Advice Please.

[Black_Velvet_Raven]

Hi guys,

Im looking for serious advice, I have spent many hours reading the forum and I have to say at the moment I'm feeling a little down about it all. It would seem that no matter how much I want to move to Finland I really do not stand a chance of surviving over there.

At the moment my finnish speaking is very poor, although over the last 6 months or so I have tried hard but I dont have a penpal to help me and the nearest language course is about 2 and a half hours traveling away from me. So I am having to use books and cds which unfortunatly are not that great.

As for finding work, I dont have IT skills or science skills or anything that seems to come up quite offten. I am a qualifed holistic therapist but have not practiced in nearly 4 years. I really only have retail, customer service and administration skills, but as I dont speak the language I see these as pretty useless.

I wanted to be able to move over there in around a years time. Do I stand a chance of making it work? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances apart from learning the language or should I give up now?

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.

Tammy.
(By the way I'm 26)

[Richard]

Well 2 jobs that come to mind would be an english speaking kindergarten or getting a TEFL qualification to teach English.

[Rahela-Hanna]

Hi guys,

Im looking for serious advice, I have spent many hours reading the forum and I have to say at the moment I'm feeling a little down about it all. It would seem that no matter how much I want to move to Finland I really do not stand a chance of surviving over there.

At the moment my finnish speaking is very poor, although over the last 6 months or so I have tried hard but I dont have a penpal to help me and the nearest language course is about 2 and a half hours traveling away from me. So I am having to use books and cds which unfortunatly are not that great.

As for finding work, I dont have IT skills or science skills or anything that seems to come up quite offten. I am a qualifed holistic therapist but have not practiced in nearly 4 years. I really only have retail, customer service and administration skills, but as I dont speak the language I see these as pretty useless.

I wanted to be able to move over there in around a years time. Do I stand a chance of making it work? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances apart from learning the language or should I give up now?

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.

Tammy.
(By the way I'm 26)

Honey, first of all, I'm in the same exact boat as you! Sometimes I feel that way, as well, like I'm never going to survive in the Finnish wilds, but let me tell you something: Finland is our own personal Promised Land, set there by God for you and me. Please don't worry. If you truly believe in yourself, you can do anything, and I promise that I would do anything in my power to help you get back to Finland, too. The country's ours, I'm telling you. It's our life. Have you ever been there? If so, then just simply sit back, kind of let yourself go to sleep or something, and remember the feel of the cool, watery breezes over your face. Try to recall the way the sun feels on your shoulders over there, and think about how it was to be in a place where you were so very happy. You'll be there soon. And so will I. And when we're both in Helsinki, we will PARTY!

Who's all with me, yo?

*slams fist down on table*

[Hank W.]

remember the feel of the cool, watery breezes over your face. Try to recall the way the sun feels on your shoulders over there,

You misspelled remember the feel of the cold, icy breezes over your face. Try to recall the way the sun never shines over there,

[Black_Velvet_Raven]

I have been to Finland on a few occasions and I have been lucky enough to experiance both the summer and the winter over there.

As for the TEFL courses how do they work? and how will it help me find work over there?

I hope to move over there with my friend, she is also in a similar situation to me, as in with the language and work. She also has a 10 year old son, who would need to get into a school, would he find it difficult over there as well?

[Hank W.]

I just need to satisfy my curiosity: *Why* do you want to move to Finland? As in "your good reason". And if your friend has a "good reason" I'd like to hear that as well. The kid's reason I can guess: "Mommy made me to". But whats the reason? Rabid reindeer bite?

[Hank W.]

As for the TEFL courses how do they work? and how will it help me find work over there?

If you got a certificate you might get a job in adult education as they look for native teachers. Theres a lot of native speakers around, so without a certification its not a sales point exactly.

[Black_Velvet_Raven]

The 'good reason' that you ask for, and is both shared by my friend and I, is that as a whole we find the country a better place to be, is cleaner, tidier, general better living, brilliant schooling system with better education. The values they hold are more along the lines of what we have.
It seems alot calmer place to live. When we have been there we have been treated well, and have always been greated with a smile. There does not seem to be as much ignorance as in the UK. You dont get singled out because you dress a certain way or like a certain type of music. Everyone has something to say to you and I have never found it critical. It may seem very superficial of me but when I am there I feel 'at home'.

[Hank W.]

Fair enough. I'll invent some "realities of life" to fulfill my job as the advocatus diabolii of the Inquisitio Idioticae Pravitatis Finnicum Officium. Meanwhile I do agree, that I do enjoy living in a country that appears only in the "oddly enough" sections of world news media (then some people say its bloody boring, and they cannot find Branston pickle nor peanut butter in the stores).

[Rahela-Hanna]

remember the feel of the cool, watery breezes over your face. Try to recall the way the sun feels on your shoulders over there,

You misspelled remember the feel of the cold, icy breezes over your face. Try to recall the way the sun never shines over there,

*nearly dies laughing* Oh my gosh, you bastard, Hank! Oh, I love your little cynical remarks! That's very true, but...AHHH! That made my dad, that right there, I'm telling you...

You wrote: The 'good reason' that you ask for, and is both shared by my friend and I, is that as a whole we find the country a better place to be, is cleaner, tidier, general better living, brilliant schooling system with better education. The values they hold are more along the lines of what we have.
It seems alot calmer place to live. When we have been there we have been treated well, and have always been greated with a smile. There does not seem to be as much ignorance as in the UK. You dont get singled out because you dress a certain way or like a certain type of music. Everyone has something to say to you and I have never found it critical. It may seem very superficial of me but when I am there I feel 'at home'.

Well, that's exactly how I feel about Finland, myself. I was so very happy there, even when it began to get really cold of an evening, towards early autumn. That's when I had to come back to America again to finish up with all my schoolin'. Damn. I miss that place so very much.

[Hank W.]

Oh my gosh, you bastard, Hank!

I have to tell a little story of a little boy in a garrison town. All the other boys were bragging about their dads. One boy said, my dad is dead but theres a big statue of him. None of the boys believed him, so he took them to the monument of the 'Unknown Soldier'. - "It was a rainy night behind the pub my mom said..."

[Naavaneito]

Don't give up! Finland needs more foreiners to make it better place. I noticed that there is Suomi-School in Manchester, but maybe it is too far from Halifax:
http://www.finn-guild.org/english/index.html

In any case to be able to speak Finnish well you should spend more time here, so why not move here? I quess finding a job might take time, but in this country it takes time to find a job even if you are a native Finn. Another possibility is to come here and find a partner who will help you to pay your bills before you will find a job.

And Rahela-Hanna you must get here somehow - you have been dreaming of it so long! By the way, do you know Kiba Lumberg, one of the best known Finnish Romani
http://www.kuvataiteilijamatrikkeli.fi/ ... sp?id=2367
http://www.voima.fi/content/view/full/849

[efx]

...Another possibility is to come here and find a partner who will help you to pay your bills before you will find a job...

hmm

[Rahela-Hanna]

Oh my gosh, you bastard, Hank!

I have to tell a little story of a little boy in a garrison town. All the other boys were bragging about their dads. One boy said, my dad is dead but theres a big statue of him. None of the boys believed him, so he took them to the monument of the 'Unknown Soldier'. - "It was a rainy night behind the pub my mom said..."

Hey, I think I've actually heard that one from my friend Tiana, a long time ago when we were children together, maybe. But it's still quite a good one, I think. Keep it going.

[Rahela-Hanna]

Don't give up! Finland needs more foreiners to make it better place. I noticed that there is Suomi-School in Manchester, but maybe it is too far from Halifax:
http://www.finn-guild.org/english/index.html

In any case to be able to speak Finnish well you should spend more time here, so why not move here? I quess finding a job might take time, but in this country it takes time to find a job even if you are a native Finn. Another possibility is to come here and find a partner who will help you to pay your bills before you will find a job.

And Rahela-Hanna you must get here somehow - you have been dreaming of it so long! By the way, do you know Kiba Lumberg, one of the best known Finnish Romani
http://www.kuvataiteilijamatrikkeli.fi/ ... sp?id=2367
http://www.voima.fi/content/view/full/849

Oh, and thanks a lot for those two links! Cool.

You know what's also cool, and kind of interesting, too? There's this one gypsy woman who lives in Helsinki, and I've seen her a couple of times in my travels (I know it's definitley her, because she's been with the same friend, her sister maybe, both times), and I think I must be related to her or something. She looks freakishly exactly like my mom's mom did when she was young.