Immigration and Celebration

Our meeting at the Immigrant Services Office was a great success. We really hit it off there not only with Jaana but also her collegues, one of whom is a Morrocan man who goes by a Finnish name and speaks several language, 3 of which overlap with Miia's multilingual mosaic. He had a great energy and really warmed to our leftist feel-good politics. He also had a great laugh that echoed through the centre.

Unfortunately it was a short meeting because we arrived late (my fault) and they all had other meetings to run off to. We hope to return to Jyvaskyla before we head to Estonia and see them all again. We had a great exchange explaining each other's system. Finland's immigration system seems much more centralized, a bit more organized, but a lot more difficult for immigrants and worse for refugees. Last year Finland accepted a total of 11 out of about 3,000 refugee claimants. Wow. There are a few hundred others who are granted status from refugee camps, but the rate of entry is very low for a wealthy country with oodles of space. Like Denmark, Finland has a planned integration system which offers the valuable support of consultation with a social work, but is quite bureaucratic and follows the assumption that the newcomer has to make all the changes to fit in. Same as in Canada in practice, though there is some work emerging to change that. It was a fascinating two days of professional exchange that was a totally unexpected bonus.

We moved on to meet Francis "Kojo" Akoto. Kojo signifies that, like me, he was born on a Monday. Francis is from Accra Ghana with roots in the north part of the country. We took him out for a kebab and had a good time talking about living in a new culture and country. He promised to explore some potential working opportunities for us, volunteer or paid, in journalism for me and working with none other than former President Jerry Rawlings for Miia! He was a great guy and whatever comes of it I really enjoyed meeting him. His amazing website is Ghana Web.

We celebrated our anniversary in Lahti, not too far from Helsinki, a smallish city with a theatre, hotel, a great Indian restaurant, and the best swimming hole outside of Dartmouth Nova Scotia. They had three diving platforms, one at about 2 metres, one at 4 metres, and one at 7 metres. We dove off the lowest and jumped off the other two. Seven metres looks pretty tame until you look down from it, and you realize that you are higher than nearby building. Once we saw kids a third our age and half our height do it, our pride was left with little choice. We survived, got a picture (which we may post later).

One last thing, a poem for my one-year wife (don't read this if you are the anti-romance type. For you I recommend Nietsche):

Tar smells over birch tree stings
and temperatures at both extremes
Bodies there lay totally bare
and yours bore all my big dreams

In darkness we dove
till moonlight we rode
followed roads into our past
"Moonlight suits you" I said
it went to your head
these were the times that last

If novelty's gone
our future lives on
we can't forget the past
Gets better from here
we shake all our fears
and hold each other fast

Your body round
so deep and profound
explains the universe
My eyes explore
my hands adore
the reasons why we work

An experience shared
a common concern
rooted in compassion
We stay the same
steady as rain
pictures fall from fashion

The wrinkles that come
as the skin sags
from our bodies proof of age
We'll see it all
the Roman fall
when idiots outsmart the sage

The brook babbles by
dry leaves under thigh
softness of cries escape
Sometimes we scream
through nightmare dreams
before laughter finally takes shape

Salt on my lips
searching your hips
seeking the taste of skin
Latin feasts
sea-supplied beasts
Making the most of sin

The heat of promise
broken and kept
delayed and finally delivered
The warmth of home
the rush of bliss
elevating the peak we entered

The brush of your skin
you invited me in
I finally decided to stay
Your lips on my cheek
my strength when I'm weak
the constant in my days

Hot tears on my face
so easily traced
from all the times I cried
My love my hope
my strength my faith
My reason never to die