Somero English Club Summer Evening

After all the moaning about the long winter, (on my part that is), the Somero English Club met today for our last meeting before the summer break and we were lucky to be outside in the evening sunshine.

Maritta beat everyone at darts by a long way. The rest of us amateurs had no chance.

I hope that there will be several opportunities to meet over the summer, but in terms of the club we will start meeting again in the autumn and hope to have some new members with us. We are also starting up a new Somero Swedish Club, so if your Swedish skills have been getting a little rusty then you know where to come!

Here are some pics from the evening...

Esakallio Dance Magic

Kati and Jones

There was a special atmosphere last night at Esakallio. For those of you not from Finland, Esakallio is one of the three large dance venues here in Somero. Some people have even moved to live in Somero because of the great dancing possibilities and I can easily understand why.

Last night we were also joined by the lovely Kati Koivisto and Jones Kainulainen, who brought with them a bus full of dancers from Pori. They led the rumba lesson at the beginning of the evening, and by nine o'clock the place was already very busy. As I have mentioned before, Kati and Jones are a couple who obviously have a love of dance, but what is more tangible still is their enthusiasm for life. It would be impossible to go to one of their lessons and not feel better afterwards. I have already agreed with Kati that if I ever get married again, then she and Jones will come and give a dance lesson to all the guests at the wedding. That way we will be guaranteed a good party...

Jari Aaltonen dancing the rumba

"Lavatanssit" in Finland is a tradition which is special to Scandinavia and is a past time loved by many. Hundreds of people of all ages gather together in an atmosphere which is friendly and not full of drunk people, as was the case in the clubs I used to work in as a DJ. It is easy to go to these dances alone as you are guaranteed to be asked to dance and will have plenty of opportunities to meet and dance with new people.

Last night we were also entertained by the band Hurme and the duo Matti and Teppo, who have already been touring the dance circuit for many years. There are few houses in Finland without a Matti and Teppo cd somewhere on one of the shelves.

Having only known salsa myself before moving to Finland, I am now starting to become familiar with the waltz, tango, bugg, foxtrot and fusku as well as the sensual rumba which is my favourite after salsa. But even if you have never danced before in your life, you will quickly catch on (lots of men do the same steps all night...no matter what the music playing...) you will find plenty of people to dance with, make new friends and go home feeling rejuvenated. And it's definitely a more enjoyable way to exercise than a 5km run.

So, we still have the whole summer ahead of us and lots of dancing opportunities. Esakallio is open every Friday, and Ämyri every Saturday. I hope to see you there some time!

Finding the Positive

One of the lessons I learned very early on in life is that there is more than one way to look at everything. We don't always choose what happens to us, but we certainly choose how we look at it.

At university in St Andrews I was part of the debating society where we had to be able to argue on any topic, and we were not free to choose what side of the argument we were on. This was good training for finding out the plusses and minusses of all sorts of issues.

Later I trained as a lawyer where this became even more important. There are always two sides to every argument, and it is necessary to recognise and hear them both in order for justice to be done.

In life though, I have found the same technique a very useful tool in making life more enjoyable and challenges more bearable. There is a positive and negative side to almost everything. If we choose to focus on the negative then life can sometimes appear very bleak. But if you choose to focus on the positive, and actively take the time to look for it, then life can suddenly feel very different.

Sometimes this can be difficult of course, and with big losses it can often take time, but the exercise is always worth it in the end.

I was up late last night and would have loved to just lie in bed this morning, but Minttu had different ideas. She was ready to start singing at 6.30 this morning, and felt it necessary to wake everyone else up in the process. The choice is then mine. One choice is to be focus on being tired and annoyed that I can't stay in bed. This way the day will start badly.

Or else I can get up, take pictures of my gorgeous children and feel enormous gratitude that they are all healthy and happy and that today I have the chance to stay at home with them and play.

In court it is always good to have a balanced view of a case. But in life I choose to try and see things in a way which highlights the positive. And it least this morning it has worked. I don't feel tired anymore, but lucky to be here, lucky to have children and lucky to be alive.