Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

20
VAAHTERANLEHTI Autumn + Winter / syksy + talvi 2014 Finnish-Canadian Society / Suomi-Kanada Seura

description

The Finnish-Canadian Society newsletter, fall/winter 2014 edition.

Transcript of Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

Page 1: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

VAAHTERANLEHTIAutumn + Winter / syksy + talvi 2014

Finnish-Canadian Society / Suomi-Kanada Seura

Page 2: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 2

Notes from the FCS/SKS Chair

As we head into the year’s coldest season, I would like to thank the Board for their tireless commit-ment to the Society over the past year. It is through their volunteer work that everything was made possible. As evidenced by the plethora of photos in this issue, it was another year of fun-filled activ-ities, the pinnacle of which was the Christmas party. The children’s entertainment from Mehubileet gave the parents a nice break to eat and chat with fellow Society members, and the catering from Franck at La Cantine was outstanding, as usual! I would also like to thank Ambassador Cooligan and all the staff at the Embassy for their cooperation over the year.

A reminder that our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is coming up in early 2015 (date TBA). It is your chance to help steer the Society, and perhaps bring some fresh ideas to the table. I invite you to attend, as it also provides an insight into the inner workings of the Society.

In closing, the Board wishes all our members a great 2015!

Mike Kempf

Chair, Finnish-Canadian Society/Suomi-Kanada Seura

STAY IN TOUCH

CONTACT US

Suomi-­‐Kanada  Seura  ry./Finnish-­‐Canadian  Society  

PL  282/P.O.  Box  282  00121  Helsinki,  Finland    Email:  [email protected]  

Blog:  http://finnishcanadiansociety.wordpress.com  

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5002159410  

Twitter: @SuoKana

Page 3: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 3

MEMBERSHIP PAYMENTS

Current  membership  fees/  Jäsenmaksut:  

Individual/  yksityisjäsen  €15  

Couple/  pariskunta  €20  

Family  /  perhejäsenyys  €25  

Association/  Corporate  /  yritysjäsen  €70  

Please  make  the  payment  to  bank  account  313130-­‐1115674  Remember  to  include  your  name  in  the  message  field  when  making  the  payment  so  we  know  who  has  paid!  

Jäsenmaksu  suoritetaan  seuran  tilille  Handelsbanken  313130-­1115674  Muistathan  kirjoita  nimesi  viesti-­kenttään.  

Thank  you  in  advance  for  supporting  the  Finnish-­‐Canadian  Society.  You  will  be  added  to  our  mailing  list  for  our  twice-­‐yearly  newsletter  and  learn  about  our  special  events  and  activities  throughout  the  year.  If  you  wish  to  be  removed  from  our  mailing  list,  please  send  an  email  to:  [email protected]  

Suomi-­Kanada  Seura  kiittää  jo  etukäteen  antamastanne  tuesta.  Lisäämme  yhteystietonne  postituslistaamme.  Jäsenenä  saatte  kahdesti  vuodessa  ilmestyvän  lehtemme  sekä  tietoa  toiminnastamme  ja  tilaisuuksistamme  ympäri  vuoden.  Jos  haluat  että  poistamme  teidät  jakelulistalta,  lähettäkää  meille  sähköposti:  [email protected].  

Page 4: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 4

SKS-FCS EVENTS

We have had the following events in the winter season, 2014:

Curling Event (September)

Halloween Party (October)

Curling Event (November)

Pikkujoulu / Christmas Party (December)

And stay tuned for our 2015 events...

Please note that these events are for our paid members only. If you are a paid member and want to know more about our events, be sure to contact us.

SKS Annual General Meeting (March)

Victoria Day Celebrations (May)

Canada Day Celebrations (July 1st)

Pikkujoulu (December)

FCS BOARD 2013 / SKS HALLITUS 2014

Chair/Puheenjohtaja: Mike Kempf Treasurer/Rahastonhoitaja: Eero Rannikko Secretary/Sihteeri: open/avoin Vaahteranlehti editor/Vaahteranlehden toimittaja: Erin Swift-Leppäkumpu Communications/Viestintävastaava: Anna Martikainen Event Coordinator: Pamela Spokes Member of the Board/Hallituksen jäsen: Kai Volanen Member of the Board/Hallituksen jäsen: Ryan Zizzo

Do you want to contribute to our next newsletter?

The Finnish Canadian Society publishes the Vaahteranlehti twice per year - summer and winter. We accept content in English and Finnish (and photos!) all year round. Please contact [email protected] for details.

Stay tuned to email notices for more information about upcoming editions!

Page 5: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 5

CANADA – THE KEY TO YOUR FUTURE

Satu Salonen

Imagine a country bordered by three oceans, un-matched natural beauty, a landscape ruled by ma-jestic mountains and never ending prairies; imagine vibrant, multicultural and safe cities.

This place Canada is also home to one of the world’s best education systems and to world-class collab-orative research and development. Why not benefit from what Canada offers?

Canada – from sea to sea to sea

Canada is the second largest country on earth, cov-ering an area of 10 million square kilometres. Three oceans border Canada: the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the Arc-tic Ocean to the north. Altogether, Canada has over 200,000 kilometres of coastline. Canada shares two borders with the United States: a very long border in the south and another long frontier in the north-west. Due to its large size, Canada has many differ-ent types of landscape. There are areas with high mountains, different types of forests, prairie grass-lands, and arctic tundra where the ground is perma-nently frozen.

As a nation, Canada has three founding peoples: Aboriginal, French and British. Canada has also a long tradition of multiculturalism, making it one of the most welcoming countries in the world. Through-out the nation’s history, immigration has played an important role in building Canadian society. Today, one out of five people in Canada’s population is foreign-born; many of Canada’s foreign-born have lived in the country for many years, while others are newcomers. The large number of immigrants re-flects the country’s linguistic diversity; in addition to English and French more than 200 languages are spoken as a mother tongue.

Canada is a constitutional monarchy, meaning that the Canadian monarch, the Queen or King of Can-ada, is the head of state, while the Prime Minister is the head of government. Currently the Queen of Canada is Queen Elizabeth II. She is represented at the national level by a Governor General and in each of the ten provinces by a Lieutenant Governor. Canada is also a parliamentary democracy and a federal state. Canada has three levels of govern-ment – federal, provincial or territorial, and munici-pal. Each level of government has different respon-sibilities and a different role to play in the country.

Education in Canada falls under the jurisdiction of the country’s ten provinces and three territories. This means that quality standards in public higher education are maintained through provincial legis-lation and rigorous internal program review by the universities.

Imagine studying in Canada

Besides providing exceptional standards of living, safety and first class healthcare, Canada is also internationally recognized for a competency-based teaching approach that prepares students to be pro-ductive in the workplace immediately after gradua-tion. Canada has one of the most educated popula-tions in the world, and has the highest percentage of individuals 25-64 year-olds (53%) achieving at least college or university education among OECD member countries.

The high quality of education in Canada has also been noticed by international students around the world. According to the Institute of International Higher Education’s Project Atlas, Canada ranks 7th in the world as the most popular destination for international students at the post-secondary level, and in 2013, Canada hosted nearly 300,000 full-time international students.

Special Feature: Studying in Canada

Page 6: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 6

Canadian universities, colleges and polytechnics are primarily publicly-funded and highly accountable for quality assurance in teaching, research and cam-pus facilities. What’s more, tuition and living costs are very competitive when compared to top ranking destinations for study abroad, such as the US and the UK. University tuition fees for foreign students’ range from $8,000 to $26,000 per year and college tuition fees range from $5,500 to $15,000 per year depending on the program.

Country’s 125 public and private not-for-profit uni-versities offer a vast choice of undergraduate and post-graduate programs, as well as professional designations, certificate and diploma courses, and short career-focused programs. Canadian institu-tions are known for their cutting edge technology and research labs, and they also provide opportuni-ties for cooperative education and internships. The quality of Canada’s universities is also highlighted in global university rankings. Three Canadian uni-versities were ranked top 50 in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2014.

Canada’s colleges and polytechnics are leaders in applied higher education. Colleges and polytech-nics work closely with industry to ensure courses re-flect the skill requirements that employers need. All provide practical training and many encourage work experience through apprenticeships, work place-ments and internships. This hands-on training en-sures students move beyond academic learning to apply and test their skills in real workplace settings. Over 8,000 programs at 150 public institutions offer credentials that prepare students for the job mar-ket. Programs are available with varying lengths of study, from a few months to four years.

Fast Facts about Canada

World’s second largest country by • area35 million people in ten provinces and • three territoriesNational capital: Ottawa• Two official languages: English and • FrenchStable parliamentary democracy• Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II• Head of Government: Prime Minister • Stephen HarperWorld class hockey•

Special Feature: Studying in Canada

Page 7: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 7

For additional details about Canada as a study destination, please consult these resources:

Official Study in Canada Portal: www.educationau-incanada.ca

Government of Canada Scholarshipswww.scholarships.gc.ca

Foreign Affairs, Trade & Development Cana-dawww.international.gc.ca/education

Citizenship and Immigration Canadawww.cic.gc.ca

Council of Ministers of Education, Canadawww.cmec.ca

Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials (CICIC)http://www.cicic.ca/

The degree structure in Canadian institutions is similar to the one in Finland; a Bachelor or Under-graduate degree takes three to four years to com-plete; a Master’s Degree usually takes one to three years of full-time study; and a Doctoral Degree or PhD requires minimum of two to three years study beyond the master’s level and completion of a the-sis. Where the Canadian degree structure differs from the Finnish one is the admission process. In Finland, students entering the university are usu-ally accepted to both Bachelor’s and Master’s pro-grams, while in Canada the admission only grants study rights to one of the degrees.

Opportunities for language training – both in English and French

As an officially bilingual country, Canada is commit-ted to excellence in English and French proficiency which is reflected in education programs at all lev-els. In order study in Canada students do not have to speak both English and French; proficiency in one is enough. Some universities offer instruction in both official languages. The universities and col-leges in the Francophone province of Québec offer mainly programs in French, whereas in principally Anglophone provinces, like Alberta and British Co-lumbia, most of the programs are in English. Canada is a world-leader in second language train-ing, whether for academic upgrading, entry to fur-ther study, preparation for language proficiency tests, business applications, or personal use and enjoyment. A number of private language schools and colleges also offer programs exclusively to in-ternational students and immigrants.

Whether interested in studying in English or in French, Canada can offer both!

Page 8: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 8

OCTOBER/LOKAKUU

Page 9: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 9

Halloween Party!OCTOBER/LOKAKUU

Page 10: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 10

ADVENTURE IN NIAGARA

Carmen Pekkarinen

Last summer I made it home to visit for the first time in three and half years. This time around our travel group included my husband, our daughter and my in-laws. Making arrangements for five to travel for a month takes some fancy arranging and we man-aged quite well.

I was looking to give my in-laws the chance to expe-rience things they had never seen or done before, so Niagara Falls was definitely and important stop on our journey. I booked accommodation in Virgil, which is near Niagara-on-the-Lake and we travelled around the area for five days.

I sort of regret not buying into a Niagara-area pack-age, which would have meant discounts on many of the things we did. But we kind of played things by ear and went out the door every day with a rough idea of what we were going to do.

A couple of words about our accommodations: It is always a challenge to find appropriate and inexpen-sive accommodation for five people. Hotels were out of the question because it would have cost in upwards of 2000 dollars for just a few days! I tracked down a place called Belfry Cottage (www.belfrycot-tage.com) and managed to book the ground floor of a house, which meant we had access to everything we needed; a kitchen, a washing machine, beds for

Page 11: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 11

five people and the added bonus of a barbeque. It was fantastic! Belfry Cottage is situated in the mid-dle of vineyard and fruit country and we had a local food store right across the road. What a pleasure to be able to buy local foods! (They even sold Panda laku straight from Finland!) Our host, Gerry was a fantastic guy and incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the area.

We took in a lot over the course of five days: Ni-agara Falls, the Hornblower boat trip up to the falls (the Maid of the Mist now leaves from the US-side), the walk under the falls, the Butterfly Conservatory, a vineyard tour at the Jackson and Triggs winery in NOTL, Brock’s Monument, jet boating on the Ni-agara River, Fort George and the new, up and com-ing craft beer brewery Oast. We drove along the Welland Canal and on our way to Toronto we found the St. Catharines municipal museum, which also housed the Ontario Lacrosse Museum. We made a quick stop at Dundurn Castle in Hamilton. Unfortu-nately we didn’t have a lot of time in Hamilton, so we were unable to take a guided tour.

We stayed in downtown Toronto for two days in a small apartment. I highly recommend AirBnB (www.airbnb.ca) for booking accommodations when you’re travelling! We got to take in Kensington Market, the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s head-quarters and of course, no visit to Toronto is ever complete without going to the CN Tower. We even got to see City Hall (designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell) and take a ride on the TTC’s subway (my daughter’s wish).

Being in Niagara for that length of time was just perfect! It was an assault on the senses and the weather was perfect. We couldn’t have asked for better timing for our visit to Niagara and to Toronto. I am sure it was the highlight of our trip to Canada – for my in-laws anyways.

It’s always nice to go home to visit, but somehow it’s never long enough. One thing is sure – it will not be three and half years between visits the next time I head home!

Page 12: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 12

NOVEMBER/MARRASKUUCurling

Page 13: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 13

NOVEMBER/MARRASKUU

Page 14: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 14

The winning story was published in the Summer 2014 edition of the Vaahteranlehti. This edition features one of the two runners up - ‘All Around Me, In My Heart’ by Noora Kuusenoja.

All of the stories are reprinted with permission of the authors, and of the Embassy of Canada. Make sure to check out the upcoming edition of the Vaahteranlehti to read the final award-winning story!

In recognition of Canadian author Alice Mu-nro’s Nobel Prize for literature, the Embassy of Canada in Finland, together with Tammi Publishers, The Association of Teachers of English in Finland, and the Fulbright Centre held a short story writing competition to find and support creative writers of the future.

The competition ran from Dec 10, 2013 until April 30, 2014 and was open to students cur-rently enrolled in upper-secondary schools in Finland and whose mother tongue is not Eng-lish. The themes of the short-stories could span the nuances, simplicities and challeng-es of life. The stories could reflect the com-mon and complex happenings of everyday life, relationships with people close to us or our relationship with society, or the people around us. Topics can touch on the overcom-ing of challenges, problem solving, feelings of insecurity and conflict related to coming of age, and growing as adults, as people.

Evaluation of the short stories was based on literary creativity, character development, the use of dialogue and the use of narrator. Grammar and proper use of English was also evaluated.

December 10, 2013 – April 30, 2014

Short Story Writing Competition for Finnish Upper Secondary Level Students

In recognition of Canadian author Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize for literature, the Embassy of Canada in Finland is working with Tammi Publishers, The Association of Teachers of English in Finland, and the Fulbright Centre to find and support creative writers of the future by holding a short story writing competition.

The competition runs from Dec 10, 2013 until April 30, 2014 and is open to students currently enrolled in upper-secondary schools in Finland and whose mother tongue is not English. The themes of the short-stories can span the nuances, simplicities and challenges of life. The stories can reflect the common and complex happenings of everyday life, relationships with people close to us or our relationship with society, or the people around us. Topics can touch on the overcoming of challenges, problem solving, feelings of insecurity and conflict related to coming of age, and growing as adults, as people.

Evaluation of the short stories will be based on literary creativity, character development, the use of dialogue and the use of narrator. Grammar and proper use of English will also be evaluated. The length of the short stories can be between 2000 and 3000 words.

For more information on the competition, please contact Satu Salonen at [email protected], or visit the Embassy of Canada website.

Association of Teachers of English in Finland

December 10, 2013 – April 30, 2014

Short Story Writing Competition for Finnish Upper Secondary Level Students

In recognition of Canadian author Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize for literature, the Embassy of Canada in Finland is working with Tammi Publishers, The Association of Teachers of English in Finland, and the Fulbright Centre to find and support creative writers of the future by holding a short story writing competition.

The competition runs from Dec 10, 2013 until April 30, 2014 and is open to students currently enrolled in upper-secondary schools in Finland and whose mother tongue is not English. The themes of the short-stories can span the nuances, simplicities and challenges of life. The stories can reflect the common and complex happenings of everyday life, relationships with people close to us or our relationship with society, or the people around us. Topics can touch on the overcoming of challenges, problem solving, feelings of insecurity and conflict related to coming of age, and growing as adults, as people.

Evaluation of the short stories will be based on literary creativity, character development, the use of dialogue and the use of narrator. Grammar and proper use of English will also be evaluated. The length of the short stories can be between 2000 and 3000 words.

For more information on the competition, please contact Satu Salonen at [email protected], or visit the Embassy of Canada website.

Association of Teachers of English in Finland

December 10, 2013 – April 30, 2014

Short Story Writing Competition for Finnish Upper Secondary Level Students

In recognition of Canadian author Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize for literature, the Embassy of Canada in Finland is working with Tammi Publishers, The Association of Teachers of English in Finland, and the Fulbright Centre to find and support creative writers of the future by holding a short story writing competition.

The competition runs from Dec 10, 2013 until April 30, 2014 and is open to students currently enrolled in upper-secondary schools in Finland and whose mother tongue is not English. The themes of the short-stories can span the nuances, simplicities and challenges of life. The stories can reflect the common and complex happenings of everyday life, relationships with people close to us or our relationship with society, or the people around us. Topics can touch on the overcoming of challenges, problem solving, feelings of insecurity and conflict related to coming of age, and growing as adults, as people.

Evaluation of the short stories will be based on literary creativity, character development, the use of dialogue and the use of narrator. Grammar and proper use of English will also be evaluated. The length of the short stories can be between 2000 and 3000 words.

For more information on the competition, please contact Satu Salonen at [email protected], or visit the Embassy of Canada website.

Association of Teachers of English in Finland

Short Story Writing Competition for Finnish Upper Secondary Level Students

Page 15: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 15

All Around Me, In My Heart

A short story by Noora Kuusenoja

When the dreams ended, the rain began. The nights were all the same: the man would wake up sweating and screaming, haunted by the woman’s face. Today was no different. The man sat up panting and stared at the blank bedroom wall. The rain was pouring down hard against the windows, blocking out every sound from outside with the rustling of it against the windowsill. It was like living inside a dome. Once again he had heard her voice, just a second before he woke up and the rain began, and it was making his chest rise a little more quickly than normal. His heart was beating faster than ever. The man got up from his bed, waking the dog sleeping next to him, and walked to the window. He couldn’t see or hear a thing. Nothing was stirring outside: the streets were practically deserted. He walked back to his bed, sat down and sighed. He missed her more than he had realized. He wasn’t going to sleep tonight anyway, so he might as well do something, the man thought to himself. He got up again, put on the clothes he’d worn the day before, dirty and still wet from the rain of last night. He ran out of the apartment, slamming the door shut. The dog crawled lazily to the warm space that the man had left behind and fell asleep.

The night air was cold enough to make the man’s breath visible. As soon as he walked outside he could feel the weight in his chest grow heavier: the rain was pouring harder than ever. He didn’t know how long it had been happening: first the dreams, then the rain, then again the next night. Like a clock-work. He hadn’t noticed a year ago, when she had left him. But now the rain was back again, beating on his face. Angry and tired, he decided to look for the cause of the disturbance in his dream. The man creeped along the walls of the narrow alley that di-vided his house from the next one, hoping to stay dry from the rain. Now that the sky had darkened with clouds he couldn’t see the tops of the buildings surrounding him. He felt heavy, stuck to the road, not moving.

The days would drag by even slower than the nights. He was never at peace: everywhere he looked he could see fragments of her. Her smile on a busi-nesswoman walking towards him on Main Street;

her bright eyes on a toddler at a food court; her voice in a toothpaste commercial. She was everywhere, laughing words of love at him. Memories of her sit-ting on the beach with her eyes closed, listening to the waves crashing to the shore. Lying in his bed at night, fast asleep, looking like an angel. Getting an-gry at him, yelling about something he had forgotten long ago, her hair in a mess and strands of it stuck to her wet cheeks. Walking by him like a ghost, her face just a hollow space. He saw the world through their time together, even when he slept. She was on his mind constantly. So usually by the end of the day he was exhausted, wet as a dog and ready to bury the thought of her in the ground. But he couldn’t. It was like a cut at the roof of his mouth that would never heal if he didn’t stop touching it. As much as he needed to be rid of her, he needed her company more. So he kept licking the wound, hoping that it might magically make her appear in front of him, but the wound got bigger and the memories of her sunk deeper into his mind.

Walking around aimlessly, looking for something but nothing in particular, was making the man tired. The streets were quiet and wet from the rain. The rhythm of his footsteps was making him drowzy. But he was afraid to sleep. In his sleep she would be back again, tearing the walls down and making ev-erything a mess. So in an attempt to shake the mem-ory of her from his mind, the man turned around, walked back to his apartment building, opened the door quietly as to not wake his neighbours, and stalked inside his apartment leaving wet footprints on the floor. The dog woke up quickly from its sleep, wagging its tail. The man beckoned the dog to come him, and as it walked towards him the man stared at the door. Her name was still written on it. The man shut the door behind the dog and put the leash on his collar. Back outside he let the dog go on its own, following behind its steps in the rain. He was deter-mined to lose the feeling of her.

It had been a Tuesday when she left. Or was it Wednesday? If she had mentioned being unhappy before, he wasn’t aware of it. She’d just packed her bags, stuffed the trunk of her car full, and driven

Page 16: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 16

away. The rain had already started when he heard the screeching of the tires of his bright red sports car. The man had sat on the edge of his bed for an hour, maybe another, waiting for her to come back. But she never did. Not on the second day, or the third, or even the fifth. After he was done waiting he had become angry: angry at himself, angry at her, angry about his car that she had taken. So he threw out everything that reminded him of her: all of the photos of them together, all of the Rolling Stones bootlegs she had left behind instead of the origi-nals, and every single bobby pin he had found in his bathroom after her departure from his life. After that all that reminded him of her presence were the long brown hairs he would occasionally find on his pillow. It felt like an old memory coming to surface for the first time in years: like a déjà vu ten times bigger, but never really feeling the memory again. While the man weeped for his loss, the dog didn’t even seem to have noticed her being gone. Even if it had noticed, it didn’t look like the dog cared. It probably never had.

The dog was poking a piece of paper around with its nose, sniffing the bushes and leading the way. The piece of paper got stuck to its nose, and the dog shook its head to get it off. Its tail was swinging from side to side in an excited way, like it was on to something good. The man had no idea where they were going, but he had to keep looking. He lit a ciga-rette and blew the smoke to the sky. He kept on fol-lowing the dog, thinking of her. Memories of the last week with her began popping into his head: going to the market to buy a shovel and some flowers for the yard; eating at an Italian restaurant, trying to get the truth out of her but managing to only make her more upset; him sleeping on the sofa, miserable and in pain. Nothing had helped the situation and she had refused to talk about it. So the last week they spent together had been a quiet one, followed by the last Tuesday afternoon they ever spent together, full of misery and bloodlust. Something about the mem-ory of that Tuesday was not right but he couldn’t remember anymore. Things were becoming foggy and unclear. He wasn’t sure he cared anymore. The clock was ticking closer and closer to three in

the morning. So the man sat down on a bench on the side of the street. He tried to stay focused on the most important thing: finding her. He was getting closer, but his head couldn’t process the information needed. He was closer to a blackout than he had been in weeks.

The day the man formally met her for the first time was tranquil. The man and the woman had been stealing glances at each other for a few weeks: shy smiles and tiny waves at each other , hidden from the eyes of everyone else. She always wore a pink headband while jogging around the park: it was how the man could recognise her even through the lense of a camera. Even before they met he dreamed of her every night: she had filled is thoughts the minute he saw her. The way she walked by, half floating in the air like a goddess, made him mad with desire. As soon as they met, they clicked. She had admired his good manners and kind eyes: he had fallen for her quick wits and air of mystery a long ago. Hours later, they were still sitting on the picnic tables, talk-ing about things they thought to be important. Views on religion, money, happiness. For a while every-thing had been perfect.

Three years later, after all the heartbreak and grief, the man was walking alone in the same park, wondering about the headband. Had it been pink at all? Or had the memory been distorted by another memory from another time? The man couldn’t be sure anymore. Blaming his confusion on his weari-ness, he turned left. He noticed that the rain had stopped finally: it must have been later in the night than he thought. The rain never stopped before six o’clock in the morning. There was some life to be seen in the park even this early in the morning: there were junkies and homeless people gathered around the picnic tables, waking up from their night of sleep, and he turned away from them in disgust. But the exhaustion was creeping up on him from behind. It was making his head feel hot and heavy and forcing his eyes closed. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. Finally the man gave in and collapsed on the grass, unnoticed.

Page 17: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 17

When he opened his eyes again he knew he had to get her out of his mind, once and for all. The dog was lying next to him, observing every little move in the darkness of the park. The man got up slowly and shaked off the bits of grass and gravel that had stuck to his clothes. He had hit his head on a rock, which made him even more disoriented. He couldn’t see straight but he knew which way to go: the an-swer had always been there, under the surface, waiting to come out. It had taken everything from him: his home, his life, his love. Her. And it was still waiting for him, never giving up. So he was going to let it go. This was it, the moment of truth he had been looking for weeks, months, years. His chest started to rise again faster, faster, faster than ever. The dog noticed the shift in the mood and started whining. Had it always been this bad?

The walk to the woods didn’t take that long. The dog was glad to be out of the streets paved with stones and into the wet grass of the woods. The man stumbled through the branches, once hitting his head on a tree trunk that was resting against another one. When he lifted his head, complaining aloud about the pain, he saw a sportscar with its doors open wide. It looked like it had been there a while: he couldn’t make out what color it used to be, because it was covered in graffiti. The man won-dered about the fate of his town, if it was left to these hooligans that rampaged the town every night.

The dog was now getting more and more excit-ed, its tail wagging furiously from side to side. They were getting closer. As he scrambled on the dog suddenly rushed ahead, leaving the man behind. The man gritted his teeth but made no attempt to stop the dog. It had probably catched a scent. When the man catched up with the dog, it was standing on a small clearing, digging fiercely at the center of it. A shovel was propped up against a tree on the other side of the clearing.The dog seemed to be sure that there had to be something buried under the rocks and leaves. The rain had made the ground soft and slippery again, and the dog was struggling to get the land away from its hidden treasure. The man turned slowly, took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it quickly. Taking a puff from it, he winced at the struggling dog and said: ”You should dig deeper. She’s got to be in there somewhere.”

Page 18: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 18

DECEMBER/JOULUKUU

Page 19: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

vaahteranlehti 19

DECEMBER/JOULUKUUPikkujoulu

Page 20: Vaahteranlehti Winter 2014

KIELIKURSSILLE KANADAAN!Ihaile pilvenpiirtäjiä Torontossa tai seikkaile Vancouverin idyllisessä luon-nossa kehittäen samalla englannin kielitaitoasi. Maailman suurin yksityi-nen kielikouluttaja EF järjestää kansainvälisiä kielikursseja yli 16-vuotiaille ja aikuisille kahdesta viikosta aina yhteentoista kuukauteen.

HYÖDYNNÄ JÄSENETU! EF tarjoaa Suomi-Kanada Seuran jäsenille 10% alennuksen kaikista kielikursseista.

EF Education OyTunnus 5002044Info: ILS/AY00003 VASTAUSLÄHETYS

Nimi:

Osoite:

Puhelinnumero:

Sähköposti:

Syntymäaika:

Tilaa ilmainen esite!

Ota yhteyttä:p. 09-68 69 [email protected] 4400180 Helsinkiwww.ef.com

Postimaksumaksettu

HYÖDYNNÄ JÄSENETU!

EF tarjoaa Suomi-Kanada Seuran jäsenille 10% alennuksen kaikista

kielikursseista.EF Kielikurssit Ulkomaillayli 16-vuotiaille nuorille ja aikuisillenuorille ja aikuisille

15ILSU_AD_A4_MAY_FI.indd 1 11/5/14 3:32 PM