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January was here

So they tell me it was January. When and where? I hardly noticed.

My dance groups had a performance on Saturday 30th in Seinäjoki. Preparing, rehearsing and making outfits took up 90% of my time. The rest I spent sleeping or keeping up the household, in a poor manner.

It was a great show and well worth all the trouble. Yet, if possible, I’d prefer a little bit less of a hassle next time around. I reckon sleeping would be nice. And being with your family every once in a while.

So I survived January. Not that February looks any less hectic, but I’m still glad to move on to a new month. Hopefully by the end of February I have recovered. Keep your fingers crossed.

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By Inka – January 31, 2010

Happy Holidays!

It is Christmas Eve, the day when Santa Claus visits Finnish kids.

We are now all past the excitement, each present has been opened and examined and loved. Tonight kids went to sleep a lot easier than the night before.

I’m enjoying my moment now, peace and quiet and candle light.

***

This is my Christmas card this year. It says, roughly translated: “Come with haste, Christmas of gold; do arrive, the year serene.”

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year.

Christmas card 2009

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By Inka – December 24, 2009

White Christmas

After the most hectic two weeks, I’m finally getting my act together for Christmas. Even though there’s heaps to do before tomorrow, it is still a lot easier than the past couple of weeks.

***

Last week the weather was a lot colder than usually in December, we went down to approximately –25 Celsius. Right now the temperature is around –5 Celsius and we have some snow – enough to make the whole world white.

Looking at the forecasts, I finally can let myself believe that we will have a white Christmas this year. Here in the southern part of Finland it doesn’t go without saying – there has been a number of Christmases we’ve had +3 and no snow.

Even though my to-do list for today is longer than the day itself, I don’t mind. We are going to have a white Christmas.

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By Inka – December 23, 2009

Independence, song and dance

On December 6th, it is the Anniversary of Independence in Finland. This year it was the 92th anniversary.

This year our kids were performing in the event: there was a performance by the folk dance group our kids belong to, and a small choir of the kids from our school was singing and playing a song.

***

I reckon taking kids to perform in the event was a clever way to get new audience to the happening. The Independence Day Celebration interests mainly senior citizens, but people of my age usually have no interested in participating. Now, having the kids performing there, there were a number of parents there.

After all, Anniversary of Independence is not only for those who made it possible for Finland to stay independent, but also to all those who live in independent Finland.

***

Must add that the performances by kids were wonderful. Folk dancing was great, a variety of short numbers with different steps and formations and combinations. So proud of our kids!

The song was great, too. There were some xylophones and drums to accompany singing and piano. I was very pleased that teachers took the time to train kids and parents took the time to bring kids to this event. It was a great experience for them, too.

I must say this was one of the best Independence Day events I’ve attended. I wonder if I’m somewhat biased?

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By Inka – December 7, 2009

Christmas calendar opened

Made a photo calendar for Christmas. Every day there will be a new Christmas-related photo there – some old, some new.

In Finland, the Christmas calendar starts on December 1st and ends on Christmas Eve, December 24th, which is The Day here. I made my calendar slightly longer: it will end on Boxing Day, December 26th.

Here you go: Christmas Calendar 2009.

And no peeking, guys!

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By Inka – December 1, 2009

Thanksgiving and other non-Finnish holidays

World has become so much smaller recently. Of course Internet itself has brought the hemispheres and continents closer to each other, but for me, joining Twitter and Facebook have been eye-openers.

It is Thanksgiving in North America today. Having seen a number of American movies and tv series, I’m familiar with the concept of Thanksgiving: pilgrims, turkey, football and family dinner. Yet, I had no idea when exactly Thanksgiving takes place. All I knew it was sometime before Christmas.

Today Twitter and Facebook revealed me that it is today. Checked Wikipedia to see whether Thanksgiving goes by date or day of the week. Found out that Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November, it has been celebrated since 1863 and it has been a federal holiday since 1942.

***

Apparently – according to my Facebook friends’ status updates – tomorrow will be Eid ul-Adha for muslims. Eid Al-Ahda happens about 70 days after the end of Ramadan.

Quoting Wikipedia here, Eid Al-Adha is a “Festival of Sacrifice” or “Greater Eid”, a holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.

***

Just as well, I’m familiar with Halloween, Saint Patrick’s Day and a few other national holidays celebrated elsewhere in the world.

In Finland, we have All Saints’ Day colliding with Halloween – actually it is the first Saturday of November. We celebrate it moderately, most people simply go to the cemetories and bring candles to the graves of the loved ones.

There’s no ecquivalent to Saint Patrick’s Day in Finnish culture (well, why would there be, since Saint Patrick is an Iris legend?). St. Patrick’s Day is on March 17th and it is a national holiday in Ireland but also widely celebrated in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Argentina and New Zealand.

***

The most Finnish holiday might be Midsummer Day, which is celebrated on a Saturday between June 20th and 26th. There’s no religious background to this holiday, I think, but it is merely a celebration of summer and light and sun.

And of course there is the Finnish National Day on December 6th. This year it will fall on a Sunday, so there are no extra days off. Actually, I don’t mind. Holidays in the middle of the week tend to mess up my schedules.

Happy Thanksgiving and Eid Mubarak to those who celebrate these holidays!

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By Inka – November 26, 2009

One month to go

Had a crazy September. Survived.
Had a hectic October. Survived.
Having a crazy, hectic November. Still likely to survive.

***

There’s one month to go until Christmas. Seems to me each year Christmas is knocking on the door earlier and earlier.

Each year work piles up before the semester is over. This year I’m looking at the schedule of the first two months of the year 2010 with astonishment: who has filled up my calendar? Not me – right?

***

I’m not much of a Christmas person, but each year I hope to complete a few tasks before Christmas.

Sending send out Christmas letters for friends. Putting put out Christmas lights and some decorations. Making ginger bread.

So far I’ve marked the dates of sending out Christmas letters in my calendar and tested that a couple of Christmas lights are still working. Still, most of my energy is reserved to completing all the work-related tasks that need to be done before I can think of Christmas.

***

In Finland, December 24th – the Christmas Eve – is The Day; that’s the first day of Christmas and the day when we get the Christmas presents. For me, it’s full of preparing and rushing and working against the clock.

On December 25th life slows down tremendously. I’m no longer in a hurry. I can pick up a good book, watch a movie or simply spend time with my family. I can sit back and enjoy.

That is one month from now. Before that, I need to get a whole lot of things done, both at work and at home.

I’m no fan of Christmas preparations, but I’m so looking forward to the peace of the Christmas Day.

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By Inka – November 25, 2009

Vaccination after-thoughts

So-called swineflu has swept over Finland. It started a couple of weeks ago from the north – something I would have not expected –, and by now there have been reports from all over the country.

Since the beginning of this fall I have been waiting for the vaccination schedules. Diabetics belong to the portion of people who always get the free vaccination against influenza. This year there were two shots, one for regular influenza, the other for H1N1. So I was certain, that at least one of us was to get the protection.

The more the news were occupied with swine flu, the more I started waiting. Turned out that all kids were to be vaccinated, too, but by now there has been no decision on vaccinating healthy adults. We’ll just wait and see.

***

Our diabetic got both of the influenza vaccinations yesterday. Had to skip the dance classes that night, since the arm became quite sore and temperature was about to rise. Today the diabetic had a day off from school, too – I thought another day of resting wouldn’t hurt, since the blood glucose was on the high side and arm was still a bit tender.

This vaccination brought on a lot more symptoms than regular vaccinations, but I still think it’s worth while. I much rather see my kids having tender arms and skipping a day or two of school than catching H1N1 and becoming severly ill. The downside is that it takes a couple of weeks before the vaccination has fully built up an immunity against the virus. Two weeks is a long time now, since there’s nowhere to be safe from swine flu.

I’m not all that worried about us adults. Should we be offered the chance to take the shot, I most certainly would, but if they never decide to vaccinate the whole population, I’ll just have to deal with whatever comes. Keeping my fingers crossed, though.

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By Inka – November 6, 2009

Timing

I’m in a process of changing from daylight saving into regular time. The clocks were officially turned last night, and I’ve spent my morning adjusting myself and the time-related devices.

If it were just the clocks, it would be ok. Well, back in 80′s it was just the clocks, and I already found it annoying enough. But now the time needs to be changed into so many places that it actually takes up an amazing amount of time.

So first there are all the clocks and watches in our family. My brand new alarm clock adjusts itself each night from the satellite, so it took care of the process on its own. But we still have several watches (I have two I wear daily), other alarm clocks and two clocks on the wall.

Of course we need to check each and every mobile phone, whether they managed the time change on their own or not.

***

A number of devices shows the time, regardless if they need it. There’s a digital clock in the microwave and in the stove – and the latter refuses to work unless the clock is set. Digibox apparently changed the time by itself.

We have timers for the lights in the aquariums. Yep, they all are one hour off now.

And the clocks in the cars must also be timed again. Hopefully I’ll remember that on Monday when I next sit behind the wheel.

***

Computers, thank goodness, manage the time automatically these days. But there are still a number of computer-related time changes I need to do.

First, there are the forums I admin. phpBB needs a manual time change for the whole forum. I also need to adjust my personal settings in each of the forums I attend, including those I’m an admin in, because personal settings overrun the forum settings.

Some of the forums, including Ravelry and Facebook don’t show the exact time but refer to it relatively, as “25 minutes ago” or “one hour ago”, so there – if I’m correct – I don’t need to do any adjusting.

***

But to top it all, I have all my numerous blogs to bring back to the regular time. An automatic change of DST is something I twice a year desperately miss as a feature for WordPress.

Right now I’m more or less living the right hour of the day, judged by any time-keeping device. Next I’ll have to do the part that always proves to be more difficult: adjust my internal system to the new time. It’s easier this way, though, than in the spring, when a loss of an hour takes a long time to compensate.

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By Inka – October 25, 2009

The illusion of being present

Just the other day I was talking with an acquintance about all the modern devices and applications, and how they’ve changed our lives. Comparing my life 10 years back and now, I’ve fewer contacts but I’m in touch with people more.

Ten years ago I had my computer and ISDN. That was the clever device that made it possible to talk in the phone at the same time I was in the internet – in other words, I could use two phone lines instead of just one. That was a life saver, and such a luxury compared to the life I lead before that; for a couple of years I had no landline, just an expensive mobile, and the closest connection to Internet was in the library.

It was around five years ago when we got a connection through optical fibre (it that’s the correct term). That gave us a chance to be connected to Internet 24/7, but with a lot quicker connection than broad band.

At the same time a lot of my friends were giving up on their land lines, which had expensive monthly fees, and changing their phones to mobiles. That meant that calling became much more expensive – no wonder I’ve given up on chatting in the phone.

***

Since I live out of walking range from everywhere and none of my friends live nearby, I’ve become somewhat isolated. I work at nights, teaching classes, and most of my friends work during the day. I only call them if I really need to, and I seldom visit anyone. Had I no Internet connection, I would be bouncing off the walls.

Some concider these modern devices and applications time-consuming and annoying. For me, they have given a chance to be connected to the world and work for numerous clients, though I’m located here in the country side, away from big cities and people.

I’ve had an e-mail address since 1996, I think – and I have several by now. I built up my first website in 1997, and ever since I’ve had a website of my own (and by now I have a number of them). I’ve been a member of a number of Internet forums since 2005 and an active blogger since 2006 (you might not notice it from this blog, but I tend to write to my Finnish blogs in a regular basis). I can be reached through Skype, I have several Twitter accounts and you can read my status updates in Facebook.

Yes, I’m around in the Internet a lot.

***

It’s very rare for me to call anybody. I sometimes send a text message, and when I have something to say, I send an e-mail. Were there no social media, I wouldn’t really be around.

Now I tweet a few times a day, on the average. I post in one of my blogs almost on a daily basis. I’m online in Facebook most of the day, update my status almost daily, and I comment or “like” my friends’ statuses intensively.

Yes, you might not hear my voice on the phone, but I’m here. And through all these modern innovations I can keep up the illusion of being present.

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By Inka – October 20, 2009