Bird flu ( Lintuflunssa ) is the antichrist

Ok.. maybe its an exageration.. BUT!!! i remembered joking about it a few months ago with some friends.. even some finnish medicine students said that it couldnt kill people (which should say something about the academic formation of doctors in this country... but that will be another topic). Ohh they were wrong. The U.N. said that it could claim up to 150 million lives. And in South America people are scared because now that the winter is coming to the north, all the birds are going south.

The Finnish government announced the vaccination of all the finnish nationals (where does that leave me???) ... could it be a conspiracy against the foreginers?? ... joking.. or not??? : hmmm.. better not to joke about things like this...

Lapland 2005

Now we are back. I have to admit that before going my expectations were not so high (actually kind of low). But i was wrong. It was great. We went there by train (and i have to say that if you ever go there, take the beds... it marks the difference between heaven and hell). In Rovaniemi we rented 2 cars from friday to sunday (180 € in total) and we stayed at Charly's place where we surprised him with a big (and heavy) suitcase filled with food, plates, forks, knives, spoons, nail-clipper, glasses... and alcohol (something like the 'mercaditos' which we used to make in school for Calabazo). On that day we went to the Santa Claus village. It was nice and we saw THE MAN HIMSELF (we spoke about Montoya and about his trips around the world with Rudolph..). We also went to a nice lake to chill. That night was good, some 10 or 20 friends of his came and we ended up in this disco called Tivoli. Then we went out (like at 4.00) and between Magrofuoco and me we took without permission (stoled) a couch that was laying on the street in front of a second hand shop (2 days later, by request of Charly, we returned the 5€ couch which had a stain under one of the cushions (wonder what it was...) ). On that day we went to bed like at 7 in the morning.

On Saturday the italians were crazy about going farther north... so we (the colombians) let them go alone. We stayed and it was a great idea because we went to the ZOO!!!!!. Polar bear, reindeers, owls, ravens.. nice... And on the road we saw a reindeer and a moose which are the finnish version of donkeys and cows when it comes to road animals. On that night we also partied with charly's friends, and we went back to Tivoli. We went back to bed like at 4 or 5.

On the next day the italians arrived like at midday. We just layed down the whole day and we went to see the race (F1, Montoya won the race but Alonso became champion... the youngest champion in the history of F1). We left on the night train at 21.10 (this time with beds), we watched a movie on Beto´s laptop and ate meatballs with mashed potatoes. We woke up at 5.45 in Tampere.

Boa Ranera

Yesterday my mom was reading a book in the terraze of our house. She was alone... at least she thought so. Suddenly the character which you see in the picture appeared in front of her. She called our town's 911 and in a couple of minutes Mr. Navia appeared to save the day.

It is a kind of Boa called in Colombia Boa Ranera. Its not poisonous but it can strangle someone pretty badly (constrictor). Boas are named after cows (bos) because of the old myth that boa snakes pursue cows and suckle them until they are drained to death (www.wikipedia.org). They can be found mainly in Colombia, Suriname, Bolivia, Peru, Hog Island, Long Tail Peru and Argentine.

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Class:Reptilia

Order:Squamata

Suborder:Serpente

Family: Boidae

Backfire

The week which just passed was the same as the last 2 weeks, with the exception that Betinho left back to Brasil and that Millos won at last yesterday after having lost 4 games in a row.

However this week will be different. On wednesday i have to present to Mr. Uusi-rauva a Study Plan for my thesis (which i have not done and i dont know if i will actually find time for it). On thursday i will be leaving with Beto and Magrofuoco to Rovaniemi to visit Charly, celebrate Beto´s b-day and to get to know Lapland (finally after living in Finland for 2 years) . So, it will be an interesting week. We will come back next monday morning (directly to work). I have a present for Beto but i am not sure if it has yet arrived... it would be nice because he has been waiting to have it for a long long time.

I wonder if hurricane Katrina´s violent devastation was somehow influenced by the climate changes caused by humans (remember who did not sign the Kyoto agreement?) . I also wonder if the riots and disorders which occured in New Orleans could have been less dramatic if guns were not available to everyone in the States. Could it be that things are back-firing?

My Locombia

Its getting windy in this town. Now the jacket and sweater are not an option anymore.. cant underestimate the weather because it is clear that its not getting any warmer. Work is the same, not that much joy in it but i guess that i have to be thankful for it. I still dont have a place to stay, apparently i will have to wait until November to get one (November.. fuck, in finnish it is called Marraskuu which, according to my finnish teacher, means the month of death)... cold, wet, dark and scary. I talked with mr. Uusi-rauva yesterday and i think we are getting started on my thesis pretty soon. I am still tired... but my mind is getting more clear about what i want.

In other news, i am looking forward to the decision about the reelection in Colombia. I think that it is a good idea... but i dont know if i want Uribe behind the wheel for another 4 years. As i said before, i am not sure if i am pro or against him... i am afraid of who could be his replacement.

And i absolutely agree with the letter from El Tiempo´s editor which said that only in a macondian land (tierras macondianas), a man in a wheel chair can get into an airplane with 2 hand granades and take over a commercial airline.... its somewhere between funny, ridiculous and scary... that is my Locombia.