Trojkolka.net

End of 2010

I think i broke the record of the longest period of not posting anything on my blog. I'm afraid that it will not change for a while as well.

Is this blog dead?
No, it's not, but the amount of blog posts will be less as what you were used to before.

Why?
Mainly work and a change in priorities. Since my last blog in the summer I have been working very hard, long hours, weekends and what not for a project for one of the biggest paper and forestry companies in Finland. When you have so little time for all the other things besides this project you sometimes have to prioritize a bit and instead of blogging and the Internet addiction I choose to spend more time with my sweetheart (even though she would disagree on this partly because she thinks I work too much.)

A quick look back
So what has happened besides work since the summer holidays. Well a very good question, as mentioned before a lot of work that's for sure.

Finnish class
I followed the fourth level of the Finnish language studies at the University of Helsinki with good results because even with my limited amount of vocabulary I managed to pass the exam this month. I will have to look if I want to continue with the courses for now or find something else. The times for the fifth level are quite inconvenient and I have to focus more on using it and learning more words.

Moving apartments
In the end of November we have moved apartments from the Pikku Huopalahti area apartment of 36m2 to a nice spacious and renovated apartment in Länsi-Pasila of 76m2. The moving happened with some help from family and friends in an exciting 1 day including the trip to the IKEA to buy some more stuff. I was driving the van around the city, which was my first driving experience in Finland. And it went quite alright I had to break some laws here and there to get to our new place before figuring out how it was suppose to go, but nobody got injured (including the car).

The previous apartment we liked very much especially the area was really nice but the place was becoming too small for the both (or three, if you count the hairy friend that sometimes visits us too) of us, that was the main reason to look for something new. And within 2 weeks we found a new place, signed the contract and started moving. A bit faster than you would expect but it keeps you busy. Now we have fully settled here in our new place and it really became our home already.

Trip to Hungary
In the beginning of this month Krista and I went to Hungary for 5 days. To have a break and some quality time together doing what we like best, traveling. We visited Budapest and did some sightseeing, meeting up with Arpad and Zita, the first people I ever hosted with Couchsurfing, and had some nice cultural and culinary evening with them and for 1 night we went with Krista's friend, who was studying in Hungary, to Esztergom. Esztergom is a nice little place with great history next to the Slovakian border with a bridge connecting the two countries. Even though we had some troubles with our flights due to delays and weather conditions but all in all it was a nice trip in a nice, but still quite poor country.

Christmas
With Christmas, just like last year, I stayed in Finland. On Christmas eve we went to Krista's family dinner. Nice food and good company, but also the time of giving and receiving presents. I got some nice presents from everyone (thanks for that). For example from Krista I got a Philips LivingColours Generation 2 lamp to enhance the light and atmosphere in our living room. Something I have been thinking about buying for a long time already. Another thing I have been wanting to get for a while now were orange woolen socks, thanks to Krista's grandmother I now have them. On the giving part it ranged from books, hairdresser appointments and boardgames. I gave Krista some horseback riding opportunities this year. She loves horses and ponies and have been talking about them so much that I thought it would be the perfect gift for her. The whole evening was really nice and everyone seemed very content about the presents he/she got. =)

On first Christmas day we went to visit Krista's other grandmother and we had our own family Christmas dinner with just the two of us. Some nice marinated lamb with salad and for the occasion I bought us a nice bottle of Amarone red wine to drink with it. In the late night we went for a one hour cross-country ski session in the backyard on my own new cross-country ski's which I bought for myself as a Christmas present. Really nice and almost magical because I think we were the only ones in the whole park.

Yesterday on the second Christmas day we went to visit more relatives of Krista in the afternoon. And that was all the Christmas activities for this year. The upcoming week I have taken some vacation days to prepare myself for the new year.

What's gonna happen in 2011?
Well I hope the first part of 2011 will be relaxed and that less time will be consumed by work activities. Raul is coming  for a weekend in January and some other people have been planning to come as well so I won't lose touch with the Dutch side of me =). For the rest I (or we) have not so many plans. I think we are just going to enjoy our new apartment even more and try to stay healthy and happy =)

Thanks for reading my blog post(s) this year and showing your interest in my well-being this and the previous years. It's easy to lose the contact when you are 'far' away from each other and with my busy schedules it's becoming an even bigger risk of losing touch. I may not have been a perfect friend or family member but I did the best I could.

For all of you I would like to wish you a fantastic 2011. I hope it will become a year you will not forget in a positive way and that it may be spend in health and prosperity. I also hope it may become a year of reconnection, harmony and proper relations.

Peace!