Celebrating midsummer
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that Juhannus (eng. midsummer, celebrated in Finland 23-24 June 2006) was great. Before the actual midsummer I went to meet my best friend Matti in Jyväskylä, visited my mom in Joutsa and spent a few days at our summer cottage just taking it easy - and getting a tan to reduce the sunscreen costs in my new home country.
Anyway, in the picture on the right me and my lovely godchild Milla are rockin' it out in Joensuu Juhannus Festival. Even though the event itself was quite commercial it was fun to see how "heavy" Milla has become (and I'm not talking about her weight now). On our way to the festival area she was constantly demanding to hear Teräsbetoni, a Finnish heavy metal orchestra. And when the clock stroke eleven, she went totally nuts as Lordi walzed onto the stage. I just love her! :)
The rest of the midsummer I spent with my friends on a summer cottage - barbequeing, going to sauna, swimming, playing board games and generally just chilling. That's the best Finland can offer!
Hard Rock Hallelujah
Today something extraordinary happened. Me and Paula were witnessing "a metal mass", a church service where all the hymns are composed as heavy metal. It was astonishing to see how big a leap the lutheran church in Finland has taken. It used to be all melancholic, highly conservative and strict. Well, it still was melancholic but in a much more pompous way. I've never heard before that people would cheer and clap their hands in the church. No, that used to be prohibited in the unwritten rules. I really enjoyed this and hope that it becomes a tradition. For those who don't know me, I'm by no means a religious person. I don't even belong to church. So, buy the DVD when it comes out and see/hear yourself! :)
OH MY GOSL!
Being a conscentious objector I don't really symphatize with anyone who's using arms to get their point accross. Still, I don't get why the government of Sri Lanka won't just settle with LTTE and give in for their demands. Of course losing territory and national resources is not good financially but is it good to keep on fighting and continuing the genocide?
I do believe in Sri Lanka
I do believen in Sri Lanka, even though I haven't even set my foot on its soil yet. Just reading about the country, its roots, its religion and its life nowadays is enough to prove that it is a good place for any young person to develop and flourish - themselves and their future organizations. Still a couple of things bug me. 1) Media and 2) Government's inability to solve the diversity issues within a country that has two main strands of ethnicity; Tamils and Sinhalese people.
1) Whenever I mention to someone that I'm going to Sri Lanka, their first thought (and voiced opinion) is "Oh, Tamil tigers. Isn't that dangerous?". I'm sick and tired of answering the same question and I feel really sad that a beautiful country like Sri Lanka is only able to produce bad news to western countries. I also feel sad for the ordinary Tamil population who get a bad reputation because of LTTE's actions. Why there are no documentaries to try and explain the Sri Lankan history, to show that LTTE is just a small pissed off part of Tamil population, to show that there are better things in the country than the age old vicious circle of strikes and counter strikes? Is this a taboo in Sri Lanka or why no one takes action?
2) I've come to understand that the government in Sri Lanka is strongly influenced by the Buddhist clergy. "Isn't this like corruption?" I thought and browsed to the Transparency International website. Ok, I know nothing about the local governance but it seems to me that something should be done on this sector, too. The results of past surveys are here and show that bribery is a real problem too.
I don't know who is funding the media but for some reason I feel these two are interlinked. For some reason, the news that reach European countries are almost demonizing the Tamils - if not all, at least the Tigers - in Sri Lanka. Depending of the source, the tone of news is completely different. See for yourself and check out the daily news in the Sri Lanka links section (on the right pane).
But how should I know. Please, contribute to the discussion and educate me and the rest alike! These are exactly issues I want to tackle and see if we together can have some kind of positive impact.
Good suggestions welcome
I was doing a bit of calculations about my personal finances during the upcoming internship. It seems that even though the salary is only 200 euros, it's enough to even save for holidays, visa extension and return ticket. Of course my calculations are most likely naive and terribly wrong, and when the reality hits, it hits hard. So, I've been thinking if there could be a way to make even 50 euros a month without having to see too much effort. It would help notably. Any suggestions?
It's funny how 50 euros in Finland is pocket money that you can waste easily during one day, but in Sri Lanka it's a notable amount of money. Here are some examples of the expected monthly expenditure: rent 30 EUR, food 42 EUR, laundry 4 EUR, and traveling within Colombo 4 EUR. Then again, for example beer is extremely expensive (in local standards). A bottle of beer costs 1,25 EUR! That's a fortune if you compare that an average daily salary of a local journalist is around 2,5 euros.
Ready to risk my life
43 days left and I'm in Sri Lanka... only yesterday I realized it's quite soon indeed. It's both scary and exciting.
Last week I succesfully ended my MC term and on Monday I went on to handle all the final bureaucracy concerning graduation. So, now I'm free; spending quality time with my girlfriend, enjoying the world championships in football, waiting for real summer to start in Finland (damn cold now), and basically just taking it easy in between two important periods in my life. It seems that every time I read preparation stuff, I get all paranoid about safety in there. According to these sources of information there seems to be no way to stay alive or unharmed in the country. :) I've never been this conscious about safety before. Weird. Still I decided I won't get an insurance from Finland but acquire one locally. Maybe it's stupid but the price difference is around 450 euros a year. Go figure!
Graduation comes closer
It's done! My thesis is in print and now I just to deal with the bureaucracy and formalities. The aim of the study was to find out how diversity and its management appear in the teamwork of a nonprofit organization, how diversity and teamwork are able to explain the motives to work in a nonprofit organization and what should be taken into account in teamwork and team leading in diversity and nonprofit setting. Based on the research it was concluded that it is not the nonprofit nature of the organization, teamwork or diversity alone that make a difference, but their linkages. Together, and well utilized, they affect the employee motivation and through that contribute to the organizational results.
Who cares anymore... It will be online soon if someone wants to check it out.
