Right now

My new camera is here! Pink and beautiful. When I received the package yesterday, there was one Snickers inside. Oh, it made me so glad! Just a small Snickers, but the amount of surprise and happiness of eating chocolate while walking outside.

Today I was showing an immigrant group around the library. People were interested, asking questions, borrowing books, smiling. Also I found something I didn't know I was looking for: Rise by Samantha James :)

More later, today card games with Sora and Minttu :)

"Oh you could tell me how you're feeling right now"

New camera incoming!

So,

soon something new :)

Bye!

So, I've been busy doing nothing. Completely nothing except knitting and sleeping and aerobiccing.

But tomorrow I'm leaving to South Korea for 2 weeks.

Photos coming later, maybe also new camera and lots of stories!

(Luckily my plane is a bit bigger than Moona's)

From grey to white

This week has been like this photo: grey, spiky, dull, gloomy. I've missed the busses, had horrible classes to teach, slept badly at nights.

But there's nothing good friends, music and food (and snow!) can't make better. Also winning the quiz for the 3rd time in a row felt like the cherry on top :) And to tell the truth, most of the 7th graders are adorable and sweet and they are happy to come to the library and ask all kinds of questions. And I'm happy to help them.

Kent's new cd Röd was released this week and today I've been mostly listening to it. It's nice to listen to the new cd's from Spotify before buying them, but it's impossible to get the same kind of experience as when you listen to the music for the first time from your own cd. I listened to Imogen Heap's new Ellipse from Spotify, but didn't find the music interesting; only until I bought Ellipse from a salesman (who sells cd's to the libraries) I really concentrated on the music at home and it was amazingly beautiful.

I'm also thinking about buying a new camera from Korea, I'd like to be able to take good photos also inside...If someone has some spesific model/brand in mind that's both good and quite cheap (and of course cheaper in Korea!) then let me know!

Last weekend I had guests as well, Tuula and hiding Nelson. It was so funny to talk about cultural differences! This time Tuula sent me a message saying if it's ok that they're coming and I said yes. In Chile that's not how people do it, they just wait for invitation and go for a visit when they're invited. So Nelson was feeling a bit awkward, because I was not the one who suggested that they could come :) Also if you invite someone to your place, you should clean and prepare dinners and lunches and be a good host. First thing Nelson thought when he came to our place was that "oh, it's so messy" :D For me that kind of formal visiting is a nightmare, because I believe the best thing you can do at your friends' place is to relax :)

But we had great time anyway, that's the main thing.

Why breakfasts in local places (ABC, different cafes etc) are so horrible? I'd love to go and eat something fresh and good if I ever miss the bus in the morning again and have to spend one hour in the centre.

Tea and knits Saturday!

FREE FOR ONE WEEK

And it means travelling around Finland and meeting relatives and friends and stuff.

Hopefully the bus isn't as retro as this one, although the colours of the seats in this bus were pretty nice :D

I also bought new memory card for my camera. Instead of 16 mb and 50 photos I now have 4 Gb and I can take 17 932 photos :D The salesman in the shop laughed when he saw my tiny 16 mb...

Enjoy August :)

People around me.

I spent 2 days in Kuopio, visited my relatives quickly. I met my uncle, 2 cousins, grandparents, mom, brother and brother's children. In the photo above is Nea, 4 years old, and that photo makes me laugh every time I see it!

Also my friend Yuki visited Kuopio, she had never been there before. Yesterday was laskiaissunnuntai, so of course we had to go sliding (I have big bruises on my legs now...) in the evening. Today, just before I ran out of battery, I took a photo of Yuki standing in front of Kuopio Cathedral.

Now I'm tired after walking around in Kuopio for 6 hours! Next time Kuopio is calling for me when it's time for Puijo skijumping world cup in 2 weeks. I can't wait!!!

Floating

It's been cloudy and gloomy outside, so I've been mostly taking photos at home. I wrote before I love to photograph shadows and lights, but now I've found a new object -> food! Apples look so good in their basket and grated swedes have just the perfect colour. I still feel uncomfortable if I have to take photos of people...I guess I need to practice tomorrow, when I'm going to a big party for exchange students (and a couple of natives!)

About music. I've always been in love with music. When I was a child, I used to made up my own songs and there are cassettes full of my singing somewhere. In elementary school my days were full of music, because I was in a music class. That meant that I played flute in 2 orchestras and of course took music lessons, too. As I got older, I gave in flute playing, because it was so boring and I didn't take it seriously enough :) I only continued it until the end of high school because our orchestra travelled abroad and I wanted to see foreign countries.

My music taste has changed radically throughout the years. In elementary and middle school I loved Roxette and Taikapeili as well as all the mainstream pop on the radio. In high school I found CMX and Kent. I still love Kent for its melancholy music and the lyrics, that got me almost perfect 97/99 points in Swedish essay on matriculation examination.

During those years my brother introduced Prodigy, Chicane and other dance music to me and I totally fell in love with Chicane's Far from the Maddening Crowds. First my brother's friend burned that cd for me and kept the original, but I liked the cd so much that I bought that original cd from him :D I'm still on that road I guess...I've been mostly listening to trance although I do have other favourites, too (Olavi Uusivirta, Ror-Shak, Sade, Rubik, Mew, Snoop Dogg, Imogen Heap, Dire Straits, Laika, Moloko to mention some).

My favourite label nowadays is Anjunabeats. You can find more information about the label from here. I came across Anjunabeats through my brother (Thank you Tommi!), who gave me the Anjunabeats Volume 2 compilation cd. I started to look around for other songs from the label and found Oceanlab's Satellite & Sky Falls Down and Smith & Pledger's Forever (A & B remix). Those are still my favourite songs, especially to sing along :D

Now I've bought all their compilation cd's and the music simply goes straight into my heart (and legs). I can't think of anything better than dark living room with this music playing loud. I remember those evenings and nights in my previous flat, when me and my flatmates used to switch off all the lights, put Anjunabeats Volume 5 on and just danced around the flat, stared out from the windows or just sat down and concentrated on the music. It's just hard to explain verbally all the emotions that arise when I listen to this music :) I even started to cry when I listened to the newest volume 6 for the first time, because it was just so extremely touching somehow!

Other favourites are for example these:
Boom Jinx feat. Thomas J Bergersen - Remember September
Paul Keeley - Paper Jet
Luminary - Amsterdam (Smith & Pledger remix)

These songs have the ability of taking me away from this moment and suddenly I feel like I can float, dance, sing, feel free :) The photo above somehow reflects that kind of feeling.

Quiz failure

I started to go to a local pub quiz last autumn, because I thought I know something. Previous months have proven me wrong. Last week we ended up first (a miracle happened for sure!) and today we dropped back to our normal place -> we were 6th.

I knew a couple of answers, about japanese food and Sarah Palin. Most of the questions were just impossible once again, but it was fun anyway. I just can't understand how someone can remember stuff like "the 5 islands on the Pacific which are under British jurisdiction"...


I really need to buy a new memory card for my camera. I took some photos today and although the quality was not very good, I could take only 10 photos :D I should also study taking photos, now I just aim and shoot and I have no idea about lights or shadows. I also feel a bit uncomfortable, when I have to take photos on public places. I seem to need more practice.



Luckily my yarns can't run away and they're very willing to appear in photos. I'm still making the second sock (the yarn keeps breaking my already dry skin) and it takes a while but at the same time I'm planning on making a top, other pair of socks and fingerless mittens.




I got lots of yarns as a christmas present and I also took part in one yarn swap before christmas. When I got home from my holidays I received a package from Italy, including local yarn (picture below), chocolate and christmas ornaments. At the same day I also received organic teas from Canada, lovely Ivan had collected them from local shops. I'm so happy to have friends :)