My year has been very surprising and full of new experiences, new friends and outlooks. In January I went to Philippines to renew my visa. I had just finished one project and really needed a new job. I really did not have an idea about my current job branch when snorkeling in the clear waters of Philippines. A serious work opportunity aroused sooner than I expected from a direction that really surprised me. My friend recommended me to a company that very soon indicated they were interested in hiring me. I decided to take the job to have the opportunity to work in a Chinese work environment. Things were proceeding slowly but steady to arrange my work visa, I was preparing to make a trip to Hong Kong to change the visa status when I got sad news from Finland: my father had passed away. I needed to leave to Finland. The visa procedure was very slow and made me stay in Finland for one and a half month. It was nice to see a glimpse of the Finnish spring and participate in the baptizing of my cousin’s son. Because of the delay I got a chance to spend a week with my goddaughter. Finally, in the end of April everything was ready and I was to fly back to China for the new job in the insurance company. It was hard to leave since this time I wasn’t sure when I could return back, but at the same time I was excited and anxious to meet my new colleagues and learn about the new job. Since I have started working in Beijing, I have learned totally new branch of business from the scratch. My colleagues are all Chinese, so my Chinese has also improved. More than that, I have learned a whole new vocabulary of the branch.Time has really passed incredible speed, in a moment I have already worked for eight months, a whole summer, an autumn and a part of the winter. From day to day I have adjusted myself tolerating to travel with the crowds in the metro in the mornings. I’ve got used to buy my breakfast in the street corner on my way to the office. I have sung at least every two weeks Happy Birthday to you in Chinese to my colleagues on their birthdays. We have had company dinners and outings on several occasions. I have learned to let loose and have fun with the colleagues outside the office. We have played water war on a lake, we have sang karaoke and danced wild in the discos in Sanlitun, we have had farewell dinners and welcoming dinners for colleagues leaving and new ones arriving.As a highlight of the year I got a role in a play at the company’s Annual Party. Rehearsing for it was so funny, but also a good chance to know better some of the colleagues. Our show at the party was performed successfully and we received praise words from all of the colleagues. That was really fun!Work is not all in one’s life, so I have started going to the gym, running, dancing and lifting weights. I think I might never been able to run so long as I can do now. I have been really healthy, did not get a single cold after coming to China. It must be something with the new healthy lifestyle to do. The year includes also some traveling although a bit less than before. This year I did some day trips from Beijing for example to Fangshan, Shunyi, Cuandixia, Xuanhua and one longer trip to Huludao. I did not forget to party either; I was partying hard whenever there was something to celebrate.

Already for two days I have been happy to ride my bicycle to work. Happy because it has been windy enough to keep the pollution levels down and also because I have had mainly tailwind or at least not headwind. I am very blessed to live close enough to the work place so the ride is very pleasant, just perfect length, not too long as it takes about 25-30 minutes to arrive. I am fortunate to have relatively simple and safe route (if you can describe any traffic safe in China), since my home and office are all located along Chang’an Avenue. I have felt such a freedom when riding to work in the morning, that I have had lust to sing. Actually on Sunday when we did a test ride I was singing Finnish folksongs loudly when crossing Tiananmen Square. LOL! After two weeks being pushed underground in smelly, moisture metro line 1, this is pure luxury. I get to greet Chairman Mao every morning at the Tiananmen Square, as I ride freely on the generously wide bicycle line with my silly-looking yellow bicycle. The people in the cars on my left are trapped in the traffic jam, people in the crowded buses stand holding tightly to keep the balance. Tourist groups at the Tiananmen Square are either following the guides or squeezing at the stairs to get inside the tunnel and further to the Forbidden City. When returning home in the evening, I know now how the rush our looks like. So, I prefer to leave a bit later to enjoy the room and space on my bicycle lane. The first day I was hit by an older guy riding his electric bicycle. I just heard people screaming as they witnessed him to rid strait on my front wheel from behind. It sounded like I was to lose my front wheel as the guy didn’t bother to stop neither hit the breaks to slow down. I was lucky, basically nothing happened. Now I know to be on my guard for this kind of situations. Today I was enjoying the sun set while riding home. I could see in the West the old CCTV Tower and even the mountains that circle the city. Tourists were squeezing behind the white fences to see the flag ceremony. I was admiring the swallows flying in the blue sky and eating insects in the beautiful pleasant evening.Back in Finland I have more normal bicycle, but here I am ok with this funny little piece. It is not easy to ride as it is pretty shaky. The seat is bouncy and it is easy to reach the maximum speed, which is not anything that could be described as fast and furious. Anyway I have learned to know her and like her as she has some character. Riding her makes me feel hilarious and, which is excellent. I also don’t like to worry my bicycle would attract somebody to steel it, so it is perfect for me now.

I planned to write a post about the first week at the new job, but I was so exhausted I simply coud not make it. The new job started right after May Day holiday, and now it has almost been two weeks since I started. The first impression was a bit dull and boring, since there was not really someone to look after me and I was left pretty much on my own. That might be because the person who should have done this was not at the office on first two days so nobody really felt they should do that. I was a bit unlucky because also the person who was meant to be my mentor was also taking long leave. Anyway, the first day I was shown a desk and handed over a laptop. They also said I was going to move after somebody whose stuff occupied my new desk was going to return to work. The laptop had some stickers on, and some passwords installed left behind at least from two previous workers. I opened the mailbox and felt like I opened somebody else's mail. There were over 300 unopened emails waiting. There is not enough space and it would be boring to read all of the stuff that I was going through during the first week, so I just mention couple of the stuff I was struggling with on the first week. I hit the start button of the laptop, it was all Chinese. Wow! Yes I can read Chinese, but I never used Chinese system. I was thinking I will be learning so much new stuff anyway, so let's not make it harder. Please change the language so I know what buttons I am pressing. That took days. After it was done, I got menus in English and the next thing was Microsoft Office programs. One day more. Next, all passwords were not working. Help! With the help of colleagues and IT department the passwords started working one by one. Oh! My email could only send to recipient within the company. One morning chatting with Chinese IT support with poor English and it was solved. By then, the system had turned the language back to Chinese, but I learned how to change it back to English. Somewhere in between we were visiting customers outside the office and had training sessions at the meeting room on how to use all of the software in daily work. Well, usually I was trying to learn, but since my passwords were not working or IT guy was installing something on it, frankly, I didn't get so much out of it. Going outside the office was fun. It got better, when the HR & Admin person came to work. I could have my fingerprint password at the office door, so I didn't need to wait for somebody inside to notice me behind the door. I got a company mobile phone with a generous data package. I could ask all the questions I had gathered while nobody else was not interested to hear (or was too busy to do so). I could even ask like what are my working hours and if there was a chance I could write under a working contract. Then my mentor and the person I was going to switch places came finally to work things started to move on. I was able to move to my own desk and could establish myself there. I could ask things from somebody who was willing to listen and teach me. The funny part was, that the HR noticed that I had started to explore the closets by myself, because nobody had shown me around since I got there, she decided to give me a tour. She showed me around and even told where the toilets are! So lucky I found these already on the first day by myself!

Tomorrow will be the last day of the initial training for newcomers in the company. In many ways it has come time to say goodbye to pleasant evenings in Shanghai, time to move on to the heat of Beijing. The stress-free training will come to an end and busy and responsible work life will start. To sum up the training, I have to admit that it was surprisingly similar to what I would expect to receive in a Western company. Since I don't have anything to compare with I don't know if this training is different from given by a company that is totally Chinese owned. I am also very happy to conclude, that 90 per cent of the training time I could follow the instructors who were speaking Mandarin. A big help for me was that they all used slides in English. That was very helpful since there were a lot of field-specific vocabulary that I wasn't very familiar with. The powerpoint slides in English kind of provided me translations where I needed some. I think it was clever move from the instructors also to introduce the English vocabulary of the key terms for the Chinese participants (if they were paying attention to the slides). Even my overall experience of the training is above expectations; there were some stuff "with Chinese characteristics". One thing was the timetable. Sometimes one theme was given 90minutes in the schedule, but the instructor finished the topic already after 30 minutes. As nobody usually complain being able to finish earlier than planned, it was acceptable, but made me think about efficiency. If we had known the afternoon session only last about 30 minutes instead of 90 minutes, wouldn't it have been better to have it to start before lunch and then let everybody be free after lunch? Another case of feeling Chinese style of doing things being present was, when the instructor was talking so fast using strange concepts to the extent it was impossible at least for me to fully understand. Yet, nobody asked any questions. I checked the best alternative to the evaluation form for all the evaluation subjects, as I saw everyone else to do... Anyway, I didn’t understand so much, so I let the native speakers to decide whether it was good or not. Afterwards, I found out I was not the only one having difficulties to understand, even the native speakers didn't understand! I felt a bit, but only a bit guilty giving full points to an instructor that obviously failed to deliver even the key message not only for the foreigner but also for the natives. The latter part of the training involved going to the office and follow the colleagues. Sometimes we were left alone to read some materials, but most of the time we were given more detailed lectures in small groups and given opportunity to ask questions where not understood. One day we could follow really close colleagues’ work, which I found very helpful and interesting. It was also a nice way to have an opportunity in a casual way to learn to know new colleagues and more from the work itself. I think the major difference to training with Western company is that we have not given any opportunity to put our hands on the real work, just watch and learn. In my experience, in a Western company the new employee is handed over the tasks faster. The training is done more in a way learning–by-doing as the company’s senior employee will take a supervisor role and give guidance for the new colleague on how to perform the work. Since I like taking things easy and make more preparations I don't mind watching a bit longer how other people do their work before taking over the tasks. I am also quite sure I won’ be afraid to ask for guidance when needed.Would be nice hear about your experiences about the newbie training in other Chinese companies in comment below.

Inspired by the blog contest I decided to revive my blog. Well, a lot has happened in my life since I wrote here. Firstly, I graduated from Renmin University with best remarks! Yey! After that I had awesome autumn promoting Finnish companies in Beijing together with some governmental actors. I met many influential people, made new connections and hopefully learned a lot. I was privileged to act as Santa Claus's guide and translator here in Beijing. Now I am stepping into something new. I have got a job in Chinese company, or foreign owned Chinese company. I have just arrived to Shanghai for work training. Before that I was in the visa process since March. The first part I did in Beijing, but the last part involved a lot of waiting in Finland. Finally, a week ago I could leave my visa application at the Chinese Embassy in Helsinki. When I got the receipt to pick up the visa I could have jumped outside the Embassy, so happy and relieved I felt. Relieved to confirm I will have work visa! It feels so strange to be happy for going to China. I should be happy to spend more time in Finland, breathe more of the pure air but this is how it goes. In Finland it was cold and windy. The summer seemed so far away, yet a promise of it was within distance. The evenings were long. Sun didn't set until slowly after nine o'clock. Pushing through the cold wind I was thinking about the Beijing warm summer. It didn't help a lot, though. Before leaving Finland with a one-way ticket I walked around in Helsinki. I think it was kind of a way to say good-bye to something very familiar for an unknown time. I will share a picture with you.

It was just after I arrived to China I was introduced to the notion that ONLY a native speaker is qualified to teach foreign language to a non-native speaker. There have been some discussion on English teaching on this forum about the phenomenon of non-native speakers teaching English in China. Latest, Ariunbold was writing about "fake" English teachers in his blog. With this post I would like to give my support for the non-native speakers teaching English in China.It is very common, that who ever comes to China, no matter for what reasons, will have an English teaching job at some point. Is this because they all suddenly have interest and passion for teaching? Of course not. It is the demand from the market, that drives them for teaching jobs. When a desperate recruiter or a friend asks you to teach English for the future hopes of China, you feel that it is almost your responsibilty to share your knowledge for the common good. Maybe you also felt it was a compliment for your English level to be approved as a teacher, or you just needed some extra money. What comes to the legal issues, as many people with student visas working illegally as teachers for pocket money, I think Chinese government should allow students to work a little, instead of totally prohibiting them from any work. I think China would benefit from this. But that is already out of the topic.Personally, I think Chinese teachers would be as good English teachers as any other nationalities as long as they really know the language. However, Chinese don't trust this. They are fixed with the idea, that only a native speaker can have the skills required for the language teaching. Also, Chinese seem to prefer racially white teachers even before native American black teachers, that is just horrible. The result is, that people with good command of English have to lie for the customers about their nationality, which I think is very disturbing idea. I am quite sure the foreigner English teachers would happily tell their origins if it would not affect their salary and chances of getting and keeping jobs. Most of the cases the teachers are asked to lie about their nationality by the employer. There is a vicious circle: Customers demand native speakers, employers lie about their teacher's background, the foreigner teacher is forced to lie about the nationality. I feel very sorry for this kind of situation, as I think there is just too much emphasis on the native speaking ability.I have studied English, Swedish, French, Spanish, German, Russian and Mandarin back in my country with excellent teachers who besides the Chinese one, were all my fellow countrymen. Does it mean I have had bad education? No, Finnish education is famous for its quality world wide. Quite the opposite, all the teachers were well educated with a university degree majoring for that language and learning, while as my Chinese teacher was not an educated Chinese teacher, but a native speaker with a southern accent. When studying languages in Finland, we use quite much original recordings made by native speakers that come with the books and repeat words and reading chapters after them. The teachers usually speak the language they are teaching very well, and to my opinion are totally capable of teaching the foreign language. My point is, as taken for granted here in China, not every native speaker is a good teacher. To be a good teacher requires also some skills and methodology about learning. Learning languages is a long process that needs excercise. In the beginner level and until the intermediate level, I think it is not at all necessary to have a native speaker as a teacher. In my opinion it is enough, that the teacher can pronounce the separate words correctly and recognice and correct wrong pronounciation. Of course, a heavy accent will be harmful. My point is, regardless of having or not having a native speaker as a foreign language teacher, most of the people will have their own accent when speaking foreign languages. First after staying longer time in the country, where the language is spoken, will help to get ride of one's own accent. Some people might never get ride of their own accent, no matter how long time they practise or stay in some country.I hope, that when choosing English teacher for their children, the Chinese parents would not blindly demand for native speakers only. Instead, they should ask if the teacher has education or some previous experience from teaching, and accept non-native speakers with teaching skills and good command of English as a good choice for the English teachers as well.

I don't know what it is again this time, but as a foreigner in China, one gets used to the slow internet every now and then. One moment your browsing is so fast, Skype calls smooth and clear, and the next day you wake up it can be the opposite. You can't watch your favorite tv shows because the speed is too slow, and the Skype calling is like speaking without knowing how much they can hear, and listening to separate syllabes and trying to guess the words. Luckily, usually I don't have anything that is very urgent, so I can wait for another day to have better access.For couple of days back already I have noticed, that it is almost impossible to use foreign websites whereas the chinese websites are very fast to open. This is very frustrating because you understand the problem is not connected with your own devices or internet provider, but is something bigger.Many people can remember the time when current Communist Party leadership change took place. It was almost impossible to use internet that time. Also emails such as Gmail could not be logged in for some time. I remember also the time, when the Diaoyu Island dispute was very hot, so it had the same effect on the internet. Especially foreign pages take very long time to open, and even forein versions of Google are blocked.As for today, when I notice the internet becoming extremy slow, I tend to open a Chinese newspaper and look for the reasons. It seems like the reasons are quite plentiful at the moment. On the menu there is the South China Sea issue having some new turns with Philippines and Vietnamese and a news about Sino-US cyber attacks returning on the political agenda.I still don't understand why Chinese are restricting the access to foreign internet pages when having some international troubles. I can understand restricting people's access for foreign sources that could be harmful for the government, but restricting all internet traffic? Wouldn't there be a more refined way to do that?I mean, at the moment I cannot use google to search anything at all, not to speak any internet page that doesn't have .cn in the end. Even Spotify slowed down and wouldn't play music anymoreNice that the weather is sunny and the pollution levels are good. Maybe a walk outside would help to get rid of the anxiety this kind of control causes.

This topic came in to my mind then riding a taxi with my friend near the national opera in Beijing. She asked what that building was, and I told her it Beijing the National Center for Performing Arts. I said in the evening it is actually very nice place, you could even use the word romantic. This place is very near where I live, and therefore I often visit the park around it. During the years in Beijing it has become very dear to me. I remember reading a thread a couple of years ago about one tourist planning a trip to Beijing with the girlfriend. He asked about romantic places they could go in Beijing. Indeed, Beijing is not Paris, you really need to know the places to find some romantic atmosphere. Mostly Beijing is not romantic at all, but very charming in its own way. I am in a situation that I need to find job in Beijing after graduation to be able to stay in this lovely city. I think I am allowed to be a little nostalgic. In this post, I would like to make an effort to see Beijing through pink eyeglasses and share with you some places I have found romantic in Beijing.1. National Centre for the Performing Arts by night.2. Strolling along the old winding hutongs.3. Bicycling on Fuyou Street. It is very beautiful also during the Spring Festival, when the red lanterns are hung on both sides of the street.4. Having a drink and mingling at the Houhai area in a summer night.5. Breathtaking views from the Old Radio and TV Tower in a clear night. Don’t everybody just love to watch a city from a bird view. At the day time the view is interesting, but when the night falls, it becomes romantic.6. Some parks in Beijing are not so crowded and have very authentic atmosphere. One of such parks is Zizhuyuan Park in Haidian District. In July you could take a boat trip inside the park between the lotus plants. In the wintertime in the same park you can skate on the ice.7. The hot springs outside the city work for romance even in the wintertime.8. Botanical garden in Beijing is always a nice place to get the romantic feeling. My favorite place there is the wooden bridge that goes deep in the woods. It is one of the rare places in Beijing where you can have a feeling similar to walking in a forest.9. Sometimes, even very ordinary places can become romantic with a little help from the climbing roses. This picture is taken inside Renmin University campus.Perfect way to end this post is to enjoy Wang Feng’s ever so touching song Beijing, Beijing. Click the link above to listen and read English, pinyin and Mandarin lyrics.http://cn.hujiang.com/new/p445496/

This Saturday it happens again, The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 which is held this year in Copenhagen. It is a great chance for our dear Chinese and other readers to get a glimpse of the European culture. Yes, it is a song contest between the countries in Europe, but at the same time so much more. It is a spectacular show and a carnival of open-mindedness. Its richness is the diversity. You can see opera, child singers, half-naked women, rap, humoristic numbers, great dance performances etc. Although the nationalistic theme is quite clear as all the performances are representing their countries, the show manages to create a fairytale-like feeling of unitedness and friendship between the countries. I have been watching this show since I was little. I remember waiting for the results under my blanket half sleeping on the sofa in the middle of the night. I still remember the old times, when all the results were given point by point from all the capitals of Europe and all the points for each country were spoken in English and France. A great way of learning the names of the counties and numbers: “The United Kingdom, twelve points; Le Royaume-Uni, douze points” I think the learning aspects is still there. You could print out a blank map of Europe and try placing the countries on the map as they are performing. If that is too easy, you can try to memorize the capitals and try to place them as well. For a kid, this was the first time to be exposed to trans-sexuality and gay culture. I have to admit, it was a very nice way. To see a drag-queen win and crowds supporting him was a great way for a kid like me to learn how everyone can be accepted as themselves. Some people have criticized the show elements becoming more important than the singing in the 2000’s. Yes, there have been tasteless performances, but so what? It belongs to the concept. Each country can decide who they will send there to perform, and after that it is the European people’s votes that count. Personally, I think this year’s show coming back to a singing contest, and the show elements are reduced a bit compared to couple of years ago. Now when the semifinals are over and the finalists are clear, the normal procedure is to make guessing for the winner. Here are the finalists in the running order: 01 Ukraine Mariya Yaremchuk Tick - Tock 02 Belarus Teo Cheesecake 03 Azerbaijan Dilara Kazimova Start A Fire 04 Iceland Pollapönk No Prejudice 05 Norway Carl Espen Silent Storm 06 Romania Paula Seling & OVI Miracle 07 Armenia Aram MP3 Not Alone 08 Montenegro Sergej Ćetković Moj Svijet 09 Poland Donatan & Cleo My Słowianie - We Are Slavic 10 Greece Freaky Fortune feat. RiskyKidd Rise Up 11 Austria Conchita Wurst Rise Like a Phoenix 12 Germany Elaiza Is it right 13 Sweden Sanna Nielsen Undo 14 France TWIN TWIN Moustache 15 Russia Tolmachevy Sisters Shine 16 Italy Emma La Mia Città 17 Slovenia Tinkara Kovač Round and round 18 Finland Softengine Something Better 19 Spain Ruth Lorenzo Dancing in the rain 20 Switzerland Sebalter Hunter Of Stars 21 Hungary András Kállay-Saunders Running 22 Malta Firelight Coming Home 23 Denmark Basim Cliche Love Song 24 The Netherlands The Common Linnets Calm After The Storm 25 San Marino Valentina Monetta Maybe (Forse) 26 United Kingdom Molly Children of the Universe This year there is a huge favorite among the public from Austria, a bearded lady called Conchita Wurst. Not a bad choice at all, she looks good and sings nice too.Conchita Wurst posing.Still, my personal favorite is the lovely duo Common Linnets from Netherlands with their soft and beautiful country-style song. I just felt I could easily go to their gig in club to listen some more of their songs. Duo from the NetherlandsThere are also some performances when I would like to turn off the music and just enjoy the show."Cream and butter tastes so good. We prepare for you delicious food". Lyrics from the Polish song.A good example of this is the Polish girl’s performance. However, I think the boobs factor will give them surprisingly many points. They might even get more points than my countrymen, for whom I wish all the best, the super cute high school boys from Finland, the Softengine.The boys from Softengine look a bit surprized after winning the Finnish national competition and becoming the representatives of Finland for this years Eurovision. They come from a small town and nobody knew them before this. It must be very special for them to perform in the final knowing hundreds of millions of people globally are watching the show.All in all, the show is going to be very entertaining with all the ingredients. I will enjoy it whole-heartedly!

In the beginning of April I had opportunity to make some money by acting as a translator and guide for my fellow countrymen visiting Beijing. As I was escorting this couple, used to the best quality and service available in life, it was really interesting to see Beijing again with the tourist’s eyes, and at the same time realize how sinicized I have become during the years living here in China. A couple of occasions I observed that I had developed some habits that I was not so proud of. I might as well put together a list of them.1. Eating and speaking I was so annoyed about myself, as I suddenly noticed this habit. I tried to control it, but I caught myself three times a row during the same dinner speaking with stuff in my mouth. After two days I could control myself again, but I guess I could very easily fall back to this habit as the people around me do it all the time.2. Yelling to call the waitersRegarded as rude manners in the West, but as so many people noticed, here you might never get the waiter if not yelling loudly fuwuyuan! I think this manner applies only in China, as I return back to my home country; the waiters will be easier to have my attention.3. Being prepared for toilets without toilet paper, plus choosing squatting toilets without no hesitationI noticed the reaction of my female quest, when I quickly provided her with a bag of napkins before entering the toilet. Also I was quick (and happy) to choose the squatting toilet, as there were only two toilets one being sitting model. It was the first time for her to see that kind of toilet, and the look on her face was expected. It didn’t help much for her culture shock as I mentioned the toilet was not without toilet paper, actually it was just outside in a big roller by the hand washing basins.