Two is still One

February 5th, 2012

Last Sunday Finland got a new president. It was expected that my favorite (check here who) didn't have great chances, but there was always space for hope. What came as a surprise, though, was the huge difference between Pekka and Sauli's votes. Sadly, it broke the record. That's something to be disappointed about, and the fact that less people voted comparing to the last election.

However, I realized after a while that we got over a million people to vote for our man, Pekka. Over a million people voted for tolerance and a brighter future.

A politician mentioned that he senses a much healthier atmosphere now in the country. This is not a defeat, only a step towards victory.

As I leave London soon, I think it will be the first time I feel proud of going back to Finland.

Kakkonen on Ykkönen

22.1.2012

So we're off to the second round on determing who will be Finland's next president. Luckily we have the two most strong candidates, including my personal favorite. It's my first time to be able to vote for the president, and I'm glad that the election still continues, we get to take the most out of this experience. But I must admit if my favorite wouldn't still be in the run, my level of interest would have gone down.

Yesterday we were at the Finnish Seamen's Church in London watching the election coverage live. I wasn't surprised of the amount of young people, but the cans of beer and cider yes! And you know when there are Finnish people around you is when you can 'feel the excitement'. People elsewhere would jump around and scream of any result they would hear, but the most you could get out of a Finn is perhaps a smirk on their face or a spark in their eyes.

Nevertheless I enjoyed my pulla.

Exciting times are ahead. Please go vote, and don't let anyone or any party make up your mind for you when you decide who's fit for president. The only ones who you should be listening to, are the two candidates.

I know who I'm voting for.

Today I felt so honored when he started to follow me on Twitter. And I don't care whether it was him personally or his team. By far one of the proudest moments online.

And thank you to everyone, who's been working hard for Haavisto during this campaign, including my friend Janne, who promised to save a Haavisto badge for me! Quoting now Janne's words: 'How can someone's sexual orientation determine how well are they able to run the country's foreign policy and be represented as their country's leader? In my opinion, it can't.' No wonder Janne is a very loved guy.

Now saying all this, you still can't say that all of those who won't vote for Haavisto are homophobic, red necks, people who don't want to take issues forward and so on. As Haavisto would say it, there should be respect for the competitors. Chance to discuss and equality for all.

Number two is number one - Kakkonen on Ykkönen

Glass buildings, scams, eminems and light.

1-4.9.2011

After waking up, it was time for the hard core room searching. As there were no wi-fi yet in the house, we went to Canary Wharf to look for a place with it. Huge glass buildings and shopping mall, felt totally lost. We went to EAT to eat just for the free wi-fi, which apparently was only for cloud members. Pff.

Then off to IDEA library, but we weren't able to figure out the settings, so we had about 20 min. to use the computer there. Not that much luck finding anything, so it was time to go to the Finnish Seamen's Church. Of course during the first days it didn't feel like being in London, and now we immediately went to a place, which had Finnish-looking furniture and a shop with exported goodies. Like the black candy, which the Finns love, others hate and sour candy.

fish&chips afterwards, chips eaten already. forgot that they use vinegar with em, nam!

Many hours by the computer, and one viewing, which was awful. Fitted carpet torn, kitchen and bathroom dirty. Eww. And the guy didn't know how to count, even with a calculator. Back to a place with wi-fi -> McDonalds'. There weren't any sockets though, so we had limited time to use our laptops. However we realized that it's free and easy to register for Cloud. Now why didn't they say that at EAT. We were able though to arrange a viewig for the next day, and it seemed quite promising.

 So, the next day back to Canary Wharf and IDEA + Starbucks with our Cloud zone yeii. And the promising viewing, well it didn't happen, cause the woman never texted me the directions how to get there, and my 5+ messages were never replied. Although we got a few promising emails of nice looking apartments, but sadly we did spend most of our day with scams. Someone's always had a bad experience, so their lawyer has told them to use Western Union for money transfer, or then they've lost their phone in a friend's party, so they couldn't be reached. But the best part is when we were asked for our interests (Linda loves fashion, I love football), we got a reply of the person being a fashion designer and she watches soccer. SOCCER, who sane English/European person uses that word?! That messaging ended with Western Union too, and we didn't find the person by name, email or phone number on the Internet, and also noticed the same kind of message on a scam alert website.

Use Google to your advantage!

Desperate and tired, we recorded a video, which I wasn't able to edit now, so you'll probably never see it. Basically we promise to find a cat for someone who finds us a flat. We would have put it on YouTube in hope of it having millions of views and eventually finding a place. Lol. And this cat would have starred in it.

maxxie from east germany

Spending the time in glass buildings and by the computers, Linda and Karen decided to show me a bit of the other side of London in the evening, which I appreciate! Though I was responsible of taking us there. But that's the best way to learn how to use the tubes over here. We also were thinking to take some homeless signs with us.

the english are known for not being good with technology, so at first i thought that this was their proud moment

In our elementary English books there were always loads of pictures of Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben etc. Can't believe that I finally saw them, also I can't believe that it took me ages to travel to London. My parents always took me to places like The Philippines, Canada, Austria like a hundred times. But never London, or Disneyland. I had to get old enough to go myself. Pff.

The highlight though of the night was:

 And I'm sorry to say that English girls look really slutty on a night out. Don't get mad at only me, others think so too.

Day 3 of flat hunting, and Karen had to go back home, thanks for your help and letting us use your phone! We had another viewing, but one of the other rooms were already taken. You should have seen our faces on the way back, like we've lost a dog or something. I got another viewing for the next day, and hoped that the third time's the charm. Linda went to stay with her family friend's so that meant I had the king size sofa bed all to myself. Which wasn't a good thing, since I don't like sleeping in huge beds. But I tried to enjoy it now, when Linda wasn't there to snore.

Worked fine until 8am. At that time people just in front of the main door started to have some kind of drinking game/ party. I really thought that they were coming from an afterparty. It went on for an hour, and I felt like having a nervous breakdown after stressfull days and now this. I was scared to look what was going on, maybe I could have been killed or the other way around. But apparently it was the Korean neighbours having a wedding ritual thingy (which included drinking raw eggs). I'm always interested in cultural stuff, but not at 8am on a Sunday morning!!!

The viewing was 10min away from Maria's house, and the area looked really nice, so did the house. Just renovated, the room relatively cheap. The only thing was that the Bangladeshi family was living in the house too, but at that point I didn'care at all, I wanted a room to call my own. So I took it, and Linda ended up taking a place closer to our working place.

At that moment it felt like all the troubles were away. The best way to enjoy that was to watch Zombieland and Shrek 4 later in the evening with a couple of beers.