Some people spend an awful lot of time travelling. Others travel for work. Then there are those who never go anywhere, being happy in their town, village or whatever. Some of us seem to have lost the capability to live in one place. When the time comes to move forward, there is a restlessness itching in the whole body, a wind that is blowing north, south, east or west. New adventures are awaiting right behind the corner.
What we seem to forget, however, is that there are more ways to live than just one.
I have lived in many countries. I don’t know if I will live in that many more. Instead, I prefer to let life take me where it takes me, to be flexible. Family and home are important factors, but for me there are still there, even if the distance is great.
We will simply wait and see what happens.
Sometimes almost unnoticeable things and undistinguishable details remind us of what really matters.
First things first.
Idź własną drogą
Bo w tym cały sens istnienia
Żeby umieć żyć
Bez znieczulenia
Bez niepotrzebnych niespełnienia
Myśli złych
Those words are from a song. A song almost like any other. But this one is in Polish. Listening to it reminded me of how much I love Slavic languages and how much I enjoy learning them.
General confusion. New place. New job. Long days. Crazy hormones. Starting everything anew. Deadline after deadline. Crappy time management skills. The constant feeling of being an alien when the only form of communication with the locals is in a language foreign to all. That’s pretty much what my life looks like at the moment.
So that song also reminded about the things I really enjoy doing. And why I’m doing them. We can’t always avoid doing things we dislike, but it would be stupid to do more of them than necessary, right?
The conclusion? Well. It’d be about time to start learning time management, because the things I do are the things I like doing and they are the activities I need in order to be happy. And there is even more I’d like to do
One thing I really want to do is learn Slovak. There are three reasons. Yes, it’s easier to live in a country if you can communicate with people. And the second reason? Well, Slovak is a beautiful language. Difficult? Too early to tell, but it shouldn’t be difficult.* Thirdly, well. It’d be nice to be able to follow local politics etc. What way better to do it than in Slovak? 
*Random side note: I find spoken Slovak easier to understand than spoken Czech, but written Czech is a lot easier than written Slovak.
Zsuzsi dislikes immigrants (living in Finland) who start criticizing Finland for allowing too many immigrants to enter the country. Contradiction, anyone? If it’s so horrible, why don’t they pack their suitcases and go back to wherever they came from. Adiós, I won’t miss you.
Actually, Zsuzsi dislikes anyone who shouts and criticizes and yells and screams at foreigners. There is no point in blaming your bitterness on them, they didn’t cause it. It’s not their fault that you didn’t go to school, that your job is tough one, that life has been hard on you. They won’t ruin your life. Be a man, or a woman, and take responsibility for your life.
All this dissatisfaction is scaring me – people seem so… angry. Where did that anger come from?
Because the value of being human cannot be measured in citizenship. Or nationality. Or ethnic background. We are all worth the same, and as long as everyone contributes to society, we should not create manmade differences between us.
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.
Face your fears. Do things you never though you’d be capable of. Open your mind. Decide to like something you’ve always disliked. Take a new route to work. Visit a distant country. Start studying mathematics. Jump higher than you’ve ever jumped before. Challenge yourself.
Only by challenging ourselves – our minds, brains and bodies – can we achieve our goals and dreams, that’s the only way we will find new paths and fight those boundaries that we have set for ourselves, or that have been imposed on us by the people around us. At the end of the day, there is so much we can do if we set our minds to it. Life isn’t supposed to be easy, and it should most certainly not be comfortable or a constant party. Our experiences, good and bad, make our lives fascinating!
1) Life is now. Be the best you can be at this very moment, that’s all you can do.
Every morning is a fresh beginning. Every day is the world made new. Today is a new day. Today is my world made new. I have lived all my life up to this moment, to come to this day. This moment--this day--is as good as any moment in all eternity. I shall make of this day--each moment of this day--a heaven on earth. This is my day of opportunity.
-- Dan Custer
2) You never know what’s waiting for you behind the corner, life is full of miracles.
3) Be grateful for everyone you know and everything that happened to you.
4) Remember that this too shall pass.
5) Stay humble.
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” (Isaac Newton)
6) Focus on understanding yourself instead of blaming others.
7) Trust yourself.
8) Never assume you know what’s best, because you don’t.
9) Do not give advice unless you are specifically asked for it, and even then: be careful.
10) Never stop learning.
Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing. ~Thomas Huxley
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”.
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:
Hi, my name is Zsuzsi and I expect myself to be perfect and everyone else to aim for excellence as well.
'Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed’ (Alexander Pope)
Our expectations of other people (and ourselves) stem from our own experiences, upbringing, culture, ideas, and values. Very few of the people around us will share an identical set of values, which means that they cannot fully comprehend our behaviour and wishes.
When we crash into a conflict with another people, we should first take a good look at ourselves in the mirror - what can I do to improve the situation?- instead of pointing the finger at the other person. One can never ever change another individual, but one can change oneself. Sometimes one will realise that the expectations are unrealistic: you are simply asking too much, In that case it is your own responsibility The importance of communication should never be underestimated: why not clearly explain to others what it is we are expecting from them, ourselves and the situation we find ourselves in? It would spare us a lot of time and trouble at home and at work. At least women tend to think that the whole world should know what they are thinking about without them uttering a word about their thoughts. But, in every relationship with other people we should always keep our eyes, ears and other senses open, step out of ourselves for a while. Think about the other person, observe them, make an effort, be sensitive to hints. Sometimes they don’t expect us to change our entire personalities and sometimes they might even be right: maybe a nice little gesture towards the other person will be enough. Where’s the harm in a little sacrifice? Breaking bad patterns of behaviour might actually be desirable for oneself as well. It doesn’t take much for a boss to say "thank you" for a job well done, or for an employee to express a postive opinion about a project. A husband can buy his wife some flowers and the wife can let him go out with his friends once in a while. A "well done" and a bit of celebration will certainly be appreciated by the person who worked his bum off. Someone who has recently started to work out will feel supported by a "you look so good".
‘Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.’ (Dennis Wholey)
Maybe people are trying to be “good” (working hard/working out/saving the dolphins) for reasons other than just being good/bringing good results/living a long life: we behave the way we do because we expect to get something in return (few of us are unselfish saints!). Maybe we want to feel good about ourselves, we want to be noticed, get attention, receive compliments. Unfortunately, everyone has different expectations, and other people will rarely know what exactly it is we need to hear. Knowing how to boost someone’s ego (or expectations :)) is a form of art.
‘Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be.’(Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
There is just one thing that I cannot seem to figure out (please help me if you can!): when do you know your expectations are unrealistic? How do you "measure" those expectations?
‘A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how." (Victor Frankl)
