Assortment of thoughts
Last weekend was awesome. We went to Saimaa Summer, a relaxing weekend on a beautiful island of Päiviö at Lake Saimaa; enjoying good company, warm weather, sauna, the lake and some activities like football and Finnish baseball. That event was actually something my team started back in 2003, so it was good to see the tradition going forward. The atmosphere was still the same. The only difference being that back then we had to recruit the local IAESTE trainees to participates since we didn't have our own. Now there was people from all over the world, all AIESECers! What's more, it's been like 20-30 degrees for the past month, so I'm proceeding to get a good tan, so no need for sunscreen in Colombo.My arrival date to Colombo is 20 July (Thursday) 09:35 AM (that would be 5:35 Finnish time). The flight goes through Vienna where I have to wait for four hours at the airport. So, altogether the trip takes 15 hrs 45 mins.
At the moment it feels that I'm even a bit over-prepared for the internship. I have met the locals and Finns who've been there, I have read about the country and Buddhism, I have tried to gain understanding of the political history and current state of the country and so on. Still, I feel like I could have done more; like learn the language a bit better. However, now I'm 100% ready to take Sri Lanka as it is - a bundle of experiences, that show the pros and cons of the country.
Actually, just before going to Saimaa Summer I met with another Tomi who had been in an internship in Sri Lanka in 2004-2005. Already that discussion was good and enlightening, but for my positive surprise his Sri Lankan girlfriend - and to-become-wife - Lana was visiting Finland so she joined our conversation. We had like four hour discussion concentrating mainly on the culture, people and characteristics of the country. Most of the information I already knew but it was good to get some perspective from a local citizen who's not an AIESECer.
Now here comes her perspective on the currrent situation with the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE): First of all, she said that she does think that they - LTTE - are terrorists. If they would like to get their message across they would stay in the negotiation table, instead of bombing the opposite side (GOSL). Secondly, she said that LTTE is not representing the whole Tamil nation even though they claim so. Thirdly, she adviced me not to go to north and east - if I would, it would be on my own risk. Finally, she concluded that foreigners are taken good care of and the rest of the country is completely safe.We also discussed about the living conditions in the trainee flat with Tomi. He said both of the apartments are a bit away from the centre so the noise of the traffic doesn't bother that much. However, it also means that there are a few bugs - ants, cockroaches, wasps, mosquitoes, gekkos and spiders. He adviced us to keep the apartment clean in order to keep the cockies and ants away. Now that's a challenge for me! :)
Tomi said he had played football in Finland all his life - in the lower leagues - and in Sri Lanka he immediately started playing in a team with the people working in embassies. Shortly he was asked to play in the Premier League of the country. Now that's what I call career advancement. As for the current world championships in football, my team Portugal has made its way to the semi-finals! Back in 1990 I started cheering for Brazil and Holland. In 1994 Portugal joined my TOP 3. During these games, after 12 years of Portugal frenzy, it's finally crystalizing to me who I support the most. In the beginning of Portugal-Netherlands game I intuitively chose the side of Portugal and understood that the current Team Holland is no longer the same as it was in the 90s and it has nothing to offer me. The Portugal game against England provoked such feelings within me that I'm starting to believe that I no longer have three but one team to cheer for! I am living the games with my every cell when Portugal is playing, so I do hope and believe that they take what belongs to them: the world championship! It's now or never; they're at their peak. In the next qualifying games for the european championships 2008 Finland is playing in the same group with Portugal. I'm not going to be a turn-coat: I hope both of them qualify to the games. That would be first time for Finland.
As a concluding remark for this lengthy posting of sporadic thoughts I'd like to announce that I took a summer job! It's a translation job of three pages, Finnish to English, and my estimation is that it takes just a few hours. However, it pays me 100 euros so it's definitely worth it! Come on, it's my two-week salary during the internship!
posted by Tomi Astikainen @ Monday, July 03, 2006
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