Ja, is denn heut scho Weihnachten?

Christmas came early this year. The present I gave myself arrived today:
The SMOKE BLOW LEGACY BOX! I pre-ordered almost two months ago and I tell you it was worth the wait. Five of their out-of-print records (one was never released on vinyl), single, back patch, silkscreen print, twenty page booklet and personal greeting card - all exclusive in a wooden box and limited to 600 pieces. Of course I had to have this gem from my absolute fave band from good old Germany! They just announced they ain´t gonna record no more but will continue to tour. As much as this bums me out I also respect their decision. They feel that they have nothing to give creatively under the SB moniker anymore but still want to play club gigs, plus their last record was killer and they want to leave this as a final statement. Chapeau! The list of bands goes on for miles and miles who should take this as an example.
Hope to see them on the road in 2012, their last "professional" tour.

I´m off to Pori now for christmas, so that´s that - I got a bus to catch.

Kaiser Franz - Ja, is denn...

Back on track

Me and my work mates. I´m the guy in the center.

Great news! From tomorrow on I can continue my job training, or to be more precise: the preparation for my professional life. The technical term has changed from työharjoittelu to työelämävalmennus in my case and now I can work three months in the same company where I spent already six weeks in September/October. The place is really cool, so I´m happy to go back there. I knew it would be only a matter of time - the continuation was offered by both the company and the employment office - but it took the latter until last Friday to send the necessary documents okaying the whole thing.

In the meantime I was applying to many other companies in order to get a steady job and scored at least one job interview. It was held entirely in Finnish and went quite fine. Although I didn´t get the place in the end, I can say that it was a great experience and next time I won´t get the jitters so easily anymore. I am really happy to return to the working life, it feels like I have the foot in the door again and my quest over here continues. At the very least it helps a lot to shake off the emerging cabin fever. Wer rastet, der rostet!

SONG FOR TOMORROW:

Cock Sparrer - Working

Pertti for president

I was happily surprised to see Pertti Kurikka among the invited guests at yesterday´s castle ball! He is of course the main man behind Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, our local punk heroes of the special kind. Cool! The picture shows him giving an interview at jatkot, the after party in the city center. During the tv broadcast of the actual celebration, held in the presidential palace, the commentary team reminded us viewers that the (yet unelected) next president was already among the guests. This year´s linnan juhlat was the last hosted by our president Tarja Halonen. After 12 years her term in office is about to end and we have the presidential elections coming up in January 2012. So, Pertti - how about?

For my Finnish speaking visitors, here´s a link to the

Interview with Pertti Kurikka

Itsenäisyyspäivä

The 6th of December is the Finnish Independence Day - way to go, Suomi!

For those of you who would like to read about it a bit more in detail, please check out last year´s post. LIFE-IN-HEL headquarters would like to wish all Finns hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!

Compared to the previous year, my own enthusiasm (the few I felt) has mellowed out even more due to the landslide victory of Perussuomalaiset (=True Finns), the right-wing populist party led by Timo Soini. Some of his peers would like to send refugees from Somalia to work in the forests (out of sight, out of mind) or along with the gay community to Ahvenanmaa, an island in the Baltic Sea, (quote:) "to observe what kind of society they would form". Member of parliament Pentti Oinonen (PS) will not attend tonight´s linnan juhlat, the celebration in the Presidential Palace, because he would be offended by seeing gay people dance there.

I am not down with this shit AT ALL!

Of course this party doesn´t represent all Finns - but it was very successful in the last election and that worries me. I hear they got many votes from people who just wanted to protest against the deadlocked political system in Finland, a questionable maneuver in my book. Luckily many members of PS don´t miss out any opportunity to make a fool out of themselves in public but when Norwegian racist, fascist and mass murderer Anders Breivik favorably quotes MP Jussi Halla-aho in his "manifesto" it´s NOT funny anymore!

I want to emphasize here that the Independence Day has NOTHING to do with Perussuomalaiset and vice versa, plus I know many Finns who don´t want ANYTHING to do with PS, either. I am able and willing to differentiate between these things but at the same time I can´t help myself thinking about "True Finns" on Finland´s birthday.

It´s an association, nothing more, nothing less.

Here we go again

Great beer from Hamburg with always great ads!

Countdown to christmas has begun - with all the hassle, all the fun. The supposedly nicest time of the year has finally arrived, although shops and stores where already selling advent calenders by the end of October. Let´s give it up for capitalism! When I look at my blog´s header and the first sentence of this post, it seems as if I am pretty much in the mood. Was I really just rhyming there? Eer, anyway...

Alea jacta est, I will spend this year´s christmas again in Finland and I´m looking forward to it. Of course I also would like to see my folks in Germany but living abroad means that it isn´t always feasible, all you ulkomaalaiset out there know that. Maybe it works out next year then. But for now, first things first: we all have a lot of christmas parties (Finnish: pikkujoulu = little christmas), decorating, gift shopping and too much food and drinks ahead of us. So let´s roll up them sleeves and get it over with!

Where will you be spending christmas? Home? Abroad? On an island in the sun?