Pride!

The talk of the town today - especially in my old home town - is certainly the Pride march that happened earlier today. In small-town Jakobstad, a town of just about 20 000 citizens; in Ostrobotnia, western Finland, which is considered quite a conservative area - or the "bible belt", 2500 happy people marched together through town together, watched and applauded by a similar number of spectators. Amazing! I wish I could have been there to witness it all and participate myself! Instead, I sat at work following the facebook and twitter feeds from the event, looking at all the pictures and comments and, for once, feeling a growing pride in my home town!

I don't think anyone could have anticipated just how many happy people would take part in the event, either to express themselves or to show their support for others, nor quite how positive the general feedback was, once it happened. The organizers started planning this event about a year ago, and since then the debate has been on, reminding us all of how much prejudice there is, to the point where you simply have to stay away from the comments section at all if you wanted to stay sane... This has, of course, also been an important and symbolic year in Finland, considering LGBITQ rights. There has been much (needed!) debate following the Tahdon-initiative (have mentioned that earlier - found here.) and this initiative surely helped keep that discussion alive.

Today, though, the trolls must have gone into hiding - I have read comments (Yes. My own fault.) about "feeling forced to leave town over the weekend" or choosing to boycott the entire local festival (An annual happening, culminating this weekend. Does not relate to the pride march) - so the whole thing seems to have gone down peacefully. Ans some believe that all the negativity and prejudice displayed in the debates might have been the spark needed for many to make the choice to take part and show their support. And so many did! I am both happy and proud!

Of course I realize this is no proof of an entire town suddenly having grown more liberal or tolerant, but it is a great leap of a first step, and I doubt that anyone will forget this party in the first place!

July. On work and such...

Been a while again.

July has, so far, been a bit more hectic than June. Which is good, in a way - more visitors at the museum is always technically good after all - but also means I am tired most of the time. Today, Monday, I have my weekly day off. Until now, it's been spent at uni, working on things I don't have the time or energy to do on most nights. I used to have this idea that I'd do something fun every Monday but now I never really seem to find the time for that, after all. Or the energy. Time and time again I ask myself whether it really was that smart to use all of my vacation days (six days ) on a one-week trip in August. It does heighten my expectations on that week, to say the least - this year it will have to be good to be worth it... But I bet it will.

Had a short visit by friends from back home this weekend, which was great fun! But lots of catching up and too little time, as so often happens. Will be strange not to go up north for a visit this year, and this is the week I'd normally do that.

I'm quite satisfied with the writing I've done today, but wish I had one more day off (a "Sunday" following this "Saturday") to use for other things, like cleaning my flat...

Quote of the day

"Your memory is a monster; you forget - it doesn't. It simply files everything away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you - and summons them to your recall with will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you."

John Irwing, A Prayer for Owen Meany

Work, work.

I have now spent just over two mostly grey, rainy weeks guiding at the industrial museum. The first week was quite quiet, but since midsummer the stream of visitors has been growing steadily and these last couple of days have even been a bit hectic! I'm enjoying it so far, but my weak Finnish is still a complex - no matter how well I try to learn the material, it can still be frustratingly difficult to answer spontaneous questions from visitors. Sometimes because I don't know the answer (this happens particularly often with local visitors, who tend to be familiar with the history represented and whom I sometimes suspect of asking merely to test my knowledge) but just as often because I am not able to answer in Finnish. Very annoying, and also embarrassing. Still, I like my job and now mostly worry about the fall. (as I still don't know what I'll be doing after August, job-wise.)

At first, I found it hard to work six days a week, but I think I'm getting used to it now. It's interesting to have Mondays off - my "weekend" starts right where everyone else's ends. I try to think of something fun or inspiring to do every Monday,  not to miss weekends too much. I'll get back to you on the Monday projects later.

Friday 13th

This has been such a messy day. I started it by - for the second time this week - missing the bus to Pargas, which made me late for work in the morning. And almost soon as I got started, I messed things up again. These past couple of days I've been going through a collection old things, moving them to a more suitable storage facility, and photo documenting every moved object in the process. I had just returned to doing that when I, wanting to delete a bad shot, accidentally deleted every picture on that camera. Every. Single. One. I had been using that camera all afternoon yesterday, when I had a particularly effective day. So most of today has been spent trying to correct that mistake by first figuring out which objects I needed to shoot again, and then re-shooting all of them. And worrying about whether or not I would mess something else up. At least I was able to finish it. So when my work day ended, I was just slightly past the point where I had started. Oh, joy.

The bus trip back home felt especially good today.

on work and karate

I've been at my new job for a week now, and missed the morning bus for the first time today. Interestingly enough, I was still the first person there. My boss was also late (family reasons) so it wasn't a problem after all. Still felt like shit watching the bus drive off right in front of my nose, though... Very much a Monday.

I haven't started actually guiding yet, that will be when the museum opens next week. I'm quite sure it will be fun, but still slightly worried about guiding in Finnish. Spent the end of last week (among other things) putting together a long list of Finnish terms to teach myself...

One surprising thing I have learned to appreciate about my job is the commuting. The bus ride isn't too long, takes about 40 minutes depending on the hour, and I found myself liking it. I usually spend it reading, and I have so many books on my reading list right now - as in list of books I actually want to read, nothing mandatory. Already finished two Vonnegut novels and now reading The sound of a wild snail eating....

Sadly, it looks like I'll be missing out on the upcoming karate course. I would only be able to attend half the course and, having now checked the details around all possible travel arrangements, it simply doesn't seem possible to go after work on Friday, unless I want to finally show up sometime well after three o'clock in the morning, after having caught a ride from Tallinn with that mystery driver I have not yet found...  This bugs the hell out of me, as this course (the June course, or "Nordic Summer School") is one of my favorites, and something i look forward to every spring - no less when it is in Estonia, as this summer... I guess I'll just have to attend our normal sessions as often as I can, and of course look forward to the big Summer School in Canterbury in August... I double checked with my boss that I can take that entire week off, so at least I should have that covered!

Tired but happy

I was very happy to belatedly return my work keys last night. I've now had my third day at my new job, and so far I've been very happy with it - even though I spent most of the last two days cleaning. My next task is simply to learn as much as I can about the place and the exhibitions, so that I can guide visitors properly. Even having regular work hours feels good, especially after having submitted everything I've been writing on this spring (Yes - except for the thesis).

I was also most happy to return to regular karate practice last night, after not having trained for weeks (due to us not having a venue). Things worked out surprisingly well, considering the break, and I look forward to training again on Thursday!