Music class concert

Yesterday Henry took part in his first more serious concert with the music class. The event was held in the Concert Hall of the Lappeenranta Town Hall and was the now traditional concert with the Dragoon Guards Brass Band. The soldier boys played wearing their normal army uniforms, but to see what they look like when wearing their dress uniforms click here.

The themeof the concert was "The Animals' Excursion," so all the songs were about animals. The hostess for the evening was Sanna Kemppainen from the local theatre, Lappeenrannan kaupunginteatteri.

The songs that Thomas, who was in the audience, enjoyed most were:

• Inke tinki minki
• Teddykarhujen huviretki (known in English as 'The Teddy Bears' Picnic')
• Karhunelämä (known in English as 'Bare Necessities' from the film The Jungle Book)
• Neljä kissanpoikaa (a nice song composed by Georg Malmsten)

Below a couple of photos.

The concert programme

The choir waiting patiently for the concert to start

The choir, grade 3 to grade 6 children, is colour-coded with the pale colours being the younger members. As with the post "The final countdown - Part 1," points are awarded for spotting Henry.

The song "Neljä kissanpoikaa" is about 4 kittens who don't follow their mother's advice. They go onto the ice, which in autumn and spring can be very treacherous. Luckily, they are all saved by the dog, Halli. The moral - do what your mother tells you!

Spot the difference

The Chairman of the Board decided that it was time for a radical change and a new image. So, it was off to the hairdresser and back to a short hairstyle last seen over ten years ago. Below photos from then and now!

1996

2009

Henry's Birthday

As some of you may remember, Henry had a birthday relatively recently. This year he decided that he wanted to have a party and invite some of his schoolmates. Three friends were invited, and Thomas, of course.

The entertainment began with spinning the bottle to decide who was to give their present when. Everyone sits in a circle, a bottle is spun on the floor, and whoever the neck of the bottle points to gives their gift to the birthday boy to unwrap. If the bottle points to someone who has already handed over his present, then he spins the bottle again.

After this came a blindfold search. In turn, each child was blindfolded, a small present was hidden somewhere in the room, and the other children had to direct the child to the present by calling out directions. The adults' role was to make sure that paintings, plants and stereo equipment didn't come to any harm, nor did the blindfolded child.

Next in line was the birthday tea, followed by fishing. A line was cast down the stairs to the cellar and, with luck, the fisherman might catch something nice - or then again, maybe only a sock or an empty drinks can.

Below some photos of the event.

Thomas doing the blindfold search. (Note the impressive safety precautions!)

The next child kitted out for the blindfold search.

Henry lighting his own birthday candles.

The menu included Finnish meat pasties, Karelian pies with egg butter, popcorn, and chocolate cream cake, all washed down with strawberry juice.

The following weekend Henry had a second event, this time with Tiina and Lilli as the guests of honour. This party was more low-key, although equally noisy, and was afternoon coffee at which 'korvapuusti', 'laskiaispulla,' and chocolate mud cake were served. 'Korvapuusti is like a Bath Bun and 'laskiaispulla' is a cream and jam bun served shortly before and on Pancake Tuesday. Our 'laskiaispulla' was a bit late, but if it is so tasty there is no need to be too precise about dates.

'Pulla' is one of my favourites and ubiquitous throughout Finland, so much so that there is the concept of 'pakkopulla', directly translated as 'obligatory pulla;' the 'pulla' that must be eaten at all coffee events. The phrase is also used figuratively to describe things that have to be done but are not too arduous.

Tiina keeping a watchful eye that no-one takes too big a slice of the chocolate cake.

Lilli as a film star.

Unfortunately, Lilli has been having some problems with her eyes, hence the dark glasses. Her style puts current Hollywood film stars in the shade. But who does she most look like; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich or Armi Kuusela?

The final countdown - Final part

The holiday was drawing to a close and it was time to leave the tropical sunshine for the arctic darkness. Below a few photos from the last days.

Sam folding clothes.


Khuan-Ning.


Leong in one of his favourite positions, lying on the sofa. (And I hope that all of you follow the exhortation in the newspaper headline!)


Group photo at Penang airport.

(From left to right: Front row - Henry, Jia-Yen, Jia-Jun. Front middle - Peter, Kuan, Po-Po, Khuan-Ning, Thomas, Hwei-Ming. At the back - Sam, Leong, Jia-Qi)

Po-Po with her grandchildren. (The only one missing is Khuan-Hoong.)


The cabin crew greeting us on board the MAS flight to Frankfurt.

Tiina met us at Helsinki-Vantaa airport and brought us the winter clothes that we had left with her for safe-keeping. To welcome them back to Finland, Thomas and Henry both got new SaiPa hats.

Sporting the new headgear. (From top to bottom: Tiina, Henry, Thomas.)

The series of posts about Elk's Street's trip to Malaysia and Indonesia ends with a photo of what Elk's Street looked like on our return - quite a contrast to the tropic greens of the south-east Asian jungles!

The final countdown - Part 3

The dinner was held in the restaurant Feng-Wei, Penang. We've been to the restaurant a few times and while the food is good, the restaurant suffers from being rather noisy. This is either because there are too many people in too small a space, or maybe the result of the furnishing.

Jia-Jun at the restaurant.


Jie enjoying his time in the restaurant.

Theng-Theng.

H-M's schoolfriend, Chen-Liang was our driver for the next couple of days, during which we did a little sight-seeing. One of our traditional trips is to the buddhist temple in Air Itam, Kek Lok Si.

Chen-Liang and H-M.


A fairly traditional photo of the temple with the pagoda in the background.


Henry lighting joss-sticks. He decided to place them before the statue of the Laughing Buddha.

It was at this point in the holiday that I was struck down with a mystery stomach ailment. It was very unpleasant and at one point it seemed possible that I might not be in a fit state to travel back to Finland. Medicine helped me over the worst but it took nearly two months before I was completely recovered.

Thomas, Henry and Chen-Liang in McDonald's.

Thomas took a long time to get used to Malaysian food; he much preferred the western food he is used to, although he really enjoyed the tropical fruits. In the beakers is the drink Milo, of which both boys are great fans.

The holiday then continued with Elk's Street returning to Sungai Petani to get ready for the flight back to Finland.

The final countdown - Part 2

Having arrived at the Chee Seng Gardens home of the "Thin Aunt", we were all taken out to eat.

From the other posts about the Elk's Street visit to Malaysia it should be becoming clear that Malaysians' favourite hobby is eating, and then eating more. And Penang is the food capital of Malaysia. For short travel videos about Penang food, click here and here.

This time we were taken to eat an an Indian restaurant, Sri Ananda Bahwan. The evening didn't go entirely smoothly as Henry drank two Mango Lassi drinks on top of some, for him, spicy food and consequently got stomachache!

Edmund looking rather stern, flanked by his daughters.

Elk's Street were housed in Wing-Hoong's flat in the Leader Garden condominium.

Having breakfast in Wing-Hoong's flat.

The next day was a family trip to the beach, organised by Lai-Peng.

The gang getting organised on the beach.


Thomas on the beach.


The Chee Seng Gardens aunt on the beach.


Kuan on the beach, or should that be, on the phone?

As we set off a little late and the sun got very hot very quickly, the pale northerners left to cool down in an air-conditioned shopping centre. While H-M did her shopping, the boys had coffee and fruit juice in The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf café, and hung around patiently.

Thomas and Henry becoming part of a hat display. For those trying to remember which artist the photo vaguely reminds them of, the answer is René Magritte.

Then it was back to the flat for a short rest before the evening's family banquet.

The final countdown - Part 1

The return of Elk's Street to S.P. was on Christmas Eve, Jia-Jun's birthday, and the start of the last part of the visit to Malaysia. Below a few photos.

Jia-Qi in the kitchen getting the food ready.

The birthday boy admiring the celebration meal.

As can be seen from the photo above and the one below, there were lots of Christmas elves around.

Elf Kuan, Elf Henry, Elf Thomas, Elf Jia-Qi

The following day Elk's Street and the S.P. crowd went for a short trip to The Tree Top Walk at Sungai Sedim.

Finding it is not completely straightforward but for Malaysian standards it is surprisingly well signposted; the trick is to turn off the highway at the Kulim Hi-Tech Park, after which the signs are quite clear. Tropical jungles are not like European forests, where visitors can walk freely picking berries and mushrooms as they go (if the season is right). The undergrowth is so dense that visitors would need a machete to walk through a jungle. Oh, and not to mention all the snakes, leeches, and other creepy crawlies.

Jia-Yen and Thomas on the tree-top walk.


Some of the group on the jungle walk. But what are they looking at?


Malaysian jungle.

The following day, it was off to Georgetown, Penang to visit relatives. First stop was to visit H-M's Aunt Doris, who had just moved into a new apartment at Villa Emas, not far from the new shopping centre, Queensbay Mall.

The apartment block. Extra points if you can spot Henry!

The huge building boom and dramatic increase in high-rise buildings has been one of the changes I've seen in Penang. On my first visit, Komtar dominated the skyline of central Georgetown, and the Rifle Range flats stood out.

The way the island has been covered in concrete is not necessarily for the best - there are serious infrasture problems. This is seen most obviously in the constant traffic jams, difficulties with water - both flooding as water runs off the hills and supply of clean water - building quality problems, and issues with landslides. With Penang having been chosen as a U.N. Heritage site, I hope that more attention will be paid to sustainable development of the island.

Some of the gang in Doris's flat - Theng-Theng, Jo-Vi (boyfriend), Po-Po, Kuan, Aunt Doris.

Doris and H-M.

Jie, Doris's grandson. Jie's parents are working in Scotland and Jie is living with his grandmother.

From Bayan Lepas we then moved towards Tanjun Bungah to see the next set of relatives.