It seems that selecting flight which departs at reasonable time is difficult. I have a feeling that I have done this before. It was in March 2005 when I had my job interviews in Budapest and that was also the very first trip there. So maybe it is time to sum up a little bit what has happened during those nine months.

I managed to get a job - actually I managed to a very nice job. That was naturally the critical point for staying in Hungary. I have found out later on that the another company which accepted me would have been maybe a worse choice. At least several colleagues are originally from there.

My flat in Budapest has also played some role in my life. Even though there have been several problems with various things it is still well located, nice and reasonably priced. I hope next year won't bring too much more and my landlord is able to get current issues fixed soon.

But maybe the most important is my girlfriend. She has helped me with numerous tasks, we have spent good time and we have some interesting summer plans. I can reveal that the summer cottage is involved...

Traveling might be fun but packing is not. Squeezing X-mas presents in a suitcase with 20kg limit is a challenge. Especially when I was such a dimwit taking unnecessary stuff from Budapest. Sure, extra pair of trousers really enjoys traveling to Finland. Too bad they can't talk.

Ah, another wonderful thing is that my plane leaves at 9 AM. That means in practice waking up at half past 5 AM. Sweet! And after arriving to Budapest I do repacking and then I continue to Miskolc. They will see rather tired me...

But I have had a nice holiday in Finland. Yesterday we went to meet my aunt and I also visited our mainland summer cottage. Walking through silent forest while sun was setting was really great. I also got chance to see my relatives and I hear endless talking about things which don't really interest me.

The forest road to the summer cottage

After my arrival to Finland I have done some visits to see my friends and I did also some swimming. Driving around with a car on icy roads after half a year was interesting but no accidents caused by me. Things are pretty much same as they used to be in Finland. The language is not a problem because I did not forget my Finnish. Actually half a year is a pretty short time in some sense.

Weather has been here like it should be during the winter. The ground is covered with snow and temperature is -10 C degrees. I think the first difference I noticed was cleaner air. I think Budapest is not the worst case but it definitely smells and traffic pollutes more there than here. I don't know how much there is heavy industry around Budapest but at least I wait that day when they ban using those Trabants, Wartburgs and other curses of the Soviet era car industry.

Hmm... It would be nice to live in a city with all the services and attractions, clean air and calm traffic, enough space to do bicycling, a nice work place, a lake and some forest nearby, an international airport close with several cheap airlines operating there, warm summer and real but not too cold winter.

Now I am waiting my brothers to arrive here. The preparations are mostly done but we haven't done any of those traditional things. Those are for example going to church in the early morning, eating porridge and fetching the x-mas tree from forest. In this case there was a news paper, black coffee and a plastic x-mas tree. A modern and urban version, you see.

A view over frozen lake

It is time to travel again. Luckily Ferihegy 2 airport has free WLAN connection so it is possible to chat and write blog while waiting boarding to open. I have to admit that I have been excited to travel to Finland again after May 2005. I seems to be cold there, weather report says -10. Hopefully it won't change too much so I will get a white x-mas.

My next year includes pretty much traveling. In January there are Switzerland trips - both business and recreation. In February we travel to UK and during next summer we are planning to have a holiday in Finland. Also a trip to France might be possible. Traveling is so much easier from Budapest than from Lappeenranta. In addition of closer location to international airport there are also a lot more cheap connections to other European cities.

It was time to have the end of year discussion. It was pretty informal and we gave feedback to each other.The company seemed to be happy to my skills and work, so no problems.

However, I know that there are some things for myself to improve even without external feedback. And unfortunately they need a long time commitment. Those are German and Hungarian. I have been thinking how come languages were pretty easy for me in the high school. Now I feel myself a little bit slow to learn new language or to improve my German level. But actually there is a simple answer.

During high school I had in almost every period 3-5 hours English per week and maybe 3 hours Swedish and German with more or less professional teacher. Plus the homework. At the moment I spent maybe 1 hour per week really studying so it is pretty clear that progress does not happen in a flash. Not even in Hungarian environment.

So, once again - the true reason of below adequate result is laziness... Somehow I am not surprised - maybe I have learnt to know myself in some sense.

Today I was walking around with my Dóra and her mother in an outdoor x-mas market. Dóra spotted a booth with the flag of Finland. It was selling winter caps and promoting Santa Claus events in Budapest. Well - nothing special then, I thought. But she suggested that I should go and talk to that guy who was from Finland. Umm... why? I am not going to buy a winter cap and I know enough about Santa Claus. I was feeling cold and I didn't feel like socializing. For her it was so strange that I didn't rush to have a chat. For me it was matter of convenience... I felt that the conversation would be following:

- Moi = Hi
- Moi = Hi
- Sä myyt näköjään pipoja? = So, you sell winter caps, right?
- Joo. = Yea.
- Niinpä. = I see (Sort of a conversation killer)

But don't think I am like that for everybody and every case. I just did not want to talk because of talking.

Hmm, I wonder if I would like to have Finnish friends here... never really thought about it.

Yesterday I was having few beers with my colleague and his friends. The interesting thing with the evening was that most of the time people were speaking German. Unfortunately I haven't used that language too much in a conversational situations so it was a little bit awkward at some points. Luckily I was able to understand most but when people are talking fast after few beers it is not too easy. Anyways, I think I learnt some.