Greetings, August06!

Dear Friends,

How are you? Very well I hope. It has been quite a month for me.

The big news first: About three weeks ago I got an unexpected phonecall. The call was from this movie-school I had applied to last spring. They said that they would have a place for me in the school. The schoil would start in early September, which meant that I had about two and half weeks to find myself a flat in a new city, quit my job and basically rearrange my plans for near-future big time. But since I thought that this was my big break I said yes almost right away. I had been trying to get into this school for three times.
I thought that I did not have any chance to get in this year, because they had not picked me in the first place- I had a chance to get in only if someone ( who got chose right away ) would not take the place. They take only ten people in, so not many people decline the offer. There are lots of people applying to the school.
But so it happened that I got this call and I got the place. I was happy.
I was worried, though, about the situation at my workplace ( Jyväskylä Steiner School). We had made a verbal deal that I would be there at least half a year. I did not want to let them down. But neither did I want to miss this chance. I asked my "boss" nicely if she could try to find someone to replace me quickly, so I could start my studies in Lahti. She was very understanding and said yes. I agreed to work at the school untill they find someone to replace me...or untill my school starts.

I think I did not tell much about my job at Steiner-school earlier. Well, I was helping one student specifically but also acted as a helping-teacher in the class. In the breaktime I was outdoors seeing that "my student" and the other kids were behaving nicely there. I got to teach couple of lessons by myself to the class plus in the music-lessons I got to teach them 'Waltzing Matilda'(the Australian version).

I enjoyed that job. It was demanding, but it was nice to teach my student and the class, see them learning things. It would've been interesting year if I would've stayed there. Maybe one day I return to that school. The kids had drawn me comics as a farewell-gift. Actually, they were not just comics, but ideas for movies that they would like to see being done. A great gift.

So, I've been very busy with this shift. I managed to find myself a decent flat in Lahti quite quickly. Lahti is a bit larger city compared to Jyväskylä. There is about 100,000 people here. The city is located about 100km north from Helsinki. They just built a new train-connection between Lahti and Helsinki. Now you can get to Helsinki in about 50 minutes. That is good news. I've got many friends in Helsinki, and there are often interesting events taking place there.

One interesting event took place yesterday. Me and Olavi went to see Finland play against Portugal ( a football-match that is). Finland has played very well now. They beat Poland abroad 3-1 and had a 1-1 draw with Portugal yesterday. The stadium was sold-out. If they keep playing this well, there will be football-fever here soon.

I like my new school. Our student-group seems to be a good bunch of people. Our teachers seem to be good people too. We have good equipment here, good setting to make interesting projects.
There is one problem that has arised since I started here at this school, but since I cannot formulate it well enough yet, I will not attempt to do so now. I will tell more about it in my next mail. I am sure I will be wiser then.

My mind is still dizzy about these changes. I try not to do too many things in the evenings. I try to take time just to relax and contemplate. The rhytm in the school is not very fast yet. We just started on monday. It is exciting to be here. Wish me good luck/blessings with this new school and with my adaption-process to new city.
I wish you a happy month and send you lots of love and light!

Take care my friends, Lauri Anssi

( ps. I have started to use mainly my first name Lauri here at the school. It is not a new idea. I have been thinking about using my full name or the first one for a long time. However, if you are used to Anssi only, you can also call me Anssi. I like both of my names. But I figured that since my first name is Lauri in my birth-certificate, I want to try and see if it fits me. )