More boxes!

Hihihihihihihihi, Ruska just got bitched at!
Usually it is always me, so I enjoy when Ruska does something bad and gets in trouble for it. I am a clever little cat and I know that I am not allowed to play with the nice boxes, because if we play with them, Mommy will close the bedroom door when she leaves and we can't lie on our bed then.
Ruska was talking all day about how tempting the boxes look and how much she would like to just feel a little through the holes with her paws to see if the stuff in there is doing fine. I told her she shouldn't.
She still did and of course just then when Mommy was sitting on this machine, almost next to the boxes! How stupid can you be? Mommy told her to get her paws off there and after 2 times Ruska left. She bitched back at Mommy, too. She said "blaah blaaah blaaah, nothing fun allowed in here, pff". I would never do that. But Mommy laughed at her, because she didn't understand and just heard "meh meh meh meh meh meh"... must sound funny to human ears.
I almost got in boxtrouble today as well, but only almost. My toy had rolled into the gap between the boxes and I tried to get it out. Mommy helped me, though, when she realized I was not actually playing with the boxes.

Mommy apparently went to the boxshop again today and brought more big things that you can turn into boxes. I wonder if she will fill all of those with useless stuff as well, or if we maybe can have at least one to play in? A little?

She also brought paint for the kitchen table from the boxshop. And guess what? Apparently she read my suggestion here, because the paint she brought was black. Just missing the white dot and yellow eyes. But we can work on that.

There is not many more holes left to rip to the advent calender until Daddy comes back, says Mommy. I think she is excited that he comes back. I am, too. Maybe even Ruska. Maybe I should make a present for him. I could build something nice out of the boxes for him. Hmmm...


Yours, Phoebe

Sweet chaos!

Pssst.... it looks weird in here. So exciting!
There are... one, two, three, four, five, six... six big boxes in the bedroom, that Mommy filled with things that contain paper and things that play movies and human fur and stuff. There is also one big bag and one small box and the little shelf is all empty and she does not even scream at us when we climb into it.

Here's Ruska in the shelf...

And the ... "vestibule" *proudly looks to Ruska, see I learn from what Mommy teaches* was open for a long time yesterday and Mommy was sighing and putting weird things into a small box and said "ewewew" and that it's Daddy's oily stuff that he uses when he plays with cars. ...and I could not touch it, because I would become ewewew and oily as well.
Then she filled a lot of bags and her small suitcase with tons of human paws! And she was talking to herself that she can't believe she has become such a girl and there is waaaay too many of them, but she still wants more. Strange. Have to agree with Ruska here, one set of paws and one fur is more than enough.

Also the castleroom looks all different. There was quite a lot of stuff on top of our castle, but that it gone now. It then turned out that one room of our castle has a broken roof, but Mommy said she won't fix it, as we don't take the castle to Germany. Whaaat? But she promised to build a new one there soon. I sure hope so.

She also asks us all kinds of funny questions that we don't get and we can't answer, cause we can't speak human language, only type. She said that she has to "paint the kitchen table", because the nice old-style green was very nice in this old shithole of a kitchen, but it won't fit into the new one, as it is renovated. She wanted to go with either dark brown, black, white or red and asked for our opinion. I'd go with black. With a white spot and yellow eyes. That would be pretty. But also then she wondered how to paint it, cause we would run over it and be all brown, black, white or red ourselves! That's why I'd go with black, you see?

This morning she finally told me more about the adventure... she said we are driving for many hours and that the plan was for us to travel first class in a huge box in the back of a truck! Or something.... how eciiiiting! But then she suddenly said that that is madness and we can't do it and at least Ruska would die of a heart attack, as it is dark and cold and loud back in the truck. Now she wants to use our normal boxes and leashes so we can go to the litter box and have a snack every once in a while. She said it would be better, cause also we can hear their voices and it will calm us down. That is true. But Ruska will probably cry their ears off.

By the way.... note the comic versions that Mommy made of us!!!! They look exactly like us, don't they?
Mommy made also this cool advertisement for our blog:

Hihiiii!! In the background that's the place where we are gonna live!
It has a bridge and biiiiiig houses and lightning! Yes.

- Yours, Phoebe

BOXES!!!

... I take everything back! Mommy did not lie! There are boxes! BIIIIG ones!! I am excited! That happens rarely! I am even more excited, because I am excited! I feel like a teenager! Like Phoebe! Like.... my God, Ruska, get a hold of yourself!! *slaps herself* Ehemhem... *clears throat*

Okay. Slowly... there are boxes. And a stick with color in it.

Mommy went to our bed earlier than usually today, because she said she was very tired. However, she was back out of the bed after a very short time and said it didn't make sense. She brought in some of the big things from earlier today that she had stored behind the human catflap in front of the human catflap that leads to cold and scary adventures (in-text explanation from Mommy, she insisted: "She means in the vestibule." whatever.)...
She looked at the things for a long time and seemed pretty confused... she moved some parts of them and looked even more confused and mumbled something that "even the instructions of Ikea boxes are a nightmare".... Boxes? Did I hear boxes? Where boxes? Gimme!
She struggled with the things a while longer and I could not believe my eyes - slowly but surely the big things turned into boxes! Mommy might be a witch. Which would explain her foible for cats... but I get off the point. Boxes! I was already on my way into them when she told me I could not play with them, cause she needed them. What? Whatwhat? What do humans misunderstand in the definition of boxes? Boxes are meant to be played, sat or slept in. They don't have any other use. Mommy then started to take things out of shelves and put them into the boxes. Most things came out of the big container of human fur in the bedroom. Then she closed the boxes and wrote things on them with a fancy pen. She wrote her name and words like "CDs", "DVDs", "books" and "clothes". Because I wasn't allowed to play with the boxes, I played with the stick with color in it instead.

Box! And the stick with color in it.

There are only a few human furs left in the container now. I took a picture of that as well. I know, it still looks like a lot, especially considering I am perfectly fine with only one fur, but believe me, there was 10 times more! There is also some human fur that she didn't allow Phoebe to sleep on when it was lying on the bed, because she wants to sell it. Heaven. I am strictly against fur trade!

There is also Enno, Ernst and Om Nom! Hello Enno, Ernst and Om Nom!

Now there is 3 boxes and one huge bag full of human fur and other things standing around here. I wonder what she's doing that for. Is that some kind of human box-game? I sure hope she won't waste all the nice boxes on that. I'll keep you updated on the boxsituation.

-confused Ruska

P.S. Here's my revenge for the picture of me with glasses. Mommy investigated a glass of human food today. She said there was supposed to be apple jam in there, as it says on the label, but there was in fact apple sauce in it. Mommy was confused and said Finns are weird.

Hihihihimuahaha... humans look stupid.

Lies!!!

I will get back at Phoebe for posting this embarrassing picture of me. That's for sure.
Maybe also at Mommy, because she took the picture.

I am annoyed. I slept horribly and that is all Phoebe's fault! Yesterday she told me she needed a toilet but didn't feel like going to the litterboxroom. I told her she should better go, I know how angry Mommy gets if Phoebe does her business someplace else. Still Phoebe found it funny to use the snugglybed instead. I usually sleep in there, she does, too, sometimes. I told her that was bad, but she said it was her snugglybed anyways and she could do whatever with it. Even pee in it if she felt like it. That is NOT fair! She didn't even want the snugglybed in the first place! She was wondering "what kind of crap" Mommy had given her for her birthday. I started to like the snugglybed and sleep in it. And then she started, too, because she always copies what I do.
At first I thought Mommy might not notice. I ran around the bed and complained, because I am sure as hell not sleeping in Phoebe's pee. After a while Mommy noticed a weird smell in the living room and stuck her nose into our snugglybed. And she screamed very loudly once again. Luckily not at me, cause she knows who is guilty if there is pee somewhere else than in the litter box. Then she took the snugglybed away and said she wasn't sure if it was ruined for good and that we would never get one again if it was, because it was very expensive and she doesn't like the idea of giving us expensive things when we just pee on them. We? WE? I didn't do anything!

I kept complaining a little, cause I wanted my snugglybed back! She told me, if I never get it back I can thank Phoebe for that, but that she would try to rescue it. Later in the evening I saw it in the castleroom, where Mommy and Daddy keep a part of their human furs. I could not reach it and it stayed there all night. I had to sleep on the sofa and it was moist and smelled weirdly, because Mommy had sprayed some stuff there to get rid of the pee-smell.

This morning, luckily, Mommy put the bed back on the sofa... it does not smell like Phoe-pee anymore, but like flowers and spring. I haven't dared to lie in there yet, though, I don't trust the situation. And Mommy sticks her nose into it every time she comes to the sofaroom. Weird.

Also, yesterday Mommy told she was going to buy boxes today! Many boxes! I was a bit excited, because boxes are amazing. But then she said we could not get them. WHAT?

I was just cleaning myself when she told me the boxes were not for us.

I got such a big shock, I forgot what I was doing.

Today she was gone, but when she came back she didn't have any boxes! She lied to me! She just had something huge and she looked a little bit retarded, because the huge thing was huger than her. Almost.

She had the ringelingthing with her, so I could not take a photo. But I tried to draw how she looked like.

Mommy with the huge thing....

Artist: Ruska

She also brought a blanket for on top of our bed. She says it helps that there won't be so much of our hair on it. What's wrong with our hair? But I like the blanket. It is much better than the one that was there before. It had a hole and Mommy said it belongs under the big blanket not on top of it.

I asked Mommy to take a pretty picture of me on the nice new blanket.

Totally suits my fur, doesn't it?

But I really wonder where those boxes are that she pomised!?

-Ruska

Exhausting wait for adventure...

Hello!

Guess what? Yeah, there is still no adventure in sight. Just boring routine. Except the fact that Mommy starts going nuts, I am a bit worried about her mental health. She is really, really short tempered lately. I only need to look at places I am not allowed at, thinking if I should maybe risk to maybe go there... a little... - and she would already start screaming at me! She threatens me a lot as well.... once she said she was gonna nail me to the wall on my ears. And another time she said she was gonna throw me out of the window.
She also keeps asking what is wrong with me and if I want her to go crazy. I really don't... I think. Even though crazy is fun. Yes, okay, I admit, I might be a bit more energetic than usually, but that is only because I can already smell the adventure and who is supposed to sit still in such excitement?

Like for example there is this funny green blanket in the litterboxroom. The other day, I was thinking it would be nice to see what is on the other side of it, so I started climbing up. It was all going perfectly well, Mommy was sleeping, Ruska was sleeping, nobody noticed and I was sure I would be back down before they would see me.... but something went wrong and the blanket fell down. I did, too. I landed in the litter box and hurt my butt, because my paws were still tightly holding on to the blanket and I could not get them sorted out fast enough. There was some thing on the other side of the curtain that also fell down and that made a lot of noise. Ruska came to see what I was doing and she told me I was probably "in ankle-deep shit"... no, I wasn't, the litter box was perfectly clean.
It didn't take more then a second for Mommy to come rushing out of the room with our bed in it. She looked tired and very, very, VERY angry. In fact, I can't remember the last time she screamed at me that loud. I quickly ran to hide on top of the climbyscratchthing, but she found me there and kept screaming that I was a bad cat and that I finally should stop trying to put my nose into all things that don't concern me and just behave like a normal cat does. I almost cried. But the next day she gave me food and cuddled me, smiled and said I am a cute little catastrophe. That's probably a compliment. But really, who could be angry at me for long?

Yesterday another human girl came, Mommy said her name was "Auntie". Mommy and Auntie made a lot of things that smelled very, very good and Ruska and me wanted some as well, but they ignored us!
There were a lot of different meats and everything, but we didn't get anything! Not a bit! Mommy even teased us with it, look!

We thought we could have it, but then she ate it herself!

Even though later, when Ruska had left, they ate something else, that did not smell as good, but nice as well, and Mommy gave me some "mashed potatoes" to lick off her finger. That was very yummy. And Ruska didn't get any.... that's my revenge, because Ruska told me she got a bit of something called "Creme Brulee" some days ago, when I was not around.

The also had something sweet smelling to eat and they left it on the sofa when Auntie left. So I went there to have a bite. I mean, it was right there! In front of me. I was sure they had left it for us to eat! Ruska was watching me from the climbyscratchthing and had this awkward smirk on her face. I soon understood why, because apparently I got something wrong once again.... the sweet stuff was not for us and Mommy got very angry again. She said "We don't even start with that, do you get me, Miss?" and held me in the fur of my neck, like my real Mommy did when I was a baby. I don't know what she meant, why would she put it there for us, if we can't have it?

Today I was hanging out in the kitchen, and as Mommy wasn't near, I thought I could jump up on the shelves for a change.... there was a hole in them and it sparkled so nicely in there, so I really needed to catch the sparkles. Somehow I lost my balance and landed in the hole. AND I ALMOST DIED! It was very, very, very strange... all cold and wet and I felt like my toy mouse must have felt that one time when I threw her into our drinking bowl. I ran away very quickly and I kept sliding, cause my paws were wet. I was also sure Mommy would scream again, cause I am not allowed on the kitchen shelves. But instead of screaming she started laughing.Very loud and very long. Ruska laughed as well. When Mommy stopped laughing she said that that is what one gets for not obeying the simplest rules.I bet she put the wet stuff into the hole on purpose. It was a trap!

So much to the smaller events of the last days.... I am really getting impatient concerning the big adventure. Mommy does not. She rather seems to get more sad. I don't know if it is because there are some more holes to rip into the advent calender before Daddy comes or if it is something else. She said quite often that she would rather just stay here. I hope she won't! You can't promise me adventure and then cancel it. And it would not be fun to go on an adventure without her. Who would scream at me then?

Tonight we will watch a movie. Mommy said I can choose. Yesterday they watched something with a talking cat that looks like me and has a personality like a mix of me and Ruska. His name was Jiji. I would like to meet him!

Ruska watching the movie of Jiji. His Mommy Kiki can fly!

Yours,

Phoebe

P.S. Here is a random funny picture of Ruska.

Hihihi.

A thing with many tiny holes!

Hello!

Things keep being weird around here... some days ago Mommy put a weird looking thing on the human sideways catflap! I never paid closer attention to it, but today I took a closer look. Well, okay, yes, I tried to get it down from there... but only to get a better view, you know?
Mommy got angry for some reason... she usually gets when I try to get a better view of things. Especially when those things are on her table or the shelves. Or on the human sideways catflaps! She also always puts a nice blanket there and I take it down when I am cold. Then she tells me to stop sleeping on her... "towel". What's a towel? A fancy human word for blanket? Probably.

Anyways, she screamed at me to get off the shelf and keep my nosy paws off her... "advent calender". Really, humans, who comes up with those weird words? I kept staring at it, so she tried to explain. You rip little holes into it and there is some treat behind it. And then the time goes faster. Or something... and that I can't have it. She also pointed at one of the closed holes and says Daddy will come back when it is open. YAY! Maybe I should try to open it, so he comes faster?

Mommy might be going crazy as well, I caught her talking to this machine. She said "Yeah, right, 5 years work experience, fuck you, too!"... Ruska said that is dirty human language and I must never say 'fuck'. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Hiiiiiiihihihihihii. Humans seem to be talking about that work thing a lot. It must be something amazing, cause they all want it! Mommy was all eager to pick the best piece of a work for her. But some of them, other humans have picked already and then there are again other humans who tell if a human is allowed to pick a work. That is all so complicated.
Then Mommy explained, that if she has a work, that means that she can buy me the yummiest food! I don't get the connection, but a work must be a great thing, that's for sure.

Otherwise it is boring here... no sign of the big adventure that is apparently so very close. I got ready, just in case. But Mommy was just laughing at me.

Look how ready I am!

Have fun tearing holes into your 'advent calenders', humans!

Yours,

Phoebe

Mommy's strange bedtime story...

Hello!

I am still quite exhausted from that hell of a trip yesterday. My neck hurts, because that son of a dog tried to.... I don't know what she tried to do. It felt like she tried to cut my head off, but failed. Humans can't do anything right. To be honest I am not even sure if I am still alive. I guess I probably actually died. If that's the case, afterlife is quite a screw up I can tell you. Looks exactly like before. Oh well.
I can only roll my eyes about Phoebe's soft-soaping, but what does she know, she is only a kid. Anyways, the trip to the Grim Reeper is over and I hope it is the last in a long time. Though I heard something about my teeth being dirty. What an insult. My teeth are perfectly fine. I can show them.

What is true from what Phoebe told you is that things have gotten strange around here. For example in the past days, Mommy got the habit to start telling us a bedtime story. A really weird one, too. Phoebe was super excited, of course, she is always, but I really wondered why the heck she is telling me that stuff, because frankly, I just could not care less! But with time, while Phoebe was still convinced it was our amazing new evening ritual, I realized that she did not actually come up with the story to tell it to us, but to tell it to other humans! Because other humans told her to tell a story to other humans! It is totally confusing, right? Anyways, I think Mommy was pretty scared of telling her bedtime story to other humans... maybe she could read my thoughts about how incredibly irrelevant her blabla was? But she seemed almost as terrified as I am of the visits at the Grim Reeper's. Today she left to tell her story to other humans. She told us it was nice to have known us and she will die and we will never see again. Dude, you only tell a boring story to humans, my head got almost cut off! Tell me about who's dying here!

The cool thing about the horror trip is the fancy booklets we got. Mommy even pimped them, look how important we look now!

Pimped fancy booklets!

Yours, Ruska

P.S. I try to put together Mommy's bedtime story, so you can read it. Maybe you humans get the fuzz about it. Let me know. It goes like this:

Hi everyone!

My name is Anni, I am from Germany and I study Tourism here at TAMK and I will graduate this month.
It might sound like a cliché, but if someone had told me 5 years ago that I would end up standing here, in a Finnish university, in front of a bunch of people, giving a speech about "My Finland" - I would have probably thought they lost it completely. Cause I never expected this to happen.
Five years ago I was just applying for a job as an au pair here in Finland. Now all of you have probably heard the question more than once: "Why on earth would you come to Finland? You could have gone anywhere!" So why did I come here?
As ridiculous as it sounds now, 5 years ago I was totally obsessed with Finland and everything that was Finnish. I loved the music, bands like HIM, The Rasmus and Negative, I loved the nature I mostly knew from photos, I loved the language I didn't understand and the people that I didn't even know.
So it was my dream to come here. My family and friends might not have believed that I would pull it off. Maybe I didn't even believe it myself. But I got a job as an au pair in a small town called Mäntyharju, which is 200km east from Tampere. At first I was disappointed, cause I would have wanted to be in the city. Helsinki or Tampere. But I realized quickly that ending up in Mäntyharju was the best that could have happened. Because there I could experience the real Finnish "country" life. One year was not enough, so I applied for Tourism in TAMK afterwards. I got in, so here I am.

After the 4,5 years that I have been here now, there are so many impressions that I could just go on for hours. But the most impressive thing to me, still, is the nature. There is just nothing more beautiful than the typical view of the lake, with the forest in the background and some cottages. Also, even though most people are irritated by it, I love the long summer nights. Waking up at 4 a.m. and the sun is shining through your window. It's just amazing. Northern lights are something special, too. I personally am pretty unlucky with seeing them. In fact, it took me more than 3,5 years to see the first ones, but I managed. And it is just breathtaking.

Another important point of Finland is the people here. Finns are just so welcoming and would never make you feel like a stranger or foreigner. They try to include you into their lives and bring you closer to their country and culture. As you can see in this reception. They just love to show foreigners, who are interested in it, the ways of celebrating certain holidays. Also when you learn their language. It really does not matter if you can only order one beer or if you are - like me after 4,5 years - almost fluent. They know exactly how incredibly hard their language is and they honestly appreciate seeing foreigners taking the effort of learning it, no matter onto what level they get. They are also very encouraging, they would never laugh about you, when you make mistakes. I have been told many times, when I was just learning and sounded like an idiot, that mistakes don't matter, that the most important thing is that people understand what I am trying to say. And that's the best encouragement you could get.

Even Finns you don't know are very friendly, open and helpful people. You probably heard the saying that "If someone smiles at you on the street in Finland, they are either drunk or a foreigner."
That is probably true, but it does not mean Finns are antisocial people. As long as you respect their personal space, they will be happily trying to help you, for example to find the way. They might tell you they don't speak any English and then they turn out to speak better English than yourself.
If you go into a shop, the shopkeeper might have the worst day ever, but they will still be very friendly, smiling and welcoming, at least in most cases.

Then there is one thing about the communication that I love and that's the informality in which people speak. Coming from Germany it was especially surprising for me, as addressing your teacher or boss with their first name in Germany is the biggest insult anyone could imagine. They say that the reason for that is that people have to show respect and calling them Mr./Mrs. is the only way. Funnily enough, even though it is not done in Finland, I think people here have a lot more respect of their teachers as in Germany. Not because they feel forced to, but because the teachers respect them as well and they want to show respect in return. Still they know that they have to listen to what the teacher says, but the whole communication is on an equal and friendly basis.

In a way I feel I am not the right person to talk about all this. I am a bad example and will go back to Germany in 2,5 weeks. My boyfriend, who is a Finn, found a job there, so we will move to Frankfurt. I am kinda sad about it, because there is just that thing about Finland that I experienced and heard so often during my years as a tutor. No matter if you are here for 2 week holidays, for your 3 month nursing internship, for 6 month or 12 month exchange or even longer - Finland becomes home. People leave and they take a part of Finland with them, they come back for visits. Even those who had Finland as their last choice and ended up here, cause they didn't get anywhere else. They are totally annoyed at first, but when they leave they are in love with the country and so happy they ended up here. It is amazing to see this impression that Finland has on people, that manages to mesmerize them, to make them fall in love.

Obviously after 4,5 years I am back on the ground. I know there is good and bad sides about Finland, as about any country. Because it is not a dream anymore, it is reality. It is my life. When I came here I loved snow and I loved winter and I couldn't wait for the first winter here. The first winter came, the snow came too. It didn't leave. For 5 months. Now every time I see a snowflake I get a personal crisis. But that is okay, because that is how you change when you live here. And it does not mean I love Finland any less than before.

Applying for this au pair job was the best decision of my life. I have met so many incredible people here, my boyfriend, my best friend, my au pair family that turned into a second family and lots and lots of friends from Finland and all over the world. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't applied for this job, but I am so glad I did. I had the time of my life and Finland will be always in my heart, always another home.

But I will come back here one day and maybe some of you will, too. Because, you know, we need to give Finns a reason to ask us: "Why on earth did you come here???"

So, Happy Independence Day everyone and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here, no matter how long or short it is. Make the best out of it!

Thanks.

©Anni Dillenburger