Up ahead is a whole week of free days for me - yay!! Happy!! ヾ(＠°▽°＠)ﾉ
Maybe I'll make every day a special one.
Up to now, it was:
Fiday: Legendary bowling night <3
Saturday: Naruto Day ( I spend the whole day on my comfortable
couch chilling and catching up a little to all the Naruto
episodes I haven't seen yet)
Sunday: Ice skating with Caroline, movie evening with Lasse and Niia
(finally I get to see "Snow White & the Huntsman"!!)
And then it will be:
Monday: Sauna time with Caroline
Tuesday: Helsinki and cruise to Stockholm
Wednesday: Stockholm <3
Thurday: Back from Stockholm and probably Helsinki
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
....so there are still some places to fill, let's see what comes up my mind ;D
At any rate, it seems that I'll have a lot to tell on the blog :P
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Bowling Night ヽ( * o * )ﾉ
Friday night I went bowling at Tampere Areena and I need to confess:
I TOTALLY LOVE
THIS PLACE!!! <3
...a dimmed hall enlightened only by the neon lights of the bowling alleys and writings over the pins.
I think I've found my new affection for neon colours ヽ( >∀ < )ﾉ maybe thats's the vibe of Tampere...
The idea was to go there to honour Despoina's, my ex-workmate, farewell from Finland. Originally planned to come were my workmates Sini, Päivi and Andi, Despoina and her boyfriend, Fiona, Mizuki and me. Yet, Fiona couldn't come due to an emergency. I planned to meet Mizuki at the railway station 2 hours before the bowling. She'd come from Kuusankoski to spend the weekend with me in Tampere, but she mixed up the times, so we didn't meet. Furthermore I couldn't call her, as her mobile phone was broken... so in the end, she also didn't come with us, but went back home in the evening, because we couldn't find each other... m(,>o<,)m
Still, it was a great evening - I really enjoyed the bowling, though I lack experience and therefore didn't score to well ;3
Afterwards, we had dinner at Sevilla, a spanish restaurant, - delicious!! :D
I love to eat food from places all over the world! ...and it was so great to talk about everything that's on our minds, tell stories, share experiences etc. it made me realize once more just how wonderful of a workplace Enkku is, the unique friendship-like atmosphere between all the workers -
I'm convinced that I couldn't possibly have found a
better place to be!
Thank
you all! you are the best co-workers ever! <3
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Micro Head 4N's (Gloria, Helsinki)
17.02.2013 was the day when I had the chance to enjoy a J-Rock concert once again!! ヽ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ
This time, it was "The Micro Head 4N's" (Mifo) that rocked the place that I seem to spend most of my evenings in Helsinki - Gloria.
I like going to a lot of concerts and as far as I can remember, there hasn't been a bad one, but japanese artists really have an own kind of atmosphere. Their appearance isn't only a concert, it's fun, it's a show! They always try to talk a little in English and in the country's mother tongue, which makes them just adorable. It's kinda hard to explain the vibe, you have to feel it you have to feel it yourself to understand, I guess. So,to anyone who likes Rock music, I can only advice to seize the chance and experience this yourselves.
Usually, I take a lot of pictures at gigs, but photographing is prohibited at J-Rock concerts. It's a difference of mentalities and therefore a principle of showing respect towards the artists by leaving the camera at home. People that tried to take pictures nonetheless were thrown out of the hall, as announced in both Finnish and English at the entrance and in the beginning.
So, today there's no personal photos - sorry! ;3
...but here's a song ;D
This time, it was "The Micro Head 4N's" (Mifo) that rocked the place that I seem to spend most of my evenings in Helsinki - Gloria.
(taken from http://shattered-tranquility.net)
Mifo were quite awesome, the audience immediately got into the spirit, sang, screamed, jumped, headbanged etc. with them, of course me too ;3 it was a real concert, but it also didn't get too extreme, as it has been a problem at a lot of past J-Rock events and caused many fans to withdraw from going to lives.
It was also quite obvious which ones were the Ex-D'Espairs Ray members within the band - Zero-san and Tsukasa-san delivered just a different feel, which doesn't mean that they took the spotlight from Shun-san, Ricky-san and Kazuya-san. The band also underlined the bass and drums in their songs and that's really great! I regret that I've never had a chance to see D'Espairs Ray live, so I'm happy that now I could meet at least two members! - As well as I'm also really glad that I could rock on a Mifo concert!!
The show had many highlights, one of them was when all of the members took their turns in saying some personal words to the fans.
Kazuya-san earned big positive feedback when introducing himself by "My name is Kazuya! :3"
Zero-san greeted his fans with "Tadaima :3" (= "I'm back.") and "Minna-san ogenki desu ka?" (="How are you, everyone?")
Ricky-san took out his mobile phone and said "I study Finnish.....on the interneto :3" before going on like "Hauska tutustua." and "Me rakastamme sinua!" (= "Nice to meet you." "We love you!")
Tsukasa-san also greeted in Japanese, saying "Hisashiburi ;3" (="It's been a while.") and as he also asked the audience if they're all fine, he received a coir of "Genki desu!!" (="I'm fine.")
Shun-san arranged the funniest part of the evening. - He said "...I teach...cool Japanese sentence to you!" As the room filled with silence and everyone was waiting for the mysterious sentence, he took the microphone and said "...URUSEI!!!" xDD I guess most of the people there knew the meaning of that word, so it was really funny when he made us practice screaming "Urusei" altogether towards the stage and the other band members were just laughing with a hint of disbelief or vicarious embarrassment because of the crazy situation. Zero-san's reaction was probably the cutest, as he covered his mouth with his hand o( > w < )o
In the flow of all the fun, the concert was over way too early, but everyone was looking forward to the special: a signing session!
I could also make a new friend! A girl next to me commented me on my outfit (by the way I also got the contacts of a designer that happened to like my style ;3 ), so we started a conversation. Both of us had come alone to the live and as fate would have it, she is from Tampere!! Right now she lives in Kouvola though, but she will from time to time come to her home town, so we can hopefully meet soon again!
Anna-Reetta, I'm so happy that I could get to know you! I can't wait to realize the plans we made!! Sushi-Bars and Concert-Halls, here we come!~ (〃＾▽＾〃)ﾉ
-------------
Usually, I take a lot of pictures at gigs, but photographing is prohibited at J-Rock concerts. It's a difference of mentalities and therefore a principle of showing respect towards the artists by leaving the camera at home. People that tried to take pictures nonetheless were thrown out of the hall, as announced in both Finnish and English at the entrance and in the beginning.
So, today there's no personal photos - sorry! ;3
...but here's a song ;D
Visiting Krisztina in Espoo
This weekend I decided to pay a visit to Krisztina, who lives on Espoo's border to Helsinki. Actually, I didn't see much of Espoo at all, but I will do that in spring when the snow's melted away. The weather was bad, so it would've been kinda waste of time.
We spend most of the time in her apartment, listening to music, eating, talking and just enjoying ourselves. Saturday night we went for a walk in Helsinki and followed the "Blue Line" (it's a light installation above Union Axis)
In the end, it was even starting to snow, so the line started sparkling, like this:
-----
We spent most of the Sunday sleeping and when we finally got up, we arranged to meet Leonie, another EVS volunteer (from Germany). It was restaurant day, which means that everyone can just open their own restaurant/food-selling stand in order to offer their own products to random customers, so the three of us went on a quest to find some certain "restaurants", but it turned out that it wasn't as easy as we thought to locate them xD after some time, we ended up at "Zen Room" and had some Miso Soup and Sushi :)
All in all, it was fantastic to meet my friends again and exchange our thoughts. I even leaned a little about finnish grammar, maybe - and this is shocking!! - more than at the language course so far :O
"Thank you, Krisztina, for the weekend! I hope we'll find some nice days to go to Bodominjärvi and Suomenlinna together! I'm looking forward to meeting again and as you know you're also welcome to come to Tampere sometime." ;P
We spend most of the time in her apartment, listening to music, eating, talking and just enjoying ourselves. Saturday night we went for a walk in Helsinki and followed the "Blue Line" (it's a light installation above Union Axis)
In the end, it was even starting to snow, so the line started sparkling, like this:
-----
We spent most of the Sunday sleeping and when we finally got up, we arranged to meet Leonie, another EVS volunteer (from Germany). It was restaurant day, which means that everyone can just open their own restaurant/food-selling stand in order to offer their own products to random customers, so the three of us went on a quest to find some certain "restaurants", but it turned out that it wasn't as easy as we thought to locate them xD after some time, we ended up at "Zen Room" and had some Miso Soup and Sushi :)
All in all, it was fantastic to meet my friends again and exchange our thoughts. I even leaned a little about finnish grammar, maybe - and this is shocking!! - more than at the language course so far :O
"Thank you, Krisztina, for the weekend! I hope we'll find some nice days to go to Bodominjärvi and Suomenlinna together! I'm looking forward to meeting again and as you know you're also welcome to come to Tampere sometime." ;P
Hyvää Ystävänpäivää!!
~ I didn't find much time to update last week, so I'm catching up now ;3 ~
14.02. - known by most people as Valentine's day, celebration of love - in Finland it's kind of special: Here they do not only dedicate this day to lovers, but also to friendship. Literally translated, "Ystävänpäivä" actually means "Friend's Day"!
At the kindergarten, the children were writing/drawing cards and letters to send to their friends. I think it's a cute change to the usual thing. Though, of course finnish people also celebrate love with their partners, there is just a little more to it. :)
14.02. - known by most people as Valentine's day, celebration of love - in Finland it's kind of special: Here they do not only dedicate this day to lovers, but also to friendship. Literally translated, "Ystävänpäivä" actually means "Friend's Day"!
At the kindergarten, the children were writing/drawing cards and letters to send to their friends. I think it's a cute change to the usual thing. Though, of course finnish people also celebrate love with their partners, there is just a little more to it. :)
Friday, February 15, 2013
Negative live @ Gloria, HELSINKI
This was the second time that I saw Negative live - both shows in Finland :3
They were as legendary as ever, though totally different from the gig at Särkänniemi, because that used to be acoustic and now it was a real rock concert! lml
Sarka from Czech, Kiveen from France and me arrived at the venue 3 hours earlier in order to make sure that we'll have a place in the front row. Though there were only a few degrees below 0, it seemed quite cold, as we were just standing or sitting outside the doors. Kiveen's hotel was quite near and at some point the two of us quickly went there for her to change as she didn't have much clothing on. While being there, we could also persuade Lara from Spain to join us :D YAAAY!
First "The Liar" and "Hellcity Punks" were playing, after that Negative finally entered the stage and rocked the audience (*o*)b
We were also joined by Isa from Costa Rica, Ruben from Spain and Istvan from Hungary :D in the end we had a really international group, so awesome!!! :D
A friend once told me "Music can help you in any kind of difficult situation and it's even better if you have someone to share your passion with."
I'm really grateful to have had the chance of getting to know all of you, thank you for being here! It's amazing to share my time here in Finland with all of you!!
The highlight of the show was that I could catch one of the legendary roses of Negative - again! - and again from Antti! ヽ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ but this time it was a whole one and I will cherish it!
I hope there will be another chance to see Negative live, maybe in the summer. I don't know of any festivals coming up that they're attending, but there's a huge mysterious countdown on their homepage - I'm looking forward to the big announcement :P
They were as legendary as ever, though totally different from the gig at Särkänniemi, because that used to be acoustic and now it was a real rock concert! lml
Sarka from Czech, Kiveen from France and me arrived at the venue 3 hours earlier in order to make sure that we'll have a place in the front row. Though there were only a few degrees below 0, it seemed quite cold, as we were just standing or sitting outside the doors. Kiveen's hotel was quite near and at some point the two of us quickly went there for her to change as she didn't have much clothing on. While being there, we could also persuade Lara from Spain to join us :D YAAAY!
First "The Liar" and "Hellcity Punks" were playing, after that Negative finally entered the stage and rocked the audience (*o*)b
We were also joined by Isa from Costa Rica, Ruben from Spain and Istvan from Hungary :D in the end we had a really international group, so awesome!!! :D
A friend once told me "Music can help you in any kind of difficult situation and it's even better if you have someone to share your passion with."
I'm really grateful to have had the chance of getting to know all of you, thank you for being here! It's amazing to share my time here in Finland with all of you!!
The highlight of the show was that I could catch one of the legendary roses of Negative - again! - and again from Antti! ヽ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ but this time it was a whole one and I will cherish it!
I hope there will be another chance to see Negative live, maybe in the summer. I don't know of any festivals coming up that they're attending, but there's a huge mysterious countdown on their homepage - I'm looking forward to the big announcement :P
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Mid-Term!! ( #O_O)
By now, I've reached the middle of my EVS-term in Finland. I can't believe it's already been 5 months :O this thought somehow makes me sad, because it means the rest of my time here will probably fade faster than I think...
Anyways, I've had some great weeks at the Mid-term camps! Thanks to my co-ordinating organisation, I've had 2, one in Antaverkka (Tampere) and one in Sopukka (Helsinki).
Both were great in their own way, but so entirely different from each other, though they both shared the same purpose - meet other volunteers, share experiences, have fun and reflect about the future.
---------
First off was the training in Antaverkka. Since it was in Ylöjärvi, Tampere, I didn't have to travel and could fully enjoy the day of arrival. Some friends (Anita, Ruben, Elisabetta) took an early train and came here loooong before the bus left from the centre to the camp facilities, so I met them in the city. We were walking around, looking for sights and finally went to catch the sunset over the landscape on Pyynikin Näkötorni \( ^ω^)/ it was ice cold and a real challenge to take off the gloves for handling the cameras, but we stood our ground:
Then we headed to the west and it felt awesome to be with the other volunteers again. Some I already knew from the On-Arrival camp, but others were strangers - from all over the world, since Maailmanvaihto isn't reduced to Europe. So I met all different kinds of young people from Russia, Taiwan, Japan, Kenia, India, Costa Rica and many many more :D - each person legendary in their own way! I think it was the best training I experienced so far!
I had so much fun and these 3 days seemed way to short. Before we knew, it was over and everyone had to go back to their place all over Finland.
It is amazing how multiculturality can arise such an delightsome atmosphere, so unique (*.*) or maybe it's not about the cultures, but about the individual people?
Anyways, during that time we had a really tight programme, but that was totally okay, since it was a lot of fun and it seemed like relaxed group activities.
Aside that, we went to sauna, did "Avanto" (diving into a lake through a hole in the ice), rolled in the snow (even crazier than Avanto!!), met the ancient shaman, tasted finnish delicacies and set up our own party!
I also started to learn Japanese again, supported by the girl from Japan that I met there.
I would like to give credit to the people that I enjoyed most spending time with:
- Mi-chan, thank you for teaching me your language. I enjoy your company really much and it's always fun. Sometimes it's not easy to comunicate in a mix of English, Finnish and Japanese, but we always manage to understand each other and that makes me so proud and happy ヽ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ
I can't wait until we see each other again!
- Elisabeth S and Elisabetta - I knew I'd sooner or later use my identity on the camp, latest at the end where we all wrote our messages to each other xD anyways, I was glad that I could share my room with you once again! I always appreciate talking to you, Elisabeth S, you have a great personality and, Elisabetta, I really hope things will turn out for the best with you and I hope we can at least meet once again before you go back to Italy. -- Perkele!! ;P
- An-Chieh and Yi-Wen, I definitely want to meet you again - both in Finland and Taiwan!! ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ Maybe it's a cultural thing, but you always seem so happy and it sounds really cute when you talk in your mother tongue ;3 I had so much fun with the two of you, thanks for that!!
- Isa.......you're awesome!!! I can't wait to rock the festivals in summer with you together!! \(^o^)/ a friend once told me "Music can help you in any kind of difficult situation that you might face and having someone to share that music with is even better". I'm really glad that we became roommates and friends!! :D
- Krisztina, at the On-Arrival Training we didn't have much chance to get to know each other, so I'm all the more happy that now we could talk a lot more and I'm looking forward to our next meeting, maybe in Helsinki, at a concert, at a festival, in another city or anywhere else! :D :D
I could write a little something to everyone I met, but it would just be too much...
and I feel like I'm raving too much (>.<) I just want to thank everyone for making my time here such a legendary experience! Kiitos kaikille!
Sometimes pictures say more than words:
---------
Second, there was the training in Sopukka 2 days later! I planned to meet Elisabeth S at the bus station, but it was quite a challenge to find each other and also the place where the bus was leaving from xDD but in the end, we managed to and we immediately met some old friends as well, some that I hadn't seen for 2 days, some for more than 4 months!
Since we all knew each other and there were so many of us, the camp was different from the earlier one, but also really great and we had a lot of fun. On the On-Arrival training I didn't find time to get to know all the people, so this time I also talked to some that were still sort of strangers. For that possibility, I'm entirely grateful! I especially got to know the french girls a little better and I've already made plans with Caroline, who is also staying in Tampere, to meet more frequently now, for sauna, ice-skating and whatever comes up in our minds :D this also gave me a chance to revive my French skills again ;P it's scary how much you forget if you stop actively practicing a language.
I'm also cheerful that I could meet my concert mates Sárka and Kiveen again and we even went to a gig together after the training! NEGATIVE!! <3
Sárka, I'll make sure to come visit you in Oulu, just wait for it!! ;D and I'm looking forward to meeting you again on a concert or in any other place!
Kiveen, je suis très heureuse que tu es ici en Finlande et que j'ai pu faire ta connaissance! J'aimerais te rencontrer bientôt!!
----------
What else to say....
After dancing salsa with a Japanese, singing christmas songs with a Greek, doing "Avanto" with a Kenyan, playing UNO with a Taiwanese and headbanging with a French, I can seriously say that I want to continue this international lifestyle in any way!
Anyways, I've had some great weeks at the Mid-term camps! Thanks to my co-ordinating organisation, I've had 2, one in Antaverkka (Tampere) and one in Sopukka (Helsinki).
Both were great in their own way, but so entirely different from each other, though they both shared the same purpose - meet other volunteers, share experiences, have fun and reflect about the future.
---------
First off was the training in Antaverkka. Since it was in Ylöjärvi, Tampere, I didn't have to travel and could fully enjoy the day of arrival. Some friends (Anita, Ruben, Elisabetta) took an early train and came here loooong before the bus left from the centre to the camp facilities, so I met them in the city. We were walking around, looking for sights and finally went to catch the sunset over the landscape on Pyynikin Näkötorni \( ^ω^)/ it was ice cold and a real challenge to take off the gloves for handling the cameras, but we stood our ground:
Then we headed to the west and it felt awesome to be with the other volunteers again. Some I already knew from the On-Arrival camp, but others were strangers - from all over the world, since Maailmanvaihto isn't reduced to Europe. So I met all different kinds of young people from Russia, Taiwan, Japan, Kenia, India, Costa Rica and many many more :D - each person legendary in their own way! I think it was the best training I experienced so far!
I had so much fun and these 3 days seemed way to short. Before we knew, it was over and everyone had to go back to their place all over Finland.
It is amazing how multiculturality can arise such an delightsome atmosphere, so unique (*.*) or maybe it's not about the cultures, but about the individual people?
Anyways, during that time we had a really tight programme, but that was totally okay, since it was a lot of fun and it seemed like relaxed group activities.
Aside that, we went to sauna, did "Avanto" (diving into a lake through a hole in the ice), rolled in the snow (even crazier than Avanto!!), met the ancient shaman, tasted finnish delicacies and set up our own party!
I also started to learn Japanese again, supported by the girl from Japan that I met there.
I would like to give credit to the people that I enjoyed most spending time with:
- Mi-chan, thank you for teaching me your language. I enjoy your company really much and it's always fun. Sometimes it's not easy to comunicate in a mix of English, Finnish and Japanese, but we always manage to understand each other and that makes me so proud and happy ヽ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ
I can't wait until we see each other again!
Mizuki, I'm so glad we became friends! 愛
- Elisabeth S and Elisabetta - I knew I'd sooner or later use my identity on the camp, latest at the end where we all wrote our messages to each other xD anyways, I was glad that I could share my room with you once again! I always appreciate talking to you, Elisabeth S, you have a great personality and, Elisabetta, I really hope things will turn out for the best with you and I hope we can at least meet once again before you go back to Italy. -- Perkele!! ;P
- An-Chieh and Yi-Wen, I definitely want to meet you again - both in Finland and Taiwan!! ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ Maybe it's a cultural thing, but you always seem so happy and it sounds really cute when you talk in your mother tongue ;3 I had so much fun with the two of you, thanks for that!!
- Isa.......you're awesome!!! I can't wait to rock the festivals in summer with you together!! \(^o^)/ a friend once told me "Music can help you in any kind of difficult situation that you might face and having someone to share that music with is even better". I'm really glad that we became roommates and friends!! :D
- Krisztina, at the On-Arrival Training we didn't have much chance to get to know each other, so I'm all the more happy that now we could talk a lot more and I'm looking forward to our next meeting, maybe in Helsinki, at a concert, at a festival, in another city or anywhere else! :D :D
I could write a little something to everyone I met, but it would just be too much...
and I feel like I'm raving too much (>.<) I just want to thank everyone for making my time here such a legendary experience! Kiitos kaikille!
---------
Second, there was the training in Sopukka 2 days later! I planned to meet Elisabeth S at the bus station, but it was quite a challenge to find each other and also the place where the bus was leaving from xDD but in the end, we managed to and we immediately met some old friends as well, some that I hadn't seen for 2 days, some for more than 4 months!
Since we all knew each other and there were so many of us, the camp was different from the earlier one, but also really great and we had a lot of fun. On the On-Arrival training I didn't find time to get to know all the people, so this time I also talked to some that were still sort of strangers. For that possibility, I'm entirely grateful! I especially got to know the french girls a little better and I've already made plans with Caroline, who is also staying in Tampere, to meet more frequently now, for sauna, ice-skating and whatever comes up in our minds :D this also gave me a chance to revive my French skills again ;P it's scary how much you forget if you stop actively practicing a language.
I'm also cheerful that I could meet my concert mates Sárka and Kiveen again and we even went to a gig together after the training! NEGATIVE!! <3
Sárka, I'll make sure to come visit you in Oulu, just wait for it!! ;D and I'm looking forward to meeting you again on a concert or in any other place!
Kiveen, je suis très heureuse que tu es ici en Finlande et que j'ai pu faire ta connaissance! J'aimerais te rencontrer bientôt!!
----------
What else to say....
After dancing salsa with a Japanese, singing christmas songs with a Greek, doing "Avanto" with a Kenyan, playing UNO with a Taiwanese and headbanging with a French, I can seriously say that I want to continue this international lifestyle in any way!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)