The quiet German girl gets....

Posted on the Oulu CHAFF Blog and my Jacob's Blog.

Almost two years ago, I picked up a very shy German girl at Oulu Airport. She had never travelled out of her home state. I took her to our daughter's home as she had signed to be a tenant. Then I took her for first meal in Oulu at the Pailin Restaurant, as Pornpailin Weber, spoke fluent German. Kerstin was "at home" within a few hours of arrival in this big bad world of Oulu!

Kerstin was clutching a little book in her hand. At the next CHAFF meeting I introduced her to the authors of that book, Ildikó amd Ilari, who had written "Culture Shock Finland" in German! Was she surprised!

From then, Kerstin became a dedicated CHAFF participant, attending many meetings and taking part in all the major CHAFF events in the spirit of all our CHAFF participants.

Kerstin became a great friend of our grandson, Samuel, as they could discuss "Football". They watched several World Cup matches together, each rooting for their own teams.

When she finished her stint at Oulu University, where she was working for her German employer, we were all very sad to see her leave, as it has been with many other CHAFF Participants from around the world.

This evening when I opened my email INBOX, there was an email with the subject line:

"We did it!"

Dear Friends,



Yes! From now on I am Ms Mike also known as Ms Birkner!!

Mike and I got married on October 27th and we returned from our honeymoon in Vienna last Tuesday.

The wedding was fabulous! - We had a great and long party with family and friends.

Unfortunately until now I have only a few wedding pictures of groom & bride together, snapshots taken from my little brother. As soon as I receive the other pictures I will email them to you.

For the beginning I send you a few snapshots...

And now...there is another news...Mike and I are pleased to announce that our small family will grow next year (end of April)...I am pregnant and we are happy!!!

Love from grey and moistly Germany,

Kerstin

Kerstin with her Grandma.


Groom Mike with Best Woman and husband of Best Woman.
First time I am hearing of a Best Woman!


Kerstin dancing with her kid brother.


Bride and Groom.

All at CHAFF are immensely pleased at this news. I share the photographs that Kerstin sent with all of you.

I hope Kerstin and Mike will accept the congratulations and best wishes from all their dear friends from Oulu and hope the "family" will visit us here in the not too distant future.

CHAFF News

The CHAFF meeting on Sunday 4th November was a small affair with Ildikó, Ilari, Burcu, a group of Indians and myself overlapping time between 12:30 and 15:00 hours at The Coffee House.

The CHAFF Meeting next week (11th November 2007) will be at The Coffee House at 13:00 hours next Sunday. As many have committed late night programmes on 10th November, Rotary International, Diwali Celebrations, it may be a rather stunted meeting. But the regulars will be there - rest assured of that.

Ildikó thought it may be nice to have the meeting on Sunday 18th November at the Goreme Restaurant in the Ranta-Kastelli Shopping Centre. Time, as usual. will be 13:00 hours.

I spoke with Hasim and Kasim, the owners, and they are excited to have us there. It is the very best Pizzeria and Kebab Restaurant in Finland and they have excellent fresh bread and great garlic butter.

I will try to persuade Hasim and Kasim to offer us the traditional Turkish Group Meze. (Remember that registration is mandatory.) I will ask them to cap the price at € 7 per head and € 3.50 for children between 5 and 12.)

Watch out here for more news on this.

You can be sure we will be greeted with great enthusiasm as Hasim, Kasim and Mehmet are ardent supporters of CHAFF but their life style has made it impossible for them to attend meetings.

If you have a problem to reach the location, please let Ildikó or me know and we can organise transport to the restaurant. Hasim even said that he can organise a bus to get us there!

It will be a great lunch meeting - that I can assure you.

I hope you do make it to the exhibition of Turkish Glass at the City Library. Although it is a very small showing, and as I was informed by very knowledgeable Turks, not very representative, it was certainly eye-opening to see such wonderful pieces of Art Glass on display.

Annikki and I are lovers of Art Glass and we certainly appreciated the quality of the pieces on display at this exhibition.

Bombay Mix in Oulu

Posted on Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Best Buy Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

Last Sunday, after our CHAFF get.together at the Coffee House, I dropped in to see Indu, Ashesh and little Karthik. Indu served me two varieties of Bombay Mix, one that she had brought from India and the other that Ashesh had picked up from London.

I have a great love for Bombay Mix and I had located that the Secondhand Shop on Isokatu (next to the Hai Long Chinese Restaurant) has a wide selection of nuts and other delicacies, including Bombay Mix at € 7.50 per kg, Pecan Nuts at € 25 per kg and Brazil Nuts at € 20 per kg. Annikki loves all the three, while I confine myself to the Bombay Mix.

Another shop which also has this great selection of nuts is Herkku Rosa next to the Oriental Shop on Rautatienkatu (the road on which the Oulu Railway Station is located). However, prices here are higher here. They have two types of Bombay Mix, spiced and normal, both at € 9,90 per kg, Pecan Nuts is € 29.90 per kg and Brazil Nuts at € 19.90 per kg.

Do remember that at the Secondhand Shop that whenever you buy € 15 at one time, you can get a stamp on the Customer Card so that on the 10th time you get € 15 back, an effective 10% discount on every € 150 of purchase.

As this is also being posted on the Oulu Best Buy Blog, the best buys of today are at the Tokmanni shop, one of which is at Kaijonharju Shopping Centre (near the University) and at Jukkolankuja on the south side of Oulu. Oranges are €0.89 per kg, Bravo ice cream is just € 0,50 per litre when you buy 2 packets, and Beef Mince is € 1.99 for 400 gm which works out at less than € 5 per kg.

Pornpailin Weber with Annikki and me at the Loykrathong Festival.

On a sad note I have to inform CHAFF participants that the Pailin Restaurant where we used to meet with the wonderful cooking of authentic Thai food by Pornpailin Weber, has finally closed its doors on the 25th of October. We will all miss the wonderful friendship of Pornpailin and also her superb cooking.

The next CHAFF meeting will be on Sunday at 13:00 hours at the Coffee House with entrances on both Isokatu and also the Rotuari Square. Last week the bulk of the meeting was about "Arctic Syndrome" which I had written about on the blog.

Indian contingent due in Oulu

Posted on Jacob's Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

November 2007 will see a large increase of the Indian engineer population in Oulu. There is a contingent of 20 Indians some with wives and children due to arrive in Oulu during the month.

The first group of 5 are already scheduled to arrive on the 1st of November. The others are waiting for their visas and other papers to arrive.

They are looking for houses, furnished if possible, to rent.

If any of you have any offers to make, please get in touch with me and let me know, as I can put you in direct touch with those arriving.

If they are unable to get furnished appartments, they may need furniture and other household equipment. If you have any, please let me know as I am compiling a list of stuff required against what is available.

Kamu just informed me that he has a good dining table with 4 chairs available for under € 100. We were able to provide a tv, coffee maker, toaster to a young student last week from our existing stock. We still have lots of cups, saucers, glasses, from the summer flea market remains.

This week's CHAFF meeting will be at the Coffee Shop, entrance on Isokatu as well as from the Rotuari Square. Those attending will probably be there after 13:00 hours.

One of the questions that we may discuss this week is the setting up of a Kindergarten, especially for the children who may have to go back to the Indian Education System, which can never be from a Finnish run Play Schools.

This is an enormous social issue and one which needs to be taken very seriously. If there are enough people interested, then we should take it up with the companies, especially the Indian companies, who are deputing their personnel to Oulu.

My recent discussion with the Oulu City Manager for International Affairs was rather disappointing on this front concerning one child, who, because of the pressure we put, will now get admission into an English Platy School by January 2008, after having had to languish in a Finnush language Play School for over a year.

Let it be understood that Oulu, although it claims to be an International City, is far from being International, and the City Authorities neither have the resources or the will to help out those who need their help. They may write nice letters, but that is just not enough!

As was so correctly put by one family (to the City Manager of Oulu International Affairs) which has gone through misery and from pillar to post:

"Thanks you for your understanding.

Teachers in xxxxxxxx Kindergarten asked us to give an application to the yyyyyyyyyy kindergarten.  We gave the application. It was in fact the same application which my wife gave to yyyyyyyyyy in Nov 2006.

They told us that there may be openings in 2008 only.

I think this is too late for us.

We have severe problems with Language issues already now.

Since our native language is not Finnish and our stay in Finland is not confirmed to be permanent, we want to pursue our daughter's studies in English. We are unable to help her with her simple questions due to the language issue. This is getting worse day by day.

May you please expedite this matter and help us in getting some place in yyyyyyyyyy sooner than 2008.

Thanks again for your time."

To solve these problems, yet to be able to meet the requirements of a short stay in Finland, it is imperative that the Indian Style Kindergarten has to be started in Oulu. Annikki and I are willing to help, but the onus must lie on the Indian Companies who are deputing their staff to live and work in Oulu. Expect nothing but lip service and a lot of red tape from local authorities who are just not in the know of what an international environment demands!

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Invitation: Finnish UN Association of Oulu

Message inviting Oulu CHAFF participants to an UN Event:

"The Finnish UN Association of Oulu (Osyky) celebrates its 30th anniversary on Wednesday 24th of October at 6 pm in Restaurant Tervasoihtu. (Oulu Marketplace Salt House 24)

We will have coffee and cake and talk a little about the history, present & future of our association.

Everybody is welcome to celebrate with us and to get to know Osyky!"

"Oulun seudun YK-yhdistys täyttää tänä vuonna kunnioitettavat 30 vuotta.
Juhlimme kolmekymppistä yhdistystämme YK:n päivänä keskiviikkona 24.10. klo 18 alkaen Ravintola Tervasoihdussa, Torinrannassa.

Ohjelmassa kakkukahvit ja historian siipien havinaa. Kyseessä on hyvin vapaamuotoinen tilaisuus (lähinnä kahvittelun ja
vapaamuotoisen seurustelun merkeissä) ja kiinnostuneilla on mahdollisuus
kysellä OSYKY:stä sekä tulla mukaan yhdistyksen toimintaan.

Tervetuloa!"

Osyky:n puolesta
Päivi Hirvonen

 

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CHAFF - plenty of new faces

The CHAFF meeting this week was at the Ravintola Marrakesh which dished up some nice interesting food.

This week we had some of new faces.

I had three guests - Jijo from Kerala, Vivek from UP and Suresh from Andhra, three engineers in Oulu from Nokia, Bangalore.

Ildikó's aunt from Hungary, Marita, was another new face.

Lauri, Sunil and Nisha, Mervi and Brent, Ildikó and Ilari and another half a dozen older faces made up the crowd, along with me.

Next week will be the more informal meeting at the Coffee Shop at 13:00 hours.

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First CHAFF Coffee Shop Meeting

Ildikó's new style Coffee Shop Sunday afternoon CHAFF Meeting at Pakkahuonekatu 16 (entrance on Isokatu) started with a nice group - Ildikó and Ilari, Pekka and Maritta Keränen and their son, a newcomer from Turkey, P. Burcu Guner, who has attended a CHAFF meeting when she was a visitor to Oulu last year and has now come to study in Oulu University, and myself. It was great to have David, our Irish friend, behind the counter.

I had to leave early as Annikki and I were off to Liminka to see a newly opened Antique Shop (see the Oulu Best Buy Blog on Tuesday for a report on this). Annikki found something she liked there.

Also Ildikó and Ilari were off to collect linganberries somewhere in the marshes around Oulu.

The Coffee Shop is large and spacious. It should be an ideal meeting place for our non-luncheon CHAFF meetings. We are not intruding on anyone's space and one has a great deal of freedom.

Next Sunday, Sunil and Nisha are moving home. They have no heavy furniture. We need about four people to help make the move. Those who want to help, please contact me for the time and so that I can pick them up. Should take an hour or so if we have four people, two at the loading end and two at the unloading end. Probably two trailer loads. From Saristonkatu in the City to Kuivastie in Tuira.

We could time it so that we can do the move and then be at the Coffee Shop by 13:00 hours!



I am excited as the refurbished Rabbit is ready to get on the road again. Nassar has done an outstanding job! The Rabbit will be on rescue missions again this winter! So stay tuned for its exploits.

Have a great week.

CHAFF Meetings - New Schedule

I just had this email from Ildikó.

Dear CHAFFists,

Thank you to all those who enriched our first gathering of the new era CHAFF last Sunday at the Restaurant Marrakech. We had a good time getting to know each other, having good food and enjoying each other´s company. We also agreed on the following schedule for the coming CHAFF-meetings:

Our CHAFF-meetings will be held at the known time, Sunday 1 pm.

Once a month we will gather for a full lunch at Restaurant Marrakech, Kirkkokatu 55. I´ll let you know the next date for our Sunday lunch there in time. For these lunches, I ask you to always sign up in advance by sending me an email, so that Miriam and Said will know for how many of us to prepare their delicious food. The details about the next lunch will reach you soon.

Otherwise, we will meet every Sunday at 1 pm. (apart from those we spend at Marrakech of course) at Coffee House, Pakkahuoneenkatu 16. There is no signing up necessary for these coffee meetings, as there is always enough space at that time and day of the week to fit us in. You can consume whatever you wish, there won´t be any pre-ordered meal or drinks in these coffee-meetings.

So, until further notice, we will meet this and the coming Sundays at 1 pm at Coffee House. Please do not rely on me and my husband Ilari always being at the coffee meetings, we are both busy sometimes and not always in town.

Remember: CHAFF does not need me to be CHAFF. The meetings can be held without any problem and lots of fun and helpful hints and tips even with me or Jacob not being around. The lunch meetings will be organised by me personally, so for those I´ll be around always.

Have a nice week, don´t fuss about the rain - see the beautifully coloured leaves instead ;-)!

Take care

Ildi
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ildikó Hámos

What I would like to add is thatyou should look at this Oulu CHAFF Blog for any announcements, requests for assistance, offers to help, items for sale, etc.

You can send me details and I will ensure that they go up olinr as soon as possible.

If you need anything special and would like to meet up with a set of people, let me know, and between Ildikó and myself, we shall try to organise the private meeting.

Ildikó relaunches CHAFF new package

I was able to attend the CHAFF meeting organised by Ildikó Hámos at the Ravintola Marrakech, Oulu. We had attendees from every continent.

We had to limit attendance due to the restrictions in seating available. The meeting room was packed to the brim as Ilari, his aunt, uncle and myself, had to be content to sit out in the main restaurant area.

We had several new attendees, The Joels, Nisha, Sunil and their daughter, Hannah, Sagar Shinde, Janie, Gabor and their daughter, and many more. Several old timers were also present to show their support for the new format CHAFF. The Suomis, Fumi, Ville and little Mari were present, as also Pekka ansd Maritta Keränen and their son It was nice to see Lauri Gardner, Vamsi and Aruna Paluguru, Barbel Fink, Andi Moreno, Benjamin Hayes and friend, Sanna.

The new location for this meeting, Ravintola Marrakech, outdid themselves by serving up a great fare. On our table for four we had a serving of Couscous, a vegetarian curry, a lamb curry and chicken and lamb sishkebab sticks, Moroccan style. There was so much food that we had to struggle to finish it. But Ilari and I did it justice!

The vegetarians got a special fare which was well appreciated!

The restaurant certainly lived up to its name of the great Marrakech market, as the group were humming with excitement and enjoying the delicious fare and company.

Our hostess and host, Miriam and Said, and their staff were great. This was their first exposure to CHAFF.

The ball now rests in YOUR court as Ildikó has raised the question as to how you want the CHAFF social gatherings to continue - once a month, every fortnight or weekly, a full meal, a brunch, on the weekend or a weekday?

Ildikó took the step of asking each one present to make a short introduction as there were so many new faces. In my short introduction and summary talk I thanked Ildikó for accepting this awesome responsibility.

CHAFF is not just these social gatherings but the help we render, quietly, to those in need.

It is, therefore, important to let Ildikó know what form of help you can offer and in what circumstances - physical, knowledge base, or any other, as she can then direct any queries to you.

As you would have noted in an earlier blog entry, very simple help last year helped one CHAFF attendee to save € 1600 in his income tax. It is important to have a meeting devoted to help newcomers to Finland, especially Oulu, to understand the complex tax laws.

I had to rush off early as Annikki needed assistance at home with her mother. I apologise to many whom I could not stand and talk with.

But I greatly valued the resounding support you have shown to Ildikó and I hope you will help continue this tradition of CHAFF in the spirit that Bill Zhang (China), Kamutaza Tembo (Zambia), Saikou Marong ((Gambia) and myself (India) started this in a most humble manner over three years ago!

Events and Meetings in Week 39 and 40

Remember the Japanese Evening on Thursday 27th September at 18:00 hours at Friendship House in Tuira.

Ildikó, despite her own hectic schedule, is slowly but surely getting the CHAFF Movement up and running again. She has organised the restart meeting at the Ravintola Marrakech next Sunday, September 30th, at 13:00 hours.

Ravintola Marrakech is next to the Greek Restaurant on Kirkkokatu as you proceed from Rotuari to Heinäpää.

The food will cost € 8 per head.

If you have been reading my blog, recently Tony, Isaac and I had a wonderful meal there.

Please send an RSVP to Ildikó as this is the first time Said and Miriam are holding one of our CHAFF Meetings. They want to make sure everything is just right.

I will be bringing as my guests, 4 lovely young Indian newcomers to Oulu, a couple who have a lovely 4 year old and a young bachelor. All are from the beautiful state of Kerala!

I hope you will welcome them as they have been so without contact with the real world of Oulu during their time here.

See you there.

An Indian couple is looking for an apartment in the city, so if you have any clues, please do contact me.

When -300 can equal +1300

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

This is yet another mathematical puzzle which is solved very easily for your benefit.

Kannan and me.

When Kannan approached me with his tax return, there was a demand for tax to be paid of around € 300.

I had asked him to maintain detail personal accounts, as is specified in the book "Handbook for Survival in Finland" that Annikki and I had written and published in 1994. The logic of our advice was that only if you know your outflow, can you budget your life.

Kannan had kept meticulous accounts. Using the Google Docs facility, he sent me his accounts and also his tax return forms, from Rauma, over the internet.

I studied them carefully based on all the tax laws that I am still aware of. I am certainly not up-to-date, as for many years, maybe 10, Annikki and I have not had to fill in any tax returns.

Kannan was quite unbelieving that what I claimed for him would pass the scrutiny of the tax office. He was worried that he would be caught for some form of offence of over claiming (tax evasion) his legitimate tax deductible expenses (tax avoidance).

Yesterday evening, I had an excited call from Kannan. He had just received his final tax return statement. Even with his limited knowledge of Finnish, he could read a line at the end of the statement that said he was receiving € 1300 + as his tax return in December of this year!

A turn around of € 1600 +.

But I was not happy, as my target for Kannan at the beginning of last year had been € 5000 as pension savings and € 2700 as his tax return! A net of € 7700.

Well, hopefully he will follow my advice this year and generate that sort of savings this year.

Those at CHAFF will remember that I held a session on filing of tax returns at one of our meetings. I wonder how many of you followed the advice given and how many of you achieved this level of tax refunds?

Do let me know your successes as your stories can motivate others to a financial discipline which helps beat the horrendous inflation that is occurring here in Finland.

CHAFF Meeting; Japanese Evening

There will be no CHAFF get together this weekend as we are still working out something which will be of interest to everyone. Do stay tuned here as we bring you glad tidings shortly.

The Oulu Setlementti is organising a Japanese Evening on Thursday 27th September at 6 pm at the Friendship House, Kaarretie 14 in Tuira. There will be a talk about Japan, a dance performance and Japanese food on offer.



The poster about the event in Finnish and Japanese is shown above.

All of you are welcome. The Host for the evening will be Chie Petrelius.

We must thank Hilmi Oral for informing us about this event.

Taste of Morocco in Oulu

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

When Isaac Sundarajen, CEO of Codenomicon Oy, let me know he was over in Oulu for a very short trip, we agreed to meet over the weekend to have a meal together.

Tony demoing a computer game. Photo Copyeight: Jarmo Kontiainen, Kaleva, 8th September 2007.

I asked son-in-law, Tony, also to join us to get him away from his gruelling schedule of launching his new company, Ludocroft OY. (His new book on the approach to creating games, was also released last week.)



On Saturday evening Tony suggested we go to the Marrakech restaurant, the new Moroccan one opened by an old friend, Sayeed. Tony had been there with Joanna in the summer and he vouched for the food. I had visited the restaurant a couple of times before it was opened and had found the simple decor really appealing.

When we arrived, at just past 6 pm, we found the place packed to the brim. Luckily Sayeed was there when we arrived and he quickly cleared a table for us in the far corner, so that we could eat and talk in peace.

I was quite amazed that in a very short time the restaurant has become extremely popular. The decor is tasteful. There is a real feeling of a north African flavour. The waiters are dressed perfectly in Moroccan clothes. It was obvious that all the customers there were really enjoying their food.

We were each offered a very neatly done menu book (English and Finnish separately). Each of us ordered based on level of hunger.

The service was very friendly, the food arrived quickly and was piping hot and served on crockery suited to the cuisine. I had the choice of having either rice or freshly baked bread with chicken with olives and lemon. I chose rice, but the Chef sent me BOTH!

We were able to eat slowly, each of us enjoying well prepared food, talk at length about many many issues and finally enjoy a pot of piping mint tea served in a siler teapot, a slightly sweetish African version. We even got a refill - free!

We spent a good 3+ hours in this very comfortable atmosphere. When we were leaving, we noticed that Sayeed was still busy with a large group in an ante-room. As he saw us leave from the corner of the eye, he was outside in a flash to bid us goodbye.

From this first experience here, there is no doubt that this restaurant is going to be an outstanding success. It is no wonder that Ildikó would like to have our CHAFF meetings here. I have no hesitation in recommending this suggestion.

Please get a move on and tell Ildikó which day and time you would prefer so that we can get CHAFF meetings restarted!

Ilari and Ildikó wed in Hungary

Posted on the Oulu CHAFF Blog and my Jacob's Blog.

Ilari has been a family friend for over a decade. He first came into our life as a classmate of Joanna at Oulu University. Later he and our son, Jaakko, became friends. Ilari then became a close friend of Annikki and me, and when Ildikó entered his life, she also became a good friend of the two of us.

We had planned that at least one member of our family should be present at their wedding in Hungary. The first choice was Jaakko and his partner, Joy. But due to circumstances beyond their control, their attendance was not possible. So it fell on Annikki and me to try to attend.

Annikki has no passport as she has not travelled for over 7 years. And I needed a visa for Hungary. Both these proved a great hurdle as the time available to organise them was just not enough.

On top of that we had a call from Joanna that she was not well, and she had got permission from the University to sit her exams in Medical School in mid August, so she was returning to Finland from Newcastle with immediate effect. This was on the condition that Annikki and I would take charge of the two grandchildren, Samuel and daniel, so that she could study.

On top of this we had a visitor from India, who planned to reach here just at the time of the Hungarian wedding!

So the plans to proceed to Hungary were just not on.

However, we kept abreast of what went on at this double wedding of Ildikó and her brother.

I present here the report of a grand occasion which was well attended by many CHAFF Participants.

The photographs have been provided by Ilari and Ildikó and also by Benjamin, who was able to be there for the occasion.



Ildikó



Ilari



Arpad and Ildikó arrive at church.



Juliska Hámos



Ilari and Ildikó



Heli and Jorma Sohlo.



Ildikó and Ilari.



Brides and grooms and their parents.



Guests at the wedding. See many CHAFF faces here?



Juliska and Arpad speak.



Mona and Kerstin with others.



Andy and Benjamin.



Mona, Andy, Kerstin and Mike.



Ildikó and Benjamin.

And some snaps from their honeymoon in Central America.



Ildikó in Livingstone.



Ilari in Livingstone.



Honeymoon climbers - Ildikó and Ilari.

Here is wishing Ildikó and Ilari a great wedded life from the Matthan family as well as all their CHAFF friends around the world.

2 YEARS - What has CHAFF done?

Posted on my Jacob's Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

Many of you have addressed me as to what exactly CHAFF (Chamber for assistance of Finns and Foreigners) Participants have been doing during the past two years. You may be in the dark as many of our participants have not asked for publicity. Also we have wished to not violate the privacy of those who have received some form of assistance from CHAFF Participants.

At this point of time it is important for me to tell you some of what we have done so that you know what has been happening over the last two years and also to understand how Ildikó Hámos-Sohlo and her team have their work cut out to help people and communities in different problematic situations.

Kasia Mazur was a trainee teacher from Poland who spent some time here in Oulu. When she needed help with her work of teaching children in a Finnish school, several CHAFF Participants stretched out their helping hands.

I had this very emotional COMMENT from our Kasia , who is now back in Poland after her short stint in Oulu, on the CHAFF Blog:

Dear Jacob,

It's Kasia.

I have just read about the last chaff sunday and although I'm not in Finland any more and I don't take part in the meetings, this is one of the saddest infos recently.

I can not imagine my stay in Finalnd without CHAFF, without help I received from all of the participants and great friends.

I kept on entering your blog site almost every week here in Poland because even if I'm not with you there, I still think about all the good times back in Finland.

Hopefully your great idea of connecting people and all the good things that came with it will be continued, and as far as I know Ildi, CHAFF is in good hands :)

So now again I want to say thank you to all my CHAFF friends and hopefully when I visit Oulu some day again, CHAFF will be still there.

With all my love,

Kasia

Is this is what Kasia remembers of a very regular CHAFF meeting?

The photograph shows some of our younger CHAFF participants: Benjamin from Australia, Andy for Venezuela, Pailin from Thailand, Kasia from Poland, Ulf from Germany, Tingting from China and Kerstin from Germany.

Or was it this of the Indian Evening organised by CHAFF participants:


Here we have Kasia, Mona's Finnish friend from Helsinki, Mona from Finland, Benjamin, Andy, and Ildikó from Hungary dressed in Indian clothes brought to the evening by the Indian members of our community.

Dressing in national coustunes was great fun for the ladies as was when they dressed and danced with Thai costumes.


Here we see Kerstin and Kasia in Thai clothes with Pailin and Mona.


But CHAFF was not just about social events like these.

Kazutaza Temboa graphic designer from Zambia, one of the founding members of CHAFF, designed the award winning posters for the International Anti Racism Week in which CHAFF joined the Oulu Divisions of United Nations, Finnish Red Cross, Amnesty International and the Oulu International School as a major organiser of this event.


The main poster designed by Kamu was symbolic and was designed to show the importance of integration.


But CHAFF Participants were not just active on the sidelines in organising the events. Ildikó and Lauri Gardner, along with Anne Rännäli, International Affairs Manager of the City of Oulu, were part of the panel chaired by Markku Heikkinen, a senior editor of the local newspaper, Kaleva, which discussed the issues of racism faced by foreigners in Oulu.

Among the participants who attended CHAFF meetings were many people of note, some famous and some not so famous, from various parts of the world.


Here, one of our regular Finnish Participants, Pentti Paakki, bids farewell to Subramaniam Paneer, from Tamilnadu, India, who had worked tireless moving the dead bodies along the Tamil Coast after the devasting tsunami.

We had Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Arpad Hámos, attending our meeting. He said that many in the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Association) in Austria were regular readers of the CHAFF Blog.


Unnop Khungrai, Ilari Sohlo, Arpad Hámos, Ildikó Hámos-Sohlo, Julista Hámos and Pailin at our CHAFF meeting.

But the reach of CHAFF has stretched far beyond the Finnish shores.

When CHAFF Participant Kannan Balaram asked me to help a group of Rotarians who were visiting India, we extended our helping hand to them to meet our friends and relatives there and organise things which were outside of their normal programme.


Kannan Balaram with another CHAFF Founding Member, Saikou Marong from Gambia.


Here Ville Suomi (second from right) and fellow Rotarians from the Oulu Region with my cousin, Satish Abraham (far left), at the Sailing Club in Kottayam, India.


Our CHAFF population grew as, for example, Ville's Japanese wife, Fumi, a biochemist researcher in Oulu University, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Mari. CHAFF participants were there to greet a new addition to our CHAFF Culture.

None of the work has been done for either profit, personal recognition or reward of any form. These have all been acts of self-giving. Some people have misunderstood that someone has been trying to gain publicity or monetary benefit in executing these tasks. Nothing could be further from the truth. All acts of assistance have had no ulterior motives.

I have to say to most of the 300 or more people who have been active in CHAFF, that some amazing things, some mundane things and some very responsible things, have been done by them.

As I do not wish to violate the privacy of many people who have been helped by CHAFF, I can only outline a FEW of the things done in the most general terms.

1. CHAFF Participants have been visiting foreigners and Finns in psychiatric institutions in Oulu to help them find themselves. This has included attending meetings with psychiatrists and the staff in rehabilitation centres.
2. CHAFF Participants have been rescuing helpless persons (especially foreigners) who have been violated by their partners and ensuring that they are guided to the appropriate shelters and, if necessary, legal help organised.
3. CHAFF Participants have been helping persons who have been stranded without a roof over their head and providing the temporary relief while they rebuild their status and lives.
4, CHAFF Participants have been helping persons who have been cheated by unscrupulous businessmen either in violation of contracts or in their inability to collect their legal dues.
5. CHAFF Participants have been helping those who have language difficulties during their settling period in Finland.
6. CHAFF Participants have been helping persons with accountancy and other business services.
7. CHAFF Participants have been helping those who have alcohol related problems.
8. CHAFF Participants have been helping those not to enter into job contracts where they could be exploited.
9. CHAFF Participants have been helping people move their business or residence premises.
10. CHAFF Participants have been helping people move their furniture between homes or to the rubbish dump.
11. CHAFF Participants have been helping people to start small businesses.
12. CHAFF Participants have been providing counselling to people with severe illnesses.
13. CHAFF Participants have been helping to organise cultural events.
14. CHAFF Participants have been helping to organise events related to removing discrimination.
15. CHAFF Participants have been providing short term financial help in emergency situations.
16. CHAFF Participants have been helping people with transport in difficult circumstances.
17. CHAFF Participants have been helping to organise cultural groups and associations.
18. CHAFF Participants have been introducing newcomers to Oulu to the life in this city.
19. CHAFF Participants have been sponsoring young sportsmen from ethnic minorities.
20. CHAFF Participants have been sponsoring young musicians and artists for ethnic minorities.


It was a proud moment for CHAFF Participants when a young sportsman sponsored by CHAFF, in his very first year in Finland won gold medals for both football and basketball. Here Soda proudly shows off one of his medals.

What I have shown above is nowhere near an exhaustive list of things we have done.

Some of the events were large public ones.

CHAFF helped the Oulu Divisions of the United Nations, Amnesty International and the Finnish Red Cross to organise the week long Anti Discrimination events in Oulu.
CHAFF has helped the Thai Association and Thai Community in Northern Finland to organise several exciting cultural events and also organise educational and cultural classes in Oulu. (eg., Thai Water Festival. Thai Mother's Day, Thai King's Birthday, International Festival featuring Thai culture, Thai dance Classes, Thai Cooking Classes, Thai Language Classes.)
CHAFF helped organise a wonderful Indian evening in Oulu.
CHAFF helped in organising the International Day for ethnic minorities organised by the Youth Centre in Oulu.


Bill Zhang, a brilliant Chinese Engineer was one of the Founding Members of CHAFF.


Me, another founding member, with two young CHAFF Participants, Kwan from Thailand and Veikka from Raahe, Finland.

The number of nationalities who have taken part in CHAFF activities is well over 40.

It started with just four people - Bill, a Chinese engineer, Saikou, a business man from Gambia, Kamu, a Zambian graphic designer and me, Jacob, a retired Indian living a life of leisure here in Oulu.

Some of the nationalities that I can remember, besides Finns, that passed through the portals of CHAFF during the last two years included Americans, Australians, Austrians, Bangladeshis, Canadians, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, Gambians, Germans, Ghanaians, Greeks, Hungarians, Indians, Iranians, Iraqis, Irish, Italians, Ivorians, Japanese, Kenyans, Liberians, Malaysians, Nicaraguans, Nigerians, Pakistanis, Poland, Peruvians, Portuguese, Russians, Sierra Leonians, Slovakians, South Africans, Spaniards, Sri Lankans, Sudanese, Thais, Turks, Vietnamese, Zambians. (Sorry if I have missed any nationalities!)


Isaac Sundarajan, CEO of Codenomicon OY with Tingting from China.



Indian researchers who were attendees of an International Conference on Microelectronics were happy to meet with CHAFF Participants.

We have had several notable personalities, besides the Nobel Prize winner, including several professors (eg., Fulbright lecturer, the professor from Washington D. C., Kenneth Kolson), and senior researchers from the US, India, Russia, etc., CEO's from small, medium and large Finnish and international companies, attending and taking part in the CHAFF Meetings.

But CHAFF is not about the rich and famous. It is for the humble, poor and weak, the lonely and disraught.

In this, may I ask you all to extend your hand of help to Ildikó to run CHAFF in a manner which we have done together for the last few years.

As I have said, time and time again, CHAFF is not ME or any particular individual, but it is YOU. It is not Ildikó, but it is YOU.

Without YOUR participation, CHAFF ceases to exist. It is your camaraderie and hand of friendship which is needed for CHAFF to continue in it glorious path helping especially those in desperate need.

Coincidence at Oulu Airport!

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Chaff Blog, the Mumbai Cathedral School Seventh Heaven Blog and the Delhi Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.

Yesterday was Annikki's birthday. I had offered to take her to any restaurant of her choice in Oulu. We have an offering of several cuisines here: Algerian, Chinese, English, Finnish, French, Greek, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Moroccan, Thai, Turkish, Russian, US, Vietnamese, ...

But Annikki had other plans.

We started on a shopping expedition where she first went to he favourite Flea market and did some expensive shopping - maybe a couple of Euro!

Then we went to some small shops where she bought stuff for the house. Her next stops were two shops that were also celebrating their birthdays. We got free coffee/tea and cake for just visiting them.

Just then I had a call from Prof. Ajeet Mathur, a Cathedralite and Stephanian, like me, and also resident in south Finland. Ajeet said that he was on his way to Oulu and his plane should land around 6 pm. I told him I would pick him up from the airport.

Annikki told me rush back from the airport as her plan was to buy a pizza and go and sit on the beach and enjoy the sea breeze and the glorious sunset. She wanted a large open air restaurant and not be cooped up in a tiny one with no view in town!

I reached the airport at exactly 6 pm. There were a load of people coming off a plane. I noticed what looked like a foreigner waiting with a small placard identifying a conference, which I knew would be the one Ajeet would be headed for. I also noted a cameraman waiting to get a film of the arrival of Ajeet. Obviously, Ajeet was to be a distinguished speaker at the conference.

I positioned myself next to these two gentleman, who obviously had come for the same purpose - to receive Ajeet. I heard them conversing.

One said to the other that he was from Australia.

Always ready to break the ice, I asked him whether he knew our popular Australian CHAFF participant, Benjamin Hayes. The answer was in the negative, but with the formalities done away with, we struck up a conversation. He asked me where I came from. When I said Bangalore, India. Out of the blue, he said his parents were from Bangalore, India and they had left India at the time of Independence in 1947.

Then came a second shock as he said that his dad was from Bishop Cotton School, one of my alma maters.

I asked Alen his surname. Then came the even bigger surprise. His surname is Pembshaw.

Alen's dad used to come to Bangalore in the 70's very regularly. He would head straight to my dad's office as my dad was, at the time, the Chairperson of the Bishop Cotton Boys School Old Boys Association. My dad had passed out of school in 1926. Alen's dad was much junior to him.

I had met Alen's dad several times, as my office used to be in the same buolding!

As we were looking at the coincidence, the cameraman, whom I do not recall ever seeing in my life, turned to me and said that he knew my daughter, Joanna and also my wife. Apparently they go to the same church and his wife, a doctor, is a good friend of my daughter.

That was a string of coincidences which seemed outrageous to me!

Later, Annikki briefed me that Seppo Ahava is the husband of Maria, who is a doctor now and whom she has seen as a small girl in the church.

Ajeet arrived. As I am camera shy, I made myself scarce.

Usually Ajeet stays with me, but as the City of Oulu had organised this programme, he had been booked into a hotel. I took Ajeet to his hotel and organised that he spend the evening usefully.

I rushed home, picked up Annikki, picked up a pizza from a friends's pizzeria and headed to the beach. The sun was just setting and darkness was falling fast, but the glorious colours could still be seen.

It was extremely windy, so we sat in a shaded place and enjoyted our pizza.

There was no one around when we reached, as it was still drizzling, but before we finished our pizza, some kids and then some elderly people could be seen walking on the windy shores.

Before darkness finally set, we set off back for home, not accomplishing one part of Annikki's mission, to look for more stones to take home!

Coincidences and a windy pizza dinner on the beach were the mark of Annikki's birthday for this year. (Of course, there was cake when we got back home!)

CHAFF Meetings - Ildikó asks: When?

Posted on the CHAFF Blog and my Jacob's Blog

This is an email that Ildikó Hámos-Sohlo has just sent out to CHAFF participants. For those not yet familiar with CHAFF, it stands for

CHAMBER FOR ASSISTANCE OF FINNS AND FOREIGNERS

Your sincere reply to her would be greatly appreciated:

Dear CHAFF members!

First of all, let me introduce myself to all of you who do not know me yet:

I am Ildikó Hámos-Sohlo, a Hungarian with a Finnish husband, who has settled down in Oulu some two years ago. I have started working for the SINNI empowerment centre soon after my arrival and at this moment I am managing a project there. In my work, I am concentrating on internationalisation of the Finnish work life, but the joys and pitfalls of leading a life in another country are never far from my heart.

Since my arrival, Jacob Matthan has involved me on issues of immigration and expat life of Oulu. We all, who have been more or less following and attending the CHAFF-life, value his work very much. In this way, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for Jacob, who always has the time to listen, the heart to understand and the hands to tackle problems.

Jacob has dedicated much of his time and energy to setup an amazing network that has helped a lot of people. Now, I am being asked to continue this work. The footsteps Jacob would like me to step into are several numbers too large for me. I think CHAFF has reached a point where we all are being asked  to take the lead. I can try to coordinate and function as some kind of focal point, but I already know that I won´t be able to be what Jacob was for CHAFF.

I challenge and ask you all to help build the life of CHAFF, because - as Jacob has said so often - not I, but YOU ALL are chaff.

Naturally, Jacob will not disappear. I hope that the CHAFF Blog will still be produced by him in the future as well and that he will attend the meetings.

As a first step, let me open the discussion about continuing to have CHAFF meetings. As Pailin and Unnop will sadly leave Oulu, I agreed with Miriam Attias that the meetings could be held at her and her husband Said Zahaf´s Restaurant Marrakech .



Marrakech has a homely atmosphere, great food and very friendly staff. Also, it´s in the centre of Oulu. As soon as things are getting more concrete, the Zahaf-Attias family will kindly present a special deal for our meals in their restaurant.

Now the question at hand is: when we want to have these meetings? At the last CHAFF meeting we were discussing the possibility meeting on other weekdays. The advantage of having the meetings on Sundays is that complete newcomers will have a place to go and spend time on a lonely day.

Yes, Sundays can be very lonely and depressing in a new city, without friends of social nets. On the other hand, already settled-down internationals often feel that the Sunday is a bad meeting day, because it´s the only day of realxation and possibility to e.g. go for a trip somewhere. In accordance with Miriam I now propose three possibilities and ask you to think it through, make a decision and let me know, which of the three would suit you best.

Option A: Some weekday evening. Please indicate which weekday and time would suit you best.
Option B: Saturday around noon, please indicate what time suits you best.
Option C: Sunday at 13.00, the traditional CHAFF meeting time as it was so far.

The CHAFF meetings continue to be a platform for networking, making friends, sharing stories and asking for help and support. I cannot possibly tackle
all problems Jacob had done alone, I´ll need your help, dear CHAFF members!

Have a nice Monday evening!

Best regards

Ildikó

Thanks for all the nice things you have said about me, Ildiko.

But the truth is that I am a generation gone by and CHAFF is for the generation of today and tomorrow.

Let me make some suggestions for discussion.

The CHAFF Blog will continue and can be used for networking. (It is possible for me to add additional authors for the Blog.)
There is a CHAFF Group Site which already has 42 registered participants. This can be expanded.
I will continue to attend the meetings if it does not clash with the time that Annikki needs my physical help in looking after her mother.
As noted by Ildikó. Sunday was an excellent day for newcomers to Oulu. (This can be solved in several ways. CHAFF members can invite a newcomer to their homes and hearts. I know several who have been doing that for the last two years (not necessarily Sundays) and that can be expanded.)
Ilari's suggestion of Friday evening is excellent , but the time must be carefully thought out.
To make the meeting's more rewarding experience, a 20 minute talk by someone on something important to all of us will certainly help.
Responsibility for each week's meeting can be rotated so that no one person has to take all the responsibility on his/her shoulders.
The price of the meal/refreshments should be not too high to scare off the student/unemployed participants.

I hope all the CHAFF Blog readers will contact Ildikó as soon as possible. Your inputs will be most important in developing CHAFF to suit YOUR interest and NEEDS.

Philosophy behind my multiple entry blogging

Posted on Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Best Buy Blog, the Oulu CHAFF Blog, the Cathedralite Seventh Heaven Blog, the Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog, the Jacob's Politics Blog, the Move the UN Blog, and the Talk Show Ratings Blog.

Many diverse groups of people with multiple interests are reading my blogs.

Some of you are reading more than one of my blogs.

It is very annoying to see the same posting on more than one blog.

I apologise.

I have, therefore, to introduce a strategy till such time as I can get all or most of my 120 000+ readers to install a policy of being updated whenever there is a new blog entry on the blogs of their specific interest.

If they do this registration, then I need only post any entry to a single blog. The blog info service should inform you if that particular blog has been updated.

If you subscribe to getting this info for three blogs, then I need not post an entry to all three blogs!

Till the recording service is fully operational, at the top of each entry I will include a list of the other blogs that the entry will be found.

For instance, this entry will be found on ALL my blogs.

If any of you have a better solution, I am all ears.

Remember, I am a computer idiot and know nothing about the art of designing things for the computer. :-) That's because I use a Mac!

Emotional last CHAFF Meeting at Pailin

I have been given a few tickets by the City of Oulu (in celebration of Oulu days) for an English Language Guided Tour of Oulu, on this Saturday 1st September (tour starts at 10:00 hours) and Sunday 2nd September (tour starts at 14:00 hours).

The Saturday tickets cost € 5, while the Sunday tickets are FREE.

Saturday 1st September starting at 10.00 am OULU RIVER SIGHTSEEING TOUR
Departure: City Hall (Kirkkokatu 2)
A bus tour along the Oulu River. The first stop will be at Jurvakainen Art Gallery in Muhos where there will be a presentation about the current exhibition. Coffee will be served. On the way back, there will be a brief stop at the Markkuu Allotment Garden.
Duration: 4 hours. Tickets 5€.

Sunday 2nd September starting at 2.00 pm A GUIDED SIGHTSEEING TOUR IN OULU
Departure: City Hall, Kirkkokatu 2
This English-language tour takes you to the river, seaside, marshlands and woods. You will visit the old and new monumental centres of Oulu, the sites of culture and technology. During the tour you will hear stories about tar merchants, ship builders, sea farers and salmon fishers during the history of Oulu.
Duration 2 hours.

Please contact me as soon as possible to reserve your seats - first come, first serve.


June, Pupe and Pailin, with the Oulu Fat Policeman.

This Saturday, which is the celebration of the 20th birthday of the Fat Policeman in the Oulu market Place, coincides with the Thai Festival also in Oulu Market Place. There will be traditional Thai dances, Thai Music and several other events of Thai Culture organised by the Northern Finland Thai Association. The Thai Ambassador from Helsinki, the Thai Tourism Board representative from Stockholm and the Thai Monk from Helsinki will also be taking part

Last Sunday was the last CHAFF Meeting to be held at the Pailin Restaurant. It was a most memorable and emotional event.

Attendance: Zhang (Tingting) Xiting (China), Asha Matthan-Rogers (England), Tero Raiskio (Finland), Oskari Keränen (Finland), Pentti Paakki (Finland), Matti Moisa (Finland), Ari Ronkainen (Finland),Ilari Sohlo (Finland), Johanna Koivunen (Finland), Ildikó Hämós (Hungary), Robbie (Ireland), Jacob Matthan (India), Isaac Sundarajan (India / USA), Festo Badi (Sudan), Pornpailin Weber (Thailand), Unnop Khungrai (Thailand), Rachaya Ronkainen (Thailand), June Koskela (Thailand), Hilmi Oral (Turkey), Kamutaza Tembo (Zambia).

Apologies from: Barbel Fink (Austria), Bill Zhang (China), Sisko Paakki (Finland), Yrjö Mikkonen (Finland), Anna-Liisa Hirvenoja (Finland), Gisela Tauriainen (Germany), Kanchan Gupta (India), Kiran Kumar (India), Prasadh (India), Shahnaz Mikkonen (Iran), Gina Forsman (Philipines).

I had to rush home to drop off grandaughter Asha and to say goodbye to our daughter, Susanna, and her family, as they were driving down to Tampere to fly on to their home in England. When I got there, Annikki pointed out some sad info from the Sunday Kaleva, that one of CHAFF's most loved participants had lost his 94 year old father.

When I got back to the CHAFF Meeting I found Pentti Paakki at the meeting and I shared the news the loss of his father with all our CHAFF friends.


Ilari and Ildikó.


Rachaya and Ari.

I also welcomed several newly weds to the meeting - Ildiko and Ilari were back from their honeymoon which had taken them to Central America (Costa Rica, etc.), Johanna and Robbie were back from their short local honeymoon, Rachaya and Ari were still celebrating their wedding of last week, and I was also able to announce that Kamu had married Naomi in Zambia earlier this year and they were back in Oulu.


Pentti and Sisko Paakki.

Pentti gave a very emotional talk (translated to English by Matti) about his father and was very sad that he was leaving Oulu to settle in Sipoo in South Finland. I spoke to his wife Sisko, who has already moved to their new home. Pentti talked at length about how many new friends he had made since he met me by chance about 5 years ago in the Oulu Market Hall. We all will miss both Pentti and Sisko, but the retirement of Sisko from her job at the Haukipudas Health Centre, the passing away of Pentti's father and the fact that most of their children and grandchildren live in south Finland has prompted this move.

I did explain the reasons that I would not be able to run the Sunday afternoon meetings as home pressures had built up in the care of my mother-in-law. The general opinion at the meeting was that CHAFF should be continued and Ildikó has expressed that she will look into how and when the meetings can be revived to suit the tastes of the large number of participants who use this forum to do something with their lives in Oulu.

I will continue to update this CHAFF Blog whenever there are events of note which interest us foreigners resident in Oulu. There will be CHAFF Stand at the event on 8th September to welcome new students to the University of Oulu. Look out for details which will appear here in the next few days.

However, all my other blogs will be active so you can remain tuned to our lives through them.

So it is Au Revoir from Annikki and Jacob!

Flea market and meeting on 8th July

Last week was a quiet meeting but we had a couple of visitors from India.







I saw Ilari and Ildi off at the station in Oulu last Sunday night. They were on their way to their wedding in Hungary.



Ilari's mom and dad were there to send them on their way.



Ildiko and Ilari were married yesterday (Friday) in Budapest. The wedding was well attended, but unfortunately, Annikki and I could not go due to circumstances beyond our control.

Many CHAFF Participants were present - Kerstin, Andreana, Benjamin, Gisela, Barbel, Mona.

Barbel organised a small gift from CHAFF Participants and other friends of Ildi and Ilari where some of us wrote a page each about a Recipe for a Happy Wedded Life, which Barbel is putting together as a small book.

I am sure each and every one of you at CHAFF wish them a wonderful life of wedded bliss.

The National Bahá'í Summer School had well over 200 participants. I had a chance to meet the key speaker, Mr. Ian Semple (Great Britain - "Mankind at the threshold of maturity".

He is such an illuminating personality and is one of the cornerstones of the Bahá'í Movement. He told me he had visited Finland once before, way back in 1961.

The entire summer school was beautifully and most professionally organised. Kudos to the organisers.

I met several participants at the Oulu Walking Street Rotuari International Music Festival on last Monday afternoon where several CHAFF Participants performed and were greatly appreciated.

The Pohjois-Suomen Thai Seura ry, (the Thai Association for Northern Finland) has been officially founded. Annikki and I are their first 10 year (Life) members. A large number of members have joined already (one year membership costs only € 10). They are organising Thai Language Classes, Thai Fruit and Vegetable Carving Classes, Thai Dance Classes, Thai Cooking Classes and English Classes for Thais.

They are organising a Thai Cultural event as part of Oulu days on 1st September at the Oulu Market Place. The Thai Consul and the Thai Monk from the Buddhist Temple in Helsinki will attend. The Thai Tourism Board representatives from Stockholm will also be present.

The Association has been designing their web pages and they are really great as Secretary Rachaya is a competent web page designer. The web pages are in Thai, Finnish and English.

The Sunday Flea Market outside the Pailin Restaurant, Kenttätie 9, this week will have great stuff, as an almost new sofa set at a throw-away price. The Open Air Summer Flea Market will be between 12 noon and 16:00 hours. Bring your friends along, and if you have stuff to sell, please feel free to do so as there is no table charge!

The CHAFF Meeting will take place on Sunday as usual between 14:00 and 16:00 hours at the same location.

Most people are away for summer, so we will be just a few of us, but you are welcome.