Back from the hiatus...

I'm Back ! Thought I'd put a word out to see who's still out there on the net.

Hope e'ryone had a great summer. I did. I haven't got many pictures to prove it since my camera broke last spring, but I got a few here for ya.

Here's my girl posing on the bars after some biking and camping. We spent a few hours on the road and a night sleeping under the stars. We picked blueberries and made blueberry pancakes with them for breakfast the next morning. We continue to enjoy simple pleasures in life.

Since summer ended I've been working as a full-time math teacher at the International School of Helsinki. It's a really great school to be a part of and it's right in my neighborhood. So I still get to ride my bike to work everyday, and see some of my students and fellow teachers around my part of town. Yes, that's a good thing (mostly).

Here's my route to work. I live at Kalevankatu 40 and work is Selkämerenkatu.

Not much else to report right now. I'm short on words, but some are better than none... I guess?I hope everyone's well. I'll post some more pictures of my work. I now have a phone that takes pictures. I only need a usb cable to download them with. Basically, I just wanted all to know Elina and I are doing extremely well but miss our friends and family. Bye, for now.

-Seth

Short Update:

As of Thursday the 1^st of March I am a mathematics teacher at International School of Helsinki. This means Elina and I will definitely be staying in Helsinki for at least another year. The school is roughly a ten minute walk from our apartment. I have no need for a car here in Helsinki. Now, I won't even have to ride the bus to get to work!

Elina and I went downhill skiing yesterday. Beautiful weather and perfect snow. What a great afternoon.

Spring is on its way and the the days are already fairly long. Temperatures are warming a bit too, but it still doesn't get past +5° C.

-22° C! That's -8° F!

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That's cold man. My Finnish for Foreigners class was last night. I always walk to class because it's not very far, but last night I think I made it there in record time. If you think New Yorkers walk fast, come to Helsinki. If it weren't for all the ice around folks would be all out running I'm sure.

The pace of life is also picking up for me. The Principal of Espoo International is giving me some courses to teach this coming term and has thrown some odd jobs my way, such as putting together their Electives Booklet. Last week I had some time to send some more papers (and more money) to the Finnish government. Since I'm from the ol' U.S. (not EU) my degrees need to be officially recognized if I want to be a qualified teacher. It's a racket! But I'm not complaining (too much). I was the one that made the decision to move here. It wasn't like Finland was knocking on my door with an invitation to come work over here. So, I'll shut up now, pay my dues, and move on.

That's a lake behind me, frozen and snow covered.





Here's one of the old Kauppahallis, shopping hall. They are always close to the ocean. This is the place to get fresh fish! They were built in the early 20^th century.





This mound is made by the tractor men who clear the roads of the snow. These kids have used a skateboard, sans trucks, to dig out a spot to call their own.


Teaching again was great. Although it was temporary I had the pleasure of spending three solid weeks with the same students. By the end of it I didn't want to go. The students were a great bunch. There were about 120 them I got to know throughout my time there. Within them were not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 sets of twins! Two of which were identical.

One of the aspects I really liked was the bell schedule. There were 15 minutes between classes, during which time the students had to go outside the building. This left teachers time to make copies, prepare for the next class, or perhaps take a moment for themselves and have a cup of coffee. Of course we had our duties, and it fell on me twice a week to walk the upstairs hallway to make sure students were out of the building during this time. It wasn't all bad for students though. Not all students have the same schedules and so some are left to wait for their next class while on campus. There are couches and group tables in the halls of the school for students to use while not in class. There are some rules that make the school environment more pleasant. Students are not allowed to bring bookbags to class, nor can they bring their coats (teachers usually follow the same policy). Students have small wooden lockers to house their books, which are about 12"x12"x12", and there are coat racks outside the classrooms for their coats, hats, and gloves. Teachers leave their coats and such in the teachers lounge. Teachers, like the students, move from classroom to classroom. Only if a teacher requires special facilities does s/he have a room to her/himself, such are industrial arts or home economics.

I look forward to working more with Espoo International and finding more work in other schools. I also look forward to hearing from all of you that I haven't heard from in a long time! Enjoy your winter!

HYVÄÄ JOULUA JA ONNELLISTA UUTTA VUOTA!

Or in English, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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What a long time it's been since my last posting. I've probably seen most of you since then, as I was in the U.S. for about 5 weeks, in New York, Oregon, Georgia, and North Carolina. Thanks to everyone that lent me their spare room, couch, closet in one case, and kitchen in another while I was in town. A particular thank you to Ben for helping me schlep my luggage through the subways of New York, even all the way out to JFK. Some of the highlights from my states-side-return include: my surprise birthday party at the Dove(thanks everyone who turned out), Jesse and Reika's wedding, seeing everyone at Trillium and the new building, Thanksgiving with all my family, and of course all the beers in Athens. I had the best of times and if any of you are in the Helsinki area in the near future I will return the favors. You have a place to rest your head and you will have a cappuccino in the morning.

Many of my pictures are on my girlfriend's sister's computer. I don't have access to them right now, so you'll just have to wait for those. Here's just a few of the ones I do have. New York was having perfect fall weather while I was there, so I've picked these for your pleasure. The last two are from Portland.

north central park

Jackie Onassis Kennedy Reservoir

simply called "the Lake"

my niece Ella and nephew Ty of my sister as I saw them over Thanksgiving

my friends and fellow teachers from Trillium Charter School, Eddie and Elizabeth (Sorry to my other friends from Trillium. I don't have those pictures with me as I compose this.)

The Big News

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As most of you probably know I have finally gotten my residence permit. I am officially a "A-status resident". This entitles me to a social number with which I can legally apply for jobs, receive health care, and open a banking account in Finland. I wasn't expecting my application to be processed until early February, but the director of an international school in Helsinki made a call on my behalf to the police station that was in charge of processing my papers to request they expedite my application because she had a position for me at her school. They listened and the next day my application was accepted. So now I have my papers in order and a temporary math teacher position at Espoo International School, where I will teach lower secondary students, and Etelä-Tapiolan Lukio (which translates to South Tapiola's High School), where I will teach upper secondary students. Tapiola is a small suburb of Helsinki. Here's a picture of Tapiola's center.


I will be teaching Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. Of course the language of instruction will be English. I can't say my Finnish has improved much since my moving here. These students are working towards The Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE). Which is a high school diploma recognized by colleges and universities around the world. It's program is designed by the University of Cambridge so it makes sense the language of instruction is English. I'm very excited to have this job. Tapiola is lovely. I have been swimming there at their uimahalli(swimming hall) with Elina for the past couple of weeks. It's right there in that picture above. The school is a short bike ride or long walk from the center.

Well, that's probably more than you care to know. So I'll end by wishing everyone a merry Christmas and happy New Year. May Santa Claus give you what you want and all your New Year's resolutions come true!

P.S. I really like it when you comment.

Linnanmäki

Alright not much text here, I promise. Just enough to let you know what this is all about. As you might know, my birthday was last week on the 11th. This past Monday Elina drags me out to an undisclosed location. All I know is to bring my bus pass and quit asking where it is we're going. Long story short, we end up at Helsinki's own amusement park (in vein to Oakspark or Coney Island) called Linnanmäki, which literally means castle's hill. Elina's cousin Jussi was in on the suprise and fun as well. He met us at one of the tram stops along the way. This was to be the last week of the season for the park. For the first time ever, the park was lit up with hundreds of lights and dubbed The Carnival of Lights. Enjoy Linnanmäki "The Movie" and the pictures too!

Linnanmäki "The Movie"

Click on the small picture to get a bigger one.

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It's that time of year again, when the leaves turn yellow, orange, red, and other various shades of said colors. The fall here is dramatic and something I completely omitted from my expectations of this new land. It seems I expected summer to somehow transform into winter over a night with no room for a fall. You just don't hear enough about Finnish Autumn. Winter takes all the conversation when people bother themselves to talk a bit about li'l Finland. These pictures probably won't even the scales, but at least they'll earn Finnish Fall some points with you.

Only a quickly receeding sun from these northern latitudes could impose such conditions that produce a red vine as lovely as this one. And these Finns are smart as the day is short (winter saying in finland), putting a white fence behind it to emphasize it.

Anyway here are a few other pictures of my surroundings. Some of you might have imagined me in some icy winterland but as you can see I getting all the seasons here.

Some of these photos were taken while Elina and I were spending a couple of days at her Aunt Ulla's house taking care of her dog while she was away. We were in an area called Espoo, which is a suburb of Helsinki. But unlike many of the suburbs I've encountered in the U.S.A. Espoo is very natural. We took the opportunity to walk about and get a glipse of the vegetation before it's gone for the winter.

We also got to go into the sauna at her aunt's. Sauna is really nice when it's cold outside, and since we hadn't been in like a month it was really really nice. Unfortunately we couldn't find the beer which is typically on the front steps of the house (people just keep their beer outside, that way it doesn't take up any room in the fridge). Turns out that the beer was in the shed I actually help build a couple of weeks ago. I found it there the following day as I was looking for a crowbar to change the rear tire on Ulla's car. But, like I said the sauna was nice... but yeah a beer afterwards would have made it better.

Besides bringing different colors to our planet's foliage, fall also brings my birthday, which is tomorrow October, 11. I am 30 years old this October 11, 2006. Getting older now, but I still look like a highschool student. Elina and I will be celebrating tomorrow with various adventures. The morning we'll spend at the best bakery and cafe in Helsinki: Cafe Ekberg. The middle of the day should find us at home with her cousin having cake. The rest of the day is Elina's surprise to me. I am looking forward to it all.
I am also looking forward to my return visit to the U.S.A. To repeat myself from an earlier post: I will be in New York from October, 30 to November, 14; in Portland from November, 14 to November, 20; and in and around Charlotte, Athens, and Atlanta from November, 21 to December, 3. Can't wait to see everyone again.

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Well, I happy to inform you all that am set for my first return back to the good ol' U.S.ofA. Just in time for Thanksgiving. My stomach growls as I write this thinking of all the dishes that Thanksgiving brings (this being the most important part of the holiday);

• turkey
• cranberry sauce
• stuffing
• dressing
• honey-baked ham
• devilled eggs
• sweet potato soufflé
• sweet tea
• pecan pie

Naturally the list goes on and on. But I will leave it there for now as you get the idea. Second in importance to fulfillng my appetite is seeing my family and friends again. It will have been almost 4 months since I last saw my family and I am looking forward to seeing them all again. As far as where I will be on Thanksgiving, I will be spending it this year with my folks in Charlotte, NC. I'm sure my older sister and brother will be there too with their respective families, which seem to just be getting bigger with each year. This will be my first Thanksgiving with my new niece Rebecca (my older brother's daughter). I will be traversing the southern states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia between November 20 through December 5. I will be coming to your beloved towns of Charlotte, Athens, and Atlanta.

I am also looking forward to seeing my long-time, and one of my closest friends, Jesse Alexander get hitched in the country-side of the great state of New York on the second Sunday of November. In time for the spectacular fall colors. This will sure to be a historical event! ...followed by a great party!! If you're going to be in NYC between Halloween and November 14 look me up. I will be staying in Williamsburg.

In addition to these trips and perhaps against better economic judgement, seeing as I am living on a fixed income, I have booked myself a ticket out to Portland to visit my brother Sid and many friends I still have out there. So, all you peeps out in Stumptown get ready for my return coming November 14 through November 20. I'll be bringing you that delicious Finnish chocolate you so desire, and that salty licorice you love (salmiakki). I will be drinking up the wonderful beers of the northwest (Finnish beer sucks) and hording fresh pounds of Stumptown coffee to take back with me. Until then, take care and...

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