Can You Offer a Home to a Dog?

Nisha is happy to share her bed with her new sister Maisie

This is Nisha, (sitting with Maisie the kitten) who arrived with us last Sunday from Romania.

I want to tell you about her, not just because she is the newest member of our family, but also to let you know how she came to be with us, in case you might be thinking of adopting a dog yourself.

Our family has always had dogs. Back in the UK our dogs almost always came from a dogs' home where they were waiting to be rehomed after having been mistreated or abandoned. Such places are rare here in Finland, so when it came to finding a new dog, we were very pleased to find out about an organisation called Pelastetaan Koirat (Save the Dogs),

It is a Finnish charity run by volunteers, which specialises in raising funds for and rehoming dogs living in very poor conditions in Romania.


Nisha was one of those dogs. I knew when I first saw her picture on the website that she was the dog for us.  Of course you can never be completely certain what a dog will be like in real life, but I had a feeling about her - and decided that she had to be worth the risk.

The way the charity works is that they have a page on their webiste with pictures of all the dogs looking to be rehomed. Some are still in Romania (in a home called Magda's Place) and some have already been brought to Finland. There is a detailed profile on each, with any background information that is available. (All we really knew about Nisha was that she was two years old, had a gentle nature despite a previously rough life, and that she had been left with only one eye. No one knows how).



To stop me petting the neighbour's dog Nisha tied me up with her lead

Pelastetaan Koirat's policy is to be totally honest about any difficulties the dog might have, so that you know what you are taking on, and placements end up being successful ones.   Once you have identified the right dog for your family, you talk to the volunteer responsible over the phone about your own situation, what you are looking for and what you can offer. Once a match has been approved, it is simply a matter of filling in a form and paying the fee, The fee, apart from the dog itself, covers the necessary checks and vaccinations, chipping, the passport and travel from Romania to Finland.

The Finnish volunteers (who regularly visit Romania) are an incredibly dedicated and sincere group of people who do amazing work. The one thing they all have in common is that they all want a better life for the dogs they have found (sometimes in appalling conditions).

Despite having a good feeling about Nisha, I was still realistic. I knew that the first few days and weeks could be a challenge. I was prepared for toilet-training, barking, whining, ripped cushions and shoes that were chewed.  I thought she might take time to get used to the kittens and the children. But amazingly, after only five days, it is as though she has always been here.  She has not barked once. She eats, sleeps and comes when you call. She hasn't chewed anything and groans with pleasure when you scratch her tummy. She loves cheese and most of the time sits with one paw crossed over the other.

And she is very bright. Today, when I bent down to stroke the neighbours terrier, she didn't like it. But instead of barking or becoming aggressive, she simply walked round me until my legs were tied up by her lead and I could no longer move!

Who knows how much dogs actually think, but I have no doubt at all that at the very least, Nisha knows that now she is safe and she won't get hurt or go hungry every again.

Thank you to everyone at Pelastetan Koirat (especially Hannele Ketola) for bringing Nisha to our family. And if you are thinking of giving a home to a dog....have a look at this website first. www.pelastetaankoirat.com. Not only will you be making a dog happy, you will also find someone who will spend the rest of its life saying thank you.

Minttu decides to be a boy

Minttu has now decided that she is a boy

Having spent last week with a whole bunch of teenagers on their graduation cruise, this week has been all about the little ones. Niko has decided that his ambition of being a police officer is now yesterday's news and that as of today he wants to be a hairdresser.

Perhaps more radically, Minttu has also had a change of identity this week.  She has decided that she is, in fact, a boy. On one occasion, earlier in the week, I made the mistake of  trying to persuade her that she was actually a girl. The result was not pretty. Minttu exploded with rage and screamed until I agreed that she could be a boy for the day. She calmed down immediately at this and went to the nursery to proudly tell everyone about her new identity.

When I went to collect her in the afternoon, one of the nursery staff mentioned that I should probably have a chat with Minttu, as she seemed to be confused about her gender.

"Minttu keeps saying she's a boy" the lady said, looking worried.
"Yes, I know," I replied. "I told her she was."
"Oh." was the response. The lady clearly did not find this funny.

Personally, if my two-year-old daughter wishes to be a boy for a while, I can't see the problem, but others may disagree.

Having seen one of the worst films in cinematographic history yesterday evening, (if you are thinking of seeing the Lego movie....DON'T...), this morning we put aside all issues of gender and did some baking.

Having argued over the butter, the flour, the sugar, the baking tins and which order their biscuits would be baked in, the children finally accepted that they could ALL bake together and they would ALL have biscuits at the end of it.

Nothing like a good row between siblings to get the day off to a good start. Once the sugar had been licked off enough biscuits, Minttu was off to the nursery to be a boy for another afternoon. And then all three of them came home to spend the evening talking about poo. Life can be complicated when you're under five.

Stil, they seemed to enjoy their day. Perhaps there are some lessons about life in there for us all somewhere :)

Somero Students Abi Risteily

I had the privilege this week of being asked to accompany our Somero Lukio third year students on their "Abi Risteily." This is a 23 hour cruise organised in Finland for students to celebrate at the end of their school careers.

Imagine being with 2000 teenagers in the same place at the same time. A little intimidating, you might think. Well, now imagine being with 2000 teenagers who are drinking and partying - on a boat - on the open seas. If you had any sense, you just wouldn't, would you?

Well guess what. I just did...and I have survived to tell the tale.

Along with fellow Somerolainen Arto Seppänen, I was one of two people asked to go along on the cruise to accompany our fifty Somero students. What I saw was an amazing surprise. Having worked as a DJ for many years in clubs several different countries, I have seen a lot of things. A lot of it not very nice...so I was ready to be called upon to break up fights and dry up tears before getting on the floor to wipe up vomit.

But I was completely wrong.  I wasn't needed to do anything...because everyone was perfectly capable of looking after themselves, and they all did. The students partied hard. There were a lot of short black dresses for the girls, checked shirts for the boys and some VERY strong after shave doing the rounds.

And there were also a large number of young people who simply wanted to have a good time - without aggression, without trouble, without feeling the need to scream at each other or insult anyone passing by.

I was proud to be a Finn this weekend, and even more so to be with the students from Somero. If our town's young people have the ability to be mature and responsible and still know how to have a good time...then in my view the parents in this town have done a bloody good job.

Congratulations to all of Somero's Abi students. You really have made the town proud :)

 

Penkkarit Somerolla!

WHY?

Today was a day spent with friends.... people I truly value. And I should be going to bed this evening feeling contented, But I'm not.

My friends Anna-Liisa, Kirsti and I saw a film called Twelve Years a Slave. It was based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a man sold into slavery, who escaped after twelve years and wrote a book about his experiences.

Coming out of the cinema I felt very quiet, as I think many others did too. I will never begin to understand how human beings treat each other the way they do. But I am not just talking about the extreme example of people being sold into slavery in the 1800s.

I spent almost ten years in the family law courts, then worked in the European Court of Human Rights and have also studied human rights law. All three dealt with cruelty and injustice on all sorts of different levels.  Unjustifiable behaviour towards others is occurring in every country and every city of the world. All the time. Not a hundred years ago, but now.

When future historians come to review the world as it is today... what will they say in their films about us? Us. A people spending billions on the Olympics and space travel and creating the next line of face cream - when half the world still doesn't have clean water to drink. A world where half the world is obsessed with botox and breast implants while the other half is mourning dead family members - because they weren't vaccinated against preventable diseases like malaria.  Are we going to be depicted as the most selfish and egotistical race ever to exist?

And why, in one of the most advantaged states in the world, are Finns so used to hearing stories of another person taking his or her own life? Could it perhaps be that in a state where in theory we have everything, so many people still feel alone and insignificant - because as a community we don't take the time and effort to make everyone feel that they matter?

Why, when you ask someone how they are, are you considered to be a "really good friend?"

Shouldn't caring about other people, and looking after them the best we can, be our natural way of being? Instead it seems we spend time criticising and judging others and trying to pull people down - when actually we have no idea what they have been through or how they are feeling about anything.

I am not asking for answers to these questions. But I nevertheless feel they need to be asked. If each of us genuinely cared about the welfare of others, the world would be transformed in an instant. As it is, I feel as though the films made in the future, about life in 2014, are going to leave their audiences just as appalled as I felt when leaving the cinema this afternoon.

Husbands at ABC

As the weekend starts once again, I am sitting at home on Friday evening, enjoying the quietness of the house.

It's been a busy day with the little ones. Fairly normal stuff...including Minttu flamenco dancing on the table and playing memory games on the floor (with Niko dressed as a chimpanzee).

Niko has not stopped talking about weddings this week. It started off with him saying that he was planning to marry me. When I told him that this wasn't possible, he wanted to know why. Of course I explained that you couldn't marry someone from your own family.

He then suggested marrying both Minttu and Luca, before he finally accepted that marrying either your mother or your sibling was NOT ok.

Having now taken on this piece of bad news, Niko was still not going to be stopped. He was a man on a mission. In the space of one week, he proposed to almost everyone at his nursery, my good friend and neighbour Anne, as well as Airi from the neuvola (children's clinic). (I think most of them said yes actually, so he will have some big decisions to make soon).

Niko did not stop there however. He also gave me some fairly strong opinions about my own marital status. According to him I should marry immediately. We then had some interesting conversations about who this would be with. Having now realised that he could not be my groom himself, he suggested various other family members - until he remembered the "no family" rule. Generously, he then said that if I wanted, I could marry Airi from the clinic. I politely declined.

"Can't girls marry?" he asked.
"Yes, they can," I replied. "It's just that I dont want to marry Airi from the clinic. And I'm fairly sure she doesn't want to marry me."      
"Don't you like her?"
"Yes, I do like her..." I said
"Well why don't you want to marry her then?" he asked, confused.

I then explained that you could only be married to one person at a time, so if he was already marrying Airi she wouldn't be free anyway.

"Oh, ok then," Niko said. "You'll have to find someone else."
I now realised that having gone through most people that he had ever met, Niko was fast running out of options.
"Who do you suggest then Niko?" I asked, amused.
"Just go to ABC," he said. "You'll find someone there."

So there we have it. I always knew that Somero was a special place, but it's taken this long to realise that any woman wanting a husband can simply pick one up from our local petrol station. This will come as a relief to many of my single friends, and may well attract a number of extra visitors to Somero. Not to mention the amount of weddings we need to start planning....looks like it's going to be a busy summer :)

Dance Cruise with Sekahaku

Raija Nieminen from Sekahaku and Antti-Ville Heikkilä

It's late on Sunday night as I write this and I won't have any trouble falling asleep tonight.  I reckon I have spent about a third of the last twenty-four hours dancing...which in my book is about the best possible way to spend a weekend.

This time the occasion was a cruise from Turku with a dance organisation called "Sekahaku."

Sekahaku have more than 1,500 members - all people who love dancing from around the Turku area and beyond. They organise classes, dance events and cruises like this one which combine social dancing with the opportunity to learn some new steps. 

There was free dancing last night and several times during the day, in addition to three classes in Bugg and Fusku from our teacher Antti-Ville Heikkilä this morning. I have been to a few classes since arriving in Finland, but Antti was one of the best teachers I have come across. Why? He was funny, patient, very clear - and he comes from Oulu, which is always a good thing!
So, if you are thinking of getting your dancing shoes on, you can look him up here - www.pilketta.fi.

I went on this cruise without knowing anyone beforehand, but the atmosphere was friendly and welcoming from start to finish, which made it very easy both to find dance partners and to make new friends.

It's never too late to start dancing, especially if you live in Finland, as there are opportunities everywhere you go. So if it's something you've thought about doing but never got round to, get your dancing shoes on and start moving. There's no better way to get rid of the winter blues.