Saturday, November 15, 2003
So I've had a pretty productive week thus far. As I mentioned on Monday I was offered a job teaching at the adult education center. This will begin in February and last for approximately 6 weeks. On Wednesday I was offered a position at the East Finland Film Commission, to help get the commission off the ground. The offer came through Karoliina and I have no concrete idea as to what my role will be, but I am enthusiastic nonetheless.
The bitch of it is that this is a two-month trial period. Time enough for me to show my teeth and form a good working relationship with the other members of the team. This is a wise move considering the language barrier and other obstacles. However, this basically means that I will have to forego my anxiously awaited trip back to see the family. It's only been 6 weeks, but K and I were hoping to spend a couple of weeks at least. Her schedule would allow it, but now it seems as if my schedule may be the obstacle. Odd to think that I now have a schedule. In 6 weeks I have found employment that will take me into March. And neither of the jobs has anything to do with teaching English, which is the only job I thought I could attain here. For the first time since graduation I will be using my Film degree professionally. Go figure.
I suppose I was hesitant to write this on the journal until things became a little more certain. They haven't yet, but since I was able to communicate the news to mom, it's a little easier to write about it here. I didn't want bad news to be travelling through this blog instead of coming straight from me.
Nightmare on Elm Street is on right now. I'm not watching but, boy is it a scary movie. I watched the Exorcist the other night and that is hands down one of the scariest movies ever made. That and the Omen. Which reminds me of the time I was watching the Omen Part II in mom and dad's room with Jen. I went to bed right after the old woman was killed by the crows with that image fresh in my head. After finally settling down, maybe 10 minutes later, my lovely oldest sister came bursting into her 9 year old brother's room to scare the living Jeebus out of him. Come to think of it, Hey! screw you Jen, I was 9!
Funny thing about that story is that I don't remember much of it, but one thing I remember vividly is the shirt I was wearing. I think it was one of Dad's rejects. Big, white with green and yellow stripes, one of those that you can fit your whole body into. Weird the way the memory works.
Back to movies and the job, I am going to pitch an idea about a documentary on American basketball players here in Finland. Telling stories of the pioneers and the lot that is here today. I think it could be a real interesting peice, maybe 30 minutes long and there is even an all sports tv channel here that could generate an audience. I told the idea to the guys I play b-ball with and they all seemed to think that it was a pretty good idea. One of the more entertaining aspects of the peice would be the culture shock and the transition of daily life for the players. I spoke with the coach of the visiting team on Wednesday, Gerald Lee, Sr. and he was one of the first American players to come to Finland and has now lived here 29 years in a small town near Karoliina's summer house.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here; simply having an idea that could turn into something has been satisfying enough. Yet if this turns into something I could work it into a way to spotlight American players all over Europe (read: free trips) Could be a real interesting project and it could be the exact international type of collaboration that the Film Commission is looking for. Who knows, but I will make the pitch sometime very soon.
So I'm going to turn in for the night. I think it's almost 1 in the morning, though it looks the same as it did at 4:30. It's getting darker and it is so wet outside that I need windsheild wipers for my glasses.
I almost forgot about what else happened this week. We were supposed to have our television ready to be picked up at the store this Monday. We purchased a nice 28" TV which is a vast improvement over the 13" POS we've been using since what feels like forever. Well, we called on Monday to see if it was ready and they told us that there was some sort of shipping error and the TV went to a warehouse instead of to the correct store and that it would not arrive until the 25th. Of course this conversation took place in Finnish I was slightly helpless to do anything, but I was so pissed because I had been looking forward to watching a television I could see, although programming still sucks, it just sucks bigger and louder. So the next day I went all over the city on my bike, in the misty rain - which is a chore, and went to all the other places that sell TV's. It turns out the one we want was the best and at the cheapest price and this pissed me off because I wasn't in the mood to give them my money anymore. Well I didn't know where this place was. I had gone to other areas of town that I had never been to before and decided to return home via another route. As luck would have it I ran smack dab into the store Gigante. I went inside, told them I don't speak Finnish (in Finnish), asked if they spoke English and then began to complain as politely and as sternly as I could manage after having biked 15km. I told them that I had no intention of waiting another 2 weeks for a TV, we already waited patiently for 2 weeks. A few minutes later I was told that it would be ready on Thursday and yesterday our living room was decorated by an entertainment center. So now we can watch Bold and the Beautiful the way it was meant to be watched, boldly.
All right, I am definitely going to bed now.
hb
The bitch of it is that this is a two-month trial period. Time enough for me to show my teeth and form a good working relationship with the other members of the team. This is a wise move considering the language barrier and other obstacles. However, this basically means that I will have to forego my anxiously awaited trip back to see the family. It's only been 6 weeks, but K and I were hoping to spend a couple of weeks at least. Her schedule would allow it, but now it seems as if my schedule may be the obstacle. Odd to think that I now have a schedule. In 6 weeks I have found employment that will take me into March. And neither of the jobs has anything to do with teaching English, which is the only job I thought I could attain here. For the first time since graduation I will be using my Film degree professionally. Go figure.
I suppose I was hesitant to write this on the journal until things became a little more certain. They haven't yet, but since I was able to communicate the news to mom, it's a little easier to write about it here. I didn't want bad news to be travelling through this blog instead of coming straight from me.
Nightmare on Elm Street is on right now. I'm not watching but, boy is it a scary movie. I watched the Exorcist the other night and that is hands down one of the scariest movies ever made. That and the Omen. Which reminds me of the time I was watching the Omen Part II in mom and dad's room with Jen. I went to bed right after the old woman was killed by the crows with that image fresh in my head. After finally settling down, maybe 10 minutes later, my lovely oldest sister came bursting into her 9 year old brother's room to scare the living Jeebus out of him. Come to think of it, Hey! screw you Jen, I was 9!
Funny thing about that story is that I don't remember much of it, but one thing I remember vividly is the shirt I was wearing. I think it was one of Dad's rejects. Big, white with green and yellow stripes, one of those that you can fit your whole body into. Weird the way the memory works.
Back to movies and the job, I am going to pitch an idea about a documentary on American basketball players here in Finland. Telling stories of the pioneers and the lot that is here today. I think it could be a real interesting peice, maybe 30 minutes long and there is even an all sports tv channel here that could generate an audience. I told the idea to the guys I play b-ball with and they all seemed to think that it was a pretty good idea. One of the more entertaining aspects of the peice would be the culture shock and the transition of daily life for the players. I spoke with the coach of the visiting team on Wednesday, Gerald Lee, Sr. and he was one of the first American players to come to Finland and has now lived here 29 years in a small town near Karoliina's summer house.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here; simply having an idea that could turn into something has been satisfying enough. Yet if this turns into something I could work it into a way to spotlight American players all over Europe (read: free trips) Could be a real interesting project and it could be the exact international type of collaboration that the Film Commission is looking for. Who knows, but I will make the pitch sometime very soon.
So I'm going to turn in for the night. I think it's almost 1 in the morning, though it looks the same as it did at 4:30. It's getting darker and it is so wet outside that I need windsheild wipers for my glasses.
I almost forgot about what else happened this week. We were supposed to have our television ready to be picked up at the store this Monday. We purchased a nice 28" TV which is a vast improvement over the 13" POS we've been using since what feels like forever. Well, we called on Monday to see if it was ready and they told us that there was some sort of shipping error and the TV went to a warehouse instead of to the correct store and that it would not arrive until the 25th. Of course this conversation took place in Finnish I was slightly helpless to do anything, but I was so pissed because I had been looking forward to watching a television I could see, although programming still sucks, it just sucks bigger and louder. So the next day I went all over the city on my bike, in the misty rain - which is a chore, and went to all the other places that sell TV's. It turns out the one we want was the best and at the cheapest price and this pissed me off because I wasn't in the mood to give them my money anymore. Well I didn't know where this place was. I had gone to other areas of town that I had never been to before and decided to return home via another route. As luck would have it I ran smack dab into the store Gigante. I went inside, told them I don't speak Finnish (in Finnish), asked if they spoke English and then began to complain as politely and as sternly as I could manage after having biked 15km. I told them that I had no intention of waiting another 2 weeks for a TV, we already waited patiently for 2 weeks. A few minutes later I was told that it would be ready on Thursday and yesterday our living room was decorated by an entertainment center. So now we can watch Bold and the Beautiful the way it was meant to be watched, boldly.
All right, I am definitely going to bed now.
hb
// posted by Howard @ 12:31 AM 
