or the take-off. This accident just proves the point. They can fall. They really can.

Car music meme

I got this meme from Elena. It reminds me of getting a new cd player to my car. My car (or ours) is a Volvo, which I really like.

Name three songs that remind you of a car trip you have taken.
* Judas Priest: Turbo lover
* Bonnie Tyler: The total eclipse of the heart
* Mari Laurila: Aja hiljaa isi (Mari Laurila's children song called Drive slowly daddy)

Name three songs that are best heard in a car.
*Nirvana: Lithium
* Michelle Shocked: Memories of East Texas
*Ozzy Osbourne: Dreamer

Name three songs with cars in the title or lyrics.
Tracy Chapman: Fast Car
Smiths: There's a Light that never goes out (including a double decker bus and a ten ton truck)
Deep Purple: Highway star

Art exhibition in Sysmä

We were in the countryside last weekend. The parents of my husband have a summer house in Hollola near Lahti. It was so relaxing to row on Vesijärvi lake and go to the sauna, which is heated with wood. On the Saturday evening we played a card game called Skibbo with my parents-in-law. I didn't win at all.
Sunday we went to this art exhibition in Sysmä called Suvi-Pinx.
There were a lot of paintings from a Finnish painter called Markku Laakso. We thought his style was like Akseli Gallen-Kallela meets porn magazine Jallu. A lot of naked women, men from Lappland, Elvis - all this in national romantic style with a a hint of socialistic painting. Interesting, but definately not our style.

My favourites in the exhibition were Esa Riippa and Matti Lampi. Matti Lampi comes from Liminka.

Difficult task from 1600's

I had free from work today. It's been interesting yet a bit stressful week. Working as a news reporter in tv is not always so easy.
The most interesting this week was a visit to Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The World Championships in athletics will take place in Helsinki between 6th and 14th August. I'm not so interested in sports but it was nice to see how well prepared everything is.

I have tried to read some old documents (mid 1600's in Isokyrö court). One of them talks about Matts Brühinsson (Matti Prusinpoika) in village of Napue, Isokyrö, Finland. He is dead and his children are discussing about the heritage. Language is difficult, it's old Swedish and written in old fashioned handwriting.
!

My dog tries to get some attention, I'm going to take him out and after that I'm heading to the library. I don't a have a clue, what I should lend this time. If anyone has good suggestions what to read, you can make a comment to me

Learning languages

I have good plans for the next autumn. First, I'm going to continue my Swedish languge course. My company pays for this course and it's very effective. Each week we gather with our teacher Christer to discuss together for 90 minutes. I think it has already made a difference. It's easier for me to begin talking Swedish whenever necessary. I sometimes even make interviews in Swedish.

The other thing I'm going to do this autumn, is take the same French course as my husband. I thought it would be nice to be in the same course. Perhaps we can later make another trip to France. Bretagne would interest me, I would like to see the stones in Carnac - which are as mysterious as those in Stonehenge, England.
Speaking French is still very difficult for me. It's the pronounciation - mine is just terrible!

And finally, but not least important. I've promised to my friend Irene that we are going to be fitter and take some weekly aerobic classes in some nice gym in Helsinki. I have to admit that it has been a while since I last attended aerobic classes. I've been of course walking with our dog and doing some nordic walking. My father bought me nice red poles from Finnish company Exel. In Exel homepages they tell that energy consumption increases when using poles by an average of 20% compared with ordinary walking without poles.

Blueberries in Sipoo

I went with my husband and my dog Jekku to pick some blueberries today. My husband told that he had seen them while jogging with the dog in Sipoo. And it was good day for picking some berries, the sun was shining and the forest in Sipoo was warm but not too hot.
Afterwards we watched a video film. Stepford wifes - it was quite funny with Nicole Kidman, Glenn Close and Christopher Walkman, Betty Midler etc.
It makes me think, do men really want such perfect wifes? I hope not.
My husband is currently reading The Handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood and the film made him think of the book. You know, a woman is only known with a man's name. In Stepford wifes - all the wifes were just Mrs Walter Kresbys or something similar. The sad thing is that it's so true. And besides, why do we women change our last names when we get married? Well, at least I did.


This is the last day of my holiday, so tomorrow it shall be just all work and no play... you know what they say, it makes me a dull girl.

My memory meme

I happened to surf in Ally's
pages and she had this nice memory meme. So I thought I might do one myself as well.

What I was doing ten years ago - 1995:- July 1995 I was in Germany attending a seminar about UN in the university of Tübingen. We were there together with my friend Marita.
Later that year in September I started my exchange year in Tübingen university. This was an important year for me, I learned a lot of myself and learned to speak better German. I met some nice people during this year. Hello to Sandrine, Tuula and Helgi if you see this.

5 years ago - 2000.
I got engaged, moved back to Helsinki, got my degree, started a new job and rented a new appartment with my fiance(now my husband). It was a year of many ahivements.
.

1 year ago - 23rd July 2004.
I was in Helsinki packing for the 10 day trip in Poland. We went to Warsaw and Krakow. In Warsaw we stayed with our friend who is a history teacher

Yesterday - Friday 22th July 2005.
I was admiring my clematis (kärhö in Finnish) in my garden and I read a novel by Tuula Rotko about a woman who has the same first name as I and lived in 1715. Those tragic years when Finland was under occupation of Russia and they burned everything, killed many of the grown ups and took kids as their slaves.