Culture at Chaff this week

This week's meeting was especially interesting, not only for the range of cultures represented but also the edible art from Thailand.

Chaff meeting on 5th March 2006

Present were Ville Suomi, Pentti Paakki and Matti Moisa from Finland, Anais Grimaud from France, David Okele from Kenya, Michaela Tomasovska from Slovakia, Pailin, Unnop and Soda from Thailand, Nadir Mohammed (Tampere) from The Netherlands, Kamu Tembo and Christine from Zambia, and yours truly from India.

The attempt by Ildikó to start a discussion about Tolerance was of particular interest as this is one major problem facing foreigners in Finland. Ville wanted to discuss more about Ildikó's plans on the subject of Tolerance.

Ilari and Ildikó unfortunately could not make it to the meeting. I talked to Ildikó over the telephone. She wanted to hold an extra meeting of Chaff this Friday at their new home in Tuira, but as this is Skiing Holiday week, it was felt that many would not be here to participate. It was decided to postpone it to a more appropriate date.

Pailin and Unnop are experts in the art of carving vegetables. They not only demonstrated this to all of us, but also taught those interested.

Truly a creative couple!



Many subjects were discussed in brief. The book by Ildikó and Ilari was of great interest, although the Finns present could not find much of the "Culture Shock" part in the brief look through the pages.

The plan to start a HELP FUND is also receiving attention. I have promises of contribution from several Chaff participants and others, but I do not want anything to start till we are sure that it will be something that can be a lasting programme.

We will have to start to look at this more closely. We should decide on a younger Finn to take charge of this and work with a group of others at CHAFF who would be willing to take on this rather delicate responsibility.

The supposedly 1 hour meeting lasted for over 3 hours as so many intersting things took place, and as usual, the food was excellent. Unfortunately, I was talking to so many people that I hardly got a chance to eat the food! And the platter was licked clean, so all I got was some rice and soup to take home!