Look What I Found in Helsinki!

As I write these words I am on my lunch break during a normal work day in Helsinki.  I work in a very grey office environment and even the view from the window is just another office building. As someone who loves the natural colours and sounds of nature I find this quite an oppressive environment to work in.  I want to work somewhere with big windows from where I can see the trees! Still, I went out for a quick walk just before writing this and took my camera with me.  My aim was to find one inspiring shot which would brighten my day and which I could post on here...and here it is.  I found the sun! 

                  

However grey the office is, it certainly lifted my spirits seeing bright sunshine and clear skies in the first week of September.

If you are having a tough time at the moment, then please remember one thing.  The sun is always there somewhere, even though sometimes it may be hidden temporarily by the clouds or simply the grey walls of your office.

Wishing you all some Helsinki sunshine.... Jody.

Somero Has a Swimming Pool Once More

After a two year wait, Somero was rewarded this weekend with the opening of its new swimming pool, called Loiske (Splash). The impressive new building was designed by architect Jarmo Saarinen and compliments the library acorss the road beautifully.

Once you've bought a series of entry "tickets" which are loaded onto a strap worn on your wrist, you can just buzz yourself each time you arrive, and this means there's no need to queue anymore.

There were special events and visitors organised to celebrate the grand opening, and several hundred people visited over the course of the weekend. All the children were given balloons to take with them as they left.

I went along for a first visit on Sunday evening with Cameron and Niko and we all came away very impressed. There is a main pool for serious swimming, plus a children's pool and a therapy pool.  There are also two slides, one for bigger children and adults and one for the little ones. Niko splashed around happily with one of the balls he found and I had a chat with Matias Roto (Somero's recently retired vicar) who was swimming in the next lane to me and certainly has not been sitting around since "retiring" in May.

Loiske is a really great addition to the town, and now there are no excuses left not to exercise - even when it is raining outside. Hope to see some of you there soon.

The Somero English Club - Our New Home

Nuppulinna

We have an expression in English which says "You spend ages waiting for a bus and then three of them arrive at the same time."  To understand this expression you also need to understand that in England buses do not run as they do in Finland. Timetables exist - but only in theory.  In practice it really can be the case that three buses going to exactly the same destination can all arrive at the same time.

In any event, this expression sums up my search for a new home for the Somero English Club this summer.
When we set the club up in January we started off by renting a room in Kiiruun Tila each week, which is a wonderful old building in the centre of Somero. However, with the demand for new classes I felt that we really needed a place of our own, where we could leave our things each week and everybody felt a sense of belonging.  So with this in mind I started the search for somewhere new in the spring. I looked at all sorts of places.  There are several commercial premises for rent along the main street in Somero (Joensuuntie) and I visited a few of them, but none of them felt right. I considered renting some office space in Nuppulinna (the old Somero school) but it was too small.

Then I found what seemed to be a good option in the Jukola building (where the cinema is) and had decided to go ahead with it, when at the last minute it turned out that there had been a flood leading to water damage, so it wasn't available after all. Following this I tried to rent another of the Jukola rooms, and was certain that this time I had found the right place....until I received a call a day later to tell me that it also needed renovation work so would not be available for several months.

The "before" photo of our new home

I visited houses that were on sale with a view to renting, I visited all the available office space I could find in Somero and even considered putting in a bid for a cottage on the outskirts of town. I searched everywhere! But nothing was right. And then, all of a sudden, and as so often the case, everything just fell into place, and three buses arrived at the same time. This week on Thursday I suddenly got three separate offers and all of a sudden I actually had a choice of venue!

The best of the three came during a visit to the bakery. I was buying some doughnuts for our neighbours when I bumped into Tanja Alenius who knew I had been looking for somewhere. She had heard on the grapevine that the old gym in Nuppulinna was going to become vacant as the current residents were moving somewhere bigger. I'd already seem this place earlier in the summer and had loved it straightaway, although of course it wasn't free at the time. The next morning I made enquiries at the Town Hall and suddenly it all clicked into place. By lunchtime I had the keys! Hurray.

Nuppulinna was built in the 1920s and served as Somero's school until it moved to new premises. Nowadays it is used by several small businesses, but it retains its original charm and still has many of the features from its time as a school. Our new home is in the room which used to be the school gymnasium, and I can't think of a more appropriate place to learn languages and do other activities.

We'll have an official opening in a few weeks time, but for now I invite you all to join me at the Somero English Club (autumn season) starting again this TUESDAY 4th SEPTEMBER.

Same times as before, so 18.30 for the first group and 19.30 for the second. New and old members are welcome, and I have lots of new stuff planned for the autumn which I will tell you about when we meet.

I look forward to seeing you there soon!