♥

The following status just appeared on both my facebook and twitter –>

reading about foreign policy analysis, feels like I've returned home ♥ (yeah... i love strange things)

The truth is that I have missed studying international relations a lot – no matter how much I loved Russian at uni, IR theory I loved more. And now I’ve got the chance to write an assignment on foreign policy theory and analysis, and I get to make an analysis myself. I’m so happy. The social scientist inside of me has awoken, my fingers can’t wait to start writing and my brain is already buzzing nonstop. This might be as close as you get to real passion. 
 
A friend always calls me the Finnish geek. He might have invented the most suitable nickname of them all for me.

This Is For Kicki!

Detta var igår… men det är likadant idag, inte en endaste isbjörn så långt ögat når! 23 grader varmt och soooool!

Pretty (doubtful) In Pink

On my way back from Finland, I decided to get myself a couple of early birthday presents at the duty free on the ferry…

One of these gifts was a bright pink lipgloss, first I thought it’d be a bit over the top, but OK, this works.

 

Pink item número dos is a hoodie from H&M in which I could live for the rest of my life… it’s a bit sad because Spanish women always dress nicely, and then there’s me looking like this, all bright pink (and not to mention tired)!

Little Things To Be Happy About

One thing that I try to remember every day is that it’s the little things that makes us happy, and no matter how bleak life might seem, we need to hold on to those things and appreciate them. When we do that, nothing is impossible!

To be completely honest, the last few days have been great (if we forget about the whole probability theory thing ). There are so many great things happening right now. First of all I’m really, really happy because two of my best friends will be visiting soon with their boyfriends. I don’t see them a lot, so it’ll be great to enjoy spring with them!

And, as I’ve mentioned at least ten times – spring is here! Today we had lunch outside, and very few things beat the combination of sunshine, great company and delicious food!

Smoothie Season Starts NOW

This has been quite an interesting day with a lot of discoveries and nice conversations. Now it’s 1.30 am and I should be up and excited six hours from now… yeah baby.

As the post title implies, today was a smoothie day: mango, kiwi, banana and pineapple juice make a very tasty combo.

Now I’m off to bed, because I know I have something absolutely exciting* to look forward to:

It looks harmless enough but believe me, for someone who’s been stuffing her brain full of languages for the past 25 years or so, any kind of equation is deadly poison.

*not as exciting as when I was so into international relations that I woke up to have conversations with good old Volodya about world politics. Unfortunately Volodya has been dead for a long, long time, which might make me seem a bit crazy.

Vanha suola janottaa…

The Finnish expression literally means “old salt makes you thirsty “ Basically it means that a person is attracted to an old flame. But what if it isn’t an old flame, but a something or someone you quickly licked and the salty taste refuses to leave your tongue?

Today, while walking among the palm trees, I was listening to Tose Proeski and suddenly my mind had transported itself across Europe to the Balkans -  there I was sitting on a green hill under a tree, just enjoying the sunshine. (now, I have no idea where this very romantic idea I have of the Balkans originates). I actually even felt a sudden sting, a feeling very similar to pain, in my heart right then. Again, I have never even been to that part of Europe but as soon as I come into contact with it in one way or another, I start behaving like a lovesick teenager. 

Sunday.

This is a post I started writing on Sunday, but then Sons of Anarchy got in the way… Anyhow, I just wanted to jump up and down and shout how amazing everything is at the moment – it’s past seven pm and the sun is still high. Spring is most definitely here now with everything it brings with it: the smoothie season, sunshine and lots of energy.

Och på svenska.

I might be making a fool out of myself... but yeah, now you can visit Zsuzsi the Swedish Version as well... it's a place where I hope to be able to talk nonsense without feeling too limited :) Välkomna alla glada!

Guilty Pleasures

Boyfriend & friends went to eat meat and watch a Spanish comedy at the cinema, I decided to stay home and eat strawberries – everyone wins!

It’s so quiet and relaxing tonight. I feel like putting down those very first words on paper.

Foreign Languages In Dreams

It’s interesting how languages manifest themselves in dreams… the other day I was dreaming about talking to someone in Finnish and apparently I had a highly intellectual conversation with TT at the same time: he was using the little knowledge he had of Finnish so that he would make me speak even  more [according to the recording – yes, he recorded it – I was actually correcting him while asleep]. A few nights before that I spoke to him in some unknown language – “well, it might have been Hungarian, I don’t know what it sounds like”. I’m sure it was either made up Dutch or Bosnian since I have been dreaming in both languages (without knowing a word of either).

Another funny thing is the timing: I hardly never speak in a language that the people around me would understand (when I’m talking in my sleep that is). When I was younger and stayed with my Finnish-speaking cousins I always told them long and fascinating stories in Swedish… and when we went on a trip with my (Swedish-speaking) classmates, I used to entertain them all night long in Finnish.

Wonder why that is? Maybe it’s my subconscious wanting to prove something to the world… or maybe it’s a I have a secret but no way you’re going to know what it is.

 Have you ever had dreams in a foreign language?

Fallas 2011

Books!

As long as there are unread books on the table, I’m happy Some of these were waiting for me when I got back from Finland, one I found at Arlanda airport and the rest were treasures waiting for me at the book sales in Mariehamn (two hardbacks for 10€ is a great deal!)

What are you reading right now?

Where We Belong

There is one more thing I’ve been thinking about lately, one very important thing: politics. The more thinking I’ve been engaging myself in, the angrier I have become. Now I’m prepared to start throwing plates against the walls and smear the furniture with tomato sauce. Let’s make one thing clear: politics might be boring, untrendy and difficult to grasp. But it’s extremely important. The ironic part is that a majority of the people making the most fundamental decision of them al (who is going to govern) have no idea what they are doing. They either don’t care or don’t feel the need to do research. This is angering me because some of the most popular candidates are giving me nightmares with their populist discourse.

I’ve tried to do some research and the result is infuriating me. I must really be an odd case:  a Finnish-speaker who’d prefer to vote for someone on the left. Now, this might be completely normal in any other part of the country, but not on Åland where the merry people speak Swedish* and where almost each candidate represents parties from the centre towards the right. I’ve heard people claiming that the Social Democrats are f***ing communists. There is not a single person I would vote for on the list they’ll give me. Not a single one. So what do I do? Protest by not voting (cowardly behaviour), vote for Donald Duck (he’s not even funny), move to Russia (where voting doesn’t matter) or just forget about the whole thing?

*In the great language debate (whether Swedish should remain a compulsory subject in schools) I actually think that as long as a country is officially bilingual, all its citizens should be able to communicate in both languages.

Lately

 

Norwegian detective stories. Travelling. Playing with puppies and sleeping with cats. Thinking of writing. Frozen to the bones. Fallas. Food. Bosnian books. Tea. Planning the future. Fitness. A bit of guilt. Walking. Good company. Dissatisfaction. Assignments. Writing mini stories in Hungarian. Picking yet another language. Maybe.

Now. An hour of Hungarian. Then a chapter of Bones and then it’s time to return to the fascinating world of personality psychology.

Back in Finland I spent a lot of quality time with both Tomi and Sasha. Sasuli (as we call her) had grown and was slightly bigger than in this photo.

Thoughts On Happiness

 

“I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them.” – John Stuart Mill-

Yeah, I though one of the great profiles of utilitarianism would have something clever to say about happiness.

Right now I’m happy because our tap water is so tasty and that I have a warm and soft bed waiting for me to just fall onto it. One of the greatest things in life is the feeling you get right before falling asleep when you’re really tired. Another great feeling is the one that fills you right when you complete some task or another that’s nearly impossible.

What are you happy about right now?

Thinner Than A Hair

A book that makes you feel so much that you can’t stop reading although it almost makes you sick is probably a very good book. Thinner Than A Hair by Adnan Mahmutovic is one of those books, read it if you can get a hold of it.

“I didn’t fall into the world on some politically significantly day or night’ says Fatima, but her efforts to be a normal teenager clash with the drive to register everyone so that her family no longer belong to the familiar nationality of ‘Bosnian’, but are ‘Muslim’: ‘We lived in the period of Bosnian history when even the way of being a child or the manner of falling in love was political in some way." (back cover)

Nem tudok mit mondni

Hello world! How are you? I hope you have had a great week, and that you have lots of excitement to look forward to next week. I’m just sitting here, trying to observe a world that has so many dark alleys and obscure one-way streets  that I don’t know if I can trust my instincts. What if my mind is playing tricks on me? What if it’s just made up? Or maybe I’ll find a park that is bathing in sunlight? At the same time that stifling feeling in my stomach is moving upwards, and I’m trying to push it back down with hot tea and lemon.

Last night I read a book that reminded me of all the cruelty in the world, it made me want to throw up. Once when I was about ten years old I saw a documentary, or maybe it was the news. A woman told about her pregnant sister, or friend, or someone, who had been raped and then stabbed in the stomach. The book was about Bosnia, what else.  A tragedy that has been forgotten, and followed by so many others. Then I feel asleep but was woken up by an sms. Instead of returning to the sweet world of oblivion, my toes started to itch. Do you know how difficult it is to sleep with itching toes? Three am is the perfect time to observe the world, to try to figure it out.

 

Die Frage des Tages– [or the question of the day]

Do you know a language if you can read books, follow conversations and make yourself understood in that specific language? Someone please enlighten the perfectionist and passionate language lover who thinks that the following quote fits perfectly to language learning…

…“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” (John Ruskin)

I’ve written about it before and I’ll write it again: to know a language has nothing to do with the ability to count to ten, or to talk about the weather. Geez, if it were that easy I’d be almost fluent in French.

But maybe you disagree?

You Know You’re Tired When…

…you need to look up the easiest of words in the dictionary, and end up spelling everything incorrectly.

Or have you ever heard of domistic violence? At least it was a first-timer for the dictionary…

Ein Hallöchen aus der Schweiz

I might have been dreaming about Moscow last night, but right now I’m enjoying the ultimate Swiss experience: people watching and studying at Zürich airport. Unfortunately a) it’s too dark to see any mountains, b) my connecting flight is too early tomorrow morning for any sightseeing and c) the thing about people watching was a joke because there really aren't that many people to watch.

But it’s OK: I’ve been given some Swiss chocolate and to my own delight I noticed that I actually understand German quite well, even Schweizerdeutsch…  OH! And right now I’m eavesdropping on a couple of Polish girls, perfect!

And here’s what I’m missing:

Photo

Last Night I Was In Moscow

Вчера я была в Москвe, в самом красивом городе мира...

Finding Oats In The Suitcase

Maybe that’s a sure sign of Finnishness? Hope you are all enjoying the week. I’m occupied with packing, drinking different drinks, cleaning, packing, philosophizing and Polish pop music.

Great Weekend–And A Wonderful Week Ahead

The weekend was absolutely fabulous, although I ended up doing the things I wanted instead of the things that I should have done: shopping (and gossiping) with a good friend, a really long walk with another, basketball (our team won, wohoo!), the first orxata of the year , some exercising, reading, good food, and the the list goes on.

The week ahead really excites me: not only because I’m going up north again… nooo, there are lots of other things to look forward to, starting right now

Now my coffee cup is empty so it’s time for some chest &back  training…. and after that to the hairdresser.

Wishing you all a very nice Monday and a very lovely, and springy, week!

The Art Of Writing In A Foreign Language

This is an important topic, I feel. Writing about what’s it’s like to write in a foreign language (it’s damn difficult, if you must know. Sometimes, depending on what it is that you are trying to explain. If you are trying to write a blog entry about your day, special skills or talent might not be needed). There are people who can pull it off (i.e. write serious stuff, not just insignificant nothings), people who know how to make art by using foreign words. Joseph Conrad is probably the first example that springs to mind. Is it common, though? My wild bet is no.

It’s hard because you don’t know if you are using the language correctly. Are you inventing the words? Is your mind silently translating expressions and idioms from your mother tongue? (or any other language you happen to master. more or less).

And the grammar. The grammar is always a tricky piece in the puzzle. Or maybe grammar is the puzzle.

Finding the right words can also be a troublesome business. When you speak the language you’ve been speaking since you were two, you know the rules of the game, which allows you to play freely. Creating is easy because it, the language you’ve created, will still be intelligible to others. Go on, try to be creative when using a foreign language, and all you’ll get is confused looks from your fellow humans.

You might be well acquainted with the foreign language in which you are trying to express yourself . You might even master certain aspects of it. But (and one should never start a sentence with the word “but”) there is so much you don’t know. And all those little things that you don’t know accumulate until they form a huge mountain (also known as an obstacle) that efficiently prevents you from doing anything useful whatsoever. Here useful is some kind of an invalid synonym to the word “perfect”.

So, what I’m trying to say is that writing in a foreign language is far from impossible, but being creative-special-different-original-quirky-provoking-poetic-extraordinary-unconventional is a more gruelling task.

what a girl needs

what a girl needs by sasucaaa featuring a biker jacket

Problems And Their Solutions

Life has an interesting way of throwing problems at us on a regular basis. Some problems are small, others are deadly serious, and then there are those that are just plain annoying. The challenge, then, is to find a satisfactory solution to whatever problem it is that needs to be solved.

I’m obviously writing this because I have a problem that needs solving Lately I’ve been extremely tired: we’re not talking “slightly sleepy” here, a more correct expression would rather be “the kind of fatigue that would knock out a horse”. This usually occurs after a meal: it doesn’t even have to be a big meal. The other day I had a small bowl of lentils and ended up completely exhausted. Another symptom, and related to the fatigue it would seem, is extreme bloating. I use the word extreme, because it really doesn’t feel nice to look (and feel) like a woman who is 3 months pregnant.

According to various sources, bloating can be caused by certain foods, allergies, other illnesses, or simply one’s diet. Knowing the real cause would obviously be the best option, but I think I’ll use myself as a guinea pig and experiment with my eating habits first…

Appreciation

Today the world has been smiling, with the rain caressing my face and the blanket warming my cold feet. Sergei Yesenin and the beautiful Russian language kept me company in the bathtub. My brain has been keeping itself busy searching for answers to fascinating problems. My legs have run and walked, my muscles have worked until they screamed for mercy. My taste buds have enjoyed a wide range of tasty flavours.

Maybe it’s time for bed?

Thursday: Lunch

Spaghetti, mushrooms, shrimps, feta cheese, coriander and lots of garlic.

Playlist

 

Part one:  jogging 10 minutes

• Piramis: Ha volna két életem
• Red Hot Chili Peppers: Otherside
• Manu Chao: Me gustas tú

Part two: intervals 20 minutes

• Pelle Miljoona: Moottoritie on kuuma
• Paul Oakenfold: Como tú
• MIKA: Relax (Take It Easy)
• Guru Josh Project: Infinity
• Guano Apes: Open Your Eyes
• TATU: Ya soshla s uma

Part three: jogging 15 minutes

• Tose Proeski: Igra bez granica
• The Killers: Human
• Schiller Ein schöner Tag
• Poets of the Fall: Diamonds for Tears

 

Possibly the best dinner ever.

…who cares about gourmet food when one can have boquerones en vinagre and raspberries for dinner? Yeah, I’m easy to please.

A válság [Hun: Crisis]

Today TT and I went to have lunch at a nearby pizzeria. All in all it was nice, great even… except for one thing: the waiter repeatedly called me señora. WHAAAAT  on earth is that supposed to mean??  Am I officially old now?

Somehow I’m so used to others thinking I’m younger than I actually am that I have deleted a few years of my real age, and facing the truth just freaks me out: living in denial? Absolutely!
Crisis número dos: my hair. (now this is the point where you can tell the writer is a 20-something-female). I have an appointment at the hairdresser’s for Monday but have no clue what to do with my hair. Why get an appointment in the first place? Well, it feels so nice when someone is pampering me. 

Anyhow, the hair colours below are really tempting, so maybe dying it in a more summery shade could be a good idea?

#2 and #1