New participants at CHAFF

Yesterday morning when I picked up Tony at the Station at 5 am and when I drove him home, I found two of our regular CHAFF particiapants, Benjamin and Andi, having a breather in the fresh air outside Tony's front door. Kerstin had been having a farewell party, as she leaves us to return to Germany at the end of this month.

This party just seemed to be warming up at that early hour.

I sensed that several regular CHAFF participants would not be in any shape to attend the meeting at 13:00 hours. I warned Pailin and Unnop that maybe the buffet would not possibly be necessary. And a call to Tingting at 12:00 had a sleepy voice telling me just that.

However, Eeva-Maija Kolehmainen, former Secretary of the Oulu University Students Union had written to me thus:

Hello Jacob!

Is there room on Sundays meeting for 2-4 extra people? I told my Fulbright-Professor Kenneth Koleson about CHAFF and we thought about coming to Sunday's meeting with him.

There are only 2 of us students attending his wonderful Pittsburgh-history course and I think he would love to meet great people outside the university. Kenneth's great blog can also be found from here. In addition to Kenneth and me, my classmate Hannu Kuivalainen might be also coming, as well as my husband Janne.

I hope to see you on Sunday!

Eeva-Maija and the big tummy-preperson :-)

Then I had a call from Tony who said that he had changed the tyres on his car and would be attending. Pentti and Matti were attending. Tero said he was attending. Eija had said she would be attending. Ildiko and Ilari had said that they would be coming. Veijo had indicated that he would attend. Jarmo and Saim had wandered in to the restaurant. I guessed that a couple of our more irregular participants may show faces. So I rushed back to Pailin to alert her that maybe a buffet should be prepared for about 14 people!

Sure enough, Fumi, baby Mari and Ville Suomi, whom we had not seen for a couple of months since Mari was born, strolled in. It was wonderful to see Mari, a really beautiful and calm baby. (Ville has posted a report on his blog of today's CHAFF meeting.)

It was a great meal and a great atmosphere. I requested Ken to say a few words about his tenure in Oulu. Two statements really struck a chord with almost all of us. He said that in the fifties pollution was considered as a sign of prosperity in the society in USA. Secondly he said that the once great and prosperous town of Pittsburgh, the hub of the US Steel Industry, had a major problem of a shrinking population! The second is typical of much of Finland!

I felt sad that so many regular CHAFF participants could not attend this really interesting visit of the US Professor to CHAFF.

But next week will be special CHAFF meeting as we assemble to say goodbye to one of our lovely and faithful CHAFF participants, Kerstin, who will return to Germany at the end of her tenure at the University of Oulu. Kerstin has been such a great sport that she has inscribed herself into the hearts of many in Oulu and especially several CHAFF participants. It seems just yesterday that I had picked up this young lady at Oulu Airport and she told me that she had never travelled out of Germany. But the way she fitted in to our society in Oulu showed her great character.

Our efforts to help out people with the CHAFF Help Fund is gathering momentum. I do hope this momentum will continue as there are several today who desperately need help and your contribution, however small it may be, could make a massive difference in someone's life.

See you next week Sunday at 13:00 hours at the Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, Kasarmi Area. Maybe an RSVP for this meeting would be in order as we expect a huge crowd to say goodbye to Kerstin, so we have to make some special arrangements to house all of us!