It has been a while...

We have had a very eventful time, and starting with the most recent - a visit from my parents. It was so good to have them here, staying in our little flat for one week. We managed to sqeeze in a lot of touristy stuff, and walked through the whole of Helsinki - or so it felt. We also went to Talinn, the capital of Estonia, which is only 2 hours away on a ferry. It is a beautiful medieval city, with buildings dating from 1300 next to the most amazing modern achitectural wonders. It is definitely a city worth visiting. We had fantastic weather after an intitial couple of colder days (maximum of 11 degrees one day) and were able to enjoy the sunshine fully. My parents brought with them a whole suitcase of presents from various people, mostly in the form of baby clothes. We now have a whole cupboard full of the teensiest little shirts and pants you have ever seen. They are all very cute. Not many of them are white, which is good, because as my dad says, if you drop the kid in the snow, you have to be able to find it again.

On the topic of gifts, we were given a washing machine and a freezer, so now we can go berry picking and freeze some for the colder months. It will be blueberry time soon. When we got the washing machine we had to take out home insurance, which I was a little concerned about, given that everything is so expensive here. In the end, however my whole years' insurance for everything, including the building and the contents came to just over 30 euros, less than my monthly payment in SA. Obviously theft is not a big thing here...

My friend Willem invited us to their place to make some boerewors. Here you cannot buy anything like it in the shops, all their sausages look a bit like russians, with more flour in. So we spent a lovely day making and testing different mixes. We have subsequently shared some with other South Africans, all of whom are also desparate for some real wors. Seems we are all addicted.

Tracy has been much less nauseous, but is still very tired often. She was fine while my parents were here, and had enough energy to walk everywhere with us. She felt the baby move for the first time about two days ago. It is especially active when we are singing together, or praying. I think that is really cute. We are going for the 20 week scan next week.

I was formally accepted as a student by the rector of the academy at the beginning of the month. So now they cannot get rid of me (cue evil chuckle..). I have had to rewrite my proposal after meeting with a professor in Norway, who is a well known researcher in the field of music practicing, Harald Jorgensen (with a line through the o). He was so friendly and helpful, spending the best part of three days with me going over my ideas and plans. He was very enthusiastic about the project and will also help supervise parts of it in the future. I applied for admittance to a Doctoral School with the new proposal, which would mean earning a salary for being a student. Sounds like the next best thing to a real job to me. I'll hear in September whether the application was successful.

Our bible study group looks like it is finally taking off, with a 3 new people joining us recently, and one or two others showing interest. I am also meeting regularly with Willem to pray and talk, and this looks like it might grow to form a men's discipleship group. We are also hoping to start a church prayermeeting at the church office soon.

We are expecting several visitors over the next couple of weeks, including my brother, Martin, a friend of a friend, and a couch surfer from Malasia. Couch surfing is an online organisation that links travellers to hosts, meaning you don't have to pay for accommodation if you go somewhere. We have had one visitor so far, and I think it is such a good idea. You allow people to see how you live, and hopefully get an opportunity to share some of the life of God with them.

Nuuksio, Nausea and Spring

So it has been a while since the last post (tah dah, tah dah...)...

Biggest news is that my proposal has been accepted, and I am legally OK to stay here for a while. We are really grateful for the provision of God in this regard. There were some nervous moments before, where I was not sure that people believed in the project. All's well now though.

I have been keeping busy by writing papers, and having arguments in my head with the authors of some material. Some academic writing is incredible in the assumptions that people make while believing that they are making none. So I am thinking through topics like truth, life and the meaning of everything. Maybe I'll write a post with my thoughts soon.

Tracy has been feeling quite nauseous and tired, often coming home to sleep after her Finnish lessons. She has not really thrown up a lot though, just feels horrible. Her course has really gone well, and she wrote the final exam today, getting 57 out of 60. She is considering doing a third course, while she can...

She has been looking for a job on and off, but this seems more and more unlikely as the due date for the little ant approaches. She is trying at the moment to get a place at the Zoo as an english-speaking guide.

We went for a walk in Nuuksio National Park with friends from church. What a beautiful place. We went there one night to look for owls, this was much better. The temperature was about 20 degrees, and the sun was shining. Fresh growth was evident everywhere, and if we had costumes we might have been tempted by the many lakes we walked past. Spring has really arrived with a vengance recently. It is light until about 10 at night, and the temperatures have been approaching normality. Feels a bit like a cool South African winter day a lot of the time.

We finally managed to clean the windows, without risk of them freezing over in the act of washing, so we can see the view now. We also have a little forest developing in the flat, from plants donated to us by various people. The place is starting to feel more and more like a home.

I have been playing a lot of squash recently after meeting a guy from church at the courts. We have formed a group of 4 who play round robins for an hour on Tuesdays, and then I usually fit in another hour with someone else on a Thursday. Squash is not a big sport in Finland, and most of the people playing are not locals. You would think that an indoor sport like this would be popular in a place where you can't go outside for 6 months of the year...

Easter Skiing

We were invited by friends from church to go to Paltamo for the Easter weekend. We had such an enjoyable time. Their whole extended family of uncles and aunts and cousins (with children) was there, and it was a very festive family time. Most of the older generation only spoke minimal English, and I speak even less Finnish, so communication was slightly hampered, but aided by generous use of gesture and translation by any handy younger person. They reminded me so much of the older generation of Afrikaans people, except for the language of course. This was just because of the way they dressed, the way they interacted and the solid assumptions of their faith. It was so comforting to be in that environment, and so good to spend more time with our friends.

We went to a Maundy Thursday service, the first one I have ever been to, all in Finnish. I only caught a word or two, but needed no explanation for the ending of the service. Everyone has had communion, and while a man is reading some text (don't know), the priest first blows out a single candle from the 13 standing next to the pulpit, representing Judas, and then starts stripping the altar. All the other candles get blown out except for the one representing Jesus. All the lights are switched off, the altar is draped in black, and no decorations are left except for an arrangement of dry sticks. This is all done very steadily, and really brought home the lonelyness of Jesus on this night. This action was really violent in its symbolic power.

We spent a lot of time cross-country skiing, mostly on the lake next to our cottage, but also on a prepared track that had hills and turns to contend with. Now we cannot wait for next winter to arrive. I was given some skis, and bought boots, and Tracy borrowed skis from a friend of ours. It really is a full body workout, and is quite hard work, a bit like cycling, because you can at least rest on the downhill bits.

Paltamo is a small town, with about 3000 inhabitants, and still has a flowershop that leaves a section of the shop open at all times, if you have the right amount of change you can just leave it in a basket and take the flowers that you want. The shop has been run like that for 25 years!

Babies, Bible Study and Spring

We have had quite a weekend. We have known/suspected that Tracy was pregnant for some two weeks now, and took the home pregnancy test last weekend (first test I have had to pass in some time). Tracy started bleeding again on Saturday though, and we were very worried that we might lose this baby as well. Also not knowing where to go was a problem, together with the fact that we are not on the social system, and then they don't accept you at the hospital. You have to go to a private hospital. So I spoke to a friend of ours who is a doctor at church this morning. He said that it is an emergency and they must take us, and then directed us where to go. His wife had just had a baby and was still in the same maternity hospital, so he would meet us there when we arrive, and take us to the right people. What a blessing.

The nurses were very helpful and the doctor was a woman - which was good for Tracy, as she also does the whole gynae checkup, not just an ultrasound.

Anyway, she found a heartbeat, very clear - we could even see it on the screen. The baby is normal size for a 7 week old, and everything is OK. Thank you Jesus!! We had so many people praying: our old cell, all the elders from PCF, our parents and family, the church here, the pastor even had another meeting of 300 people praying for us yesterday. What a blessing to be part of the people of God!

I finally have my computer back to working after fighting with Dell for a while. I had to phone South Africa, and also went in person to the offices here. Eventually a kind man sent me the OS software so that I could load it, and all the drivers were available online. So now I can type again and not have to squint, my screen is at least 5 times bigger than Tracy's.

We had a new visitor to our small group meeting. We posted an advert on Facebook - there is a group for our buildings - and someone came because of that! We had a cool discussion, she is from China and has not had much to do with Christianity before, so we could explain quite a bit and it was very interesting having to explain the passage from 1 Peter we were studying, without her knowing anything about the Bible.

Spring has sprung. Most of the snow is gone, and behold, underneath there is green grass!!!! Unbelievable. We had some warm days the last week, with temperatures soaring to 10 Degrees. Hopefully this will continue, it is quite pleasant not to have so many layers on.

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.

Skating, Seminars and Suomea

We went out and bought some ice-skates. Tracy found some old figure skates at a secondhand shop and had them sharpened, and I found some hockey skates at a sports shop on discount sale. It seems everyone here thinks winter is over - all winter stuff is on massive discounts (which doesn't make it affordable yet!). So we have been skating at a rink near to our flat. The municipality pours water on a flat surface and sweeps it now and then to keep the snow off, and voila, a skating rink. No handrails and no music - but also no crowds. What a pleasure to go skating when you have the ice all to yourself. Tracy is trying hard to do swizzles and spins, I am trying hard to go in a straight line, suppose that is the difference between our personalities...

We also borrowed some plastic sleds from two chinese students we met skating, and slid down the hill next to the skating rink - what fun!

My presentation of the proposal went well two weeks ago, some insightful questions gave me plenty to think of, and pointed out weaknesses that need to be rectified, but in all there are no huge problems (I hope...). I presented a talk on music education in South Africa last Friday that was very well recieved. Unfortunately the problems in South Africa make for interesting talks. There are virtually no problems to speak of in Finnish education when you compare it to SA.

Tracy started with an intensive Finnish course today and is sitting on the couch talking rubbish (to my ears anyway). I was also meant to go, but have some work to do still before the proposal is ready, and this course runs for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week - with homework. So that did not really work for me. Hopefully Tracy can teach some of what she learns, so that my speaking can improve.