Scheisse mit Mein Kampf!!!

Apologies for the mistakes in German on this post - or on the other hand not...!

In High school I studied German for 2 years and that is all the academic study with that beautiful-ugly-sounding-language I have for now. On top I have numerous hours and days of on-site visits with the-way-I-like-to-study-languages in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

While writing this the World Cup game between hosting Brazil and Colombia is on with 1-0 for B-team. As I have stated earlier, my favorite is Spain. Yes, it still is!!!

My second favorite is actually Belgium, my former home country, while I still not today trust the team. Sorry my Belge friends! I claimed they would be kicked out in the first qualifying round but luckily I was wrong - and team Belgium was lucky: they played against team USA and - despite of the stunning game by The Goal Keeper of the Year Tim Howard - they managed to go for quarter finals, that is in best 8. Go Belgium!!!

Germany...
Scheisse.
Wunderbar.
Warum?

OK, let's get to business;
"Entschuldigung, das ich zu spät kommen!" was the fist sentence I said in my German lession in the high school.

And the second one...?
"Das weiss Ich leider nicht!"

Sorry for the 99% of the American readers, JFG!!!

...anyway, to the point that I started writing this;
With 1 minute thinking I came up with 2 teams that I do NOT support if the French the team is playing them.

Yep, all of you know the ranking 1 is Russia, but for whatever reason the 2nd team is ...Germany from all the countries in the world. Why??? I can't really say! Likes and dislikes. Blonds vs brunettes. Meat vs veggies. Coffee vs Tea.

Let's remind the basics;
Finland is going to play in the next World Cup - in Basketball in Spain this August!!! Let's keep our eye on that my friends - and trust Brazil will take what's for them to take!

Have a fabulastic weekend you all!!!

PS Mein Kampf is the battle with not having my home country Finland in the games, my 3rd home country Spain out, my somewhat-dislike-Germany-continuing, my 2nd home country Belgium out at next round, while my childhood favorite Brazil just got away with a goal against them and now all of a sudden it is 2-0. Brazil continues!!!

Let the games continue!!!

Hyvää Äitienpäivää - Happy Mothers' Day!

I congratulate all the mothers around the world; Hyvää Äitienpäivää - Happy Mothers' Day!

My kids are already big and it was again joyful to watch my son play football! It is fantastic to watch your child do whatever they do, learning different things in life. If you think of it, it is foolish to watch a child sleep, but all fathers and mothers know what I'm talking about... 

This particular kid had a nap outdoors - what could be better than sleep in fresh air? Some of you think it is too cold, but I can tell you it is perfectly fine to let a baby sleep outdoors even at winter, you just need to dress properly. 

...the guys in Winter War didn't have an option, they had to live out in the woods for weeks hence you just need to equip and adjust. As many of us know, Finns were in better situation vs the Soviet Union soldiers.

Talking about our Eastern neighbours;

There is Finland vs Russia World Championships game going on and I am shocked and dissapointed about the lack of respect to other players by Russian Vadim Shipachyov. UGLY tackle, shame on you and no penalty! Few moments later a Finn is sent for penalty when Russian player dives... Finns play crap ice hockey at the moment so we can't expect too much from these games if this continues.

Still, have a great week you all!

Safety tip for Sochi Olympics: Safe Sports Solution at Vantaa, Finland

I live in Finland, which can be considered one of the safest corners in Europe. But no, today this is not only pink foam, good spirit and happiness for all of us. Otherwise one would think the signs like below would not be needed at a Tikkurila sports arena at Vantaa, Finland.

Remember to leave your guns and steak knives at home when going to watch a basketball, handball or futsal game...!

At Sochi Winter Olympics 2014 www.sochi.ru they have apparently 60.000 security guard, police and military people to protect the athletes, officials and fans. Damn expensive solution when you could do the same with few stickers.

PS The corner of the image on the right side is from Helsinki Olympic Games 1952, turning spot of the marathon run with Emil Zatopek in the picture.

PPS Finland has opened the medal flow at Sochi, Enni Rukajärvi won silver at women's slopestyle - HYVÄ ENNI!!!

I AM PROUD / HAPPY TO BE A FINN - AS ALWAYS!

Today I can say I am more than happy to be a Finn, Finnish citizen living in Finland. I know that only some weeks from today I am fed up with the darkness, gray and wet weather. 

To put things in perspective, at that point we are only going towards the time of the year when it feels the sun does not come up at all here in Southern Finland. For the guys living in Lapland, Northern part of Finland, it is not only "it feels like it" since up there the sun stays below horizon for ~2 months. Tough, hence we should better understand why we have one of the highest alcohol and coffee consumption in the world, as well as extremely high suicide rate. 

Why am I happy then?

Let's not talk about the small home tasks, but I'm happy to say I have also used the vacuum cleaner this weekend. 

WEATHER;

It is September and for example the average temperature last year was +12C. We have had all weekend +22 to +24C, sunny and nice. Fantastic!!!

FOOTBALL;

On Friday I got to see one of the best football teams and world class top players perform: Finland - Spain at Olympic Stadium of Helsinki. The goal opportunities were close to equal, Finland having two first ones, while Spain used their chances better and won 0-2. 

Today I got to enjoy my son play a football game in sunny Lahti city. The game was played right next to the statue of Jari Litmanen at Kisapuisto. 

Second game after his fairly long injury, HE IS BACK and I love to watch his games!

BASKETBALL;

Team Finland in Basketball, the "Wolves", lost yesterday their game against Italy, making a GREAT COME-BACK today and WON RUSSIA in the EuroBasket games after 2 overtimes!!! To put things in perspective, Russia has got 143,5 million people vs Finland's 5,4 million. Russia's latest big win was Olympic bronze at 2012 vs Finland has never ever won a medal in big games. GREAT GAME & WIN that takes Finland to the second round!!!

Seasons are starting at many levels so I also get a chance to watch some other games of interest to me. I myself need to be off the b-ball court for over a week so I gotta focus on other sports to consume the energy - no worries. 

FOOD;

Yesterday I got to enjoy the best pizza in town with good company. As some of you know, that pizza is served at our place. Today I BBQ'd ~15 steaks, no need to say more I guess? 

PEOPLE;

In addition to the ones mentioned above, several good moments, e.g. my daughter found a special dress for a special occasion to come. Today included an ad-hoc visit to a should-wear-a-suit-event wearing an outfit out of scope, feeling still good as the option was to stay out and see the key people in worst case only in a year or so. I also have had time for myself, which is good - thank you for the supporting / surrounding team :o) 

Don't you think that all has been sugar & honey covered with flowers, while I will not let the downturns to impact too much. Dang, I will make my best to turn challenges into success stories...!

Have a fabulastic week you all!!!

Pietari - St. Petersburg Next Door

From the top of the shop at Jätkäsaari, Helsinki I told about earlier, you can have also this view;

Since Russia and St. Petersburg is next door from Helsinki, you can take a ferry cruise there and back in only few days. No visa needed at least for Finns, some terms of course apply - like you are obliged to buy some tourist services while there etc... If you are interested, check out the site of the ferry line in the pic. I have no interest to market them further so figure out the rest by your self - or give me a call ;o)

Grannies didn't win - Heja Sverige!

It was close, but not close enough! Still the grannies apparently won some cash to fix their home village church that Stalin had destroyed. Good for them!

I've been wondering why the Eurovision song contest has become a tradition that stuck. Years ago we had nights out with friends to watch them and have a party. Well, with kids and age that was not sustainable solution, but during the Brussels years it was a good way to keep up with the patriotism.

Not least when the Lordi came on - and won... That night we happened to have an American style baby shower party to go to. This time it was with men too. The host family was American-Armenian-Dutch, so Eurovision was part of the package. Somehow during the evening it became clear that the Lordi is winning and Madam Hostess was so happy as she was a big lover of Salmiakki Vodka!

I you wanna check what I've said about the Eurovision earlier, check it out from here.

God natt, sov gott!

Who's gonna win?

I said the grand moms will NOT win the Eurovision 2012 song contest, but now I claim the other:
I say they will win and make the similar protest win as Lordi few years ago!


Go grannies!!!

Viipuri / Viborg in Helsinki

There is a photo exhibition in Helsinki about Viborg - Viipuri - from the World War 2 times. It is a city that was part of Finland before the war, then Soviet Union occupied the city after the winter war.

From March 1940 for 534 days, 2 hours and 15 minutes the Finnish flag was down from the tower of Viipuri Castle on August 29 1941 (hope the nr of days matches, I got it from the paper). At the end of the second war, the flag came down for good on June 20 1944. The flag is at the Finnish war museum.

Now in Helsinki at Sanomatalo you get to see the pics taken both by the Finnish and the Soviet sides. For some strange reason the photo texts are only in Finnish. There is a small red or blue dot in the corner of the photo, marking from which source the photo is from. Blue for Finns, red for the Soviets.

My favorite is this one. Windows shot to pieces, but the sign tells that the shop is closed...

If you are at all interested, go there, open until May 20th!

PS The ice hockey World Championships are going on in Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden. Finland has now been beaten badly by Canada and USA. I trust the trend will change on Monday when we play Kazakstan...