HELSINKI, Finland, April 09 2012

"a picture speaks a thousand words" 


As I'm not getting enough time to blog these days here are some pictures taken in Helsinki on April 09 2012. It was indeed a great and relaxing sunny day (obviously not warm) in Helsinki.


Enjoy!! :-)


XOXO
Jo_tee 

Spain via Germany 2011/12

Goodbye 2011..you´ve been the BEST!!

A year old in blogging and this is my 35th post, a last blog for year 2011.

Wow! I´ve traveled a way far in the journey of my blogging and every time I tried to put my feeling in words, I discovered a whole new person in me. And I am proud to be what I am.

Before looking back to the whole year let me take some moment to re-read my first post and remark the significant changes; the achievements I have made by the end of this year. Was I able to keep up my resolution and follow my dreams?

Well, I can say that "I'm not a novice", of course I haven´t come across the word Perfect yet. The remarkable turning point of my life was that opportunity to volunteer in Vietnam and ‘Be The Change’ Course in Italy. That has been the milestone which gave me a clear vision to what I really should go for in life. Thank you Global Volunteer Network, the entire family of #GVN, especially @Colin Salisbury and every person I met in Vietnam & Italy. There would come a day when the details of your face would begin to slip from my brain’s grip, but those beautiful memories will always remain inscribed in my heart.

My jet setting life in year 2011; from South East Asia to Europe; Thank you all the inspiring people I met; still feels great to remember my days with Wei Fen´s family in Singapore to a recent meet with a wonderful old lady in Munich. And a great time  with my BFF #Kriti and her beautiful family in Barcelona.
 
There are lots of beautiful moments which I would not be able to put in words; I wish I were a writer or a great poet and then my words would have flown like a river or like the morning breeze gently and refreshing.

Now, when I go back to those days, I just get stuck there and do not wish to come back, but time tightly holds my hands and drags me to the present. 

Year 2011 made me more optimistic towards life; it has been the best year with all the great experiences, beautiful memories and my dearest friends.

Trust me it is always worth taking the risk if something is in your mind. Always fight with your fear, ¨Never give up on something you can´t go a day without thinking about ¨
 
Happy New Year 2012! Let´s welcome this year with new hope and promise to make our lives significant.

XOXO
Jo_tee

What we've been up to so far

It has already been a couple of months in Finland now, but it feels like I am here since ages. When I state 'I am getting familiar with Finn weather', I think it's too early to say that. I was happy not to suffer cough & cold ( I really hate it!) ‘coz when I arrived here almost everyone in my class had flue, one after another, and we had named it DSS-Flue! Gosh! I was  unaware of my immune system till now... lol


Now the highways, sub-ways and every routes of Jarvenpaa are clearly set in geographical space of my mind. When Kanchan and I go for jogging we enjoy beautiful dusk as long as we can. We run alongside the lake, farms, woods and railway stations. Unfortunately, the weight machine has yet not shown any remarkable changes in kgs/lbs :))


These days  we are busy bees. We hardly get time to sit together in our common kitchen and talk about our diurnal activities. Life is treating hard and tough, so far. Of course, we had not expected that it would be a cakewalk, 'lesser the expectation slighter the pain'. 


Ranita a.k.a Nirupa Roy has many complains. She thinks she is the only person on Earth with all the miseries and, while trying to confront her, I feel like I am the wisest person on this planet who is here to distribute wisdom LOL. As it is said 'everything successful you do in your life depends on the people you align around you, sometime listening to your heart is crucial.' Hummm...Who agrees?


We have funny Jessica who never gets tired turning every situation humorous, and our apartment becomes a Cinema hall that has comedy movie on. Kanchan & I have discovered a new promising chefs in us.  We cook weekend feast or say it a family dinner/lunch...Yummy! How about opening a Restaura in Finland?
The smell of the Asian spices, fragrance of incense and the loud music playing on youtube make us nostalgic. 


Jokes apart, we’re social services students i.e. future Social Workers. Our Social Welfare and Policy class, if I want to be politically correct I should say - 'Social Welfare and Policies of Finland or sometime EU', says a lot about the  benefits and welfare that Finn government provides to its citizens. Everything is so WHOA! Yeah, the taxation is there, but it is worth paying  after all 'There’s no such thing like free lunch'- that’s what our lecturer Dennis always says. TRUE!! For third world country where we come from these kinds of facilities provided by state is nothing more than New Year’s resolution, you make it and you forget it. 
And what surprise us is, despite the supports and facilities government is providing here,  MALE suicidal rate in Finland is high. For some years this country was even on the top list of male suicidal rate. As far as we have observed, in comparison to Finn women, men are not very open and expressive, and when the emotions or feelings remain within themselves people get frustrated, lonely and isolated. #Observation


We're from the country where people never forget to put a beautiful smile on their face no matter what, but here most of the time you see people whose smile has been buried in the snow or frozen like lakes in winter. We've also met some middle age Finns who were so rude to us for no specific reason ( Use the right vocabularies for God sake! Please don't make us feel we're in foreign land, respect humanity)


Last week, we went clubbing. We really needed some fun to refresh our mind. We had to keep Ranita awake till 2230hrs 'coz either she goes to bed early or spends whole night on Skype. We wanted her to come with us 'coz it was a new experience for her. She thought that it would be awkward as she can’t dance (she thinks). Well, she surprised us when she effortlessly copied every steps we taught her on the dance floor. It was really a fun night until Kanchan and Ranita bumped into this lean & thin Indian guy. First Indian we have met here by the way! He tried to present himself like Mr. hottie having all the females following. Gimme a break dude! I am sure he realized where he stands when Kanchan told him GET LOST! 


Then again, there was this drunk old Finn woman in the rest room, I'm sure she must have been going through midlife crises, the way she behaved with us was intolerable. Thank God we didn't loose our temper, she was so annoying. In spite of everything, it was a fun till we realized that our legs were hurting the other day.


The busy week days, the assignment pressure, stressful group works and rejuvenating field visits are helping us to deduct days from months & years to go back to Nepal. So many things to do.......


At the end of day when you come back home tired and cook for yourself, you miss those days when mom cooked your favourite dish; when you feel cultural indifference and make you feel sad, you miss your friends with whom you can talk/share whatever you like, and when you hear about the progressive reports of other countries you wonder when would your country be a part of these examples. 

XOXO

Jo_tee

Nepalese Dashain Festival in Finland (08.10.11)

In love with Finland

A month old in Finland, and I am getting used to with Finn weather now. Everyone says the frustrating days are yet to come, when snow fall starts from November till end of April, when this beautiful sites would change into white curtains of snow and the sun would get bored to come out every day.


I don't know, neither could I imagine how it would be like, but I am so waiting to twirl around those white curtains and play hide-and-seek with the lazy Sun. That's life!!


A city girl landed in country side, the aroma of nature, the warmth of people around and the fountain of knowledge will definitely keep me safe and warm throughout the years.


Let's see what's in store for me ....


XOXO
Jo_tee

Some research and reports

........And we rode through the gravel road towards Southern-West VDCs of Morang district to do a research for my second assignment. After working continuously (in my office) for 25 days in a row, the ride was quite challenging enough to bring pain on my back (suffering from backache now). The only thing injected enthusiasm in me was the early morning breeze; the lushly green paddy fields looked awesome under the blue sky after last night rain.

We headed towards villages 24-26 km away from sub-metropolitan city Biratnagar. Those small villages are home to approximately 7000 people. Majority of people out there are Muslims, Musahar and other backward communities. We were a kind of skeptic to visit those villages as there were media reports about a killing of an innocent villager by Nepal Police few days back at the same place. But, as soon as we reached the place, we were relieved to see things getting back to normalcy. Sometimes media makes unnecessary fuss; the exaggeration to sell their newspapers invokes thousand questions in people’s mind.

I was really touched to meet a group of youths who run an NGO there that helps to raise social awareness to promote child rights and empowers the communities. The NGO named Rural Society Development Center ((RSDC) is supported by PLAN Nepal. The remarkable changes they've brought in their community over some years are really appreciating. As they briefed us about their NGO, the activities they have been carrying out and their progress is outstanding, but they still feel like they have a long way to go. It is indeed an applauding effort to work for the progress of your own community, the place where you are born and have been brought up. If you really want to do something for others, why not to start from your own surroundings.

On our way, we talked about the situation these villages are facing, how a superb government plan cannot actually materialize due to inefficient and corrupt systems and the changes that at least some NGOs have brought in this part of the country.

Well, it has been super busy days since July, but I'm glad my thoughts are being occupied and my anxious mind is diverted- "all the hardship a person had to face none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting". 

I extend my sincere gratitude to @Shiva dai of PLAN Nepal, @Ansari dai of RSDC and @Binod Pokharel dai of Maiti Nepal Transit Home(for my first assignment) for your valuable time and helping me with necessary information. And, thank you very much @Deepak dai of UN-IRP and @Gopal bhai of UN-DSS for you great support.

XOXO

Jo_tee

Tea Talk- Chai/Chiya

Girls Education is no more a Social Issue