Since I moved from Indonesia to Finland, I need a reliable, cheap solution to call my family who still live in Indo. Since there are no types of "cheap prepaid phone cards" in Finland to use to call international phone numbers, I decided to try out Skype Out. The rate per minute to call an Indonesian home phone number is €0.086 per minute. All I need to do is download Skype, buy ...

Ever since I moved from Indonesia to Lapland (Northern Finland), I constantly need a good lip cream or lip moisturizer. Why? Because the air in Lapland is VERY dry and it's very cold (the snow lasts for 7 months here). I've used Blistex Lip Relief Cream for over 1,5 years now and I'm LOVING it! I'm definitely going to keep on using it!The positive sides are: 1. There are plenty ...

My Mom experienced AWFUL pain on one knee two years ago (around 2006). She went to different doctors and she even had therapy in one hospital, but to no avail. The pain kept on coming back. One time she couldn't even walk! And at that time we only had a squatting toilet, not a toilet seat. Can you imagine how bad it was for her?Well, one cousin suggested that she went to a specialist in ano...

A friend of mine gave these Skechers winter boots as a X-mas gift. She knew I was moving to Lapland, Northern Finland, so she decided to buy me these as a preparation of my moving there. Now that I'm in Finland, I find that these WARM boots are VERY useful. I LOVE the warm lining (you can see the inner lining from one of the pics I've uploaded) and the fact that the heels are a bit high...

I've never read any books by Sophie Kinsella before, so when I found this book, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, in a flea market, I bought it immediately. The regular price at Amazon.com is $6.99. This chick-lit tells the story of Becky Bloomwood, a personal shopper at Barneys. She lives together with her boyfriend, Luke, in Manhattan. Since her best friend is engaged and getting married, she sta...

To those of you who haven't seen the two sequels of The Mummy, you'd better watch them than this one, since the first two are MUCH MUCH better! I think what disappoints me about this one is the fact that it becomes too predictable. Plus Evy's role is no longer starred by Rachel Weisz.Plot: Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Evy) have now "retired" fro...

This musical drama is pretty fun to watch, especially if you want to hear Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth singing! They're HILARIOUS! However, I should salute all the actors and actresses for singing the songs on their own. And what I LOVE about this movie is also the setting. A VERY beautiful Greek island! Plot: The story begins with Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), a 20-year-old girl, who wants t...

In my opinion, this latest M. Night Shyamalan movie is better than Lady in the Water, but slightly more disappointing than The Village due to the inconclusive ending. Plot: A series of strange events start in Central Park when almost all the people who are there "freeze" like robots, then they start killing themselves. Some of those who aren't affected frantically try to run away ...

I saw this movie at a theatre in Singapore. Hubby and I had been looking forward to it. I've seen hubby and my brother play the game before, though I don't know the full details of the story. Hubby says that there are some differences from the game, but the gist is still the same. I LOVE the atmosphere of the movie, kinda dark and it just fits with the whole story. The special effects a...

Tuesdays with Morrie is a memoir written by Mitch Albom. I bought the translated version in Indonesia. The English paperback version in Amazon.com is priced from around $7.50. Embracing illness and death is the central theme of this true story. How do you handle it? Mitch Albom had a special relationship with his professor during his university years. This professor's name is Morrie. T...

I'm the type of person who prefers working out at home rather than in gyms. I can wear anything I want to and I can stop the DVD whenever I feel tired and I need a break and I don't need to wear anything fancy. Plus if I make the wrong moves, I won't feel embarrassed. I used to work out only with a static machine, so Billy Blanks Taebo Series are the first DVDs I've ever tried t...

Last July hubby and I went to Oulu (mid Finland) and we decided to try out Lasaretti Hotel since the price wasn't too expensive (we got a room rate of €88 for a double room at that time). Plus we found out that the hotel had a swimming pool and sauna. We didn't know anything much about the location. Turned out the hotel was located next to Hupisaaret Park (you can see two pictures ...

Living in Northern Finland means that I've got to be ready for rough winter weather. The temperature can drop down as low as -25'C here in Sodankylä. That means that I need good winter, outdoor caps that cover my ears whenever I need to be outside for a long time. This woolen cap is made out of Shetland wood and polyester.There are different sizes and colours of this thing, which i...

Hancock is not an ordinary superhero movie, VERY different in tone and plot than Spiderman, Superman, Batman, etc. It shows you how a superhero can be very lonely.  Plot: Hancock (Will Smith) is known as a "bad" superhero since he doesn't do things the way that a good superhero does. He does help people, but he does it in a reckless way that cost the city so much loss. For ex...

I bought this elegant wristwatch in Helsinki in March 2004. Since my wrist is small, I need to find a wristwatch that isn't too big. I fell in love with the design and the colours of this wristwatch. It's water-resistant and since the strap isn't made of leather, I don't have to change it every few years or so.Since now (November 2008), I haven't changed the battery AT ALL. ...

Before I went to Finland as a tourist in 2004 (I come from Indonesia), I knew I had to find a very good anorak in order to survive the weather. So I went to Mango and found this one. Unfortunately at that time they had only one colour of this anorak, but then again it looks GOOD in wintry weather where everything's white, don't you think? You'll add some colour to your white surroun...

I received this book from a friend in 2000 as I was writing my thesis and I needed to learn the basics of philosophy. This novel by Jostein Gaarder deals with fiction, but through the characters, he manages to break down the basics of philosophy, starting from Socrates to Freud and many other great philosophers in between the fun way!Gaarder taught philosophy in High School for 11 years before ...

I got this book as a gift from a friend before I visited Finland in 2004. This book isn't meant for serious learners of Finnish since it's too small and compact. BUT if you're only interested in learning some important phrases before you visit Finland, then it's a VERY useful book for you.It has over 2,100 entries and there's an easy pronunciation transcription for each entr...

Bought this book: Teach Yourself Finnish by Tertty Leney a few years ago from Amazon.com since I couldn't find any Finnish grammar book in Indonesia. This book turns out to be SO useful for me to learn the basics of Finnish grammar. It has 373 pages and it teaches you Finnish from the basics and in each chapter there's some exercise you can do. The good thing is that you'll find the...

Finnish: An Essential Grammar by Fred Karlsson (266 pages long) is a complementary book to Teach Yourself Finnish or any other basic Finnish book for that matter. Why? Because if you don't know the basics of Finnish grammar, you'll get a headache when you start reading Fred Karlsson's book. Of course you'll also get to learn about Finnish pronunciation and alphabet and some basi...