An Open Letter to David Cameron

Dear David Cameron,

I've been thinking about this for a few days now and I think it's time I spoke up.

I'm a British man living in Finland. I moved here almost four years ago because, like many British people in Finland, I fell in love with a Finn.

As an immigrant entering Finland I had to sign up with the job centre once I had my residence permit and that got me onto the waiting list to enter the integration programme. Once my name was near the top of the list, I had an interview to determine how well I would be able to learn Finnish. For example, if I was illiterate, I would have been placed on a course designed to teach me to read and write, but if I had those skills but struggled to pronounce the Finnish vowels I would be placed on another course designed to help develop my pronunciation.
Luckily for me I was placed onto the third course available, which was the 9 - 10 month basic Finnish course with 17 other immigrants.

We were thrown in at the deep end as our class was taught entirely in Finnish, with very little explanation given in other languages (we were lucky in that our teacher could speak Russian, Estonian and had decent English, but other classes were not so blessed).
The first few days were the most difficult and depressing as I did not understand a word and it felt like an impossible task. Everyone I met before the course started had told me that Finnish was very difficult and that I was brave for attempting it, but I did not appreciate just how hard until I was sat there for almost six hours a day lost in a language so alien to me it may as well have been Martian.

A couple of months went by and, being in the centre of the storm as it were, I didn't feel like I'd made any real progress at all. I could repeat stuff that we had learned in class and I did my homework okay, but it felt like I wasn't really learning anything other than a little more than parroting what was said or written to me.
I found myself needing to go to the shop on my own one evening and, as per usual, the cashier said hello as I entered. I replied and went about my shopping. When I got to the till to make my transaction, she asked me how I was and a little conversation started up. It was nothing deep or profound, just the usual customer/cashier small talk that happens in corner shops all over the world, but it was more than I'd said outside of school to a stranger in Finnish ever.
It wasn't until I got back home and told my wife about it that it hit me - I had spoken Finnish on my own and without any preparation! Doubtless I made mistakes and I know I had to think about what I'd said, but the proof of my progress was right there in front of me. To call it one of the happiest moments of my life would be an understatement.

A few months after this I started a six week work practise in the stockroom of a book shop in the local shopping centre. My confidence was building slowly and I began to speak more and more Finnish (although I have to admit that I did use English a lot too, as almost all the staff there had very good English skills and it was difficult to not be lazy) and it was a good introduction to Finnish working culture as well.

The rest of the course went well and I and most of my classmates made good progress. We all applied for the next course along, the two-part "valmistava" course intended to deepen our knowledge of Finnish and prepare those of us wishing to enter more skilled and office work, for further education or to enter the workplace directly.
These courses were a greater challenge than the first course, but it was an opportunity I and my new classmates were happy to be undertaking. There were frustrations and the occasional problem, but we all managed to pass both parts with the expected grades.
Now I am in the last term of a marketing course at the same adult education centre and I am doing pretty well, much better than I expected to, in fact.

I was only able to undertake these language courses and my marketing course because of one thing - the integration support benefit I receive through the Finnish welfare system, KELA. I get the same basic money per month as unemployed Finns receive, as well as a 9€ per day extra due to being in education, and while it is not a vast sum of money, it is enough for me to contribute my half of the bills and get by. I even managed to save up and visit my family and friends back in England last summer for a week, which is a big deal.
Without the education and benefits I and others like me, whether they be EU citizens, Mexican, Dominican, Russian, Mongolian, Indian, Kurdish, Nigerian or Somali, would not have been able to settle here as confortably as I have. It is a great feeling to be able to turn the television on and watch a news bulletin in Finnish and follow it almost 100%, let alone to know that one can go and do lots of everyday tasks without fear of not understanding what is going on.
I know that I am not a Muslim woman and that I have not come to Europe seeking assylum, so my experiencesare not the same as those of the people whom you have so cruelly condemned recently. However, I am a human being and I can empathise with them and my experiences do have some comparitive value.
I chose to move to Finland, but many of these people: women, children and men all; have had no choice in leaving their home countries or not, let alone where they end up being sent to. They simply want to be safe and have a chance to find some normality again after the horrific disruption of war. Now they are facing the fear of being separated from their families, their children, just because they have found it difficult to learn English, or in some cases not been afforded the opportunity to learn it at all.
These refugees, these people, deserve to be given the genuine and sincere chance to integrate into British society, and that means adopting a model more like the Finnish system. Invest in these people, give them the tools to not only survive but also to grow and to adapt, and also show them that Britain believes in them and their future, and you will find that the majority of them will make that small expenditure worthwhile. Raise them up and they will contribute, but continue to opress them with cruel and heartless cuts, laws and ultimatums and you will only push them further into fear and hatred, and that will be your doing.

Työharjoitteluni

Paikka: Pohjanmaan antikvariaatti, Kauppapuistikko 18, Vaasa.
Työnkuva: Kauppanapulainen. Minun täyttyy laittaa kirjat nettikaupaan, hakea kellarista kirjoja jotka on tilattu, vaihtaa vanhan kirjojan nettikoodit jos ne ovat vaarin ja keittää kahvia.
Työpäivä: 11 - 17 ma - pe.

Yleensä, on vain minä ja minun pomo, kauppias Jan, toissä. Jan on ystävällinen ja älykäs. Hän istu kassan lahellä ja tekee asiakaspalvellu. Minun työpiste on takahuoneessa, tietokoneen edessä. Yleensä, minä olen pahvilaatikoiden välissä, koska minun täyttyy pakata kirjoja siihen. Kun ne ovat täysi, nuo laatikoita tarvitsevat menna kellariin.

Minulla on yhden kuukauden lisää työharjoitteluaika koska Jan haluaa näytää Vaasan kirjamessut minulle ja myös että minä autan häntä messuihin valmistautumisessa.

Työharittelu antikvariaattissa.

Hei kaikkille! Toivon että kaikki mene hyvin :)

Minun työharjoittelupaika on yli hyvä. Minun pomo, Jan, on hyvin ystävällinen ja kauppa on todella mielenkiintoista!

Työharjoitteluun aika tule tääs.

Valmistavan toinen työharjoittelu alkaa ensi Maanantaina. Tällä kerta, minä menen Pohjanmaan Antikvariaatti, itsenäinen antikvariaatti kirjakauppa Vaasassa.

Kaupanomistajan nimi on Jan. Hän on ystävällinen ja fiksu. Minä ajatellen että minä nautin työskenella hänelle.

Canterburyn tuomiokirkko - uusi koro!

Lähes 1000 vuotta vain äänensä laulaa Canterbury tuomiokirkkon kuorot olivat miehiä - mutta kaikki muuttuu, kun Tuomiokirkon ensimmäisen tyttöjen kuoro debytoi tänä viikonloppuna.

BBC Uutiset video!

Uusi vuosi, uusi kurssi.

Valmistava osa 2

Hei hei kaikkille! Toivon että teillä oli hyvä jouluaika!

Nyt on meidän enisimainen ATK-tunti ja perjantai tässä kurssissa. Minun kurssi kaverit ovat muutanut: vain kuusi ihmiset tule minun kanssa, ja yhdeksän uuden ihmisen tule. 

Tässä viikossa, me opimme avaruus asiat meidän luonnontieteet tunnissa. Me opimme alkuräjähdysta, maailmankaikkeusta, planeetasta ja kuusta. Tämä aihe kiinnostaa minua, koska olen scifi-nörtti: minä pidän avaruus tarinat, avarusslaivat jne. 

Buzz Aldrin

alkuräjähdysta

Sputnik 1

Osa 1 on melkein ohi ja joulu tulee.

Niin. Valmistava osa 1 on melkein ohi nyt ja tänään on meiden viimeinen perjantai ja ATK-tuntia. Kurssi meni niin nopeasti ja ajatellen että me opimme paljon.

Suomea - me kehitimme Suomen kielen taidon ja nauroimme paljon! Tässä viikossa me opimme monikon genetiivi. Me myös käytämme kieli kirja, Samalla kartalla 1.

YTO/TET - me opimme paljon työelämastä ja sopimusta ja myös rahaa hallinta (vero, pankkitoimnta, säästöt ja vakuutus).

ATK - me opimme paljon Google asiat - Drive, Google +, Blogger jne. Minun lempi asiani on Google Drive, koska se on hyödyllinen valine.

Luonnontieteet - me opimme monia eri asiota  - esim. metaalit, hapaan ja emaksinen, ilmasto ja sähkö. Minä en ole kovin kiinostunut näistä asioista, mutta me opimme paljon uusia sanoja ja tämä on todella hyvä ja hyödyllinen.

Kaikki meidän opettajat ovat niin hyvä. He ovat ystävällinen, viisas ja tietäväinen ja minä toivon, että he voivat tulla toinen osa kurssin kanssamme.

Osa 2 alkaa tammikuussa ja en voi odottaa aloittaa ruotsin kielen opiskeluun ja Suomen historia.

Kuitenkin joulu tulee ennen tammikuu! Nämä ovat joitakin minun suosikki joululauluja.

Bandi - Steeleye Span. Laula - 'Gaudete'

Bandi - Mediaeval Baebes. Laula - 'The Coventry Carol'

Bandi - Blackmore's Night. Laula - 'I Saw Three Ships'

Laulaja - Cliff Richard. Laula - 'Mistletoe and Wine'

Nautti ja hyvä joulua!!