Passport to EUROPE!!!

letting out steam

2011-03-17T14:22:00.006+02:00

"Jordan, you cannot make it for everything, you suck at everything."

I haven't had someone say this to me for a very long time. Fortunately, I was criticised for something I dont have much passion in. My reason for being here is simply to pass time and learn something new, and hopefully to love it. But because of you, your character and personality which I begin to despise, Im losing interest in things which I thought I would eventually come to love.

You probably want the best out of us, or you simply want to instil fear in us, or maybe, you want to show your authority... I thank you if your pick was number 1, but il definitely despise you for the other choices. I may be blur, lazy and playful at times, but is there really a need to treat me like a child? Are you really that mature for me? I certainly think not.

Encouraging your juniors can be done in many ways, but fishing them out one by one, putting them down in front of all the others, saying things like "you suck, you cannot make it", isnt going to do. You tell everyone "Im very straight-forward a person and I dont care how you feel." Your insensitivity wouldnt make you a very well-liked person, and you already ain't.

Your plan to instil fear in me interestingly hasn't worked, you may want to check that out. I know a personality like your's pretty well. And I expect you not to care at all, because you are probably full of yourself and we, are the lowly ones.

But I thank you for encouraging me the hard and crude way, even though with a simple polite sentence, I would have already gotten my butt moving. And I thank you for encouraging me, at the bold expense of you becoming well-disliked.

I thank you, once again.

Roughing it out again.

2011-03-05T09:56:00.003+02:00

Got enlisted into army. Seemed tough at first due to settling down in a totally interesting military environment. Its fun I must say, and I pretty much enjoyed all 9 weeks of my Basic Military Training. Then Lady Luck sat on my lap and said, "Jordan, go for the auditions and try your best to get into the SAF Music and Drama Company." I did, without any expectations at all. And then bang! One month later and here I am learning to be a host and a Hip Hop Dancer. Life in MDC is different. It actually prepares you for all the bullshit you get in the working world. It imbue valuable skills which you can use later in life!

Its extremely unfair to say that life in MDC is easy and makes you a sissy. If you think that way, then fuck you! Dont speak of something you havent experienced yet. You work out everyday, you body becomes badly sore, you work on saturdays frequently, sometimes over 8 hours, you get scolded if you are not improving, you face crowds of jeering and vulgar audiences all the time etc... Its a totally different kind of tough, its more of psychological and emotional training, especially for a person who knows nuts about dancing and hosting:) But yet again, I cant complain because im learning so much!

Time flies so quickly and I am already into my 8th Month in the army. My memories of travelling solo in eastern europe and living the lovely life in Finland is still vivid and clear. Then I think to myself, why must being in the army stop me from travelling? Thats not fair, I have the right need to fight for the things I enjoy doing, and that is my passion for travelling!

And here I now with Operation "Trio", where I plan to travel by train and bus from Bangkok's Hua Lamphong Station, to Aranya Phrathet, and then on to the notorious town of Poiphet (Cambodia), Siem Reap to see the Angkor Temples, Phnom Penh to check out the central market and Tuol Sleng Torture Museum, and finally Ho Chi Minh City for a little taste of Vietnam!

Yes, and people will start saying things like "Dont act smart, Crazy travel alone, waste money go to such lousy places." Well my perspective of travel is different, its definitely not the "all shop and eat" crap most Singaporeans often go for. Travelling solo is better because its difficult to find friends who enjoys roughing it out:(

Finally after a few weeks of getting my leave approved, my tickets are finally booked and its time for me to board the plane again to pursue my passion for travel:)

My First Post for 2010:D

2010-06-10T18:56:00.003+03:00

Yes, Im back from Finland, as I had for the past 1 year:( And then I decided to continue using this blog to remind myself the importance of having to return to Finland or nearby to stay forever:D

Though it was only about 8 months I stayed there, being alone in a faraway land certainly made me more independent, and thankful for the many things I have here; my parents, a nice home, basically everything is well taken care of.

After deciding to go against my typical "Kiasi" mentality, I bought a one way ticket to Greece, where I met many great folks like Anastasia and Muluken. Very Awesome people and I certainly do miss them till now:( I volunteerted to help out at a refugee shelter for two days, serving food to the many refugees from Africa and the Middle East. As usual, I was greeted with "curious stares" because 99% has never seen a Singaporean Chinese before:D I was pickpocketed on the metro, but had nothing in my bag, ahhhh stupid fat Pickpocket, rob a stingy Singaporean:D

Then I flew straight to Berlin, arrived too late and ended up taking the most expensive taxi trip ever ($100 Singapore Dollars). I was pissed, but thankful I got there safetly.
I met Michelle Verma (Singaporean) at the Brandenburg gate, a highly enthusiastic and successful sportsperson: She will be the host for the Swimming events for the Youth Olympics in Singapore. She was nice enough to take me around berlin, got me drunk and had me finding my way back to the hostel:D Kinda sucks when she left for Singapore a day later:(

After two nights in Berlin (One of my favourite places), I took an 9 hour bus to Warsaw, the Capital of Poland. People think im stupid: Why visit such a crappy place? Why not visit Paris/ Rome/ Milan? Point is, Im not that kind of fool to visit such places and come back to Singapore and boast to all those who havent visited, and besides, I hate the French:D jk!

Warsaw was culturally enriching. I visited the Warsaw uprising museum, where bone chilling experiences of the World War and Holocaust were documented. Never seen before footage of torture and suffering brought me to tears, really. I have to return one day:) Ate kebabs during the two days in Warsaw and made friends with the boss:) I was kinda afraid the whole time there as I really felt someone was following me, especially during the night. Not a very safe capital actually.

Upon deciding not to stay for another night (Not too tourist friendly), I managed to purchase a 14 Hour bus ticket to Latvija, the murder capital of the world ( I didnt have a choice:) Halfway through, the bus driver dragged me out of my seat and started scolding me for being in his "space". I was stunned as I didnt understand Polish. I quickly changed seats to avoid being thrown off the bus in Kaunas (Lithuania). Arrived in Riga, Spent a few hours there before catching the next bus to my dearest Estonia.

Once I arrived in Tallinn, I felt as though I arrived home:) I couldnt find my hostel and ended up in another one, where I was lucky to meet Tae Yamashita (Japanese) and Marcello Miorelli (Italian). I acted like the tour guide and took Tae to a nearby Chinese Restaurant where I ate (Bee cheng fried rice:D) We had a good time before she had to leave for Helsinki the next day...

Spent the whole day walking around the old town, and managed to get my brother loads of rare Russian Medals. Left my dearest city the next day and arrived back in Helsinki, where I was greeted with Yellow and Orange (Autumn has arrived). I returned back to Jyvaskyla and stayed with Mikael for another two nights. Before I realised it, I was already back in Singapore.

Here I am now:(:( working in a restaurant Kitchen at Holland Village, pursuing my passion of cooking, although I know il never be a chef. Life back here is tough, and I miss everyone in Finland: Anne Pekkonen, Antti Immonen, Mikko, Joni, Riku, Juho and so many more:(
I didnt manage to get into any one of the Local Unis. Apart from not being able to get in, I refused to apply because I am game on returning overseas to live my life, filled with freedom and independence:)

I was glad, VERY GLAD as the University of Manchester (Really good uni:D, offered me a place in Marketing and Management. But I hope they will allow me to defer till 2012, once my army ends. Hopefully by then, the World Still doesnt end;D

Nat is back and it feels SO GOOD to see her again, considering I havent seen her for two years, that she is one of my best and longest friend I have ever MADE:D Goota meet up with her often before she leaves and I become tied to the government:D

Jordan

Monday August 31

2009-08-31T19:51:00.002+03:00

Hello Folks!

It has been so long since ive blogged! Here are the many updates you guys have missed out:

I am blogging this post while sitting on the cold hard floor:( I have managed to sell my furniture to another Chinese guy, at double the amount I paid for:D My apartment is empty now, and it feels exactly the same as when I first shifted in... I surely going to miss this place very badly. This was where, for the first time, I learnt to live on my own, cook my own food, do my own laundry, call home in a foreign land. I never once felt like coming back to Singapore; During uncomfortable situations and crappy scenarios, Pellonreuna 2 was the first place I wanted to seek comfort and security in.

6 months flew like a bullet, and right after this post, this laptop goes into my bag and off I leave for my friend's apartment. I simply cannot believe that time flew so fast, and in a couple of weeks time, I have to restart the hectic lifestyle in my original "home" called Singapore. No more sitting in the woods admiring the trees and their colours.... No more lying on my bed appreciating the beautiful portraits in the sky... no more.... no more Youtube Marathons:D

Thank you so much Heidi and Lauri for helping me to shift all my furniture... It was demanding and tough but you cared anough to help... Kiitos paljon!

I shant talk about work. As usual, work has been great day by day: When I needed to work long hours, they gave me too many hours out of generosity... When I needed break, they gave me a whole week off:D This is another problem il have to deal with when i return to my shithole. Working at SOL was God Send. I have never had so much fun working in a crappy job. Also, the money was more than enough to pay for my Europe trip in two weeks time!

Autumn is quickly approaching... leaves are turning red and yellow... Midnight sun is far from over... the sun now rises are 5.30am and set at 8.30pm... Near 0 Degree nights are getting common. Well thats all I have to say really... feeling really low about coming back:( I think I shall put my lappie in my bag now:(

Kovski

June 25 Thursday, temp 26C

2009-06-25T13:44:00.002+03:00

Hello Folks! It has been a while since I last blogged!

A heat wave is currently over Finland. Temperatures are well over 20C but below 30s. Wow... 23C and people here say its too hot... WHAT ABOUT SINGAPORE, where people wear hoodies and jackets when the temperatures falls below 28 LOL?

Im pretty much getting back to my normal life here in Finland... When my brother came, suddenly everything about Singapore re-entered my mind: Char Kway Teow, violent thunderstorms, friends (04!!!) and family, Hokkien Mee etc etc. but it seems pretty weird that I never thought of going back! And then when he left, it felt as though I was rudely smacked back into loneliness:( I didnt want to see anyone and nearly fell into the realm of becoming an introvert! Fortunately divine intervention (God) help me get back on my feet in just under a day!!!

Well just a few good news... After having to wait for so long, Sokos finally hired me for the summer job!! I dont have to worry about stinging on food and can finally buy some stuff for myself!:D Money is really good... therefore I hope to bring some back when I return to Singapore!

just for your information... I am currently working at Fransmanni Ravintola Kitchen!! Its really really fun and exciting.... cutting all sorts of weird vegetables, fingers, making salads and if im lucky... I can even help do some cooking! Everyone seems so nice and leaving work is always the most difficult part of each day!!:)

I believe the die hard Kiasuism in me is taking its too... 0.50€ discount for a packet of Sausages, I ended up buying 5 + a whole box of chicken fillet!!:D Looks like im not going to starve anytime soon!!

And the link to my Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga photos are up! Do comment and enjoy the pics! To start, go to page 11 and see them backwards!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39725947@N08/

kovski

2009-06-08T10:53:00.010+03:00

Hello Fellow readers!!

Im finally back from what I term as "THE BEST HOLIDAY OF MY LIFE!" For most who are wondering where we (My brother and I) went, they were Helsinki, Tallinn (Estonia) and Riga (Latvija). We spent two nights in each city, soaking up the sights and buying lots of local produce and souvenirs! I shan't elaborate further as I will write out every single bit of this exciting exotic adventure to these three places, in the form of the timeline. Hopefully, you can feel the excitement we both felt during the whole journey!

May 31st Sunday
I woke up early in the morning to get my bags packed for the Express train to Helsinki, where I will meet Joshua at Helsingin Rautatieasema (Railway), who will take a bus from Vantaa Airport upon his arrival. I hurriedly packed my stuff and rushed out of my apartment, not realising that I have left my door keys inside. This literally placed me in a situation where I was "LOCKED OUT OF MY APARTMENT!" I was pissed that this had to happen on my holiday... I left for the railway station anyway as I didn't want to miss my train.

I met Martine, an Argentinian guy living in the neighbourhood. He happened to be going to Helsinki too, to do some UNICEF work. Hopped on the pretty crappy but cheap train to Tampere. Unexpectedly, the train arrived late and I only had one minute to make the dash for the next train to Helsinki. I made it fortunately and arrived Helsinki before two in the afternoon.

The Finnish summer scene is a world away from what Winter had to offer: Green trees, wild flowers springing up everywhere, sapphire blue lakes, the warm sun. The heatwave apparently pushed temperatures up all the way to near 30s! Seems like "takatalvi" isn´t coming anytime soon:D

As mentioned previously, I visited Pasila (a suburb located less than 5km from Helsingin Keskusta) a few months back for a short presentation, and therefore didn´t get the opportunity to visit Helsinki Centre. This explains why I am so excited for this trip!

Upon my arrival at the Helsinki Railway Station, it seemed as though I was thrown 200 years back; Italian renaissance styled buildings built along tree-lined cobble-stoned streets. It was BEAUTIFUL... I could live here FOREVER:D

Helsinki is interestingly different from Jyväskylä: Bustling Capital spiced up with a concoction of people from all over the globe, crowded and "happening!" I managed to check into Klaus K Hotelli, a four star stylish boutique hotel located just hundred metres from the famous Stockmann Departmental store and Kamppi (If Harrolds of London is 1st, Stockmann is top 10!!). The reception was nice enough to upgrade us to a bigger room as the housekeeping department didn´t manage to finish cleaning up the standard rooms on time!:D Waited for Joshua to arrive at Helsinki Rautatieasema. I gave him a BIG BIG HUG as I havent seen him for a long time! Helped him with his luggage, which weighed the equivalent of two tank shells, 400 bullets and four Lee Enfield rifles:D

We didn´t have time to waste! Upon settling down, we made our way to Suomenlinna, a UNESCO World heritage site (Sea Fortress) located just 15 minutes boat ride from the Helsinki Market Place. The scenery there was undescribable: Well preserved castles set along the edge of the cliff overlooking the Capital, people picnicing everywhere, birds were singing, flowers blooming... I don´t know LOL! I will let the pictures do the talking;D

Returned to Helsinki where we took a stroll along the many cobble-stoned roads before heading to one of those typical "Lebanese Pizzerias" for dinner!

On day two, we visited Linnanmäki, the Oldest and the "best" theme park in Finland. The entry pass costs us a hefty €35 per person! However, it turned out to be well worth it! We took rides that scared the shit out of us when we were young and it FELT GOOD:D We spent half a day there before visiting Hesburger (Better than Crappy Old Mcdonalds), and then back to the hotel to prepare for our trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. i was lucky not to have purchased the ferry tickets in advance as we found out that Linda Line offered high speed catamaran rides to Tallinn at only 70% of the price we would otherwise have to pay on Tallink Silja or the Viking Line!

Day three: Joshua got up very early as usual as he was suffering from a little jetlag (6am). Washed up, changed and packed out luggage for our first ever trip to the Baltic States! Breakfast at Klaus K was fantastic as usual... their cheese cake tasted DIVINE, BUT DEFINITELY NOT AS GOOD AS MY DEAREST SUPERVISOR ANNE PEKKONEN'S SUPER CREAMY CHEESE CAKE! Checked-out of the hotel and made our way to the International ferry terminal for our ride to Tallinn! Fortunately, as Estonia and Latvia are part of the Eurozone, no formal boder checks are required! The ferry was pretty decent, similar to the Bintan Resort ferries of Singapore! Seas were calm and we arrived at Tallinn in under two hours!

Just a short short intro of the Estonian Capital. Tallinn is a city of 400000+ inhabitants, with 40% of them RUSSIANS:D It has existed since Medieval times as was known as Reval. Their lingo are typically Russian and Estonian (Closely related to finnish!) We were greeted by this HUGE Brutalist style Monolith when we arrived. I have no idea what the building is for but it looked freaky:D walked a good 20 minutes before arriving at Sokos Hotell Viru, the tallest hotel in Estonia with stunning views over the Old town! Settled down, changed some Estonian Kroon and headed to the Old town!

Estonians are really interesting. A majority of them spoke only Estonian (A variation of Finnish) and Russian... This therefore made the leg of our journey challenging as we had problems trying to communicate with the locals. My bargaining skills went completely limp as it fell victim to language problems:(

The Estonian Old town is breath taking... Words itself can't do any justice to the description of the town! Again, Il let the tons of pictures do the talking:D Managed to get 10 bottles of Viru Valge (find out what that is!) for Juho.. Alcohol apparently cost half of what you pay for in Finland. Spent two nights visiting interesting places such as the torture museum, Old town square, Viru Keskus shopping mall, a typical ´Soviet style´neighbourhood (Seemed unsafe and dangerous... but it was a great experience nonetheless!), flea markets, museums and many other places!

After Tallinn, we took a 30min walk from our hotel to the Odra, where the international bus station is located. It started raining heavily (And worsened while we were in Riga, where the temperatures dipped to as low as 5C... the coldest June days in 60 YEARS!!) The bus drove through Pärnu, along the gulf of Riga... and on towards Latvija!

At first sight, Riga seemed really frightening; badly deteriorating buildings, rugged landscape, giant brutlalist styled apartments and buildings. I was thinking to myself, ´Why on earth are we here?!?!?!

Upon arrival at the Riga bus station, it seemed as though we were in Moscow! Everyone spoke Russian and looked like murderers (joking):D As Latvija, let alone Riga has a tiny asian population, it is of no surprise that everyone kept staring at us while we were walking to our hotel... I can´t blame them: I can almost safetly say that Riga has got not more than 20 Asians? lol! It certainly felt good to be getting all the attention!! We walked through the massive Central Market, and realised that our hotel was located in a badly declining neighbourhood, right in front of a church! It was nice and quiet though, and the reception was kind enough to upgrade us to a much bigger room! The view directly faced the church and it was so tranquil and amazing!

As today happened to be our birthday, we decided to treat ourselves to Japanese food... YES JAPANESE FOOD IN WHO KNOWS WHERE LOL! We ended up in a high end japanese restaurant in the middle of the old town. Interestingly, the head chef himself was japanese! The food tasted great and costs us only 4 Lats per person ( 4 x 1.5 x 2 = 12 SGD!). As it was raining and the temperatures seemed reluctant to rise, we went indoors to the Central market! Lucky for us, this period happens to be a the first harvest of the berry season after winter. Therefore 8 out of 10 stalls were selling TONS of STRAWBERRIES, BLUE BERRIES, RASPBERRIES, APRICOTS, CHERRIES ETC ETC LOL! And believe me, the air smelt sweet of all the delicious fruits! People bought them in huge baskets and sacks! We managed to get out hands on some of course...from this Russian Lady who understood my singaporean version of Russian :D

Bought some Vanilla cream before heading back to our hotel! The fruits tasted SO SWEET! There wasn´t even a sour hint! On our next day, we visited the Old town, which wasn´t as well preserved as the one in Tallinn, but still beautiful and picturesque:D Visited the gunpowder tower, where the city museum is located, ate Russian Food for Lunch (ABSOLUTELY
DELICIOUS!) It was here where I met my FIRST Russian love: Kvass! Made using roasted Rye bread, fermented with yeast, sugar, raisins, Kvass taste really interesting, with it´s own unique character and texture (Milky). I will definitely learn how to make them!

Woke up the next morning and headed to Lagalite Flea Market (Latvia's black market). We didnt manage to find as many war antique shops as we had anticipated. The flea market sold almost everything under the sun: telephone cables, computer parts, war stuff, guns, items blacksmiths use, spolit machines, bicycles etc. It was pretty interesting! After spending an hour there, we headed back to our hotel to grab our luggage and take the public bus to Lidoste Airport (16km away) We dragged our luggage for about 400m and took the public bus, which costs us 50santimus each! Soaked up some sights along the way and before we knew it, we were already at the airport waiting for our flight! It was most unfortunate that Ryanair check-in counter staff did not accept out boarding passes as they said that we had printed them wrongly. SO we had to fork out 58Lats (70€) for the new passes... Cheap rip off airlines!

But I was glad that we purchased the priority boarding passes, which allowed us to choose our own seats! Flew over Estonia, Gulf of Finland and after 55minutes, we landed safetly at Pirkkala Lentoasema (Tampere). Spent over 40min trying to look for our hotel. Got knocked out once we arrrived at our rooms!

Woke up the next morning to catch our pendolino train to Jyväskylä and that ended our exciting unforgettable trip to the Baltics! We didnt let fear get in our way ( like most traditional Singaporeans: Kiasu and Kiasi), experienced new and exotic cultures and of course, lived like the locals, learnt to take care of ourselves and be independent! I will definitely go back to Estonia as there were many things we didnt buy while we were there. Also, I plan to move further South, towards Lietuva (Lithuania) and maybe Poland etc! I really hope I can make it... but first, time to get the Hotel job! Pictures will be out soon so hang in there folks!

Kovski

Hello Readers!

2009-05-30T10:00:00.005+03:00

Wow... its so fast, I have already spent half my internship in Finland:( Ive grown to like this place, Summer is really one BIG DREAM! Friends and really nice people at work. Ahhhh! Im really stuck in this possibly typical situation as to stay in Finland in the future, or return to Singapore! When you're here, you realise how pathetic things can get in Singapore; Governance, work environment, WEATHER, lifestyle etc:(

Life seems so relaxed here and im really loving it:D In Finland, lifestyle and environment naturally leads one on to living to a ripe old age. Whereas in Singapore, Vitamins, man-made supplements, surgery, medicines, painful injections allows you to live on much longer. Healthcare in fully covered in Finland, therefore no one has to worry about falling ill or allowing loved ones to carry the burden of financial costs. It's the other way round in Singapore most unfortunately: People rather be dead once they fall ill. Welfare, Communism, or Self-sufficient? Im for welfare and communism:D

Anyway, the housekeeping part of my training is over. Im definitely going to miss Liisa (my CLOSEST working partner!) She has helped me temendously for the past two months! Its sad when she came over, thanking me for all the help ive provided her for for the past two months:...( Eeva promised to hire me from July Onwards, instead of June. Thats why I have been feeling really upset and "cheated". Whatever it is, Im going to the Population registrar Office to get my Social Security Pass to grab the job. Its weird for a guy I know, but I really love working in the housekeeping dept. Thats why I will extend my visa for another month, hopefully CMPB will grant it, as well as the Finnish Poliisi, fingers crossed yet again:)

Time or my two weeks break!:D Summer is out in full force, with next weeks temperature soaring to a high 28C. Im off to Helsinki once more for my first official holiday with my brother!! We plan to visit Suomenlinna Fortress, Stockmann, Linnanmaki theme park etc etc. We shall spend a few days there before hopping on the Tallink to Estonia, spend time in their old town... drink some Viru Valge (local spirits). Afterwhich, we'll hop on to a coach to Riga, Latvija:D I really can't wait!!

Thats all for the week folks! I will try to blog during my trip so do look back!:D

Kovski

Monday 11 May Temp 4-10C

2009-05-11T20:56:00.002+03:00

Terve to all my readers:) Apologies for not being able to blog for the past week! Nothing much really happened. It has been raining for the past few days. Fortunately, the sun is shining once more! Everyone is pretty worried about this summer season; Will it be rainy or sunny?

Anne Pekkonen (The boss of the events department, who happens to be closest to me) mentioned that the past two summers were wet and gloomy, with only a few days of sunlight within two months. It seemed like Takatalvi. Temperatures for the next few days is set to hover under ten degrees during the day and dip to a low of 0C at night. Talking about night hahahaha... I won't be able to see darkness for the next 2 months! 1130pm and the skies are still dark blue... and it stays this way all the way until 3.30am, when the sun can't wait to shoot back up into the sky!!

I have also been pretty busy planning our trip (My bro and I) to Latvija and Eesti (Estonia). Seems really exotic to a Singaporean, but these are the nearest places to Finland so there!! I just hope everything goes well as planned:)

I am beginning to like it here... Spring is great and everyone is taking things easily here. There could be a possibility of me settling down in this region in the future... fingers crossed:D

Anyway, I have been learning Suomi (finnish) on my own and with the help of my work friends... so, here's a compilation of the millions of ways to say "hi, how are you?" here goes:D:D

Moi
Hei
Terve
Morro morro
Kuinka Voit
Mitä kuuluu
Moi Moi
Hei Hei
Moika

9 Ways.... WOW:D

Kovski

May 3, Sunday temp 18C- 4C

2009-05-03T12:05:00.004+03:00

Hello readers! Apologies for not being to blog this week as many things happened! The first warm day arrived during the start of the week! Temperatures shot all the way up to 18C... So it feels like cold air con under the warm sun! The sky was clear, went cycling and lunch with Antti and Riku! They got lazy and went home while I went around Lake Jyväsjärvi for a fantastic stroll, before Janne (My neighbour and also the guy whom I met on the train), invited me over to his apartment for my very FIRST FINNISH Barbeque! Believe me, this was the BEST barbeque ive ever had, not because of the food...but the WEATHER! The feeling goes like this: Traditional wood barbeque in air-con like temperatures, with the warm heat from the stove gently rolling up your body... SENSATIONAL:D

Made a few friends, all living within 50 metres from me, and also two Chinese Nationals girls from Shanghai. As the summer vacations were coming, one of the girls was leaving for Tampere to visit her boyfriend the next day and offered to lend me her bicycle for a month. I paid her some money to borrow it but it wasn't so much. The other girl offered to sell me her bicycle as she was leaving Finland back to China, but I could only get it a month later. Went home and everything seemed so good as I finally can cycle to WORK:D So I woke up the next morning at 7.15am instead of the usual 6.45am. Just as I was about to leave for work... She called me and demanded the bicycle back!! BLOODY HELL @$%&#@$%#@&!! I was pissed beacuse I WAS LATE FOR WORK... I brought the bicycle back to her, asked for my money back and just walked off... Crappy asshole :" Never trust the Chinese.. HAH so TRUE"

Knowing that was I going to be late, I ran all the way to the bus stop for the last bus before the next one comes in an hour. I got there early, then realised that I didn't wear my belt cuz my jeans kept slipping down! I ran as fast as I could back to my apartment, inserted my key into the keyhole and IT GOT FREAKING SUCK INSIDE!!!D: I kicked the damn door, HIT IT, Cursed and swear at that piece of wood before it opened LOL:D Then I heard the bus zoom pass... I WAS PISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSED!D: Ended up late for work.... but I was glad that I wasn't THAT late because I managed to run to another bus stop to catch the bus!

I won't talk about work, other than the fact that I found an 18INCH "double-dong", a dildo in one of the rooms with blood on the sheets, shiny stockings and all LOL... And the Best Part was : Two women checked into the room WOW:D But as they say... everyting thing is NORMAL in Finland LOL!

And as Vappu (labour day) draws near, the company decided to grant me 5 days Off WOOHOO:D Met Antti, Mikko and everyone at the Town church for the annual VAPPU CELEBRATIONS:D Everyone got so pissed drunk and high... but believe me, the atmosphere was FANTASTIC!!! We went bar hopping... Mikko got pissed drunk that he didn't know who Antti was LOL! I had to walk his girlfriend back as he left her behind hahahahahah! Then I cycled home... I couldn't feel my because I felt weightless:) Made it home safetly anyway!

The next day, I joined Niko, Antti and Antero (Antti's childhood friend) for a trip to Antero's sumer cottage in laukaa, 18km away. It was a beautiful place, tranquil and all... But il stop for today as im tired after cycling around town and il continu tomorrow!! Anyway, here are the links to the much awaited pictures! Enjoy!!:D Oh yes oh yes, its 11pm as I blog but its still like "7.30pm in Singapore kinda dark!" FABULOUS!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=82197&id=621627711&ref=nf#/photo.php?pid=1912522&id=621627711

Kovski

Friday, April 24, temp 10C- 15C

2009-04-25T16:23:00.002+03:00

APRIL 24, I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS DAY IN FINLAND AS SPRING HAS FINALLY ARRIVED WOOHOO!!!:D:D Winter was beautiful and nice, and everyone said that it wasn't a bad winter as there was tons of snowfall, rather than rain! The forecast for this summer is a great one! Clear skies these past three days, shade temperature is a BEAUTIFUL 15C and its nearly 20C under the sun!! VERY CLOSE TO SINGAPORE HEAT!

People are taking off their winter jackets, the kids are coming out to play, people are stocking up on summer barbeques, the sun sets at 10pm, all the trees are budding, flowers are almost blooming everywhere, Jyvasjarvi is melting fast, theres almost no more snow left... I think Finland is ready to PARTY!! My bicycle is still screwed up... Met Earnest who wanted to sell me a bicycle but 70 Euros was steep for me, I was expecting 50 euros +.

Thats all folks! Going for a bbq with a friend living next door!!:D

Day 50-51, Mar 19-20, Temp -6 - 10C

2009-04-20T21:43:00.000+03:00

The weather these past few days was described as CRAZY! There were blizzard-like conditions for the two days, strong "gale" for the whole week...

Blizzards are really interesting here... the sky is blue and clear for a while, then suddenly in ten lightning minutes the sky becomes overcast. It then becomes really windy (gale) and chunks of snowflakes the size of your thumb starts falling like crazy! Strong wind and snow= Blizzard!! After snowing for twenty minutes the whole landscape falls back into winter scene: White! Then the clouds pass again and the sky becomes clear:D Then twenty minutes later, the sky becomes overcast and this time... it was really interesting, there was HAIL! It was the size of tiny ball bearings and the funny thing was the they were bouncing and rolling down the road:D Very interesting sight!

This is unfortunately the last winter storm before winter loses its strength and Spring comes it! The weather forecast is as follows for the next week: 4C on Tuesday, 6C, 8C, 9C, 10C, 11C, 13C for the following days. Oh yes, what a big jump! Spring is short here, only a couple of weeks! Today's temperature was already 10C under the sun! However, due to the really windy conditions, it felt like -5C.

Managed to buy some toilet paperi to wipe my ass! High quality "Lambi" on offer- at 4.40E for 12 rolls!WHAT A BARGAIN! And What I really respect is their transparent and "honest culture" in advertising ads. If the toilet roll says it feels like wool... IT DOES!! But to me it really felt like SILK:D Imagine wiping your ass with silk... HAHA MAKES YOUR DAY!:D:D And of course, those cheap ones, makes going to the bathroom an everyday hell as its as rough as sandpaper!!:...(

Work has been great as usual. Tuula the "Tomboy Aunty' found a bag full of injection syringes with blood and all... VERY CREEPY... I think she is the best person to work with!! She didnt' understand English and she speaks to me only in Finnish. Of course I have to play Pro so I always use "Joo, Kylla, Ei, Noniin" (Yes, ok, no, ok) hahahaha and other times we make actions like :make the bed action, clean the toilet action, arrange the tables action, time for lunch action etc etc + lots of weird sounds HAHHHA!!' Its eally FUN!:D

My bicycle is dead... I got fed up and left it somewhere on the street, didnt bother to find it:) Walking is better!!:D But I think its time to get another one soon! And I managed to get a job, woking at Fransmanni Ravintola Kitchen:D Im operating the dish washing machines, replenishing plates, do the bread butter etc etc." Its hectic but its definitely great FUN! Plus I have to wear a 'chef's" uniform and get paid a really handsome salary hehehehe:D I really hope I can earn my money back and lead a normal life here!!"

Oh yes Oh yes hahahah today something really funny happened!! There was a conference goin on and I was at the next room arranging tables and chairs. Once everything was done, I walked out of the room and switch the lights off! SUddenly, people in the next room were creating a commotion... Thinking they were having team building games, I walked off. Then someone came out of the room looking lost. I turned back and CRAPPPPP I accidently switched the lights off in the other conference room as it was pitched black LOLLLLLLLLLL!! I was so embarrassed and hid at one corner. When she walked back into the room, I hurriedly ran back to the room next door and switched the lights on!!! *Claps and cheers* once the lights came back on:D It was so FUNNY:D

Thats all for the week folks!!
Kovski

April 16, Day 49, temp 6C windy & clear

2009-04-16T15:16:00.000+03:00

I sent my boss a letter yesterday, requesting for training allowance. I know it is not a norm, neither is it company policy to provide exchange interns with allowances. But I tried it anyway, wrote a page long letter in English, for a boss who only understands Finnish!!:(

I got one of my work mates, Suvi-Maria to read and translate it to her. Eeva than told me that it would have been really nice to provide me with a much needed allowance, however there was a problem... I didn't have the necessary employment documents and most importantly, the tax card. A tax card is a card which states the amount of taxes the holder must pay. I didn't have that. I had nothing. Therefore today, I headed off to Keski-Suomen Verotoimisto (The tax administration) to register myself. I can gurantee that no ever Singaporean exchange student has done this before lol.... it's out of this world:D I registered myself in their database and there: I GOT IT:D.

If I were to receive salary, I have to pay 35% of my gross income. Thats TOTALLY RETARDED but its normal here as taxes are always high in a welfare state! I have gotten my tax card... Now, its up to God and the Hotel Management to determine whether to give me my salary or not... FINGER'S CROSSED PEOPLE!!:D

Kovski

Day 41- 44, Apr 10-13, Lappland

2009-04-13T10:47:00.006+03:00

Hello Folks! I am finally back from Lappland:D I had mixed reactions while I was there... It's a long long story and im going to shoot em all out anyway!!

Arrived at Jyväskylä Matkakeskus at 1.30am witing for the Lappland express bus to take me to Lappland:) Waiting can be an unnecessary torture, with windy conditions and cold weather!:...( The bus finally arrived at 3am, 1.5 hours late) Boarded the bus and realised that many people were asleep. Found one next to a Spanish Girl by the name of Maria and here I began my exciting 8 hour bus ride to Lappland!

Upon arrival, we visited the largest ice castle in the world: Lumi Linna! It didn't look as fantastic as it seemed, maybe its because the sky was overcast and it was snowing. Also, there were two or three days when the temperature went above 0C. This meant that the castle has melted a little and became dirty from black snow. I didn't want to go in because it costs a hefty 15E for s guided tour. Everyone went in and I was all alone to walk around town:) It was beautiful as the castle was located right next to the massive gulf of Bothnia. The whole sea was frozen and it was Beautiful:D I walked around the old town and by chance, managed to sneak my way into the castle hahahaha... It was really funny as I just walked in like a normal walk-in guest and confidently pass the ticketing counter! It was nice inside due to the lightings and that was it-_-. I was glad I didn't pay the 15 Euros:D Managed to make a few new friends: Rachel and Lamia from Holland, Panagiotta, Kely and Ourainia from Greece, Osman from Turkey, Joghen of Austria, Lukas and a few others from Germany! (During breakfast before the castle trip!)

It was really difficult as due to the previous experiences from the last batch of Earsmus students, I was afraid of being ignored by everyone:.....( I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN TO ME AGAIN I thought to myself. So I bravely walked towards the first group of people (The german Students) and said ," Hi my name is Jordan, may I sit with you guys?".... "Sure! Please!" was their reply. Deep inside me I felt a sense of achievement... And then we started chatting and sharing information of each other's countries. I was glad that things headed the direction I was hoping for!! Then outside the Hotel where we had our breakfast did I meet Rachel, Lamia and the wonderful Greek Girls:D

Our next stop after Kemi castle was Ranua Zoo, located in the City of Ranua. This "city" (town) is located close to the state of Lappland and it's zoo is said to be the most interesting one in Finland, as all the animals: Bears, Foxes, Birds, moose and deers all live under one roof! It didn't really interest me as Singapore zoo is still said to be one of the best in the world:D Also it costs another 15E for a guided tour = 30SGD which was ridiculous!!! Till date I have managed to save 30 Euros heheheh:) Bought lots of sweets and chocolates from the Fazer shop. Fazer is said to be one of the most delicious chocolate brands in Europe.. and I certainly have to agree with that!!

As everyone entered the zoo, I sat down with Kelly, one of the greek girls and we had a great time talking to one another:D She told me lots of things about Greece and I think il be going there after my attachment:D It seemed like a really great place!!

After about tw and a half hours of chatting, we were sent to our accomodation for the two nights... Rova-motelli... ROVA-MOTELLI... A MOTEL BY A HIGHWAY W$#%*#$%$#@!!! There was nothing surrounding the motel.. only trees!! Also, this was when a number of us encountered our first problem: Rooms. We expected a maximum of around 5-6 people per cottage. As we walked down the street, after the 5th group of students, the raminder 26+ of us wew thrown into one main cottage with only one shower area with three showers, no dividers, and a miserable toilet bowl smacked next to one of the showers, with no walls, no doors NOTHING...NOTHING!!!! The german students were quite pissed and refused to enter. I did... but after realising that it wasn't fair for me, I packed my bags and went out, together with two other swiss girls. We went off to look for our guide Katja (a russian) and complained about this unfair designation of the room. It almost turned ugly as Katja wanted the german guys and us to pay for an upgrade to a better room (400 Euros for 10 persons).. OF COURSE WE DISAGREED!!

As she spent so much time talking to her boss, who was the ASSHOLE, we had no choice but to use the Singaporean way... So I told her, " Fine... we will stay in the main cottage with 20 other GUYS, but I expect a refund for the accomodation or you will see me taking this case to the Helsinki Consumer Board.. Also I will definitely ruin the name of your travel agency, which has given us the worse kind of impression, try ME! She was kind of freaked out and had to talk to her boss again... and FINALLY, after 1 Hour of waiting, she agreed and we got the "suite cottages" Wheeeeeee;D It was large and had a very homely feel:) And finally, we have gotten more that what we have paid for!!

Had a good sleep, even though I was worried that after all the arguing, the people (apparently russians owned this motel), would come and shoot us dead and bury us in the arctic circle... interestingway to die:) Woke up and headed to Santa Claus Village:D It was a really nice place and it seemed like some set in a child's impression of winter wonderland. There were gian snowmen, candy bar sculptures, "santa" houses and playgrounds! Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to meet Santa as despite his size, I couldn't find him anywhere and taking a picture with him costs 25E bloody Euros anyway!!! Walked around and bought myself two really cute Husky dogs (toys lah... and two for only 30SGD:D

After an interesting time at Santa Village, we headed off to Ounasvaara Ski Centre. I regretted not going there as everyone had so much free fun!:...( Instead, I chose to go for the Rovaniemi City tour and visit the Arktikum Museum with the Greek girls and my new friends from Italy, which was also interesting and fun:) Were supposed to meet the huskies today but it was cancelled as the season was over... awwww. Anyway we returned back to our motel where I spent my dinner time eating and having lots of fun with the Greek girls, together with Lamia and Rachel!! We were laughing all the way even though we were not drunk LOL:D Then we played "tai-ti"= chinese poker LOL We taught them how to play it and they got really addicted hahhahaha:) I had a really great time:):) Also, Kelly occassionally behaved "serious"to try and scare us.. For instance, when she said a joke about herself and we all started laughing, she became serious and said, " Oh, you think its funny? why are you laughing? YOU THINK ITS FUNNY?" Then everyone in the room becomes sober IMMEDIATELY and we were like looking at one another and "oh shit... she's mad, we're screwed!" And then she startd laughing with all our stupid faces on LOL:D It was so funny and I really really had hell lots of fun!!

Returned to my cabin at 1am and managed to catch a really faint moment of nothern lights... It was really really faint as it was cloudy and the clouds became a little green for a moment. But I think it was good enough for me:D:D

Next morning, I arrived at breakfast late and everyone left for their rooms to pack up. I was suddenlt approached by a gay man who TOTALLY FREAKED ME OUT!!! He had his fingernails painted bright red and was wearing cog shoes!!! He did an action that almost made me burst out into laughter LOL! ( He was doing this "sweeping" motion on his right cheek and his hands stayed on the cheek) HAHAHAHAHAHA He walked over and sat next to me... I couldn't eat anything cuz I was realy freaked out hahahaha:D Worse still, I was holding a banana I bought yesterday and it was peeled and BELIEVE ME, He kept glancing at the banana and me.... He was telling me about his plans to visit Thailand and Bali ( For gay stuff I think) and when he asked me where I was from I said I came from the jungles of Malaysia... I really had too cuz if I said Singapore, my chances of getting caught and grabbed by him would be 42km by 24km, really high LOL!!:D:D

Suddenly, Panagiota and kelly (the greek girls) rushed into the restaurant and was speaking in a really anxious tone.. " OMY OMY JORDAN WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW IMMEDIATELY AS OUR BUS DRIVER IS DRIVING OFF!!! Knowing that they were trying to save me, I went " OH F*** F*** F*** WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!! Then quick as lightning I ran out of the restaurant and I believe he shouted... "REMEMBER ME!!!'"

Once outside, Panagiota and Kelly told me that they had to "OMY, Jordan is all alone and this gay man is sitting next to him... WE HAVE TO RESCUE HIM!!!" I thanked them over and over and all of us were laughing!!! Spent 6 hours on the bus going back to Jyväskylä. I gave all of them a really big big hug before I got off the bus as they were my best friends for the trip!! I missed everyone badly but it certainly felt great to be back home!! Overall the Trip to lappland was great and I truly enjoyed myself.. photos soon:D

Kovski

Day 40, April 9, temp -1 - 2C, cloudy

2009-04-09T21:16:00.000+03:00

Hello folks im back again!!

I managed to make my payments for my trip to lappland... and now here I am, waiting for my bus to come pick me up at 2 am:....( Will need to pack some food as tomorrow, being good friday, the whole country STOPS functioning!!! I certainly hope I have enough food to last me for breakfast, lunch and dinner haha:)

I will be travelling with a student group of around 30 students, both local and international and I really hope I willmake lots of friends, unlike the eramus scenarios I encountered a few weeks ago. I managed to type a letter and send it to my hotel Director, Eeva, requesting for training allowance, so FINGERS CROSSED:D

Nothing much really happened today... Perhaps il talk about some things interesting about Finland!

1) Finns LOVE Salmiakki (Liquorice)
2) Durians taste like shit to them
3) People drive 3rd hand cars here, buy things from second hand "Malls"
4) Clubbing and hitting bars is a MUST
5) Groceries amounting to 50Euros (SGD100) a week is normal.
6) It has never gone above 10C so far
7) Welfare is Highly important in this society
8) Being paid 10Euros (SGD 20) per hour for a student job is considered low... avg usually hits about 15-20 Euros per hour
9) It is not as developed as most Singaporeans like us think.
10) Pendolino high speed trains stop for only 2 minutes at stations... you better be early:)
11) You see more old people than anywhere else in the WORLD! If im not wrong Finland's popn is 30+% Elderly...
12) Pineapples are sold almost everywhere:D
13) Berries, caviar and fish are quite cheap here

I think thats about it folks... I got to go and pack my stuff!! Se ya in three days:D
kovski

30th March- 5th April, -5- 0C, Snow, Cloudy, Windy, Foggy

2009-04-08T14:24:00.004+03:00

Apologies to all my blog readers for not being able to blog for one full week!:...( Sometimes I have to work a little later than usual... visit bars with Antti, Johanna etc, perform my favourite hobby (Grocery Shopping- I never FAIL to buy something I dont need!!:D), do some exercise, laundry, iron my clothes and so on!!

This week was by far the WORST week of my life! Work was great as usual, after having known them for at least two weeks now, we are definitely starting to get comfortable with one another:) The main pathetic crap ass potato shit problems came from my dear old BICYCLE. every single darn day, this bike never cooperates. It presents me with a very unique and complex set of problems I couldnt solve.... WORST THING IS: at the WRONG TIME! Allow me to state a few examples so that I can get this boiling heat off my head!!

On Monday, I woke up early and prepared myself for work, which starts at 8 am... With my bicycle it usually takes me around 20 minutes for me to get to my workplace, and I usually leave the house at around 7.25am. While cycling to work, halfway at Kekkola neighbourhood, the chains just gave way and flew off ... IT GAVE WAY AND FLEW OFF... I stood there thinking for one minute...HOW IN BIRD'S CAGE CAN THIS CHAIN EVEN FLY OFF THE BICYCLE?!?! I was almost late for work, as I hurriedly pushed the bicycle back to my home to fix it. My hands were black and greasy when I arrived home and I was MAD!! Fortunately those Ang Moh Aunties never fail to make my day hahaha:D

I went back home... and the EXACT SAME BLOODY THING HAPPENED... I was really boiling... but having no choice, I walked and pushed the bicycle 3km back home! (I only sat on the bicycle when going downslope he he he:) As I walked, people were zooming past me on their dear old bicycles... Then I thought to myself again: WHO ON THIS PLANET PUSHES A BICYCLE INSTEAD OF CYCLE THEM!?!?!?" Arrived back home 30 minutes later then usual:( I could have killed everyone around me man!!! As i didn't know how to repair bicycles, I simply tightened some bolts and knobs. And everything was back to normal:)

On Tuesday, after work I was supposed to meet Antti for a game of badminton. Halfway while cycling to the Hospital campus, 4 kilometres away, my bicycle chains gave way AGAIN and it got stuck. It took almost 30 minutes to fix it and considering that my hands became black and greasy, I couldn’t wear my gloves and my hands were freezing! Worse still, I cycled towards the wrong direction and got lost! By the time I arrived, I was already 30 minutes and couldn’t play as a result. I felt really bad that Antti had been waiting for me, and was burning at my bicycle... so much so that it could have MELTED before me!!! I cycled all the way back with fury and OF ALL TIME AND PLACES, my rear tire punctured, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROAD! Fortunately there were no cars. I then pushed my bicycle to one corner of a block, AND KICKED THE HELLISH CRAP OUT OF IT. IVE NEVER FELT SO SHIT PISSED ALL MY LIFE!!

I was laughing myself as I walked back home as this was the unluckiest day of my LIFE! What a day, SERIOUSLY:D I was going to Helsinki the next day and I had no choice but to take the public transport:....( 6SGD just for one ride on the bus... its INSANE!!

Wednesday was a great day as I was invited by Haaga-Helia AMK to do a presentation on Singapore for the incoming exchange students. Guess what happened???:) The public bus didnt come on time... my train was at 7.30am... and the bus only arrived at 7.20am...I arrived at 7.35am... The train left... I guess you get the point! Fortunately I met one guy who happened to have missed the same train as I did! His name was Jenne. He lived just next block to mine and we had great fun chit-chatting on the train.

As this was my first train ride to Helsinki. It was definitely one Hell of a ride:D The trains were travelling at at least 120km/hr and I managed to stop by at a few cities, notably Tampere! The scenery was beautiful and GORGEOUS! And it became warmer as I approached Helsinki (further south). Arrived at Pasila station three hours later!

The presentation went all well, as I was helped by an Eurasian Girl called Stella. We clicked almost immediately as we started communicating in Singlish! At first I thought she was Finnish... then she said,"You from Singapore arh??" It sure was great fun! Managed to arrive home by night fall to join Antti and Riku for dinner at a pizzeria. Arrived home at 11pm.

I had to take the bus to work the next day. After work, I walked 10 kilometres to Prisma Supermarket to buy a new rear tire and tube I was thinking about the bicycle melting down and being thrown into the lake of fire as I walked. Managed to purchase my bicycle tube and walked another 3 kilometres back home to realize that I had purchased the wrong type...¤%&?!#%&%!?!&%&!??#%¤... Fortunately, Jaakko, the great guy who gave me his bicycle, came over to help me! He was nice enough to drive me back to the supermarket and we had to purchase a new tire as the old ones were in serious condition. We nearly got ripped off by one guy who tried to sell us a 17 Euro tire. As it was way beyond my budget, we took a gamble and purchased a 6 Euro tire… and it Fitted PERFECTLY!! It was tough work as we had to fix the thing under freezing rain. I owe Jaakko one big favour! He saved me from the killing transport costs and lots of time!

Cycled to work again the next day... AND ANOTHER NEW DAMN PROBLEM!! THE PEDALS GOT STUCK EVERYTIME I STEPPED ON IT... And AGAIN... for the 4th TIME, I had to push my bicycle and walk to work:(:(:( ...... and BACK!! For almost the past week, I arrived at my work place ANGRY... and arrive back HOME FUMING... Fortunately the problem is solved for now... But I certainly hope this bicycle wont give me any problem in the future:(

Also... Considering the expensive rental of apartments + grocery costs here. I have written a letter to my manager Eeva for a training allowance... I certainly hope she will grant me the money:) Fingers crossed people!!!

That’s all for week 5. Spring is definitely as 90% of the snow has melted away, really quickly! Im definitely looking forward to summer! Oh yes oh yes... I have a small little box on my balcony for little birds to grab a bite... I have placed grapes... leftover bread... (all expired) into the box and they seemed to LOVEEEEE IT:) as they always disappear so fast... even bread slices the size of my PALM!! Then I realised who the greedy rude culprit was... Some HUGE flying penguin bird has been grabbing all the food and leaving those poor hummingbirds with nothing... SO RUDEEE!! But if im not wrong... that bird lives just one tree away and has little kids... so i think its all cool:D I also believe this bird is the national bird of Finland... so better give way if not it will bite me hehehehe!! Thats all folks... And OH YES OH YES.... Im going to lappland this Friday... Northern Lights and Santa Claus Village here I COME:D

Kovski

Day 30, Mar 29, Temp -4 - 0C Lots of Snow!

2009-03-29T17:21:00.005+03:00

Last night was the Best Night I had in Finland!! Met Antti and his close friend Joni (A great and funny "gay" guy LOL jk) at 6pm. We then hanged out at Antti's house playing card games and watching a very weird episode of the sequel "doll house". We started drinking cider and other stuffs and were having fun!:) I have to admit that I am in LOVE with Cider because they taste so GOOD!! I had tasted Pear, Pineapple, Apple, Cherry and Blue fruits and they are all FANTASTIC:D It tastes like a very fruity version of beer, absolutely my kind haha:)

Halfway Mikko popped in to join us for the night! He had just attended a party so i believed him to be a little tipsy already haha! Yeah usually people become violent when they are drunk but MIkko is otherwise: He becomes "gay" LOL! But they all say its how things work in Finland :D

I managed to taste their local liquor: Salmiakki (Liquorice), Lakka (Cloudberry), Minttu Vodka (Mint vodka), their local beers such as Karhu III and another brand which I have forgotten, Greppi Long Drink and of course not forgetting my CIDERS:D You may be thinking... Wah lao drink so much sure drunk one lah!! Well No worries, I was High but I certainly wasn't DRUNK! I know my limits one! However, I just kept going to the toilet cuz ya know... drinking.. liquids... pee... LOL:D

Then at around 1030pm we headed off to the Pedestrian Street where all the bars and clubs are located at! We arrived at the first one and there I met Mikko's Girls: Hanna (Girlfriend) and Aino (Sister) All of them are great people to talk to and they sure can joke! Also, I managed to meet the Trio's close friend Sanna Koskela. She is a nice person and she had apparently been to Singapore and is the first person I know who doesn't like that place LOL:) She's dead!

Coincidently, We met the group of exchange students from the University where this Thai guy hugged me LOL!! He wasn't there but his friends were. It was nice to see your own kind there sometimes hahaha! After spending about an hour, we hopped to another bar by the name of "Memphis" where Karaoke (Public) is avaliable lol! It was a lively atmosphere and I managed to catch one long drink there before security chased all of us out as they were about to close!!:(

All of us were high and excited! I didn't even get the chance to say bye to Mikko and the rest and Antti carried m on his shoulders and walked away and I was like,"ehhhhhh....ehhhhhhh...ehhhhhh" I don't know what that was, but it sounded like I had asthma LOL:D Joni, Antti and I then walked over to a nearby takeaway grill when Antti suddenly slipped on ice and fell LOL:D He laid on the ground whinning while I performed CPR to revive him haha! And then it started to snow very heavily but fortunately we were on our way back to Antti's house as it was too far for me to cycle back to Kuokkala! We ate supper and then Joni and Antti went to bed (On the same bed LOL) It seemed really gay as they were sleeping without their trousers on (only in underwear) hahahaha:) But its normal as it warms up the bed quickly!!

It was definitely a night to remember and it's also certainly not the last:D Im feeling a little weird (I think its a mild hangover) but I definitely enjoyed myself:D Cheers Folks... and Oh yah, Today is officially the start of daylight saving time for Finland so everyone must switch their watches to +1 hour... how interesting:D This means that the sun will rise andset one hour later!! This is done to moderate the irregular sun patterns here! Ok se ya again!

Anyway here is the link for the pictures taken last night:D Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=75292&id=621627711&ref=mf

Kovski

Day 19, Mar 28, Temp -2 - -15C

2009-03-28T09:25:00.004+02:00

Its supposed to be almost Spring, and the temperature is supposed to get warmer, but why the heck are temperatures still dropping?!?!?! Hahahahaha. Cycling to work is much more difficult because the air is thin and your face is freezing lol. But Antti and my work mates all said that it usually drops so much as Spring is trying to fight for their days while mighty winter simply wont give up!!:D But I think Spring has lost its cool, and winter is finally losing HAHAHAHA:D

Day are getting longer, today the sun rose at 5am, an today it will be setting at 8+pm already:D This means I can stay out longer!! Anyway, this week has been a great week!! I was supposed to attend one of the exchange students gathering at "shaker", a cocktail bar, but last minute everyone couldn't make it so it was cancelled!

On day 26, I was attached to another work mate by the name if Maija (Mai-e-ya), And she turned out to be the sister of Liisa:D Maija is more out-going and is comfortable speaking in English so I didn't have any problems interacting with her at all:) She was relatively new as compared to her sister so we had so much fun woking together, trying to figure out what drinks had been taken from the minibar of each room, what rooms to clean etc etc!!:) Ended work at 1.30pm. I then went to meet Antti as he needed to go to Rajakatu (The biggest campus) to do some administrative stuff pertaining to his attachment in Singapore, and then have lunch there!! I sincerely think he is a good host here, although sometimes he doesn't know what he's doing hahahhahaha:D We went to Rajakatu to find out it was close, so was the cafeteria!! Crap, we then walked back to Keskusta and popped in to one of their fantastic pizzerias for pizza! 5.50 Euros for a meal that will last you THREE Full meals is a great deal!!:D We chit-chatted, then went to get my ice skates sharpened for 6 Euros, then off we went back to our apartments!!

Day 27, was another great day!! As usual, went to work to meet Maija, and another girl by the name of Suvi-Maria joined us! She spoke good English, and looked absolutely GORGEOUS hahahahaaaha:) She approached me to say hi and then we introduced ourselves! And then she said, " Im studying a psychology degree, so I know what you're thinking hehe:D It was a cheeky statement for the first time we met, but I melted away hahhahahahaha:D After work, I went back home, settled down and went to meet Antti AGAIN HAHAHAAHHA:)

He invited me over to his house for dinner, and then went to S-market to get some items that he claims will make me a MAN LOL:D Hahahaha Aiyah ayah before you start thinking wrongly, its not SEX hor!! Its just lots of Cider as thats what people drink here everyday hahaha! We walked down the beverage aisle and that guy just took and threw it into the basket... "Wow this one if good, you must try! Hmmmm this is not bad either, lets get both!! And Oh Oh Oh, You Must try this one, its goooooooooddddddddd!:D He was being a "man-maker" LOL!! By the time we headed back to the cashier, the amount of Cider we bought was ridiculous haha! Trust me... it was way too much for a Singaporean. But no worries, especially to my parents who are probably dead-worried I may get drunk and people will "spike" my drink, don't worry, I know my LIMITS!! And these people are not drinking hooligans, drinking here is a way of life and to get to meet people!

Then popped over to his house for dinner lol! I can see why Antti looks unhealthy hahaha! While the potato wedges and chicken were grilling in the oven, we had lots of sweets and potato chips as appetizers LOL:D But the meal was good and I enjoyed it very much!! We then watched the movie "taken"... Quite a thriller! And Antti switched the lights off and dimmed it until it had a totally different meaning LOL:D

Plans for today, get as much sleep as possible, then meeting Mikko, Antti and their friends for a night out Hoorah:D Se ya folks!

Kovski

Day 25, March 24, temp: -4C- -12C windy

2009-03-24T20:35:00.002+02:00

Hello Folks!! Sorry I didn't blog yesterday as I was tired from work, though it was only a few hours! I will merge two days of posts as nothing much happened yesterday apart from work!!:D
And oh, yesterday's weather was -11C, bloody cold for March!

This morning, I woke up at 6.15am, made meself beakfast and then cycled off to work! As mentioned, it was freezing this morning and there were snow flurries... this made cycling hard as hell!! As the morning was windy, I couldn't understand why I was cycling against the wind + snow all the time!!! It was painful as the snow flakes hit me in the face like thousands of Gilette Mach 3 turbo razors slicing me up, it hurt pretty badly and I kept "squeezing/ crunching" my face to strain my face lol!!' By the time I arrived at my work place, my whoe face was so hard, I couldn't even SMILE!!!

But at least my face didn't become the grand canyon! I started my second day of work and met my two work buddies, Liisa and Heidi! They were both really fantastic people and were making weird "sounds" all the time haha! At first I thought they were students as they looked really young, but in actual fact they are working adults! As I will be in the housekeeping department for a few weeks, I look forward to working with them:) They are smiling all the time and never failed to answer my questions. At the end of the day, they gave me all the cans and bottles they found for recycling!!:D Over here in Finland, cans and bottles are money. One normal coke can can get you a 30cents cash back. a normal 500ml bottle can get you 40 cents singapore and one 1.5L bottle = 80 cents singapore! So yesterday from all the cans and bottles they gave me, I managed to get over 5 Euros cash in return:D

As I was promised one free meal a day, I had this impression that I would me given normal staff meals... And it turned out wrong, the manager of F&B (I forgotten his name but he is a really great guy!!) asked me what I would like for lunch, and the food items came from the menu itself!!! IT WAS FANTASTIC AND DELICIOUS:D

I start work at 8am and usually by 2pm im OFF:D Sometimes when we finish cleaning the rooms asigned early, I can even leave at 12nn!!! Its fantastic but im certainly hoping they will give me an allowance!

I then met Mikko and Antti today after work. We went Ice-skating and hockey LOL:D As I know nuts about ice hockey, I fell on my ass all the time:D But I give it up to Mikko and Antti who are fantastic players! But things got a little boring as they were playing among themselves hahahaha:D And Antti said I needed to sharpen my ice skates as I kept slipping all the time:D

Thats all folks for these two days, im definitely lookig forward for work tomorrow:D

Kovski

Day 23, Mar 22 Temp: -2C- -9C

2009-03-22T17:34:00.002+02:00

Hellooooo People!! Its me once again! Hahhhhhh im soooo Happy because I managed to go ice skating today. (Anyway I realised that there's an ice skating rink just behind my apartment... All these while i had been cycling 3km to Lake Jyvasjarvi just to skate:( Anyway I had the ice skating rink to myself today so I made full use of it to learn how to ice skate:D

While skating, I had this terrible phobia to fall on the ice:....( This morning I went online to try to teach myself how to ice skate and I came across thsi website on Ice-skating injuries. It said, " We had create this site to remind all ice-skaters on the danger of ice skating". In there, it had gross pictures of bones jutting out of flesh, X-rays of people's broken legs and wrists, horrific gory bruises and cuts... Man it was like SAW VI!!! Anyway, taking advantage of this sunny beautiful weather, I made my way out onto the skating rink!

I tried really hard for a couple of minutes... then I realised, "Jordan you must fall down onto the ice then you won't be afraid of it... ARE YOU BARKING MAD ASSHOLE?!?! What if you fall... get back up and then HEY My left leg is shorter then my right one.. and then OHHHHH I Lost my LEFT FOOT and Left Shoe!" Hahahahahaha what a Joke! Anyway, that was exactly what I DID!

In the most unnatural way, I fell forward!! And I always think that my hands were made of sand paper so if I used them to break my fall, I wouldn't fall flat on my FACE!! Ohhhhh Boy I was sooooo Wrong! When I fell, I threw my hands forward onto the ice and then "ahhhhhhh my hands slided against the ice like some salami sausage and I fell on my chest!!! Well it didn't seem so bad did it?!?! hahha but that wasn't the worse part... the worse part came when I started sliding across the rink... "Wahhhhhhh... here I went from Point A to B!!!" My vision was spinning and I went FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK during my journey haha! Pardon my vulgarities... I was frightened!

But I SURVIVED and started to have GUTS!:D And I think ive become "better (Didn't fall accidently, became more stable)" this time round with those ice hockey skates... but faster practice some more if not all the ice will be melting soon:.....(

Anyway, after skating for 2.5 hours, I made my way back home. Im not sure if im lucky or what but today is officially "dog shit day for me!" Why? Cuz never in my "happening" life have I ever EVER seen two different dogs shitting in front of me!! It may seem normal to dog owners but certainly not me!! While taking a break on the rink... this starhub dog ran towards my direction until he was a couple of metres in front of me... Then he aimed his ass.... "I stared on with my mouth open don't ask me why"... and everything suddenly slowed down as I blinked my eye.... "Bbbbbllllliiiiiinnnnnnnkkkkkkk" Once I regained my vision, that long piece of biohotdog just flowed out of his ass.... It was gross so I took a snow ball and snowballed the dog, he was SO RUDE!! Hahahahaahahaha

The other one was a bulldog and it was just as gross... But I didn't snowballed it's ass as he was Mr BuLL dog... Mr starhub was more fun to bully hahahaha!

That was all that happened today!! Anyway, newspaper say to +5min to yout sunset and minus 5 min from sunrise, this means that night is getting shorter!!! And I have to gear myself up as from tonight onwards the temperature will plummet to -13 for a few days.... Ahhh good luck to me!!

Kovski

Day 21, Mar 20, temp: -12C- 8C cloudy and windy

2009-03-20T19:34:00.000+02:00

Today's weather was really really weird!! I woke up this morning... the sun was up, then I realised that it was only 5.30am!!!! Yeah the midnight sun is on its way now alright.. So I went back to sleep and made sure I woke up at 8!:)

Went to a supermarket called "minimani" and "inter-sport" Departmental store to look for my exercise wear.. if not im really going to be stuck at home growing plummer by the minute:D Couldn't find anything much as things cost the same as in Singapore, only they are in Euros!!:....(

Minimani is a moderate scale supermarket, and I came to found out that they sell the CHEAPEST PICK AND MIX IN TOWN, only 60 cents Singapore per one hundred Grams!! I couldn't resist buying so I looted 1kg full of Chocolates Home:D Arrhhhh Chocolates and Candy are cheaper than meals here lol!! Bought chicken today... it was on offer at 800gm for 5 Euros (SGD$10). Bought a few hangers to hang my clothes and then cycled back home!! I couldn't understand why I was sweating mad when I was cycling home, then I realised that the temperature had shot up all the way to 8C!!! 8C people, this was really WEIRD! Just this morning the temperature was a ridiculous low of -12, and a few hours later it was freaking 8C lol... But it was pleasant and the breeze felt really nice:D ha ha ha. and I heard there is a drought and frequent searing heat in Orlando right now. Ahhhh I feel so BLESSED LOL:D

Tried to ice skate today so I brought my skates along. However I was surprised when I got to Lake Jyvasjarvi as there was not a single soul there!! I was happy at first but suspected that the ice could be thinning because of 8C... So i carefully went to the jetty and made my first step onto the ice annnddddd... it felt good! The ice was smooth and the conditioned seemed good enough to ice-skate! I carried on walking, gained confidence and was convinced that I could ice-skate as I took each step down the rink. Then LO AND BEHOLD there was this FREAKING LOUD CRACK SOUND BELOW MY FEET!! I was like "F*** F*** F888!!!' Having watched movies of people falling into the icy waters, I turned slowly and made my way back to the jetty... step by step, "Oh man you're too young to DIE, you have a long way ahead of .. Ah I made it safetly haha!!" It was a freaky experience but I certainly hope to return to ice-skate soon:)

Thats all folks! And oh yah... I got my results back! It was nerve wrecking... when I saw the result on my email..." WHAT THE F*** OH MAN OH MAN!!!!" I won't put down my results here... but this was definitely the best results since my two years in poly hahahaha:D

Kovski!

Day 18 & 19, Mar 17, 18 Temp: 2 & -9C

2009-03-19T09:04:00.002+02:00

Day 18

Hello Folks! Im sorry for not being able to blog these two days as I had to attend to a number of events... Most importantly my interview! While I was halfway chatting with Vivian two days ago, I received a phonecall from my Job coordinator Susanna, " Hi Jordan, its me Susannsa... are you still at your apartment?" INSTANTLY I knew I read the time wrongly... so I said," Oh man, I read the time wrongly didn't I? It was supposed to be 12.40pm instead of 1.40pm?" And she replied," Nooooo its me im sorry. I gave you the wrong timing to come. Will it be possible if you get your ass (I added this in) here in 15 minutes?" "15 MINUTES TIME?!?!! Ok ok Il be there but il be a little late!!"

And there I went rushing... I got changed in 5 minutes (I usually take 15 minutes because of all the winter clothes and all) and cycled my ass down to Sokos Alexandra Hotel. Arrived a couple of minutes late and managed to meet Susanna and the Director of Housekeeping, I think her name was Anna. Anna knew little English so Susanna was there to translate. She seemed like a pretty nice lady and the environment seemed cosy and comfortable, even though it is the largest hotel in Jyvaskyla and they had a high standard of service.... The most fortunate thing is that I won't be stuck in Houskeeping, or duelling dragons/ merchandising like the previous few students who came and are in USA HA.HA. Considering my previous work background, they are able to rotate me around the hotel departments so il be doing Meeting and Conferences as well as Food and Beverage!! Il be starting this coming Monday and im really looking forward to this!!

I didn't manage to meet Antti as I was supposed crash his lecture and I missed it... So I cycled all the way to Prisma at Keljonkeskus to do some grocery shopping. Anyway, I have grown so addicted to yoghurt (They are very cheap and delicious) that im eating them almost everyday!! I bought a particular brand of Bananas and they SUCK (Rotted in two days). Therefore im changing to my alternative choice of fruits to..... erm.... CHOCOLATES as they are way cheaper than a few hundred grams of bananas lol:D Nahhhh I think il stick to better brands of bananas (Del Monte kind haha:)

What they sell at Prisma is comparable to Walmart, just that you pay everything in Euros!! And I finally realise the difference between white eggs and the brown ones!! Antti said that the White eggs came from the European Chickens and the brown one we usually eat in Singapore comes from the "nigger" chickens LOL, he's racist boy!! Today was also the first time I saw large frozen prawns on sale and was really tempted to buy. But I was afraid they would cost me 50 Euros... which is common here!!

Anyway, I cycled back home after doing my "almost-daily-grocery-shopping" and that was the end of Day 18!

Day 19
I met Antti today and we went to the Jyvaskylan University (A really cool campus) for lunch. I was almost on time when halfway up Kuokkalan bridge, my bicycle chains just fell out!!!! I was going to be late for sure... SO I did something I swear il never do it again... I took off my gloves and tried to fix the chains. This got my whole hands filled with muddy oily grease. Worse thing was that the chains still failed!!! Frustrated already, I pushed the bicycle all the way to then campus which was one one kilometre away! By the time I arrived, I couldn't feel both my hands so I ran to the toilet and soaked it under really really hot water... Was it successful? Hmmm, Im still typing with BOTH my hands so what do you think LOL?:D

We went for lunch, then afterwards randomly met a few guys from Thailand, South Korea and USA. They seemed really friendly but the Guy from Thailand was slightly tipsy as he drank too much to keep himself warm LOL:D And he got really EXCITED When I told him I was from Singapore and he went," OHHHHHHH AHHHHHHH, YOU ARE REALLY FROM SINGAPORE?!?!? HEY BROTHER COME HERE!!!! *AND WE HUGGED* And then we started talking about some local stuff and the other two guys were also great! And the American went, "Wow.... ************************************************************!!!" Don't worry, those weren't vulgurities but a series of interesting things foreigners say about us Singaporeans LOL! I will put them all on a list later!

Antti then took me around town on bicycle and we went shopping at the Pedestrian stree AGAIN! Somehow I have a feeling that Antti has some "Singaporean Auntie mentality in him LOL:D" We entered Sokos, the most expensive departmental store in town. And then I asked him," Why are you shopping here?! Things are so expensive here!!!" And then he took me further in and there was this GIANT Clearance sale where things were going for "10 for 2 EUROS" kind!!! I was laughing all the time as we were the only two guys in that whole area LOL:D Bu it was great fun!! I bought five tubes of toothpaste that will probably last me 3 World Wars and two large bottles of Dove Body soap hahaha! And Antti bought shampoo and body stuffs and took me to the hair care area where he showed me the shampoo he used... IT COSTS BLOODY 30+ EUROS!!! THAT WAS MADNESS! It was some dsigner shampoo that certainly didn't do his hair much good LOL jk!

They actually had plans to go out that evening but I think they needed to spend time with their girlfriends having left them for 6 months lol... Passionate Nights:D Thats all folks! Will blog again sooon!

Kovski

Day 17, Mar 1, Temp: 0-1C, Snow and Wind

2009-03-16T21:48:00.005+02:00

Its snowing again... Just yesterday everything was melting and I could see the surface of the roads (Cycling was much much much easier!!!) And it only took two hours of snow for eveything to be covered again!!:...( But its nice and "mysterious". Everytime when it snows everything around me seems so silent and Serene:D Unfortunately, this means that I have to cycle on ice- kacang tomorrow:(

Today's Happenings:

I had to cycle 11km to school again today! It seemed as though I was going to cycle 1100km because of all the snow and ice on the floor. Fortunately, I left home in the morning at 9am and not everything was melting yet!!:)

I made it to school and realised that my attachment coordinator, Susanna had cnacelled the meeting as she had an obligatory meeting to attend to.... A WASTED TRIP!!!! It wasn't anyones fault as Susanna had tried her best ot contact me but was given the wrong number:( Anyway as I walked to my bicycle to prepare to cycle to Keskusta, I found 2 Euros on the floor Hehehehehe!!! That paid for my lunch and left me happy the whole day LOL:D "WHO THE HECK WILL DROP $4 HERE IN SINGAPORE?!!?!" I was reminded of an incident of an old auntie in Choa Chu Kang running after $2 across the road....$2 DOLLARS AND PEOPLE WERE WILLING TO RISK THEIR LIVES AIYOHHHHH!!"

I finally managed to meet Antti, who was badly burnt in Bali and he looked different (maybe because he was in his winter clothings and all haha) We went to attend a lecture on "Overseas living"... arrived there and it turned out to be tomorrow lol:) Took a short walk to Keskusta where Antti needed to buy some stuffs for is phone, and kept boasting about the departmental store "Anttila" (Similar to John Little in Singapore) that it was named after him LOL!! SO LAME:D:D

We did some grocery shopping at S-market before heading to his apartment for a tour... It was really nice, Exactly like a condominium unit... It was Fantastic:) I tried some weird dessert which apparently tasted Really Good!! Its like Milk Pudding with (Strawberry+raspberry+cranberry) Mixed jam YUM-MMY!! We left at aroud 5 plus as he needed to attend a lecture!

Went to S-market (The one in my neighbourhood) and spotted another dog (Starhub dog) being strapped to a lamp post... He was shivering badly!!! But I had seen the exactly same dog for the second time and knew exactly how he took revenge on his owner: He peed repeatedly on the handle and strap till it was soaked with his pee HAHAHAHAHAHA!! He did it three times in 2 minutes as I stood there and watch!! And the owner merrily walked out and grabbed the handle with her bare hands!!:) It was really funny... It was Doggy revenge hehe:D

Thats all for today folks! Tomorrow will be my job interview and I certainly hope they will give me an allowance to cover my expenses.. Fingers Crossed!!:D

Näkemiin,
Kovski

Day 15,14 March, Temp: 3C, cloudy

2009-03-15T18:58:00.003+02:00

Im sorry guys I didn't managed to blog yesterday!! Only one major event happened yesterday: I ice-skated in FINLAND FOR THE FIRST TIME:D Hehe it was certainly an adventure, AT LEAST FOR A TROPICAL GUY LIKE ME:D (I KNOW YOU WERE GOING TO SAY SOMETHING NAT I KNOW IT!!! hehe:D) I didn't manage to take any pictures, YOU KNOW WHY!

But ice-skating brought me another surprise:) It gave me many opportunities to interact with the Finns:) Its true they look cold and don't smile very much. However, I tried greeting them and SUCCESS:D Every single person I greeted never failed to greet back with a Big Fat Smile!!! It was good feeling baby! Today's church was really interesting, I believe it to be a combined service. The elderly was performing song items and a traditional finnish dance (I believe) that was really interesting!! Heres the clip:D

Its really interesting to see the wide variety of Christian denomination practices. Lutheran was certainly a more personal and lively approach to christianity:D Love the service!

I went back after church, managed to clean the whole apartment and tidied my room. Next I picked up my ice skates and headed for the lake... To my disappointment, the lake was pretty crowded with people. Being a really bad skater, I felt really embarassed to step onto the rink... It was really weird but ive never felt like this before, maybe its because I was tired and alone hahaha:D Anyway I managed to catch some exercise by cycling to and from the lake back to my apartment!

Thats all folks for this great week! I hope things get better when Antti and Mikko comes back hehe! Il upload more pictures soon onto to facebook so do look back!!

Loving the Cold,

Kovski!

Day 14, 13 March 09, Temp: 0-1C, Cloudy

2009-03-13T21:42:00.002+02:00

Good day everyone!! I made a very interesting observation today:) From Day one I arrived in Finland, I managed to see the Sun for two out of the 14 days! Its gloomy almost everyday and it has snowed 10 out of the total 14 days!! Spring seems to be on its way now and the temperature finally crosses over to 1C.

Just yesterday night, Johanna my buddy messaged me! She was apparently suffering from the "worst hangover of her life" after attending a fairwell Erasmus party for the European Union Students! "So have you studied for tomorrow's test?" And then I replied, "What test?!" One second later, "OH CRAP THE FINNISH HYGIENE TEST!!! I TOTALLY FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT IT!!" Fortunately Johanna Reminded me if not I wouldn't have this morning to study! I cycled 8km to the School of Business and found out that all their "safety and hygiene handbooks" were on loan.

Realising this, I had no choice but to cycle another 8km to the other side of town (the hospital campus) to borrow the book. Fortunately, it was downhill all the way so it took me only 30 minutes. Managed to study for 90minutes before making my way back... Of course coming back to the Business campus was One Hell of a HORRIBLE RIDE! It was Uphill all the way and thus took me almost an hour!! I spent 80% of my journey on foot trying to push my bicycle uphill!:.....( Fortunately I made it on time and completed the test!!

Met Sudin at Gummeruksenkatu as he wanted to buy a pair of skates! I have finally found a skating buddy!!:D Unfortunately he couldn't find the size for his feet. So I agreed to meet him tomorrow and we shall go back to Sepalakangas to find his skates!!:D I shall take pictures of the whole place so do check back:D

Anyway heres the link to the pictures I took during my trip to Pereunka Resort!! Enjoy:D For those who have seen snow before, or living in a wintry environment: "SHUT YOUR YAP!" lol:D Im kidding only!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=72328&id=621627711&ref=nf

Thats all folks!!
Kovski

Day 13, 12 March, temp: 0C, Cloudy

2009-03-12T19:44:00.003+02:00

Well time seems to fly really really fast!! Its the 13th day already! Im not sure whether its a good or bad thing... It is good of course as I miss my family and friends, and Singapore Food:D

I cycled to the neighbourhood of Sepäläkangas, 11km from my apartment. This is the place where all the Gigantic Supermarkets, Electronic stores, Furniture, Motor and Vehicular Megastores are located. It was a pleasant ride:) The snow was melting so everything was kind of slushy, not very easy going:(

Today's Objectives:
1) Purchase an iron
2) Purchase a pair or ice skates
3) DONT BUY ANYMORE CHOCOLATES
4) Pay this month's rent
5) Come back before 3pm!

Managed to get to Nordea Bank by 10.30am. All their ATMs were in Finnish so I sought help from this counter lady who was kind enough to help me! They didn't have any "cash deposit machines" like what we have in Singapore, so I had to deposit my money over the counter!

Everything was settled an hour later. Now came the exciting part of today's itinery: 2nd hand store hunting!!! It is said that most European and American countries are famous for their 2nd hand stores... Having heard of this, I decided to check out some of the stores within Keskusta and Sepälä! Managed to locate one near the bank, along Gummeruksenkatu. Here I had my first surprise!! 2nd hand ice skates were going for 2 EUROS ONLY!!! It was Unbelievable!!! One of my principal lecturer told me that winter sports items are way cheaper than summer wear here in Finland, and it is even possible to get free ice 2nd hand ice skates sometimes:D

The first store had only 5 pairs of 2nd hand ice skates for sale... So I took a gamble and cycles all the way to Sepäläkangas, 8 kilometres away to visit a mega 2nd hand good centre! I have been there twice and hope to find my dream skates there:D As the temperature dropped, it was obvious that the meltwater was beginning to freeze again... It was HELL cycling uphill and over the thick layer of ice!! So I thought to myself," You better find those skates or else you can jolly well swim nude in the frozen during your free time!! After instilling fear in me, I picked up my guts and strength and successfully made it to the store!!

I spent two hours digging heaps of shoes and toured every aisle. It was a problem as the staff simply dumped their sale items all over the place so theres no such thing as a shoe area, clothes area, it was ONE GIGANTIC MESS!!:D But it was lots of fun, expecially when you find really weird items such as telegram machines, antiques and many many more items!! Towards the end of two hours, I successfully found a fine pair of ice skates:D and a Philips Iron!!

You can guess their costs but when I found out their actualy prices, I was the happiest man ALIVE!! That relatively new Philips iron only ost me 2 Euros (S$4) and my skates 5 Euros (S$10). IT WAS A FANTASTIC BARGAIN!! I will upload the pics tomorrow!! Had so much fun today!! Having gotten my skates, I can finally kill time by ice skating by the lake everyday:D starting from tomorrow!!

Got to go guys... will blog again tomorrow:D

Kovski

Week II Day 12 11th March, -1C snowy and cloudy:)

2009-03-11T20:24:00.002+02:00

Went to Vesala Forest Lodge with Johanna, Sanna, Paul, Sudin, etc etc (I cant remember names lol!) for the Erasmus Project (The European group of students I met the day before!) We had to form a team to challenge the rest! We played many games such as tug of war, Snow shoe Running and a very interesting game called Wellington Boots, where you are supposed to swing a boot and throw it as far as possible from in between your legs!! I SUCKED so bad at it but had lots of fun!!:D Had my first snow war with Sudin and Gang and made my very first snow ball!! YAY:D Thanks Natalie for all the encourgament hehehe, I made a huge one, about the size of your mouth LOL Jokes again:P

The whole thing ended at 3pm and Johanna sent us back to Keskusta (centrum). Cycled around town for a while as the weather was plesantly warm at -1C with snow flurries:D Tried to locate a second hand shop near the Scandic Hotel for my ice skates, but ended up in the neighbourhood of Sepälä, 4km off course hahahahaha:) Im good at googling Earth but not locating myself for Pete's Sake lol:D

Anyway back home... just in time to cook dinner! Today's menu was Rice with bakkwa, sunny side-up eggs, honey marinated chicken yum yum!! But before that... I had a hard time as I accidently dropped my cup of rice onto the floor... WHAT A MESS!!! The day before I had dropped a whole box of detergent power at my doorstep... Its not a butter finger problem, its more of a greasy oily finger problem:(

Cycling in the snow is really difficult but I have gotten used to it:D Thats all the happenings for today!! Anyway, I managed to learn a few words from yesterday's laundry experience:D Here they are!!

Erittäin Kuiva -- Very Dry
Pesukone -- Washing Machine
Kuivaaja -- Dryer
Oottaa -- Wait

Others
Oli hauska tutustua-- Very nice to meet you:)
Olen Hyvää -- You're welcome!
Mitä -- What

Im picking up more on the way:) Thats all folks!

Kovski
Suomi

Im Back!!!

2009-03-10T20:27:00.008+02:00

Hello Ladies and Gentleman!! Its finally my second week in Finland! Alot of things happened this week... Don't worry, I keep it short and sweet!:D

I have sucessfully washed my first load of laundry:D It was a challenge because everything was in Finnish and you didn't know what buttons to press haha!! This also applied to the drying machine, I was to AFRAID that my clothes would catch fire:D But fortunately everything turned out well!!

Just a day before, Minna Junttila, my coordinator arranged for me to visit the Pereunka Spa Centre 25 kilometres from the City Centre. Its really a Fantastic Place, with a beautiful lake view and Lots of Snow:D:D However, I felt pretty left out as I was with a group of European Union students from Germany, Slovenia and Spain... As I was the only Asian on the Bus, I felt really uncomfortable and weird!!! I was totally struck down when one of the girl said to me," Sorry but this is not a Public Bus!" Immediately, I was like," HELLO!!! DO I LOOK LIKE A STUPID SUB-HUMAN ASIAN!!!!?!?!?!?!"

Nahhhhh, I didn't dare... I simply told her, " Im going for the same tour as you guys.. and I know this is not a Public Bus!" She became so embarrassed that We didn't talk to each other ever since! LOL:D Well of course things got better as I got the chance to meet some really nice people such as Elina, Minna, Doris of Germany, Pekka and many others!! They certainly made me feel comfortable!!:)

It has been snowy these past few days... and windy too!! Thats why it felt like -10 degrees celsius!! Snow is really really beutiful I must tell you, however it has its disadvantages!! It feels like flour and piles up on roads and EVERYWHERE!! It makes walking and cycling difficult!!! This was the major problem I encountered today as my bicycle got stuck in at least 50cm of snow, at Prisma Supermarket in Keljonkeskus (Keljo Centre), two kilometres away... The snow took me almost 30 minutes just to travel 2 kilometres!!:( It was really difficult but at least I got some exercise hehe:D

And oh yes... I FINALLY GOTTEN MY LONG-AWAITED FURNITURE... ALL FOR ONLY 30 EUROS ( It includes a Bed, mattress, desk and Chair.... SOooooo CHEEEEAAAAPPPPP:D
Finally things are beginning to settle down!! Thats all folks... I have also posted pictures on facebook so do check them out:D Take care and miss you all!!

Heres the link to the pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=71776&id=621627711

Kovski

Kovski has Landed in Finland!

2009-03-07T15:52:00.015+02:00

Hello Folks!! Im so so so sorry for not being able to blog cuz the internet port in my apartment was down. Thanks for everyone's concern but I have arrived safetly arrived in Finland!! I have made a video (I don't usually do this cuz its time consuming haha, But it was really a beautiful experience landing in Vantaa Airport... Therefore I have made this video of my arrival in Helsinki Vantaa Airport, to share my wonderful and fantastic experience with you all! Please, Enjoy:D)

Click on the link below to view the movie!!! (The quality is better in facebook!)

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=56040307711

If for some catastrophic reason you don't have one, you can watch from below! Enjoy:D

I hoped you enjoyed the video... it took me forever to do it!! I will upload the tons of pics soon, after im done editing!! Take care folks and miss you all!!

Kovski:D

LAST DAY IN SINGAPORE!!

2009-02-26T05:14:00.002+02:00

Oh man Oh man today is my last day in Singapore!! Went out movieing with Darryl bro today. Had a ball of a time eating dinner, buying bakkwa, and chatting... Im sure going to miss you and Shunli man Darryl!!!!:......(

Speaking of this, I realise that im beginning to miss lots of things in singapore... The hot weather I so often curse and swear, the Heavenly food, Shopping, most importantly FRIENDS AND FAMILY!! Well of course on the other hand, Im going to miss my "kitty kitties" (My favourite soft toys!!!) hehe thats why im taking them with me:D:D

Only left with 12 hours before I fly... And here I officially begin my journey to the land of the midnight sun: FINLAND!! Can't wait to meet up with my friends for the last time hehe:D

Mr Ronald is a TOTAL SPOILER! Well he told me I gotten a D- from my GOM paper... if thats the case: TO HELL WITH TEACHERS!! Sometimes you wonder whats the point of studying so hard... burn the midnight oil and end up getting a D?!?! THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!! Fortunately im leaving so I hope I can forget about all this and take a break!:(

Packed my luggage, exceeded limit by a freaking 10kg!! Im going for 6 months leh haha! This will probably be my last post in Singapore!! My next post will be in Frankfurt.... and then Jyvaskyla!!

Well fo course something cropped up along the way... I was told by my buddy that no one will be taking me from Vantaa Airport, which means I have to either take a train / coach to Jyvaskyla, about two hundred kilometres away! WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!! Ok Folks! I gotta to pack up the last of my luggages... see you all in 6 months time:D:D

Exercise Day!!

2009-02-20T15:42:00.002+02:00

Went out with Bros Darryl, Shunli and my brother for our weekly NAPFA workout!!!:D Had too much fun as usual and we successfully put our fats back on with a Mega Mcspicy Meal!!! Currently, we are almost reaching our targets so we need not have to enter into the forsaken army two months earlier:D Next week will probably be the last week before Il have to gooooo and we can't excercise anymore....:(

Im beginning to feel like I will miss everyone... But I think its normal and this will be gotten over quickly:) I think il feel even worse when a number of my super duper one of a kind friends want to have makan with me... It's really nice, ive never had such an experience before so im not sure how il react hehe:) But I really really sincerely appreciate it, it's very sweet and I get really emotional!!
There will be presents for the CHILDREN I PROMISE!! Expecially greedy-glutton-for presents Nat hehe:) Im Joking don't be mad awww!

Il probably need to start packing my luggage this weekend:) And pertaining to GOM, I really really can't study anymore haha:D But il still try hard!! Thats all folks!

Kovski Jordan

6 Days more to go!!

2009-02-19T17:22:00.002+02:00

Im getting really excited. But firstly, im so so so happy that the impregnable GBE paper was over!! Down with gaming operations, which im so lazy to study already, I shall depart to the land of the midnight sun!:D

Let me see where I stand now in my preparation level:

List of things done:
1) Air tickets to Frankfurt and then on to Helsinki Vantaa
2) Got my favourite backpacker bag:D
3) Bought a bottle of Vodka for my winter consumption hehe
4) Granny's special dried scallops for my meals yum yum yum
5) All my winter clothes (I think Ive gotten too many!!)
6) Sandals
7) Euros hehe very very important
8) Housing for my three nights: Antti has graciously offered me to stay in his apartment
9) A inflatable water bed wheeee!!
10) lao sai medicine etc etc, including acupunture needles for me to earn a living:D
11) Enough Lollipops for 16 hours of flight:D
12) flu jab!

List of things not done yet!!
1) My exit permit.... very irritating as they gave me a wrong date!
2) A few more long sleeve shirts!
3) A hair cut!
4) GOM exams crap!!
5? I think thats almost it!

I really can't take it when you're going away for a long long time and exams are holding back your excitement!!:(:(

I certainly hope I don't miss home... and that all my Finnish Bros hehe won't abandon me, beat the crap out of me and leave me in the frozen pond :D

Also, I have met my buddy in Jyvaskyla, Johanna Kesti. She seems really nice and insists that I ask her all the questions I need before I arrive in Finland! I can't wait to meet all of them there!!:D

I got to savour this excitement!
Got to go!

Kovski

YAY

2009-02-16T04:35:00.002+02:00

I have finally gotten this new blog layout!! Its a little emotional but who cares hahahaha:D Million thanks to my cousin Allyssa for helping this illterate IT freak do up this blog and shamelessly linking her blog to mine hehe THANKS ALOT:D

My post today.... 8 simple words: I REALLY HAVE NO MOOD TO SYUDY ANYMORE!!!!:(:(

MY First Post:D

2009-02-13T15:10:00.000+02:00

Good Day Everyone!! I am please to present you my new blog:D Kovski-in-Suomi!!! Suomi simply means Finland in Finnish hehe and it sounds pretty cool, especially when you have "kovski" inside!! I shall dutifully blog my everyday experiences of my survival in Finland, such as swimming nude in the frozen lakes, enjoying myself in the saunas and the visual sight of many balls....Literally:D

Also, in this blog will I add videos of the Northern Lights when I get my chance to visit the arctic circle in person to view its full glory (Awwwww Vivian... really... Awwwwww:D), random videos of my apartment, hanging out with my Finnish Bros hehe:) and tons of pics too!!!

Videos of me getting beaten up, getting robbed, living in a room without any furniture, begging for money on the streets will be censored out, as this blogs aims to tell you my best experiences in Finland:D I certainly hope to make this blog as interesting as possible...so do check back often:D:D

Goodbye!!

Kovski