ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm back in Finland

Greetings from Helsinki (that's in Finland, if you didn't know already!)

It's December 21st (the middle of candle-lighting season in Finland) and it's -10 degrees outside, but at least it's bright!! It's 11am, the sun is still low and, soon, the process of night will come once again. Despite this daily ritual, I know in my heart that returning to Finland was the right thing to do.

I got back in the earlier hours of the 20th and, yesterday, I got all my official stuff out of the way; I set up a bank account, registered as unemployed with the authorities, visited the social security office etc. What a day it was, walking around the city in -10; a contrast from the lovely weekend I had just spent in London, although it was surprisingly chilly there too!

Today, I have started applying for jobs. There's suitable jobs in Nokia, Uponor and Altia, all very large Finnish organisations. Fingers crossed, a job will come soon. One new strategy of mine is to send a CV to every company who advertises a job in Helsinki's largest Sunday Paper, the Helsingin Sanomat. Can't hurt, can it?

Anyway, Christmas is fast approaching. I have decided that, between Christmas and New Year, I'm going to spend time settling in and catching up on my second Masters Assignment - I can spend the forthcoming Finnish winter being very productive!

I will take this opportunity to apologise to those of you who didn't receive Christmas cards from me this year - the last two weeks have been so busy that I've had no time to do even the most basic of things.

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic 2006!

Your pal in the North!