November

I finally got my own copies of the book I translated over summer. It's really nice to hold something that has my name in it. The book has been sold out to institutions and bookshops - both the Finnish and English language versions. Usually it's really hard for me to feel proud of myself, but this time is an exception. I know my mum'll be proud of me when she gets her copy, but I can't help wondering if Dad would be proud of me. He probably would, but I'll never know. Yesterday it was six years since he died. Every year I promise I'll start playing the guitar because I know he always wanted me to, and every year I manage not to. I listened to Layla though, hope it'll do :D

It's hard to talk about my dad. It's like people expect me to burst into tears when I talk about him, but I don't, because I didn't know him well enough. It's like I miss him through the same distance there was when he was alive. (England, Australia, quite a lot :D) The rest of the time I'm scared of other people bursting into years when I talk about him. Besides, it's hard to start a conversation that starts with the words "So, I miss my late dad.." And even if you succeed it's just a load of pity that I don't want anyway. I wanna talk about how my dad was the lead singer in a band, a genius at the guitar, drew me some brilliant cartoons and found out all different kinds of writing my name with pictures. I remember I freaked out when he brushed my hair because he had callouses from playing the guitar on his fingers. He always answered the phone "g'day stace" but never really got an australian accent that I can remember. Best of all, he came to save me when Jacqueline tried to perform brain surgery on me with a cotton bud. Thanks for that, dad.

Hope you like the book.

October

I'm going horse riding on Saturday. I haven't been for about 5 years. Wow. I hope I don't get on the horse and fall straight off the other side. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it.

Uni is fine, stuck in a routine now but only two more weeks and I get a week 'off' during which I'll write 3 essays, translate our study guide and do the delightful extra homework people insist on giving over holidays.

Thought I'd start a list of books I've read in Finnish:

For uni:
Minna Canth: Salakari

For fun/uni (but voluntarily):
Suden vuosi - Virpi Hämeen-Anttila
Raja - Riikka Pulkkinen
Häräntappoase - Anna-Leena Härkönen

In my collection:
Perijät - Virpi Hämeen-Anttila
Vanikan palat - Hannu Väisänen
Jäniksen vuosi - Arto Paasilinna
Täällä pohjantähden alla - Väinö Linna

Know that I'm getting for my birthday:
Sinuhe, egyptiläinen - Mika Waltari

Autumn

Wow, where do I start?

Well first with the most important thing, I finished the book today! :D I've been doing all these corrections to it for ages, pointing out an extra comma or full stop and then switching stuff around. And of course, everyone forgets what they've told each other and misses things and it's a bloody mess, but today I finished it and I'm gonna ship it off to the printer's on Monday!

Second I had a major stress out a couple of weeks ago because the uni was offering a practical course in Interpretation which I didn't have time for but didn't care for that, when I heard there was an entrance exam I *had* to go just to see if I'd get in. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not just a wee bit masochistic. Anyway the exam was *horrendous*! I was expecting my teacher but when I walked in there, there was a 'panel' of like 6 interpreters and a mic and everything. I thought it'd gone so-so and I spent the entire week deciding not to do it and then that I should, eventually coming to the decision NOT to when I found out I'd done really well in the exam. Then I had an extra 3 days of wondering what to do about it. Awful! At least I learnt that it's okay not to try to do everything academic. It would have been mondays and fridays from 14-18 and that would have caused some disgusting free periods (3 hours at some point) and, I expect, a mental Chernobyl. Anyway, I didn't go. And now I have time for two jobs and myself :)

The third cool thing that happened this Autumn is that our fuksis (new students) came to uni! We only got about 10 but most of them are really nice and it feels like we can be friends and not that I'm just their tutor. Still have to collect feedback from them though so my opinion might change yet :D We held the fuksiaiset (new student party) in a secret location by the name of Seurasaari and it was great fun.

Here's one of many pics http://flickr.com/photos/steisi/2850846285/

Oh yeah, and, it's my birthday soon(ish)! Whee!

Back in Helsinki, need a holiday

I'm back in Helsinki and was rather abruptly thrown back into the cycle of getting up early, going to uni and enduring the busses that take the long route through Lauttasaari. I travelled back to Helsinki on a night train from Oulu, but as usual, couldn't sleep before 2 and after that woke up every hour. My friend M (duno if she wants her name on my blog) came to stay the night so we dumped all our stuff in a taxi and went to my place. We talked all day and went to eat and shop, then came back and had a 'middle class picnic' (think brie and olives) and watched Casanova (the one with Heath Ledger). In any case I didn't sleep until 12 and M's alarm went off at 6, after which I couldn't sleep. So, about 9 hours in two days :D

This morning I had to get up and go to university to start tutoring the new students. It was nice to see who had got into uni and they all seem nice. It'd be nice to see some of them taking part in fuksiaiset, but I'm not sure. It was a bit stressful because foreigners (including myself) bring allsorts of paperwork problems with them when they arrive here and today was no exception. It's hardly surprising, you get hit with a paperwork bomb and are expected to clear up the debris yourself.

After I was done tutoring for the day I met friends from Unilang. One is from Finland and the other is Hungarian. It was great to meet them and and I'm thankful for the cherry liqueur choclates, thanks!

Tomorrow I have another long day of tutoring but A comes back from Japan tomorrow and I can't wait to see what he's brought me as a souvenir (never mind him coming back, all I'm interested in is what he got me :D) and to see the pics he took.

Zoo update

I'm so glad I went to the zoo in Ranua today. It's an arctic zoo so you won't find any elephants there or anything. I got the best picture of a bear I will possibly ever take. There it is on the right. It was really great because although there were tons of cars at the zoo, there weren't many people following the paths while we were. First we saw an otter, it was curled up in such a cute ball of fur next to its mate. It was asleep, though, and even though we came back to it after seeing all the other animals it was still asleep. Next I saw a beaver, but it was asleep too, same problem. A mink was really active and didn't seem to be afraid of people, I got some nice video footage of it. It was black, and had great looking fur (which I suppose is the fashion, since it's a mink) and it was immensely cute.

After the 'rodent house' there were owl enclosures. I got a nice pic of a snowy owl and a tawny owl, they're on my flickr if you wanna see. But there was this amazing golden eagle which had built a massive nest and was staring at the people looking at it. It was huge, I had no idea how big they actually are. I also saw hawks, waterfowl, pheasants, partridges, wild boar (they were funny :D), the bear above, wolves, a wolverine, all kinds of deer including the bambi kind, mooselets/elkettes (they weren't fully grown), foxes, musk ox and reindeer. The reindeer were just having dinner when I got there and there was a family speaking Sámi right next to them which made me laugh, it's the most stereotypical place you could find a Sámi family :)

We also got to see the polar bears being fed, there's a pic of one named Valeska on my flickr. It was funny, because the bear named Valeska was playing with a ball and trying to drown it by backflipping her head onto it. The bear she was with really didn't want to get wet and just avoided the water at all costs. There was a male bear in the next enclosure laying totally relaxed on some rocks and only woke up to go and munch an apple that the guide threw him. I didn't think they'd eat apples and oranges, I thought they just ate meat. Oh well :)

Oh, how I love The Body Shop

I had a major love fest in the Body Shop today. I came away a good few euros lighter but feeling much girlier and of course, it has the added bonus of fairtrade and whatnot. And besides, students are supposed to be poor, the balance of the universe would have been destroyed had I not bought that stuff, so I actually had an obligation..

Anyway tomorrow I am off to the zoo (yes you heard right) in Ranua. The book I translated briefly mentions it and since it's not too far because I spent the weekend in Rovaniemi I thought I'd pop by and greet some bears. I'll let you know how it went.

Have humbly decided that Facebook is okay for new socialising adventures, but still, if you actually KNOW me, please email me or something instead, 'tis much nicer than building a virtual aquarium ;)

First I have to confess: I hate Facebook. I've been sent gnomes, eggs, drinks (I don't drink, do you know me at all?! :D) and even aquariums. As I said, I don't understand it, the social pressures of adding people I don't like/care about (who I know probably hated my guts and never spoke to me but who seem to just want friend numbers) is too much.. I don't understand it and to tell the truth, it scares me a bit. So for my friends who want to keep in touch with me, here's my blog.

Summer

..is not over yet but already I've managed to help build a summer cabin and translate a book. I'm quite excited to get my name in print somewhere and it was great experience and good for my CV. The book will be printed in Autumn and it'll be called 'A winter journey to Finnish Christmas'. It's the kind of book you pick up as a souvenir, though it's probably better to buy it before you go cause it details all the stuff that's organised in Finland at Christmas, Christmas traditions here and loads about nature. Tons of brilliant glossy pictures. It's a bit cheesy though, but who goes to the land of Father Christmas and then complains about kitsch?

Helping out at the summer cabin was great, it's in a place called Lestijoki in Kannus. The only crap bit was having to use an outside loo. I'm not a fan of having the loo buzz at me when I sit on it.

I'll be travelling back to Espoo (I'm in Oulu right now) before the 25th of August because this year I volunteered to be a student tutor, I have to show all the new students ('fuksi's) around the place and then my lectures start on 2.9. I've only got about 5 courses this term, my timetable is really bare. But I'll have more translating work on the side so it's fine. Quite excited to see who'll be starting uni. I hope there's some brits coming so I can gossip about Corrie and abduct one for coffee since my best coffee person has left for France for the academic year *wail*.

Hello, world

Hello. If you're wondering what a 'unilanger' is, have a look at: www.unilang.org
If you're wondering what Frittish is, well as far as I can tell we're a rare breed. I only know 3 other British people in Finland, so if you're also Frittish, get in contact :)

If you're wondering why people can't say my name right; Finnish doesn't have a c; and in my name Finns pronounce it as k. My name also has a back vowel, 'a', which means that according to vowel harmony in Finnish the y should be replaced with a a 'u'. That's why I usually write my name on the internet as Steisi :) Don't even ask about my second name; people always ask if I'm Swedish :D

And thus spake the staku.