Like a fairytale winter

Again, after a long period of inactivity due to the human laziness and life! I came back…

In my last post, I was mentioning a wish, my wish was to get a real winter and god what have i asked for! I ended up getting the full package, a winter that i have never seen here in Finland! A winter that amazed me with its beauty and froze my heart and soul with its cold but it was all white and glittery and it still goes on.

We had a season of Joy and wonderful Holiday in Vimpeli, where my parents in law live and it’s just so spacious and huge and all frozen, from the lake to the roads and fields. it was a unique Christmas, all white full of great time of relaxation after a busy month at work. Then came the new year and it’s festivities in Helsinki, The traditional fireworks overlooking the city from the rock. Finland keeps impressing me more and more, It would be great to share more with you about my great experiences here so far, and specially not blogging daily!

The winter came fast, it hit us hard with -25C in Helsinki for some days and snow covering the streets and the cars all over. But then came the sunshine and the green warm weather of Beirut, I left after the New Year to visit my parents and family in Lebanon where i spent a week of great time and memories! It was so fun to go back and picture the city of Beirut in a  different way, to notice the things i miss there and to appreciate the good life standards we have here, the social system and the good benefits of a hard-working society. I  was still impressed with the good weather which was not a winter as i expected Lebanon to be at this period of the year. It was a simple spring!

Coming back to here, i met the first time in my life the Winter Wonderland, the fairytale place on earth.

In this fairytale place, you will see the trees all white, the city all white, the trams all white and frosty. It was something really to share. I let these pictures below taken by Maiku talk …

Winter Wonderland!

Amazing!

I will try to share more blog posts from Lebanon and Finland soon! Stay tuned …

I want that Helsinki back!

When i arrived to Finland in 2006,and in the period before getting here, when i was hanging out with the few Finns i knew back then , the first conversation and question that was asked to me was:”Will you handle the cold?”.

Today, i wonder if these Finns were talking of a fantasy land. Finland is not cold, not for these 3 years i have been here. Finns used to tell me, you need double pants, its -20C at least and so on and lots of snow which was exciting for me coming from a warm country but …

That weather bearely showed itself to me, i remember seing -20C for 7 days in my second year and it was an achievemnt, i remember the freezing cables of the tram, the clear view of everything.

An article in YLE made me think of this post.

When now, Finns speak to me i feel some sadness in their eyes, it’s like they miss that snow, cold degrees and freezing cold and i understand it. my heart ake for the snow, i think most of my readers from Middle east will not understand why somebody would like cold so much. Imagine living in Saudi arabia without sand or desert!

The fact is that Finnish nature is at it’s glory in winter, can’t ignore that, this country’s soul is it’s winter and the Finns are so proud of surviving it’s long period and still excelling in having services and a society enduring all the hard winters in history, like the one of 1987 where the coldest was -34C. not to mention how proud they are of the “Talvisota” or winter war that they celebrate it’s 70 anniversary this month.

I look today outside, it’s +8, a Christmas without snow, seems like possible this year again for 2 years on a row. When i came here, i had in mind the image of a morning christmas looking from a window like a child visiting santa’s land to the snow but i have never seen it so far!

The global warming has hit us, and it hit us hard.

For a country, leading in recycling and enviromental care, even there is still lots to do here but there is a will and comitement from the Finns to save the globe it’s an unfair thing that their winter, beautiful winter has been stolen.

Yes! Our Finnish winter has been stolen by the global warming. we have barely snow in January an now we live in a Britain-like until then!

Finland lives as a dark country for arround 6-8 month a year, but it had light always by the whiteness on the ground and by the northen lights of the sky. now, it’s simply gray!

So, i take this post to ask you to spread global awarness and support the effort being done in Copenhagen to stop the global warming and give me then the Finland of my dreams, the Finland that they told me about, the cold, the snow, the freeze, the ice and the nature! I look, for the day that my wife will wake up look from the window and tell me: “honey! this is the winter i told you about.”

Sasi, with swine flu edition!

P.s: Marika just told me how to put snow falling on my blog Kiitos Maiku!

C’est la vie en bleu!

So many ideas and so little time, work is a big part of life here and you must use your free time carefully!

I started working recently and it looks good, well regularly at least and with a lot of Finnish colleagues, a true Finnish experience. I am enjoying it, enjoying the organized system and the work place. and the old ladies working with me are treating me well.

Finns tend to trust a foreigner if he gains it with time. It’s a global rule i think, this reminds me of a Lebanese proverb  my mom used always to say: ” Live with the people 40 days, either you stay with them or you leave them.” The unfortunate thing happening in my own opinion in Finland, is the fact that the Finnish media does not fetch real stories on relations between the  society, Media tend to exagerate and show foreigners are victims but in my case and concerning my work field, The answer lies here : “Read this to know more!” I am proud of this article.

Finland and Lebanon on the mind still always, pro’s and con’s always. Everyday, Facebook is  offering a comparison to the two cultures free of charge!

Finland’s reputation has been seriously damaged recently by it’s beloved politicians to a level that we could for sure send them to Lebanon. Why?

Well, they need to get some courses on “how to hide well your corruption.” A scandal, well scandals have erupted here about Finances of the government parties by companies and the last story was contributed to M. Vanhanen our prime minister here that accepted gifts as bribery for building his home. Yes! M. Vanhanen could for sure form a Lebanese goverment since now he has all the capacity and the necessary demands for the job Unfortunate, M. Harriri got  the job alas!

Otherwise, winter is coming, it has been raining here and its getting more boring then ever since we see no snow neither sun. Am so waiting for the snow to come, that will cheer me up for sure.

People abroad do not understand why Finns loves the snow, based on my experience after living here, snow brighten everything when it’s dark, the darkness is a big part of the winter since we get only a few hours of light or something similar to light, makes you so frustrated and causes a lot of depression so when it snows it actually turns into all white and blue, a beautiful scenery. Will post a picture about it one day!

Christmas has been knocking on our door here, the festivities and celebrations are all about to come and the plans of the next year with it. I am going to  continue in my current job for a longer while, which is good news in this time of crisis. Nothing that i am doing is my favorite carrier, since i wish to be in the hotel field, but c’est la vie!

I will be writing a few posts to recap on the lost time and since i have a lots to share with you about Finland, I seriously feel like a child here born again discovering things from scratch.

A quiet city and a dull weather,  still the Finns and their country have a way to amaze me with the smallest details ever! and their care of the smallest details. Only a Finn would do such a thing i told my wife when i read the article. Read this link!

Thank you for dropping by.

Jad ( With Swine flu) … Oh that’s another blog story to tell!

Time to make a tea and lots of honey, and to read Maiku’s newest blog posts on AngoraKaneli (in Finnish only!)

P.s: To the people of the world, remember Santa comes  straight to your house all the way from Finland  where he lives under the northern lights

Translate

Panorama

It has been a long time for me since blogging here, I officially became a lazy workaholic but things will change over the next 2 month since i will have more time to update and go on with this blog and new plans.

Meanwhile, i would like to share these links to a program we have been doing me and few others called Panorama.

News from Finland in languages  like Arabic,French,Spanish,Russian. Check it out, and all opinions are welcome!

http://m2hz.net/jaksot/panorama-2

http://m2hz.net/jaksot/panorama-1-ranska

Thanks for reading.

Sasi, from the cold north!

Just a note!

I found this in a Book i bought from Beirut last summer in 2008 and it was funny back then. When i look at it again, i cant stop myself from laughing! Is it true that nothing changed since 1870 in there. It seems so …

This Scanned page below is copyrighted to the Ping Project 2007.

P.s: I am employed now again, if you are reading my older posts but sorry i haven’t had the time to keep this blog updated! maybe …

Unemployed, in the cold north!

Maybe it is not that bad that i became unemployed last weekend! now, i can concentrate on writing here I think so! It never paid to run a blog, at least in our case but who knows.

The second option would be to stand in front of the Finnish parliament with a sign saying give me a job! I don’t think it works either, The robots land tend to be as harsh as it can. Unfortunately, I cannot complain and say i am alone in this case. me and many others are in the shit trouble of the unemployment, since the Wall street boys have decided to ruin the world.

Unemployment in Finland stand at above 10 % now, the situation cannot get worse, or maybe this is just the start. Finns and immigrants are suffering, I wish I can say I am not being hired now because of my little language barriers or my foreign background, alas i can’t! Finns too sit home and wait for the mercy of the system.

Anyhow, lets not be too dramatic. I have had an excellent summer here in Helsinki, was all Havenish. It was too true to last though … but i was lucky to get the chance to do what i like again. Nobody knows! what chances that experience could open. I can’t ignore that i enjoy doing any work in the customer service field! Socializing with people I guess comes from the Lebanese blood, we are sociable, happy, clownish, and as i have heard, all what we do in Beirut is dance and party to our graves. That’s our reputation!

Back to Helsinki, the weather is getting gloomy. I have lots to re catch, maybe a small holiday, definitely cheap one and hitch-hiking will be involved for sure. but it will be a change, i cannot see here sending CV’s and waiting for the mercy of someone to open his inbox and reply to me. it’s not going to happen between a day and an other!

Finland, has been a good country. a Fair one, so far! what pisses me the most in our safe Haven, is the fact that we feel too safe sometimes and we forgot the reality of the harsh world. I always had a title for a book about Finland **Instability inside of the Bubble** It feels here sometimes so good, so like life standards are awesome, and we have a good system, but we can’t ever be sure. ever, of what tomorrow hides!

Now, lets get over with the Drama. I am unemployed, and this gives me a chance to write, explore the world and nag! nagging a part of the Finnish culture i have learned to abuse

Cheers from dark,cloudy,Helsinki!

A Havenish Summer!

Let’s face it, i am not truly a blogger anymore.

Sounds like the real world and including that Facebook took over every drop of my time in the recent month, not to mention my new working place.

Summer 2009, was and is still full of surprises though while am writing this note now, it is raining in our beloved Helsinki.

Since June 1st, i started working in a new place on night shift basis, which means i live totally the contrary of how people do, I take the metro on the way down while the people take the stairs on the way up.

The benefit of such a choice, would be working for few nights then having long holiday’s that could last for few days on a row, where in the last weeks i had the chance to visit Vimpeli, where Maiku’s parents live.

The lush green of the summer and the lake was truly peaceful as an exit from the city’s busy life (as if Helsinki tends to be busy, i guess its the most quiet city in the world, not to mention the 5th best place to live), We had a traditional sauna experience and the cats enjoyed fooling around and going away for hours and coming back for diner.

The best part of Vimpeli, is the popular famous addictive Baseball, where all the village come to the stadium to watch the games, imagine a village of 3000 and the only thing they do is superpesis as they call it, this side of Finland is something. I usually think of Finns as quiet,shy and nice but the devil come’s out when a game start, it is even to die for . On one of the game, a lovely fan  had a heart attack and even sadly died on site!

The events of the summer, including a train trip back with 2 crazy cats, nagging about how did we even take them back in train and not a limo. Pinja our beloved elder cat spend hours moaning and making horrible sounds!

A Dangerous Havenish Summer it was! Now that it is over, i look at the storm aka winter getting ready to hit us with it’s magic.

Regards from the cold north again!

Writing again!

I can’t say that this new blog of mine has been very active recently but i surely got my reasons for that! Work, Work, Life, Work and etc …

I have been writing few drafts from events like May 1st and then work, life, house, pink wall and other stuff that occured like starting my new job on Monday where i will work again back in my field as a Front Office Agent. It feels so good to be back to the hotel industry, i have always loved it!

Anyhow, not much has been happening. I turned 27 2 days ago and Finland had a beautiful sunny May and it sounds like the summer is gonna be good to us. Let’s wish so …

I promise to write soon and update you with the adventure’s of May and the coming back to Finland and the culture shocks of a freind of mine visiting Helsinki for a week. There is definitly lots to laugh about !

So keep checking, and the next time i have a hangover i will for sure write it all.

Now, it’s time to head to Korkeasaari

And the witches and fires of Ostrobothnia …

We just came back yesterday night from a lovely holiday in the Finnish countryside, even if it was a very tiring one due to the huge number of tasks to be done and all the family activity.

The Finnish countryside, based on my 3 years experience here was the same as it has been! not much change in general.

Finnish Country Side

Finnish Countryside

Sun sets on Vimpeli's lake.

We had the Easter holidays and we spent lovely time with Maiku’s family.

My post here mentions the people in that village, I always felt like an alien in there, specially on Saturday night when you head to the bar which feels like from the 1960’s and where all the eyes are scanning a new visitors.

It’s a small village called Vimpeli of around 3000 population and where everybody knows everybody, which means that i am known as the son in law of Maiku’s parents and that am a foreigner. Good so far!

One of the major event that take place in Vimpeli during the Easter holiday is the witch kicking, we don’t kick witches literally, what the people do is to make huge fires in the fields to kick the bad spirits of the witches. And here it was supposed to happen that Saturday of Easter!

Vimpeli's traditional easter fires

I get this call from the family that we are going to watch the KOKKO fire’s and I get myself all ready for the big event that is a part of the local traditions, as soon as we make it to the relatives of my beloved wife’s which had a huge fire, there was the famous Makkara and Olutta ( Beer and Sausages) for the celebration, as is the case of every day of holiday, alcohol is a must use during day’s of rest!

Kick the witch!

Now the people that ignited that huge fire were super sweet but they suddenly reminded me of a book by a Finnish author named Arto Paasilinna that i have been reading called (Hurmaava joukoitsemurha) or in French as i read it (Petits suicides entre amis) , the story has nothing to do with the fires of Vimpeli, but the characters of the people were nothing less then the ones in that book. It was hilarious; my description is not accurate though until you read it!

Distant, friendly, drunk but still friendly, interested and curious and most of all trying all the time to show their culture and brag about their adventures in this part of cold north.

A burning Bear!

My trip did not end with this experience of course only, i had the chance to join my father in law in the adventure of ice fishing which is our yearly common hobby, where you have to open holes in the ice and fish, but then you might be really lucky if you find any fishes, I wasn’t on that day! But since I mentioned the event, I will explain a bit the concept:

- You have to get your equipment ready and walk to the frozen lake where you start walking on the frozen ice.

- You have to know the right spot which until nowadays i didn’t figure out why my father in law still insist on this spot after 3 years of unsuccessful fishing (it must be a tradition) and then you got to calculate the distance from the grandmother house to the house, some GPS navigator wouldn’t be a bad gift for my father in law I guess! Might save us some time!

- You got to the dig the hole with a tool and open the ice then throw your fishing tool and sit and wait until you either freeze to death or get a fish which wasn’t the case this holiday!

- The last step is when everybody back home is expecting you to come back with a few fishes for dinner and you are empty hand and totally ashamed, then the idea of running to the nearest supermarket and buying a few fishes is not bad!

Me trying to fish! as if ...

Tools for icefishing

That was mostly the Vimpeli experience, in my next post i will be writing about some of our daily life back here in the cold north.

Sasi from Vimpeli.

P.S : Please do not copy or reproduce these pictures without asking permissions.

A Fresh New Start!

I have been running this blog off and on since July 2006 and maybe before…

Unfortunately during a last update of wordpress i managed to do some error of deleting the whole site and wasn’t able to recover except some posts from the database.

I will share below my last posts that i managed to save and maybe this will be a fresh new start for me to write about my life experience here in the cold north after living my youth in wild warm Lebanon.

Meanwhile, until i start posting anything new from the ideas in mind to show the world the Scandinavian culture and specially to show to my dear Lebanese friends how it is to be here and be part of another world. the small details that make big difference and also i think of this blog as a method to show my Finnish friends and family what i learn and see from their country.

Stay tuned!

JaD