... so let’s celebrate with some chocolate and a good book ;D
My plan for this month is to lie in the sun, read a lot of good books and work. Maybe we’ll throw some Russian foreign policy in that mix. And exercise. How about you? Do you have any amazing plans?
There is one ethnic group in Europe that is still treated as "unworthy", including in countries that like to consider themselves democratic and equal. Before giving you more details about their current situation, I would like to remind you that between 200,000 and 1,500,000 members of this ethnic minority were killed and tortured during WWII. These people were not granted any reparations after the war, and their situation has not improved much. Or what do you say about such things as forced sterilisation, discrimination, harassment, ghettos, and murder? Sounds really nice, right? And it's happening right in front of our very own noses, in the Europe that we are so proud of. Below you will find some extracts from a report for the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, published in 2010. The whole report can be found here.
The Roma, estimated at between 10 and 12 million people, constitute the largest minority in Europe and are present in virtually all Council of Europe member states.
This minority has been suffering profound discrimination for centuries and, even today, is still frequently rejected by the rest of the population because of deep-seated prejudices. Moreover, in these times of economic crisis, this highly vulnerable minority presents an easy target and is used as a scapegoat.
It has to be recognised that the efforts undertaken to improve the situation of Roma have produced very limited results so far. The situation faced by Roma in terms of access to education, employment, health services and housing or in terms of social integration is still very often deplorable, not to say scandalous.
Several provocative marches have been organised by radical nationalist groups/parties in some Council of Europe member states (eg. Hungary and the Czech Republic) in areas inhabited by Roma.
In the first half of 2009, violent racist attacks against Roma involving Molotov cocktails occurred in the Czech Republic.
In France, in the second half of 2009, a Roma camp was approached by state officials who stamped people on the hand or arm so that they could be “better tracked”.
On 11 May 2008, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica quoted Mr Roberto Maroni, Italy’s Minister ofthe Interior, as saying that “All Roma camps will have to be dismantled right away, and the inhabitants will be either expelled or incarcerated”. The rhetoric fight against insecurity has led to obvious abuses in Italy. The authorities have, amongst other measures, fingerprinted the Roma, photographed Roma children, brutally evicted Roma from their camps and left unpunished numerous arson attacks on the sheds serving as their homes.
In 2008, some municipalities in Romania, like Brasov, have built walls to separate the Roma from the non-Roma community. A similar wall was recently built in the district of Beja, Portugal.
In the Slovak Republic, in Kosice, in April 2009, six Roma children (aged between 11 and 16) became victims of police abuse. They were forced by police officers to undress, slap and kiss each other. The police officers filmed the scenes.
In the regions of Chernigiv and Odessa in Ukraine, announcements were posted on the streets asking people to immediately call the police if they saw a Roma.
13Everyone agrees that access to education is fundamental. However, Roma children remain excluded from quality education in many member states. They are either segregated into Roma-only classes, unjustly considered unfit for normal classes (and shunted into schools for disabled children) or – even worse – they
cannot even attend school at all.In the Czech Republic, Roma segregation in primary education remains a serious concern. Romapupils are often assigned to special schools “... designed for children and pupils aged 3 to 19 who are mentally and/or physically handicapped, with impaired hearing, vision and/or speech, with developmental disorders”.
the Commissioner for Human Rights, in his memorandum of November 2008 following his visit to France, reported that despite the schooling obligation and a growing request from French Travellers to send their children to school, certain municipalities continue to refuse to admit these children to primary schools, using excuses such as the short schooling period due to a nomadic lifestyle, an ongoing eviction procedure or the lack of space in the classrooms.
In October 2009, the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union concludes that “it is clear(…) that large numbers of Roma and Travellers in the EU do not enjoy equal treatment in this respect and are living in substandard conditions which fall far below even the minimum criteria of adequate housing”.
Discussing Israel and Palestine is extremely complicated - anyone criticizing the actions of the Israeli government suddenly finds him/herself labeled an anti-Semitist or terrorist or godknowswhat.
I am truly sorry for what happened to the Jews before and during WWII. That is something that no human being, no matter of religion or ethnicity, should ever have to go through. Ever. But let’s realise two things: firstly, the Jews were not the only people who were treated badly for centuries and then put in the gas chambers (another post is to follow about that). Secondly, what happened is in the past. Yes. We should learn from our mistakes and not forget the past: but we cannot accept that a country is allowed to justify its aggressive foreign (and in some cases domestic, as is the case with Gaza) policy by referring to past wrongs. Because that’s why we are all mumbling and nodding and smiling, isn’t it? Because we feel guilty.
However, maybe there is hope. Maybe world leaders and international organisations will finally be ready to discuss the role of Israel and the future of the Middle East where all the involved parts will be regarded as equals.
Never ever comment on someone’s looks on the street. No matter how uncommon the language you speak, the person you are talking about MIGHT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING. Today I got to hear some dubious opinions about my behind in Polish. After giving the guys in question a murderous glance, I decided to take it as a compliment and be proud of my bum.
I’m a girl (haha, as if you weren’t aware of that fact), and like all girls I love shoes. And the higher the heels, the better. This pair from Zara is absolutely amazing, because not only are they fabulous, but they are also super comfy. Last night I danced for about 4 hours, did some jumping and running, and when I noticed that running in high heels is indeed possible, I just had to do some extra bouncing because it was so exciting.
A certain cat seems to like cameras (not as much as cuddling though, but almost). Today she has been sleeping next to my pillow, occasionally putting her tail (and sometimes her face) in my nose and mouth. She also loves the living room table: no matter how many times we lift her off the table, she always climbs back and takes a nap.
What will I do without her?
And last but not least, the third object of my love this evening. This song has been on repeat for a few hours now. Good thing the neighbours can’t hear, or they’d probably call the cops and have me sent away.
Due to various reasons, I haven’t really been doing much exercise this week. Tiredness combined with a cold, stomach cramps and pollen allergy isn’t really motivating. So instead I have been annoying my poor family with lots and lots of complaining. (oh how very thoughtful of me, now they'll probably be happy to get rid of this miserable moaning witch)
But here’s the list anyway:
Bah. Well, at least I feel really inspired for next week... which will be a very busy one with lunches, visits, work and travelling. The plan is to squeeze in the following:
The sky. At 3 a.m. Blue. And birds singing. Just wonderful. About one hour later the sun was already up, reminding me of how amazing life really is.
I hope everyone will have a wonderful Saturday with great company and lots of fun!!
Soon I’m off to see my friend Magda: we will get ready for tonight together and then go to the local cattle market. Which will probably be full of 18 year olds who have just finished school. Now that’s incredibly... interesting.
And one piece of advice to all those 18 year olds who refuse to listen to their elders: NEVER DRINK ON AN EMPTY STOMACH*. We already had one of those throwing up in on the stairs at 5 p.m.. this afternoon.
*I should probably listen to that piece of advice myself. Hello, blurry head.
Tea made on raspberry leaves is known to make a woman’s life a little easier. And gosh, I really wish I had some in the cupboard right now. Most of today has been spent in bed, with stomach cramps and an intense wish that this week would soon be over.
Well, this post was supposed to be about the miracles of raspberry tea. Raspberry “tea” is a herbal infusion made from raspberry leaves which are rich in minerals, vitamins and tannins. According to traditional lore, the infusion can be used as an aid during pregnancy and delivery (pregnant women should, however, be careful and always follow their doctor’s recommendations), and it’s also said to help against menstrual cramps.
However, not only women benefit from drinking raspberry tea, it can be used to control diarrhea, and to soothe mouth and throat irritations. It also acts as an astringent on irritated skin by tightening the top layers of skin or mucous membranes effectively reducing secretions, relieving irritation, and improving tissue firmness.
The infusion can be taken either hot or cold, and it tastes heavenly :)
(and this is me hoping that all cramps, allergies and the mean COLD will disappear ASAP).
What if I told you that I want to run a half marathon in November? What if I told you that I’ve applied for not one, not two, but three completely different "subjects/degrees/whatever" at university, and that I’m seriously going to do it all if I get the chance? Simultaneously. What if I told you that I’m dreaming of nice abs? What if I told you that I’d love to have my own company? And t
Telling people about your goals and dreams is a risky business. Suddenly you are held accountable not only to yourself, but to everyone around you as well. The chance of failure grows. If it’s only in your head, nobody is going to notice that you didn’t follow through with your plans.
Then there's always the fear that people will give you one long and strange look, and then burst out: "are you completely insane? There is no way you will be able to do that!". Sure, the opinion of a stranger on the street doesn't count, but the support of friends and family is extremely important.Well, I didn’t say it out loud yet, but maybe writing it down for the whole world to see serves the same purpose.
let’s see if it will be possible to get up at a normal hour tomorrow morning and do some morning cardio on an empty stomach. The experiment consists in hiding the mobile phone (i.e. the alarm) somewhere far away from the bed (or maybe under the bed, that should be effective). That way I’ll have to get up to switch it off, right?
8 hours of sleep, no more, no less, that’s the deal from now on.
Lots of goodnight-wishes from Miss Sleepyhead who doesn’t get out of bed unless it’s absolutely necessary.
No more food until Saturday. The pizza was tasty but too big (although it was supposed to be the small one) and my stomach is close to exploding. It was nice seeing my friend again as well, it’s been a while since the last time, so we had a lot of catching up to do. We also have a date for Saturday at the local cattle market. Just make sure I wear clothes that are more decent, today I’m so fashionable it hurts: sweat pants hanging down to the knees and a hoodie are just so hot.
Señorita has recently published two thought-provoking posts about heritage and music. I thought I’d combine these two and create my own random post about... well, we’ll see :) I’m as Finnish as a person can get, as far as I know my family has lived here for at least 500 years... so instead of worrying about my ancestors (they were a bunch of alcoholics and farmers), I am personally more concerned about belonging. 500 years of Finnishness does not help much when one doesn’t feel like home... Don’t get me wrong: this country is amazing. I just don’t feel much of a connection to these people. So, as some of you might now, I have spent most of my adult life travelling and looking for a place that’s mine. It feels like my life is a book where every new place is a chapter- and none of these chapters are related to each other. The pages are filled with heroes I will never see again, places that will never be the same if I’d one day return. It’s difficult to get all those pieces together so that they will create a continuous and somewhat logical story, also known as my life.
(does anyone else find it difficult to feel like they belong in their own country?)
And of course, every chapters has its own song.
Song1: spring 2000. End of school, beginning of 6th form/High School. This was a time when everything was possible, I felt so grown-up and omnipotent. Ah, that’s the sweetness of being a 16 year old girl.
Song2: 2003-04. Poland. Maybe the best year of my life. 8 months of everlasting partying and meeting new people. Every Thursday we used to meet up in a pub, and Joe the American would play this song for me. We got drunk on zubrowka, atlhough we were supposed to be good girls and keep the nuns happy. Just imagine being a non-catholic in a catholic halls of residence. Quite fun indeed.
Song3: UK... every Thursday we would share a bottle of bacardi, talk crap and listen to music. This one was on repeat (and it goes quite well with the rum.. :))
Song4: And then there was Moscow. Crazy times. A beautiful city where anything can happen. Red nights, lots of tea. Rich and poor. Golden domes. Lenin. Walking the same streets where all those geniuses once walked. Cabbage pie, jigsaw puzzles. Soviet champagne. The excitement of Alla Nikolayevna.
Runny nose, nightmares, sore throat, allergies. Proofreading for little brother, planning trips for dad, work, cackling mum and aunt, spots invading my face, über slow internet. Good news is that tomorrow I’ll be going for pizza with an old friend, and I’m also in charge of getting the drinks for my brother’s graduation party, which will take place on Saturday.
One piece of happy news is that I found an online Polish radio channel the other day (which only plays Polish music), so now I’m getting my daily dose of Polish. One of the songs I’ve been hearing quite a lot is this (a bit silly but very happy sounding):
Yup, you guessed right. It’s time for the weekly exercise update. There’s just one word to describe today: soreness all over. Getting out of bed was nearly impossible. It seems my body got its fair share of jumping around.
Here we go then:
It’s so typical, I’ve been really tired all day but at about 10 p.m. I was hit by a sudden energy rush. (This time I’m blaming Pavel Datsyuk who scored a goal in the last minute and made me, and a lot of other people, really really excited) Not that it really matters because unlike normal people I don’t have to get up early in the morning, since I usually work in the evenings and uni is practically finished for now (and I’m already missing it!),
... enjoy the little things!
Russia is one of those countries that most people seem to have an opinion on. If you come from Finland, that opinion tends to be negative one. The other day I was discussing the ice hockey world championships with my aunt. Finland was already out of the tournament, so I informed her that in good old slavophilistic fashion I would support my usual favourites: Russia and the Czech Republic. She stubbornly insisted that we should support "our neighbours". We might have a love-hate relationship with our neighbours to the west, but Sweden is still regarded as almost family. Russia is just Russia followed by various bad words. An alien giant that might swallow you if you disagree too much.
I can see that people base their opinions on historical events, but I really cannot understand why it’s so hard to open one’s eyes and see beyond superficial stereotypes (there’s a saying in Finnish that goes something like this "Ryssä on ryssä vaikka voissa paistais", meaning "A Russian remains a Russian even if you’d fry him in butter"). It’s ridiculous. People fail to see how fantastic Russia really is: how fascinating, mysterious, and beautiful a country it is. The people are wonderful and I dare say that no other country has offered us such a cultural heritage as Russia (maybe with the exception for ancient Greece).
This thought popped up when I was learning the lyrics to the Russian national anthem on youtube. The hymn is the same one as during the Soviet period, which is a good thing, because it’s absolutely beautiful.
Or you can judge for yourselves:
*the Czechs and their language are turning me on. Languagewise that is. Yes, it is absolutely possible to be turned on by a language. You should try.
That sentence simply means: too much stuff. (if anyone needs an interpreter to bring with them to Prague, Brno or any other nice place then TAKE ME TAKE ME TAKE ME- I almost know Czech).
Point is. This girl owns too much stuff that she is carrying around with her without any particular purpose. Too much means that most of that stuff is never used, it just exists. Just in case of an emergency. So today I have been throwing away make up I’m no longer using, deciding which books to give away and soon my clothes will go through the same process.
Before: 4 make up bags FULL of stuff
After
Yes. This is all absolutely necessary, especially for a person who uses make up like once a week. Ano, jsem líná. And the same in French: Oui, je suis paresseuse.
lying in the sun, jumping in the sea, walking on the beach, eating ice cream, laughing with friends, making smoothies for breakfast, smelling the grass...
... inventing cocktails, wearing little clothes, reading good books, decorating a flat, bubbling inside, wearing sunglasses, drinking ice tea.
SUMMER!!
... life could definitely be worse.
The beach...
... and one piece of Zsuzsi hiding behind a hook. Let’s hope this photo doesn’t offend anyone. The plan was to go for a little swim, but 13 degrees celsius in the water might still be slightly cold.
Right answer: an exciting ice-hockey game. Finland just lost to the Czech Republic in penalties, and during those two hours that the game lasted a majority of the Finnish population was ignoring everything else completely. I’m not really sad about the loss because the Czechs are my second favourite team and now I’m hoping they get to play in the final. Tonight there are more goodies to come: Russia and Canada are repeating their quarter final from the Olympics, which will be a tremendously exciting battle.
Other plans include gathering all my favourite blogs in Mozilla Thunderbird (and sort all other docs in their resp folders), help a friend with some tax papers (hate those) and I would really, really like to do some form of physical exercise, but my body might need some rest. So maybe I’ll try this tempting equation instead:
Fave magazine
+
Lying on that thing is actually extremely relaxing (as long as the cat doesn’t decide to start jumping on your stomach), so you should definitely have a go if you haven’t tried it yet.
And yes, my day pretty much starts when the rest of the world is going to bed.
* Embarrassing scenario número uno: write an e-mail in the middle of the night to a person you don’t know, asking where you are officially living.
Embarrassing scenario número dos: receiving an answer from said stranger informaing you that you are still living in the same place as in... 1986. Ouch.
Uff. I am so full right now after eating a lot of pineapple. But it was very yummy indeed, and a very enjoyable experience.
Did you do anything enjoyable today?
Apart from eating pineapple, I also did some swimming today. It was very exhausting, but yet oh so relaxing.
This reminds me of last week’s activities:
I’m not entirely happy with this, a lot more needs to be squeezed into this schedule, using the "I’m just that busy"-excuse won’t work, it’s time to do some planning.
:A lot of people seem to concentrate on the things they are bad at, instead of focusing on the things they do well and taking advantage of those. If you know what you are good at, life will be a lot easier. Not only will it boost your self-esteem, but combined with the things you love doing, it could also be essential for finding a job that you love. There’s quite a lot of material on this topic out there, so I’m not going to write a long post on it (if you’re interested you could visit this site for instance), and I’m most definitely not going to play career advisor. So, let’s just try to feel good about ourselves today. Tell me, what five things are you very good at? (the comment box is all yours). Go on, brag!!
My list would probably look like this:
*nevermind the French. It’s just to get some practice. It’s like a "learn-one-sentence-a-day" kind of thing. The truth is that I am incredibly tired: maybe it’s my lacking organizational skills and failing time management that are taking their toll (kids, doing everything at the last minute is NOT an intelligent thing to do). Or maybe I’m just being too social (=running around like a headless chicken). Falling asleep at 5 a.m. might have something to do with it as well. Whichever the reason, I’m longing for my bed right now.
Speaking of vitamines: this is a magic potion that I can recommend to all of you: homemade blueberryjuice with frozen cranberries. Both of these berries can be considered being superfoods as they contain a lot of vitamines and dietary fibre, and they both have various health benefits and anti-disease effects that might make you live a little bit longer.
And say hello to my new babies: they are smart, pretty and very, very comfortable. And not only that, they are also a far more versatile option than the only pair of flats I have in this country, which look like this:
Yup, leo is fun and cute, but it really doesn’t suit all occasions.
I like my new job. It’s a lot of fun and people are showering me with compliments. It’s not difficult, but it’s nice knowing that people like talking to you. In my last job I was always feeling so stressed out because I was afraid I would do something wrong, that I would mess things up. Everyday I would go there with something as heavy as a stone in my stomach. I lost myself in that office, I lost my confidence and my self-esteem. I didn’t know where to go because I thought history would just repeat itself, and I couldn’t tell anyone about that big evil knot because people don’t like to listen to complaints.
This weekend I’ll further boost my self-esteem, by writing an exam. It might sound crazy, but exams have always been one of the few reflections of my skills. You can be either right or wrong, and when you get everything right, it must mean that you are good at what you do.
The rest of the weekend will be spent outside in the sun (30 degrees centigrade in Finland today... where did that heat wave come from?), with a bit of Bones and some ice hockey as well.
There are lots of exciting things going on, but of course I won’t tell you anything. Yet. You will find out when it’s time :)
Here we go: today’s more than delicious salmon stir-fry, As usual you don’t need any particularly good cooking skills to achieve this simple yet tasty dish (I managed!).
Here we have some wholemeal spaghetti, frozen vegetables, salmon, grounded pepper and lemon. Oh, and some grated cheese. You just mix and stir fry, easy peasy piece of cake.
And since the sad truth is that a lot of people are starving in the world while some of us are living in pure luxury (yes, it’s luxury to be able to go to the supermarket and buy anything you want), I would like to ask you all to visit the Hunger Site where you can donate food (among other things) by just one click.
