Coincidence! Wish I was 30 again!

Education time was yesterday!

Ultimate international competition in Oulu.

Day before yesterday, I took the grandkids to a friend's pizzeria. When coming out I saw a shop selling Frisbees.

It had obviously just opened a couple of months ago as I have lived in this locality for 27 odd years and never noticed this shop before.

Grandson Samu told me he was playing a game in his school called Ultimate Frisbee. His school was one of 7 in England which was taking this "sport" seriously!

I promised to buy him one, more about curiosity about the plastic that was being used to make the Frisbees.

Yesterday we went to the shop and I was amazed to see the range of Frisbees available for all sorts of Frisbee related sports, the two most distinguished ones being Frisbee Golf and Ultimate Frisbee!

I asked the shopkeeper about Ultimate Frisbee and its popularity in Finland. He told me it was extremely popular and the National Championships were being held in Oulu this weekend!

When we got home I looked up what information was available about the Frisbee.

I realised that this was one part of my knowledge about a plastic commodity which was woefully lacking!

Samu explained the game to me. It is one which is extremely energetic and also of great skill. It is likely to become an Olympic Sport very soon!

I learnt a lot yesterday about the
origin and technology of Frisbees, and also how it has developed from a cookie tin into a highly scientifically oriented plastic product. The designs these days involves testing the prototypes in wind tunnels. The ordinary plastic disc is an amazing piece of aerodynamic engineering.

In a way I was relieved that as I was retired and do not have to wake up every morning genned up about all that is going on in Plastics. I felt a little naked that since 1984, when I moved to Finland and the field of Microelectronics, I had lost some of my deepest educational roots.

I told Samu that way back in the mid sixties I knew the Chairman of the most famous manufacturer of teets for babies feeding bottles called "Griptight". He had told me then that if I ever invented a new type of ball, he and I would be multibillionaires.

I now realised that I never looked out of the box, as the Frisbee is just one of that "new type of ball"!

How I wish I was back in my
in my "thirties" as this experience has got my development taste buds raring to go again!

Samu and I will watch some of the Finnish National Frisbee Championship in Oulu this weekend with different objectives. Him to develop his game skill, me to fill a large void in my professional life!

Indian contingent due in Oulu

Posted on Jacob's Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

November 2007 will see a large increase of the Indian engineer population in Oulu. There is a contingent of 20 Indians some with wives and children due to arrive in Oulu during the month.

The first group of 5 are already scheduled to arrive on the 1st of November. The others are waiting for their visas and other papers to arrive.

They are looking for houses, furnished if possible, to rent.

If any of you have any offers to make, please get in touch with me and let me know, as I can put you in direct touch with those arriving.

If they are unable to get furnished appartments, they may need furniture and other household equipment. If you have any, please let me know as I am compiling a list of stuff required against what is available.

Kamu just informed me that he has a good dining table with 4 chairs available for under € 100. We were able to provide a tv, coffee maker, toaster to a young student last week from our existing stock. We still have lots of cups, saucers, glasses, from the summer flea market remains.

This week's CHAFF meeting will be at the Coffee Shop, entrance on Isokatu as well as from the Rotuari Square. Those attending will probably be there after 13:00 hours.

One of the questions that we may discuss this week is the setting up of a Kindergarten, especially for the children who may have to go back to the Indian Education System, which can never be from a Finnish run Play Schools.

This is an enormous social issue and one which needs to be taken very seriously. If there are enough people interested, then we should take it up with the companies, especially the Indian companies, who are deputing their personnel to Oulu.

My recent discussion with the Oulu City Manager for International Affairs was rather disappointing on this front concerning one child, who, because of the pressure we put, will now get admission into an English Platy School by January 2008, after having had to languish in a Finnush language Play School for over a year.

Let it be understood that Oulu, although it claims to be an International City, is far from being International, and the City Authorities neither have the resources or the will to help out those who need their help. They may write nice letters, but that is just not enough!

As was so correctly put by one family (to the City Manager of Oulu International Affairs) which has gone through misery and from pillar to post:

"Thanks you for your understanding.

Teachers in xxxxxxxx Kindergarten asked us to give an application to the yyyyyyyyyy kindergarten.  We gave the application. It was in fact the same application which my wife gave to yyyyyyyyyy in Nov 2006.

They told us that there may be openings in 2008 only.

I think this is too late for us.

We have severe problems with Language issues already now.

Since our native language is not Finnish and our stay in Finland is not confirmed to be permanent, we want to pursue our daughter's studies in English. We are unable to help her with her simple questions due to the language issue. This is getting worse day by day.

May you please expedite this matter and help us in getting some place in yyyyyyyyyy sooner than 2008.

Thanks again for your time."

To solve these problems, yet to be able to meet the requirements of a short stay in Finland, it is imperative that the Indian Style Kindergarten has to be started in Oulu. Annikki and I are willing to help, but the onus must lie on the Indian Companies who are deputing their staff to live and work in Oulu. Expect nothing but lip service and a lot of red tape from local authorities who are just not in the know of what an international environment demands!

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