Owls, Studios and Pizza

I have just finished washing every bit of cutlery and crockery we have in the house. We invited Markus and Milla for supper last night, and also had Pilvi and Tomi - friends from church. We had a lovely time together, and made pizzas with 1.5 kg of cheese that we got from church. It was close to its due date, and had to be finished. They were yummy, and we introduced the Finns to the idea of banana on a pizza, which they had never heard of.
Last week we had the oddest bird-watching experience I have ever had. We were invited by the local Arocha branch to go owl-finding in Nuuksio, a nearby national park. So we met them at 10 in the evening at the agreed spot and drove off. When we arrived at the parking place, I was quite ready to head off and find the things, but everyone just stood in one spot, dead quiet. Remember that there is snow all around and the temparature is about -5. Standing still is not neccessarily what comes to mind in those circumstances. We managed to locate about three different owls calling in the surrounds, and drove to another spot where we did the same. It was a beautiful evening, with stars visible, but I think we were under-prepared for how cold it would get. South African socks and shoes are not sufficient protection against the cold. Seems you have to be really passionate about your birds here in order to find them...
Last Monday the Education Department at Siba had a cleanup day. It involved lots of clearing out of various rooms, and general cleaning that the cleaners don't get around to. At the end of the day there was an auction of unwanted goods. A large amount of equipent had gathered itself in the foyer. If I had money, and motivation to build a studio, I would have had most things I would need. DAT machines, MIDI routers, Delays, Keyboards, Effects, Sound Modules, Computers, amps, speakers, mixers - and the most expensive price anyone paid was 100€, but mostly around 20€. There is clearly a large amount of investment, as all those things are in working condition, although a bit old. I also got to see more of the department. They have two recording studios, fully equipped with Spirit desks, Macs, fancy keyboards - the envy of any self respecting studio in SA. And this is just for the MusEd department, all the other departments have their own studios, and there are more and more specialised studios belonging to the Academy in other places.
Tracy has finished her Finnish course, and can sort of have a conversation, if it stays with the basics. She can read some newspaper articles, or at least get the gist. She did very well, ending up teaching some of the people around her while the teacher was helping others, and getting 58/60 for the first test. She wrote her final test on Friday and we will hear the results next Friday. She has also started a new painting, the first of a triptych of photos she took on our Wild Coast Hike.
I dropped my laptop last Friday, very stupidly. It seemed to work ok for the next day, but then the hard drive started to make scratcy noises, which a hard drive is never supposed to make. So I phoned Dell, as it was still under warrantee, but had to tell them how the damage happened. They wanted to charge me €300 to look at the machine, and when the parts get added to this, it is more than I paid for it in the first place. So it is now with another company, and the the computer guy at Siba has thankfully agreed to help me get the data off, and reprogram the new drive. I had most of the things backed up, except the most recent work I have been doing, so it is not a huge loss. I was a bit despondent though, and missed having connectivity. I didn't realise how much I was relying on the computer. So in the end it was a good thing, to get my reliance off things and back onto our Father.

Ski, Skate and Schustermann

We finally managed to borrow some cross-country skis, from a friend who has been coming to our cell. She and her boyfriend are avid skiers, and their shoe sizes are similar to ours. We had a great time going round a little track near their house, with some instructions from her. Afterwards we ate some real Hong Kong(ian?) and Korean food that she had prepared for us. A very special afternoon and evening.

We went on Saturday to go ice-skating on the sea. Helsinki is full of inlets and islands around the city, and on one of these the municipality clears the snow off a track that is about 2km long. The ice is just frozen sea, and is quite bumpy in places, with cracks running along and across the track. There was a tractor clearing snow just as we arrived, so we felt quite sure that the cracks would not widen just because of our weight...

Milla and Markus have moved into a new house, about 30 minutes walk from our place, and had a housewarming and birthday party at their place on Saturday night. We had helped them to rip the wallpaper of some of their lounge wall, so it was good to see the finished product. So after our skating (about 5-6 km) and walking to their place and back about (8 km), I think we have had enough excercise for a while.

I have been playing lots at church, basically every Sunday, and mostly playing guitar, as there are some competent pianists around. This is nice because it gives me an opportunity to see the congregation, something you cannot always do from behind a piano. It has been very good to get involved. The philosophy of music is quite different here compared to PCF, but there is a lot of discussion about change, and we have a meeting at the end of the month to discuss where the music ministry is headed. I hope some fruit will come from the discussion, and that it will lead to more people worshipping more freely.

Tracy wrote her first Finnish test on Friday and was quite nervous, but refused to make bets with me about her marks. Guess she has lost those bets too many times before by overachieving. It was hard going for her this week, and she was quite tired by the end of it. So we are having a restful Sunday at home.

I have been preparing a paper comparing the Finnish and South African music education scene, and have been reading and thinking about it, but need to get something on paper this week. I have a vague idea, but these things change as soon as you see them in black and white. I also attended our regular Friday afternoon seminar, which was on Schustermann's pragmatist aesthetics (aarh...!). I am having to read quite a lot to keep up on those kinds of topics, which I have never had to deal with before. I started practicing again, plaing some old pieces and starting to learn Beethoven Op. 110. The plan is to play all three the last sonatas at some stage, if someone will give me a concert. Maybe in Slovenia, as I have a contact there, we'll see.