Humming calms me down
Today´s title refers to melody. It is true that humming calms me down, it also has to be said that music inspires me. The names and the words of your National anthems sounded splendor, well that is precisely what they are supposed to sound, isn´t that so? The musical subject mutter proved to be useful, I am glad we together managed to create something new, BBC Learning English is going to have a Christmas special about singing, thank you Paul telling the good news.
Paul, I am some what inquisitive and wonder how many of us Finns have been writing a blog with you before me?
And Rachel how things are down under today? What is the current topic that makes the land of Australia tick? I liked the way you made me rethink my own errors Rachel, I am hoping we will continue to do so. I will have lot of things to ask, but firstly I try to give everyone a short introduction about Finland.
And all you guys: I was so pleased that my first name, Leila, was so familiar to you. Someone knew that couple of songs have the same title as my name and someone else knew that it has an Arabian origin. All your comments were so motivating and many topics you put forward were a great interest. For example (Rachel e.g.?) one of you talked about self-confidence, that surely is a difficult issue. I, as many of you, maybe lack of it at times, I confess openly that sometimes I wish I had more of it. But then again, if one has too much of self-assurance, it may change to grow into (article or not Rachel) arrogance. I am so pleased Adek that you took the subject matter up. One of my favorite quotations that suit this subject matter is from King Lear by William Shakespeare: “Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest, lend less than thou owest”. Isn´t it well put?
A bit about Finland; you maybe know that one of our key industries is forestry, which is a controversial issue at the moment; Finnish pulp factory in Uruguay as Beatriz told us. I will be writing more about Finnish economy later on. As far as weather it´s true that during the summer time we do lot of crazy things, yes the sun shines right through the night and we organize many activities during Midsummer nights. But we do pay for the lightness. During the early winter it´s pitch-dark most of time (end of November until January), we call this time “Kaamos”. Someone of you asked about Vodka, well I am glad to say, that hard drinking doesn´t apply any more, nowadays people fortunately enjoy wine and beer more than hard spirits.
About singing, I am not a good singer, but I do a lot of humming, I find it settles me down, also if you hum long enough your whole body starts to chant. Karaoke is quite popular also in Finland, but it hasn´t reach near the popularity that is has in other parts of world.
About my family: I have a lovely and very dear daughter, she building a new home with her fiancé at the moment. I am married to a great man and I have three sisters and a brother. My mother died about seven years ago, but my father is still alive.
About Finland: The country is the seventh largest country in Europe and only over 5 million people live here. So Finland is not densely populated. Most people live in urban areas such as greater Helsinki. Helsinki, or Helsingfors as it is called in Swedish, has a population of over 570 000 and with it´s neighboring Espoo and Vantaa, they make up the greater Helsinki area (about 995 000 people). Other major cities in Finland are Turku, Tampere and Oulu, which is my home town (about 600 kilometers from Korvatunturi). My home town is a dwelling place for 131 000 people and Oulu is sixth largest city in Finland.
So much for today, I will be doing my best to write my blogs every weekday about the same time; in the evening after work, that means that I will post them by 19.00 local time in the evening, meaning that my blogs are sent onwards daily by 5 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This writing is done on Sunday afternoon, as I have something else to do on Monday night.
It was nice to talk to you all again. I was so delighted to notice that so many familiar names were there, you are like old friends: Marianna, Ana Paula, Naheed, Jarek, James... Good one from Antonio to remember that hello in Finnish is terve or moi or hei… now best wishes from the country of thousands of lakes. By the end of November you will all learn how many thousands (or thousand Rachel).
What kind of water ways your country is best known and how many people reside in your home town or home village?
The photo below is of my daughter Katri and her horse Touho, they look like good mates, don´t they?
Comments
Hey Leila, you are doing very well regarding your posts. For a moment I was completely bewildered by your sentence "And Rachel how things are down under today?" but soon I did find out that "down under" means "in Australia". Thank you so much for adding this new term to my vocab & also for updating my knowledge about your country & culture. Your daughter looks terrific. Au revoir.
Hello Leila, it was so nice to read your post. How right you said that we are old friends, I'm really glad to have seen you as a blogger. There's a little message for Katri,"Katri, my best wishes are with you, may you have happines with your new house and your husband to be. I liked you and your horse, and am impressed with you that you know horse riding." Leila, do women usually learn horse riding in Finland? It's a great thing I must say. I love horses very much.Naheed
Terve Leila, In fact I was tempted to write « tervetuloa » but I thought it was not to me to say that, so I shortened it to the single hello. I always have an identification problem when I am asked about my country. I am Spaniard. I have been living in Belgium since 1980. Even if I feel very well here and I like very much Belgium, my first reaction when asked is to say Spain. But I will mentally translate your question to the country where I am now, Belgium. Well here in Belgium there are some rivers but I think the main waterways are the canals which link some big cities and allows transport of many products by water. I live in Tubize where there are more or less 23.000 inhabitants.
Hello Leila. I see that you are prolific. You managed to write 3 posts in 4 days. That's great. Your English is very fluent. Almost no mistakes in your writing. In your last blog, you told us about Finland. You said that its economy is essentially based on forestry. I know that Finland is considered among the most developed countries all over the world. Its GDP is among the highest. What about the political regime. Is it a real democracy? Have you a realm or a presidency? What kind of parliament do you have? How about the origin of the population? For how much time the Finnish have existed there? Have they come there from another country or region? Are there any Finnish population who have emigrated from Finland and are still living in other regions of the world? Have a nice beginning of the week. Mansour.
Teve or moi...I prefer "Hei" Leila (it sounds similar to a Brazilian greeting). Glad to know you are accomplished at humming. Maybe you could calm us down too putting on you humming one day in the blog. I'd love that. Say hello to Katri (and Touho). Does she talk with him? Ask her if she has already read those books of Monty Roberts all about horses. I'm not sure but I think there's a film based on his book ( The Man Who Listens to Horses)which the star is Robert Redford. My home town "Vila Velha", located on the Brazilian cost, has a population of 405.000 in an area of 218 m² but it's closely connected to other city which has 317.085 inhabitants. It's not a big city like Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo. I suppose our country Brazil is known for it's beaches and rivers especially the Amazon river. Many people mistakenly think that it is the longest river of Brazil. In fact it's the longest of the World ( yes, longer than Nile)according to a recent research after an expedition to Peru where the researchers have discovered a new start point of the river. You can check in this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6759291.stm However, this doesn't mean the Amazon is the largest of Brazil because part of it is in Peru. The largest of Brazil is São Francisco river. I think your blogs have been great, Leila and you are very nice ( and this is true, it's not a pep talk). I hope I have time during the week to give you the attention span you deserve. Thanks and bye
Hi That was informative. I like people talk openly and you seems like this. Please say abit about family's relationship in Finnland. How is it? Take care
Hello again, as you said about forestory in Finland, it reminded me of the time, about 8 yrs ago, when we were having our house renovated and were looking for the right wood for the doors. I used to go along with my father to the timber markets. We used to come across many types of wood and the most interesting thing would be that every shop we went to, the first type to be shown would be the wood from Finland. After grasping the trend of wood in the market, we came to a conclusion that we should go for the wood from Finland. It's been such a long time until now, and things must have changed. I hope to read more about the economy of Finland probably in your future posts. Till then take care! Naheed
Hi Leila! It could be nighttime in the West, whilst Asia's starting a new week from the present point of time when I'm posting. No one will argue over the forestry industry is the key territory which puts the national fame of Finland to the world. The ship-building industry sets up the famous name to Finland too. I'm not sure I get your point well saying forestry industry is a controversial issue when local people are damaging instead of restoring. This issue turns out globally when human being continues to damage national resources. I don’t know if it's probably true to call the strange weather in your town, but I've honestly heard a lot about the extraonary weather conditions in some places. Ive never experienced at first hands. You know, Vietnam completely locates within the tropical belt, so the weather is quite the same for the whole year, except SaPa and DaLat. For those who have ever paid a visit to SaPa or Dalat, the memory of natural sights and freezing weather may possibly unforgettable. These places are most currently attractive to tourists, especially foreigners. Talking about wines, I'm not so sure the Vodka in Finland distinguishes me from any kinds of them, however I've heard that Finnish beer is quite good though I never give a try. G’day.
Hi,Leila It's so nice to read your blogs and they are educational and very interesting.Whenever I read your comments I was always intrigued by your intellectual and curious who you were.I must thank BBC Learning English team and you as I have a opportunity to get to lean about you more. I can't wait to read your next blogs and definitely I will enjoy them thoroughly.By the way,is it true that your country is famous for sauna? Thank you for the picture of your daughter. She looks fabulous with her make,Touho.Have a lovely day
Hi Leila! I had to search on the Internet to find out myself the answers on some questions (not about self-confidence, why such a woman like you wouldn´t have it enough?, in compare how many foolish things I´ve written here!). My country is not as big as yours but has the same number of inhabitants. My life is tied to three towns located in the middle of the country. Prievidza has 52 thousands inhabitants and I work there now. There are only thee kms which separate river Nitra (one of our longest has its spring here) from Bojnice, the town, where I visit my parents every day. Continuing another 4 kms across the forest you reach to my village with 4 thousands people. But, there lived first paleolitic people about 100 000 years back in travertin cave neare the hot springs in Bojnice. And, the first written mention about the place come from the 1113AC. The king Ludovit the 1st gave town´s prviledges (the spa, too) in 1366. Isn´t it an exceptional place? Your lovely young doughter and intresting post pleased me a lot.
Dear Leila It is great pleasure to know about Finland. Your name and name of your country are not unfamiliar to me. When I was working in United Mission to Nepal, I have two colleagues from Finland, and both of them were working in field of Mental Health. But at that moment, I was not able to talk them about your country. Now, after a long time I am remembering those friends and get an opportunity to learn about your country. In Nepal an INGO called FINIDA is helping this country in many walk of lives. In papers we can read that Nepal is second rich country in water resources but still we have do exercise a lot to invest on it and explore every corner to take benefit of it. Till now, we have generated only 5% of total potential hydroelectricity and nowadays we are suffering from power cut down and scarcity of drinking water even in capital city of Nepal. Our capital city is located in Kathmandu valley which consist three cities and it contains about 2,500,000 peoples. As for national anthem of Nepal, I am putting up its address in this blog. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6930099.stm This national anthems replace old anthems by the popular movement last year and it took long time to prepare it.
Hello, Leila. As you mentioned the town of Turku I must put its Swedish name here: Åbo. A former BBC LE message board member from Finland was so proud of the letter Å in the Finnish alphabet. I was convinced the Å existed only in the Swedish, not the Finnish alphabet but it seems the former member was right. Å, å, å.
Hello again Leila. First of all, let me tell you have a beautiful daughter, and Touho looks very smart. They should be a great team together. About your question, I live in Arica, a city in the extreme north of Chile, which has 171.000 inhabitants. We are in the middle of the Atacama Desert, and we have only one river close to the city, the Lluta river. However, anywhere else it wouldn't deserve the name of river, because is so thin that most of the year you can jump over it. But Arica is a port town, so, our main water way is the Pacifico Ocean, with regular ship lines to North America, China and Japan. Now I have a question for you. Are you un Finland noting the effects of globar warming? How? Have fun and don't work son hard.
Hi Leila! How are you? Oh, all this weekend rained cats and dogs around here, therefore I couldn´t use the internet or telephone because they were out of work. Only today, Monday, I could read your blog. I´m happy to see you remember me, and I can tell you I feel the same way. For me you and the other commentators are like old friends. It´s so nice come to this site and find so fab people like you all! My city Mogi has around 372,419 inhabitants, and the Tietê river is one of the most important rivers of the region. The Tietê springs very clear in a small and dazzling city near Mogi called Salesópolis(you´d love to visit there Leila). Unfortunately, as the river runs towards the cities more industrialises, it becomes polluted. It´s a pity indeed. However, there are some projects to revitalise the river, and most of industries are more concious about the environmental impact that pollution causes in the river, moreover, many of them have agreed not to discharge their waste in Tietê river. Well Leila, I guess in your country you don´t have this kind of problem, do you? Anyway, I think your daughter looks lovely with Touho, and yes, they really look like good mates. All the best for you. See you soon, Ana Paula.
Hi, I can't imagine that all day is darkly or brightly! I'd like to survive something like that! Personally I hate winter and always I wait for spring impatiently... Could you give me some advice what to do in this hard time. In advance a thousand thanks. Regards from cold Poland
Leila, your blog is inspiring!! I live near to a great source of water, "La cordillera de los Andes". This water is accumulated since April to August by means of snowfalls. When the temperature increases the snow melt itself and the water flow by the rivers. My home town San Juan, is located beside river San Juan and has a population of 650.000. San Juan is for nature a desert but the people has transformed its scenery with effort and building systems of water distribution and accumulation like canals, watering by leak and dikes. On the www.turismo.sanjuan.gov.ar you can know more about San Juan. Till then, Daniel
Hei Leila, Your blog great as usual!! You talk of so many different things and also ask us about our own countries, as well as the phrases that you add to your posts and the replays from all over the world that you receive (and of course I read), that when I seat in front of my computer to start writing my comment I feel myself overwhelmed with so much information and I don’t know from where to start because I want to give my opinion on every topic. Unfortunately I don’t have much time to write as I’d like so at the end I writre a pair of lines and that’s all! I live in a province in the northwest of Argentina called Salta. It is the 8° largest city according with it’s population. It is estimated that about 500,000 inhabitants live in the capital of this province. There are three important rivers and a big dam in Salta. January and February are the rainy months in Salta but the rest of the year is very dry. I liked the picture of your daugther very much, she has a wonderful smile! I love riding horse too. Hourses and dogs are among the animals I like the most. Have a nice day!
I'm here a new one. And I want to say that it was very interesting to read about your country, Leila. Write more about your culture and traditions.. I will looking forward to your firsthand description of Finland. Thank you and good day.
Hi Leila! I did not know there was that wrong myth of a big drinking culture in Finland. As for me, I live on the outskirts of Padua. My village has 15,000 inhabitants whereas Padua’s population reached 210,000 last year. Karaoke is no longer popular in Italy and I have to tell you that I have never been fond of it. Keep on telling us about your country!! Cheers
Hello Leila!!! I love to read your posts. Well, about your question... My home town is Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. My city has a population of three millions (approximately) and although it has a lot of problems (like all the cities) i love it. Some people call Caracas "La sucursal del cielo" that is something like "The branch of the heaven" and I think that is true. The most famous river of Venezuela is the "Orinoco", its an amazing and beautiful river. Take care..
hi liela am realy impressed your way spreading information through net on different issues which are going on today's world.would you like give me more information about an incidiant which happend in finland thank you.looking for your favuorable responce
hello, today first time iam reading your post on net irealy enjoy and also first time tosending comments there is a problem with me that i cant demonstrate my views or ideas in better way would you like to give me some helpful suggestions thanks
hi pretty women.. you ar very very beautiful picturs
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