Monthly Archives: November 2010

Professors – good, bad, great, worse ….

Posted on November 30, 2010
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Professors, those unapproachable people who make poor students to suffer and work harder than hard for their grades.
Actually, I have had a privilege to have a bunch of brilliant professors throughout my university “career” of roughly 400 credits. But there always bad apples in the basket too. The ones who don’t want to teach but seem to do it only because their position in the faculty states so.

This fall I have been sitting on one of those miserable classes that I had to take because of my future plans. The class topic itself is more than interesting, actually fascinating. So I have been extremely frustrated and annoyed the whole semester because of professor’s tardiness and jumping from off-topic to off-topic …. Yes, indeed, off-topic.
I should have guessed this after the first lecture – professor was 45 minutes late, and then spent two classes by talking about basic Psychology theories. On a class meant for students at the end of their studies. Great.

So here I am (yes, frustrated and unmotivated – writing this entry on my class), bored out of my mind and occasionally arguing with the professor about some medical/psychiatric research topics she is misquoting.
If I hadn’t over 100% success rate on this class, I would probably have been kicked out by now. One more week.

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Bonjour! Buenos Dias! Danke Schön! God kväll! Wŏ jiào….

Posted on November 28, 2010
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Languages, oh languages!
Some time ago I was talking to someone who lives temporarily overseas, in a European country where English is not the main language. Relentlessly this person keeps avoiding opportunities to learn the local language but yet wants to learn about this culture. She does not encourage her children to learn a new language. This made me think ….

I am bilingual. Well, let me restate that. I am multilingual.

I was born in Europe where I learned my native language, Finnish, then picked up English when I started the school, followed by Swedish and German. At the university I signed up for a French class, another French class, and another ….. The French professor was incredibly hot, native French speaker — no wonder I learned the language so quickly and didn’t miss a single class. Later on I have studied a couple of other languages more. But sadly, I have lost the fluency in my native language – naturally I still can handle the small talk but anything more demanding beyond that becomes a creative mix of English, Finnish and some other languages.

If you ask from me, learning a language is a window to another culture. By speaking the local language we are able to get rid of one barrier between the cultures. Even though English is widely spoken and understood in various places, the local language always opens doors in a different way.
Or how easy it is to think about study options abroad when you also can master the language? Definitely one, big challenge less on the list.
When I worked in an international corporation for over 10 years, being able to communicate in foreign employees’ own languages definitely helped me to win their trust and create friendships a lot faster compared to ones who didn’t have the same advantage.

On my travels around the world I have had close calls and tight situations, more than enough. Being able to understand what’s happening around me gives a great confidence. Especially when traveling alone, and in places where a girl probably should never go. And lastly, language skills have blessed me with a number of friends all over the world. I have some wonderful friends in faraway corners of this globe; buddies who probably were not staying in touch if I wasn’t able to understand them – and vice versa!

Having an opportunity to live in another culture and learn a new language is something extraordinary. Something that only some of us can experience. Why not to live it up, and not to take it granted?

Maybe multilingualism is a blessing, or maybe it is a curse. But I do appreciate my skills to communicate fluently in a few languages.

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. –Nelson Mandela

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Gingerbread Time!

Posted on November 27, 2010
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Gingerbread and Peppermint Tea

Gingerbread and Peppermint Tea

I got the gingerbread cookies done this morning, together with J. While I was taking care of rolling out the dough and cut out the shapes, J was kindly looking after the oven part of our little Christmas project.

Even though I don’t really care about eating cookies, nothing beats the lovely, warm smell of freshly baked gingerbread. Another baking project in near future will be the traditional gingerbread house – one that I always make from the scratch, design a new house every year and usually burn my fingers when glueing the walls together with melted sugar.

What Christmas traditions do you and your family have?

Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies

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Food & Wine Weekend

Posted on November 27, 2010
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Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving was awesome, food was delicious and I made it through Black Friday’s shopping mania! Our Thanksgiving turkey was just perfect; my turkey roasting skills are getting better and better every year. In addition to the turkey, stuffing & gravy, we had different kinds of vegetables, cranberry chutney, pasta casserole, mashed potatoes, corn bread …..too much food but it was so very good. And all this paired with Franciscan Magnificat Vintage 2004 Red Wine, from Napa Valley, CA.

J and I are amateur wine collectors, and keep tasting new wines as often as we can. Actually one of my birthday presents from J this year was a wine refrigerator…. that little thing has been in some serious use in our household. As well as we are pretty commonly seen in wine tasting events here in Anchorage area.

***

And I have a confession to make. Before yesterday, I had never, ever been shopping on Black Friday. So I really did something new yesterday! However, as much as I love early mornings, I can’t see myself being one of the super shoppers getting up at wee hours for items to purchase. We didn’t head out until sometime closer to noon, and decided to check out some good deals at Kohl’s (good shopping), Target (nothing), REI (ok shopping), Barnes&Noble (not very good, I like amazon.com better), and finally Michael’s (nothing really) & PX (just necessities).

Shopping without a real need to find something was actually fun. We were just browsing stuff at stores, and ended up finding some neat stuff at Kohl’s. Other stores were not so much of a success. Maybe this just proves the fact that I am not that much into shopping…

The food weekend will continue today by baking. I made the gingerbread cookie dough last night, and it has been cooling in the refrigerator over night. I can’t wait to have the smell of freshly-baked gingerbread in the house. Pictures to follow later!

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And it is also Saturday – again! So time to travel around the world with Amanda & Don at “Saturday Around The World”.

Amanda & Don's "Saturday Around The World"

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Thankful for …

Posted on November 25, 2010
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Turkey is stuffed and roasting, everything for the Big Dinner seems to be under control. It is such a beautiful day here in Alaska. After miserably rainy for a couple of days it is snowing again. What a great day to celebrate Thanksgiving and relax at home. And most importantly to be thankful for the wonderful, happy life we are living.

Most of all, I am thankful for J, My Better Half. He truly is my best friend, an awesome man who makes me happy every single day, and I know I can count on him no matter what.

I am also thankful for my family – Mom&Dad and Sister. They are wonderful folks, always there for me; even though they live far, far away they always are in my heart.

I have been blessed by having awesome Friends. Great people near and far, and always ready to cherish my day. Even though life has taken some of us far away from each other, friendships haven’t vanished. I can only hope that I am as great friend to them as they are to me.

Only a couple of weeks ago I started at a new Job. Finding a new job in this economics is always a blessing, and even more when I was able to move from a nice job to wonderful job; doing something that has a meaning and makes difference. It is scary but I actually look forward to going back to work after the holiday weekend.

Over the years I have been in a few close call situations, and that truly makes me to appreciate my good Health. I feel happy, energized and am in a good shape.

This year I have been also very busy with the school – over 30 credits while working full-time hasn’t always come easy. I am grateful for having J’s support, not only encouraging me but he has cooked a number of dinners while I have been drowning in the books and trying to catch up the homework, he has been reading my papers and giving comments. I am thankful for having had an Opportunity to get my classes done, and another degree is closer and closer every day.

Our little Tassu is saving some energy for turkey feast. Napping already on Thanksgiving morning....

Our furry kids - Sandy&Tassu – are always an endless source of joy and laughter. It is weird to be thankful for pets but these little furry buddies are part of our life.

Simply, I am very grateful for my Life. Every day is such a miracle, and a reason to wake up with a big smile on my face. Even the cloudy days in my life have always had the silver linings – I would not change any single day in my life. I love my life.

Last but definitely not the least, I want to wish the Happy, Safe and Blessed Thanksgiving to You and Your Family! Enjoy the time with your loved ones – if they are not physically with you, you always carry them in your heart. And say a little prayer to our troops serving our country, and can’t make home for this holiday. Please, pray for their safe return.

Blessings to You!

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