Moi!!
Time seems to be flying by quickly now. As of today, I have exactly 29 days until I hit Canadian soil. I find it hard to believe that in less than two weeks Geoff will be here and shortly after that I will be heading off to Barcelona. I am one lucky girl!!
My practicum has been hold this week because of a nurses' strike that did not actually happen. Well, it did but it was short-lived and things are apparently going back to normal now. I spent this week reading all of the treaties, conventions, and regulations that impact asylum seekers and refugees. There are many of them!! It's scary to think that there are so many documents that can determine the fate of any given individual that finds themselves seeking asylum in a country that is not their own. It saddened me to read the rationale for why some documents have been drafted and implemented. Many of them view asylum seekers as undesirable, people who want to take advantage of the system, criminals, terrorists, etc. Sad to think that even children are viewed this way. What happened to compassion?
On a happier note, I am off to see Santa tomorrow. Yes, he lives in Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland. I thought I would share some interesting facts about Rovaniemi:
1. Rovaniemi is located on the Artic Circle.
2. Approximately 62, 800 people live in the area.
3. Alvar Aalto, a famous Finnish architect, drew up a reconstruction plan for the city. As a result, the city of Rovaniemi contains a hidden deer puzzle. This apparently explains why the city streets are difficult to navigate. To see a picture, click here.
4. The Christmas Season officially opens today, November 24.
5. Rovaniemi is Europe's largest town by land area.
6. Rovaniemi, the name, has existed since September 7, 1453, although it is speculated that the name existed long before.
That is all I have to share right now. I hope everyone is doing well.
Much love!!
Bug
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Comics....who would have though?
Terve!!
This is just a quick update because truthfully not much has happened since Monday. I am feeling much better and thankfully my voice has returned...I imagine not everyone is grateful for this but I sure am!! The weather is still miserable and the wind seems to be colder each day but this is Finland, after all!!
I came across something interesting (at least to me) today. It is a book called "Grassroots comics: A development communication tool". This book is the result of a partnership between Finland and India aimed at helping non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and grassroots organizations give voices to issues impacting communities, mostly within India. After much success throughout India, the partnership spread to Africa and some parts of the Middle East and Europe. The organizations involved are World Comics Finland and World Comic India. I am currently reading the book and I thought I would post a link to their website. I found the concept of using comics interesting...something so simple yet so powerful.
WORLD COMICS
Much love!
Bug
This is just a quick update because truthfully not much has happened since Monday. I am feeling much better and thankfully my voice has returned...I imagine not everyone is grateful for this but I sure am!! The weather is still miserable and the wind seems to be colder each day but this is Finland, after all!!
I came across something interesting (at least to me) today. It is a book called "Grassroots comics: A development communication tool". This book is the result of a partnership between Finland and India aimed at helping non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and grassroots organizations give voices to issues impacting communities, mostly within India. After much success throughout India, the partnership spread to Africa and some parts of the Middle East and Europe. The organizations involved are World Comics Finland and World Comic India. I am currently reading the book and I thought I would post a link to their website. I found the concept of using comics interesting...something so simple yet so powerful.
WORLD COMICS
Much love!
Bug
Monday, November 12, 2007
Lahti...cold, wet but it has good movie popcorn!!
Two postings in one day!! Living on the wild side today!! I went to Lahti yesterday with Ruchel and another Canadian girl from Quebec City named Idit. It was a very wet and cold day...it snowed, then rained, then hailed, and then snowed again. I honestly think that the weather here is more confused than the weather in Calgary!!
Lahti is a small town south of Tampere in between here and Helsinki. It doesn't really have anything special about it...at least not that we could see. It seemed like a regular town. Apparently there is a musical water fountain that also has a light show. It plays until the end of November at 7PM but we didn't make it. We were too cold and wet!! However, we did find the fountain and some very cool rocks. I have included pictures of the rocks...the faces were interesting yet slightly creepy. Not sure if we were allowed to walk through them but we did because no one was around to stop us. After this, we went looking for the poster and art museum. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong day to visit. Yesterday was Father's Day in Finland and this resulted in most things being closed. We found the museum and then sat in the lobby to eat our brown-bag lunches and we warmed up enough to go back outside. Upon exiting the lobby we came across the theatre and I suggested watching a movie because it would be warm. Two minutes outside convinced us that it was a good idea and off we went. After figuring out how the showtimes work, we bought our tickets and selected our seats. Yup, you have assigned seating at the movie theatre...you get to choose on a screen...it's pretty cool!! We ended up watching "Sicko" by Micheal Moore. It was interesting but it slightly exaggerated some aspects of the Canadian healthcare system. There were about 7 Finns in the theatre and us three...we laughed throughout the film, especially when Micheal Moore visited Canada. I think we must have annoyed the Finns. After the movie we attempted to walk around Lahti some more but we ended up walking around the same block twice. At this point we decided that the right decision would be to find the railway station and head back to Tampere. Nothing like a cold, wet day in Lahti!!
Here are some pictures of my Lahti adventure.
Puppy parking. This was a sign outside of the Valintintalo supermarket. Thought it was super cute!!
Look Jacqueline!! I found a phone booth with a phone inside!! I knew there would be at least one in this country!!
Rock face #1.
Rock face #2.
Rock face #3...this one is my favorite!!
Rock face #4.
This is one of the best sculptures I have seen in Finland!!
Lahti is a small town south of Tampere in between here and Helsinki. It doesn't really have anything special about it...at least not that we could see. It seemed like a regular town. Apparently there is a musical water fountain that also has a light show. It plays until the end of November at 7PM but we didn't make it. We were too cold and wet!! However, we did find the fountain and some very cool rocks. I have included pictures of the rocks...the faces were interesting yet slightly creepy. Not sure if we were allowed to walk through them but we did because no one was around to stop us. After this, we went looking for the poster and art museum. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong day to visit. Yesterday was Father's Day in Finland and this resulted in most things being closed. We found the museum and then sat in the lobby to eat our brown-bag lunches and we warmed up enough to go back outside. Upon exiting the lobby we came across the theatre and I suggested watching a movie because it would be warm. Two minutes outside convinced us that it was a good idea and off we went. After figuring out how the showtimes work, we bought our tickets and selected our seats. Yup, you have assigned seating at the movie theatre...you get to choose on a screen...it's pretty cool!! We ended up watching "Sicko" by Micheal Moore. It was interesting but it slightly exaggerated some aspects of the Canadian healthcare system. There were about 7 Finns in the theatre and us three...we laughed throughout the film, especially when Micheal Moore visited Canada. I think we must have annoyed the Finns. After the movie we attempted to walk around Lahti some more but we ended up walking around the same block twice. At this point we decided that the right decision would be to find the railway station and head back to Tampere. Nothing like a cold, wet day in Lahti!!
Here are some pictures of my Lahti adventure.
Puppy parking. This was a sign outside of the Valintintalo supermarket. Thought it was super cute!!
Look Jacqueline!! I found a phone booth with a phone inside!! I knew there would be at least one in this country!!
Rock face #1.
Rock face #2.
Rock face #3...this one is my favorite!!
Rock face #4.
This is one of the best sculptures I have seen in Finland!!
A walk around town...
Moi!!
It's been a long time since I have updated my blog...my apologies. There's something about the lack of sunlight and being sick that combine into a form of laziness that is impossible to describe!! The lack of sunlight isn't much better but my lovely cold is...now I feel better but sound like I've been smoking for 100 years!! There is also some occassional attractive coughing that goes well with the sound of my voice!!
Two weekends ago I went for a walk in Pispala with Ruchel. She is my friend from Port Alberni, Britsh Columbia who lives above me. Pispala is apparently the only hill in the world that you can see two completely different lakes on either side. This is according to some website that I found. Either way, this part of town is quite old and quite beautiful. Most of the houses are wooden houses that once belonged to various workers from the industries in the area. These houses have since been renovated and restored and now belong to the posh of Tampere. This neighborhood is all built on either side of the hill and the streets are quite narrow. The longest staircase I have ever seen is in Pispala. Even the poor puppies that get pulled up the stairs look miserable!!
From the top of the hill looking towards the rest of Tampere.
The lovely Ruchel.
The Finns like to recycle. At grocery stores people bring their bottles and jars, pop them into a machine, and they get money back. I guess they even recycle without making a profit in Pispala.
At the lake at the bottom of the hill. The sun tricked us...it didn't come out any further!!
Some of the houses on the hill.
The longest set of stairs I have ever seen!
I have been sick on and off since this walk around town. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was cold and wet the day we went. The cold and wet has not let up since...I am hoping my cold doesn't outlast the miserable weather!!
Much love!
Bug
It's been a long time since I have updated my blog...my apologies. There's something about the lack of sunlight and being sick that combine into a form of laziness that is impossible to describe!! The lack of sunlight isn't much better but my lovely cold is...now I feel better but sound like I've been smoking for 100 years!! There is also some occassional attractive coughing that goes well with the sound of my voice!!
Two weekends ago I went for a walk in Pispala with Ruchel. She is my friend from Port Alberni, Britsh Columbia who lives above me. Pispala is apparently the only hill in the world that you can see two completely different lakes on either side. This is according to some website that I found. Either way, this part of town is quite old and quite beautiful. Most of the houses are wooden houses that once belonged to various workers from the industries in the area. These houses have since been renovated and restored and now belong to the posh of Tampere. This neighborhood is all built on either side of the hill and the streets are quite narrow. The longest staircase I have ever seen is in Pispala. Even the poor puppies that get pulled up the stairs look miserable!!
From the top of the hill looking towards the rest of Tampere.
The lovely Ruchel.
The Finns like to recycle. At grocery stores people bring their bottles and jars, pop them into a machine, and they get money back. I guess they even recycle without making a profit in Pispala.
At the lake at the bottom of the hill. The sun tricked us...it didn't come out any further!!
Some of the houses on the hill.
The longest set of stairs I have ever seen!
I have been sick on and off since this walk around town. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it was cold and wet the day we went. The cold and wet has not let up since...I am hoping my cold doesn't outlast the miserable weather!!
Much love!
Bug
Saturday, November 3, 2007
A little more on Estonia
Hei!!
This is just a quick post. I rarely think that anyone really reads my blog but someone with the profile name "tsr" commented on my post about my trip with Jacqueline to Tallinn. They gave me a link to a documentary called "The Singing Revolution". I encourage anyone who reads my blog to check out the website. As much as we think we live in a globalized world there will always be things we do not hear about. I am ashamed to admit that I did not know very much about Estonia's history even after visiting Tallinn. Hopefully I will know much more by my next visit in December.
Please click on the image below to visit the documentary's website. You can watch the trailer (it brought tears to my eyes), listen to the music, learn a little about the history of Estonia and the role of music, and you can ask for the documentary to be brought to a theatre near you.
My love goes out to you all!!
Take care,
Bug
P.S.-- Thank you "tsr" for commenting!!
This is just a quick post. I rarely think that anyone really reads my blog but someone with the profile name "tsr" commented on my post about my trip with Jacqueline to Tallinn. They gave me a link to a documentary called "The Singing Revolution". I encourage anyone who reads my blog to check out the website. As much as we think we live in a globalized world there will always be things we do not hear about. I am ashamed to admit that I did not know very much about Estonia's history even after visiting Tallinn. Hopefully I will know much more by my next visit in December.
Please click on the image below to visit the documentary's website. You can watch the trailer (it brought tears to my eyes), listen to the music, learn a little about the history of Estonia and the role of music, and you can ask for the documentary to be brought to a theatre near you.
My love goes out to you all!!
Take care,
Bug
P.S.-- Thank you "tsr" for commenting!!
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