It is finished!

Thought I should hop on the plane (Pardon me I might be speaking Finnish here -I've stayed too long in this country. Can't remember English colloquialisms) - of course I could not go away from this week without posting something on the Eurovision! Actually I had planned to do a line-up of some entries from past years, but ended up being too busy to blog this week..Well, you can check out my all-time Finnish favourite here though. ;) I like the way there's the finnish flag, which has a cross (!) on it is inside a heart in that logo. Inside the Father's Heart we are..Encaptured like that. I like it. Maybe we can beat some heart and love into Europe. Though maybe not the kind that won the competition this year..My personal favourite was Hungary! The only decent song! Or singing. Though France and Ukraine came close with their hilariousness..I think UK was maybe sponsored by the British Airways (or actually maybe more like RyanAir?)?!? :)

Anyway, it's funny how God leads and guides us. I happened to be in Helsinki b'cos of work from Wednesday to Friday. At one point I ended up sitting on the same train as Karen Fricker. She is a Research Fellow at the Institute for International Integration Studies (IIS) at the University of Dublin in Ireland. Her research is on "Eurovision and Belonging". This so something that interests me! (The belonging theme, not Eurovision so much I mean :)) Here's an article in Hufvudstadsbladet, HBL, (the Swedish-speaking main paper in Finland) on Karen Fricker&her colleagues. They took part in a seminar at the University of Helsinki, the topic being "Queer Eurovison". Tässä samasta suomeksi.

I also watched a documentary on Eurovision this week. In it someone said "Finns take every competition seriously, even if it's bootthrowing. ("Suomalaiset lähtee joka kisaan tosissaan, vaikka olisi kyseessä saappaanheitto".) It's true, hehe =)

It was nice to be in Helsinki and taste a bit of it all, and must say it was a great feel there! It was nice to see the city very lively (not that it isn't that normally) - so much happening. The city did a great job hosting. You can check here of the few things that one was able to see/do! It was nice to be able to have a wee taste of it all. I ended up going to an amazing free gig on wednesday evening, kind of a rock/jazz feel, Karoliina Kallio with a band, the amazingly talented Osmo Ikonen in keyboards. The band was amazing!! They were hugely talented and Karoliina also has an amazing voice. They are all true talents! So I enjoyed enormously. Really really enjoyed the music. And especially the last song they played, "Living on a prayer" by Bon Jovi, the lyrics are pretty good, don't cha think?

" Ooh, we're half way there
Ooh Livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Livin' on a prayer

We've got to hold on to what we've got
'We've got each other and that's a lot
For love - we'll give it a shot

We've got to hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got"

I had a great time! God is Good. I stayed with my friend S.& the wee bundle..He is crying a bit at night b'cos of sore tummy, please remember them in your prayers for peaceful night times. Saw Tixu on thursday, now that was a great time too!

But yeah, to go back to that gig, I was definitely inspired. I feel like it would be nice to do some music with some really talented people. It would be cool. Yep. I miss my Glasgow Gospel Choir singing days..Oh but that was ages ago! It's been ..ohh no, four (=?) years!?! Where does the time go?!? I'm glad we've got forever..I'd run out of time otherwise. =)