Kathleen's Adventures

In the 48 hours since arriving, I've been to: - IKEA twice - the Internet store four times (and I still don't have Internet) - work twice (once did about 30 minutes and the other about 6 hours) - the grocery store twice (but I don't seem to have any food) - Gigantti once - TVs and washer/dryer - bank once (to pay deposit for Internet since I don't have online banking....bank hours are 10-4:30 - entirely convenient) - one of ten Finnish classes - R Kioski to try to pay Internet deposit (unsuccessfully) and then to get bus pass for the week (same price for a week for a foreigner as for a month for a local - will go down once I get my permit) - Stockmann's once And I forget what else.  The great news is someone got the memo I was worried I'd never see the sun again and put it out. Temps have been upper 50s and it feels great!  Also everything is alive and green- huge difference to a month ago! Pics may look weird since I'm postin...

It feels really good to be home.  I've been back almost two weeks now.  On my way back it is amazing how "home" I felt at Heathrow - somewhere that just a few weeks earlier would have felt incredibly foreign.  People speaking English all around me and signs in English everywhere felt good - and I worry it felt too good.  That is the same with going/being home - I was looking forward to it but cautious to remind myself it was just temporary this time around.  I'm wondering how it is going to feel over the next two years when I don't really have a home in the US - I know I'll feel at home at my sister's house in San Antonio (where I expect to spend a great deal of my time), but it will be weird in Austin for sure not having a home or a car of my own here. The second half of my trip to Helsinki was good, despite that during that time I lost two more apartments (in addition to one I saw the first time I visited). My coworker Brian and his wife Les came my se...

I'm almost halfway through my two-week trip to Helsinki - my last trip before moving here.  I've decided I'm living an introvert's dream and possibly an extrovert's worse nightmare.  Not knowing the language is beyond alienating - in so many ways.  People have continually said to me "oh, but they speak English, right?"  Yes...most of them do, after being spoken to in English.  However, the conversations that go on around me, signs, directions, menus, everything printed is in Finnish (and in some cases Sweedish).  I keep finding myself wishing that either I had someone here with me or that I was doing this in England, or Ireland, or any other English-speaking country.  So after feeling sorry for myself for a while (and still doing that a bit), I'm realizing I will have to make a very very concerted effort to learn the language.  I don't expect to be able to have real conversations - just want to have some clue as to what is going on around me an...

In April, I traveled around the world.  It is funny I seem to be checking off bucket list items that I didn't necessarily have on my bucket list.  My trip started with a week in Singapore for training.  It was over Easter and the local office had Good Friday off.  I worked from my hotel on Friday.  I ended up going three days without seeing a single person I know.  That is rare - there are some people that rarely even go one day.  I decided two should be about my max.  I went to a local Methodist church for Easter - it sure wasn't home, but was definitely better than nothing.  That being said, I definitely enjoyed Singapore more this time around than the last time I went.  Upgrading to business class on my flight over might have something to do with that - I didn't realize just how bad I felt last time.  I knew the area a little better and the weather was pretty darn nice this time around.  I think I had to sizzle there a li...

My week-long trip began with a two day offsite team building kickoff with the new Helsinki crew (around 30 people or so) as well as a handful from the Austin office.  The itinerary I received the week before included an ice sculpting competition, sauna time (bathing suit optional), and pigeon on the dinner menu.  Needless to say, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The ice sculpting ended up being pretty fun  - my team made a boat with a Finnish flag on the back.  Granted towards the end it ended up looking more like a toilet bowl than a boat, but I didn't have the heart to tell my team of new Finnish acquaintances this.  Sauna time ended up being split - the men went to the "sauna by the sea" and the ladies stayed back at the one inside the hotel - ie completely uneventful...and not naked.  Dinner was seven courses and I bailed for bed after #5 - it was 11:15pm.  One of those I did stay awake for was the pigeon.  I was proud of myself...