Costs so far cont and other stuff

Well the paper from my bank is not that expensive as I thought. It was only 10 euros. But I have forgot to add some that I will be buying for the trip next month:
Travel insurance continuance for 9 months (as I already have the first 3 months).  505 EUR
Luggage insurance or what ever you call it for a year: 150 eur (can't remember the exact but around this)


I might be sending a package to myself from here or actually make my sister send it. That might be anything from 30 to 50 euros. Depending on how much, how heavy and how I am sending it.

So now my application letter is only waiting for the paper from the bank. I should be able to get it next Wednesday or Thursday. Then I will be able to send the application forward. I could send all these that I have forward now, but then the application process would be frozen untill the missing paper arrives. So I rather put them all forward together. I also hope to hear from the place where I am going to live if they have a room for me. Then next week I might call to the bank, beacuse they weren't able to call me today. (Forgot to mention that if they call from Canada to me, they will need to add 011 and then country code and then my phone number. I just gave my phone number with country code.)

I haven't yet thought much about how will I get furniture to my appartment. I think I will ask from Allianssi, if there is anyone coming home from Toronto area, so that I could by some stuff cheaply. Also I might try to find a group from FaceBook that sells/gives stuff away. Hopefully with a home delivery as I will not have a car at first. I know I will be able to sleep on the floor for few first nights and then probably get an air mattress. Then when the visitors come, I might just buy some more air mattresses for them. It will not be very comfy, but so far I haven't heard any complaints about it.

Also I can't wait till I will be able to move. Just counting for the days to pass.

Costs so far

How cheap it is to apply for the VISA:

Criminal records:
Finland 11 EUR
US 18 USD
Grenada 13 eur +22 eur for the bank to make the damn foreign check + postal fees for 2 eur
Passport pics 19 eur
Passport 54 eur (for 5 years)
Allianssi fee 490 eur
VISA fee 114,50 Eur
Bank fees for the foreign currency transfer 29 Eur
ESTA (for US) 12 eur

yet to come:
Proof of income/cash in the bank/whatcha call it in english: maybe 30 eur
Flight tickets: 850 ->

I've probably alrady forgot some of the things I have paid. Oh well.

Baking

Aunt Hanna's Cakes

 Today I decided to bake some. I did not do as much as I thought I would do, but hey there's always tomorrow. So today I made some of Aunt Hanna's Cakes. They are not quite what they were supposed to be as we did not have as much potato flour as we thought. Not to worry they still taste very delicious.

Add some chocolate powder...

 I was able to make two sheetfuls and was left with a little bit of dough. So I decided to experiment with it. I mixed some chocolate powder to the dough and voíla. I have to admit, that the experiment cakes would taste much better, if I had added the chocolate earlier and little less flour.

First ones in already

 As you can see in the above picture, they really are small things to eat. They are so easy to make, that I really wonder why haven't I done them more often.

Home made Fudge

 Then I did some Fudge. We had a recipe for it, but we have lost it. So this was a combination of two and I am not sure if we put enough chocolate in it. Oh well it is still very sweet but not as sweet as the first one that we made.

Sunset

We had this lovely sunset over here and I just had to take a picture of it. The colours are enhanced because the bottom is so dark. Would there be something light to give you the correct contrast, you would see that the sunset was not that orange but a bit lighter. Very good looking sunset still :)

My nephews wishes to you!

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Future appartment

Yesterday I just dropped few appartments away from possible list. Price and the location were good, but when I searched the address, I found out that they had a bit of rodent problem... That had continued for many, many years. So I decided that there was no way I was going to move in there. As the houses from the same company seemed to have the same problem, I decided to drop the company and all the possibilities it provided away. 

I have now emailed one place to ask more about what they offer. I think I will send an email to another place as well. Altough if I get a car the one where I sent the email first will become cheaper. This is just because the car park is included in the rent and in the other it is not. So I am between two places now. Just will need to send the email to get more info, and inform the time period when I would be arriving. So it might be that they don't have an oppening at that time when I would be arriving, but I'm keeping my fingeres crossed. 

The location is GTA aka Greater Tornto Area, which means I would not be living in Toronto per se. It would be like living in Vantaa's side of the border, but everyone says that you are in the capital city. (If I understood the location correctly.) It would be located near the lake. Right next to it actually :)) So I don't mind if I don't get the balcony as I would have short walking distance to everywhere.

All done!

and with that I mean all school work for this year is done. Rest of the assignments are for next year, so I do not need to worry about them necessary. I was able to send in the UArctic report that I did for the trip I made last month. I was supposed to sent it in earlier, but since I originally promised it before Christmas, I was not late returning it in. We also returned our group work a day early (almost two days early). Unfortunately we do have a make up session for one lecture on Wednesday, because on of the class earlier had some technical difficulties. So the school for this year is not completely over, but at least I do not need to write anything.

I have also emailed a possible new bank for me in Toronto, and asked what do they need from me to open an account there. I have few options for a place where to live. I hope I will get one where there is a balcony, but it is not a must. Oh, I will need to ask my bank if they will be able to send me a copy of my account balance in English to me as now it is only in English. I already have the certificate of studies, so I can soon send out my working holiday visa application. After I have received the visa, I will be able to buy the flight and hopefully book the apartment. 

I am trying to calculate my expenses so, that I will be able to get the savings fully to Toronto. It would be so much easier to start there, when I do not need to count every penny and wait for the money to transfer from Finland to Canada. Now I know I have been wishing to be able to move in January, but I think it will be more in the end of February. 

What else have I done so far.. I have bought all Christmas presents already. My own ones as well. All I am going to say is that there has been some really good kids here this year... I also bought some ceramic knifes for a friend who is stuyding to become a cook. :)) I can't wait for her to receive the packet!

School and work

I'm not busy at all... Just wrote a case paper for school in few hours although I have had time to do it since last Thursday... It had to be done today, before midnight. I would not be able to do it later tonight because my sister is using my computer for school lecture in the evening. Now I am also doing some pre-beta testing for work. This means that I might possible destroy my computer with the software (not really or only if I am lucky) if there is a really big bug. So far I have found bugs, but nothing sever. So far I am also only testing few items and not the whole software. I'll find probably 10 per cent of the real problems and then our beta testers will find the rest. Already we have had different results, as the software seems to be working better on my computer with some tools and better with my coworkers computers with other tools.

Just a quick note, as I was able to finish my case questions much earlier than I thought I would.

Work related stuff

So there has been this one problem at work for years now. I have remember to request it to be fixed for at least once a year (more often when it was first noticed, but then just gave up). So the good news is that the problem has now been fixed. Yay! The bad news is that the problem is now with the other payment method. Argh! So this actually means that I have to spent more time with the same problem. I calculated that because the problem has changed the payment system, I will use 12 seconds more on an item. This is if my internet is working correctly, if not then the time is longer. So when I used to spent half an hour to an hour's time to check the payments, it will now increase from an hour to two. I just hope that we will not have a rush of orders while this is going on. So not stressed at all...

Also my email service provider has changed. So there is a lot more spam in my work email... Not so nice surprise. Why? Why are all these changes just done without any consultation from the persons that are affected the most? I am sure I will know the last when the latest software will be released. Would not be surprised! I am not using this company as an case company at work, because there is nothing good that I could concentrate on. Well I get paid... But I don't think my teachers would see it as a core competence for the company. I am sure that others would probably find more good things, but because I am just so tired of this I can't see them. I will probably quit after I return from Canada. I just need coworkers and clear box which within to work. (Not a real box, but I like to know what I can and cannot do.)

Argh!