200 Kilograms...

I confess that I don't read the news a lot.
I know most things that are going on back in our native Nova Scotia and sometimes, if I remember - I will skim through the Helsinki Times.  And of course, I am so on top of all the celebrity gossip via People or some other similar sites.
We don't even have a radio...yet!

So needless to say - we don't read the Finnish tabloid papers and do not order the local newspapers either.
But one of my friends does and she was visiting and brought a copy over and asked if I had been watching or listening to the news lately.
"Nope, why - what's going on?" I asked.

"Well, there was a fellow with 200-kilos of explosives in his home and they did not know where he was going to set them off or what kind of attack he was planning!"

Turned out this fellow is a chemistry student at the University and he lived approximately 16-kilometers away from our neighbourhood (or downtown - not sure - anyways - too close for comfort!).
The only reason he was caught was because he was abusing his girlfriend or violated her in some way and she called the cops.
And of course, he didn't bother hiding any of his explosives....

"Why of course you can take a look at my collection!" is what I visualize him saying to the cops...

Now, the interesting thing about this article (wish I took a photo of it!) is that there is a large photo of the man and his face was blurred heavily.
I asked why it was blurred and due to the heavy privacy acts in Finland - they have to blur his face out until he is proven guilty.
Once proven guilty - then they can remove the blur editing and everyone will know what he looks like.

In Canada, if someone is under the age of 17 commits a crime - they are protected to the point no photo is printed and no name either.

And in case you're wondering how much 200 kilos weighs - it's ALMOST 441 pounds (440.925 to be exact).

"Romeo & Julia"

THE DANCE MUSICAL ROMEO AND JULIET
*This was provided to me by Heta, one of the dancers in Romeo and Juliet.  Huge thanks to Heta and I hope you're all able to see the performance before they are done for the summer!!*


This summer Kramppi has conquered Ainola, the stage of Jyv�skyl� Workers' theatre, with the dance musical Romeo and Juliet. With Romeo and Juliet Kramppi wants to go far. The performance is an unbroken river of music, singing and dance. As far as music is concerned the performance combines both new electronic and pop/rock music alike classical music and soundtrack. The choreography on the other hand gains ground in new dance styles mixing modern dance, parkour, acrobatics and dance styles in music videos.
Kramppi has produced the dance musical Romeo and Juliet together with The Jyv�skyl� Workers' Theatre. It is rewritten, composed and directed by Antti Viitam�ki, a local inhabitant that has made over 20 years' career in a theater and music field. The head choreographer is Laura Lehtinen who is doing her choreographic studies in the Theatre Academy Helsinki.

Trailer, teaser and some music clips
- http://kramppi.f/romeojulia/romeojulia/naytteita.html
Photo gallery
- http://kramppi.f/romeojulia/romeojulia/lehtikuvat.html

WHEN?
Wed. 20.6. at 19 p.m.
Fri. 22.6. at 19 p.m.
Sun. 24.6. at 19 p.m.
Wed. 27.6. at 19 p.m.
Thu. 28.6. at 19 p.m.
Fri. 29.6. at 19 p.m.
Sun. 1.7. at 14 p.m and at 19 p.m.
Wed. 4.7. at 19 p.m.
Thu. 5.7. at 19 p.m.
Fri. 6.7. at 19 p.m.
Sun. 8.7. at 14 p.m. and at 19 p.m.
Wed. 11.7. at 19 p.m.
Thu. 12.7. at 19 p.m.
Fri. 13.7. at 19 p.m.
Sun. 15.7 at 14 p.m. and at 19 p.m.
Wed. 18.7. at 19 p.m.
Thu. 19.7. at 19 p.m.
Fri. 20.7. at 19 p.m.
Sat. 21.7. at 14 p.m. (sold out)

WHERE?
The Open-air Theater Ainola in Ainolanranta, a beauty spot near Jyv�skyl� city
center
Address: Rytmikuja 8, 40520 Jyv�skyl�

TICKETS?
Lippupiste, call 0600 900 900 or visit www.lippu.f (search "Romeo ja Julia")

KRAMPPI IN A NUTSHELL


Kramppi is a dance theatre from Jyv�skyl� and was founded in 1996. Kramppi is
known for its impressives full-length performances. These are for example Liisa
Ihmemaassa (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) in 2005 in Jyv�skyl� City
Theatre, Kalevala in 2006, Montparnasse 0522 in 2008 and the horror musical
Dracula in 2010 executed in an old and large factory building. All these
performances have been a success.

PPTC445 Versus PPTC116

Do you know what the title is talking about?

Ask me a few days ago and I'd tell you, I have no clue.

If you're a Canadian living abroad and happen to have children with your spouse (let's say they are Canadian too for example) - and you need a passport for the child - well, you need to now fill out a PPTC116 form.

This is all based on a very recent experience and involves the Canadian Embassy in Helsinki - all possibilities are endless depending where you live and your personal situation.


Okay now that I have that little "disclaimer" out of the way - let's chat about those forms.

When our first son was born, we did not have to fill out either of those PPTC forms.
We did however, have to make sure that the first page of his passport application said it was for a child born ABROAD.

This year, after realizing we have a trip planned for next month outside of Finland - we decided the youngest needs a passport ASAP.  Oh and his residence permit application will have to be submitted soon too!  Oops.
I sent in the Passport and the Canadian Citizenship application for him and got a phone call from the Embassy stating that I need to fill in a PPTC form and send in my Passport and birth certificate, along with my husband's.
Oh - no problem.
I then get the emailed copy of the form to fill out - asked a friend to print it for me and the following day was advised that the form has been updated (magically over night of course) and I should fill out the new one.

Both of them were labelled PPTC445.  Fine.
My friend printed the "updated" version and I filled it out and noticed that it asks for the "Certificate Number"  from both parents.  What number is it referring to?!
So I called the lovely Canadian Embassy - and they advised me that the actual Consular is away at the moment but the one in charge (whom we've been in regular contact with) is available.  Fine - let's get this thing figured out!

She advised me that there should be a "PPTC116" written somewhere on the paper.  I advised her no there wasn't.  My friend checked her email and both emails had an attachment stating "PPTC445"...she suggests I must be able to see it and I read her the form title and she said it must have been the other email.
Well, after bickering a bit and firmly telling her that NO I do not have the appropriate form - she advised me she'll send it right away and that the "Certificate number" only applies if we, as parents, became Canadian Citizens after immigrating to Canada for some time.
Considering me and the husband are both born in Canada - this clearly did not apply.

I was un-sure of our actual dates of travel so I put down "August 1" and she asked if I could send her the flight information...we're not flying - we're taking a boat to Sweden some time - and have yet to book the tickets.
Well, because we left this sort of last minute (yes definitely our fault - I admit that!) - the Embassy requires we prove we are travelling or require a Passport for the child for residency purposes.


Yeah - I know.  How dumb is that (2nd) part?!
OF COURSE we need a Passport for our child who is technically a Canadian born abroad and if we (including the first child) need a residence permit to live here - he would too!
When I pointed out the stupidity in that statement (as politely as possible) - she suggested I go to the Police to get a written document from them confirming this to be true.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
I told her flat out that it's obvious any child with an automatic tie to their parents' home country's citizenship would require a passport - she said it might be possible for me to write something.
This just keeps getting un-professional every single time she made a suggestion.  Of course anything I write (without any sort of legal or professional status other than "Mom") is not going to be justified as an acceptable piece of proof that my baby needs his passport so he can continue living in Finland.
UGH!
So I just told her - we'll book the tickets and we need the passports by this time - end of discussion.

I love how our CANADIAN Passports and Canadian birth certificates are not enough - you have to waste our time (both actual and processing time for the passport to be made) with this silly piece of paper.  Thanks for doubting not only us but Canadians everywhere....and of course - your own system...
Way to go Canada.

Hope this helps you Canadians living abroad with babies!

In case you get lost...

While celebrating Midsummer Eve with some friends the other night, on our walk back home we noticed these boxer briefs in the Taito Shop window downtown!

I don't know if they are available in other city maps depending what shop you buy them from...but you have to admit - they'd make a pretty awesome gift for the guy that simply has everything!!!

Also they would help the one who is ALWAYS lost....

And they're "only" 29� a pair!

Hyv�� Juhannusta!! Happy Midsummer!!

Living in Finland is great.  There are a tonne of holidays here that do not get celebrated in North America.
One of these holidays happens to be Midsummer.
It's always placed on a weekend, the Friday being the Eve of Midsummer and everything closes by 12pm on the Friday.  Buses stop running by 1pm and everything is closed on the Saturday.

Last night I got a message from some friends to go check out the huge bonfire that was being lit across the lake - so I packed up one child and went downtown to see.

In order to get closer to the fire you had to pay for a ticket...but we did this last minute - so we didn't bother.

I was told that Midsummer is considered a very magical day.
If you hope to find true love - it's very traditional to pick 7 flowers and place them under your pillow before you fall asleep on Midsummer Eve and whomever you dream of that night is your true love.

There are some other methods but they usually involve being naked and running around or spinning in circles and such....

People tend to go away to their summer cottages for Midsummer and of course slap themselves (and each other) silly with birch branches tied together in big bundles.

Another thing that is pretty common (and is very unfortunate) is to drink quite a bit and go out on a boat and if you really have to pee - and can't make it to land on time, some people pee while standing up in the boat.  Unfortunately, if you're drunk enough - you might fall in and possibly drown.

It's one of the major causes of death during Midsummer celebrations...the numbers seem to have gone down - but still it can and still happens.

So don't drink and paddle!

A New Tab!

Hey Folks:

If you look near the top of my blog, you'll notice a new tab called "Events!"
I think it's important to know what's going on in a calendar month in terms of when the shops are closed and I found I wasn't always able to update it in time so you could get your groceries and errands done before the holiday!

Also included are events happening within the community - if I know of any - and as well, events for the "Foreigners in Jyv�skyl�" - in case you don't use Facebook!

Speaking of which, there is now available, an online used items page on Facebook for those that live in Jyv�skyl� and speak English!
It's called "Second-Hand Items In Jyv�skyl�" and was created because not many used-items sites are English friendly, Google Translate isn't so good either sometimes and some of the second-hand shops are either closing down/re-locating or are too far away to get to by foot!
Oh and if you're crafty and live in JKL - there's an album for you to upload photos of your handmade goods to sell on Facebook!
If you have several items that are hand-made and are similar (i.e. baby socks or cards) and don't want to put individual photos - it's perfectly fine to post 1-3 photos of the item and put a link to where you may have already posted individual photos - like in an online album or blog!

Good luck selling and I hope this all helps!

Just So You Know...

A few weeks ago, my Facebook Home Page exploded with people commenting about a particular Youtube Video.
In this video, a very upset father discovered that his Autistic son was being verbally abused (and not being treated very nicely) by his teachers.
You can check the video out here.

So why am I blogging about this?
There are some pretty heavy privacy laws in Finland - so just in case you tried what the father in the above video did - put a wire on his child to listen to his day at school - you'll be the one in trouble instead.

I know people who have been treated somewhat un-fairly (depends who's view you see it from) in their work place - and there's no way to record what had happened because employers make a point of speaking face to face so there isn't an email trail or a possible recording on the phone.

For the most part - Finns are very honest and stick by the rules but when it comes to you possibly not getting that promotion (or job) because you're due to have a baby soon (for example!).  It is entirely possible that they will simply just not call you or acknowledge your emails or phone calls, as a way of declining you that position.
It has happened to me (Arnold's) and it could happen to you - so please do not be overly offended - it's just how things roll here.

Another major issue as of recently (within the last 2.5 years we've been here) regarding privacy was Google Maps.
You're thinking - HUH?!
Well, when we first moved here, Google had started to go around in a vehicle with a huge camera on the roof filming all the streets and areas in Finland.  The point of this was to create a "Street View" kind of map - so if you're terrible with maps, like yours truly, then you could click on "Street View" when getting directions and see exactly which building you should be heading towards.
What's the problem then?
Well, Finns felt their privacy was being invaded and that it was not allowed - having their private property filmed and on the internet for the world to see.
Google fought back - explaining the reason for their filming and that they were not filming through people's windows or through the yards - but simply doing a cruise-by.

Since then, I haven't heard any complaints and of course, it's a very useful tool!!
I know it's saved me from being lost a few times already!!

Do you use Google Maps?