eamon here :)

Parata party on Saturday night

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Last weekend on Saturday night we had parata party in my apartment. We were only 3 guys. Tareq, Saad and me. It was planned earlier when we went to play badminton in the morning. I cooked beef curry with onion, tomato and cabbage in the afternoon. In the evening we played table tennis and returned around 9 pm. Then we started making parata.

None of us is expert in parata making :P Moreover we didn't have the exact tool, the rolling pin, to make good shape. Saad just used a tall glass as a replacement :D The parata was really good though. We made twelve parata for three of us and had a full-tummy dinner with 4 pieces each with beef curry :)

Here goes some pictures of that night.

Saad is making parata; I am just helping him.

These are some that we made. Not so good-looking :P

After baking. We put less butter while baking.

Prepared to start dinner.

Parata with beef curry. The curry was very oily.

Got poker chips as a gift

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:54:00 +0000

Last month Gagan and Shanila came to Tampere to visit me. Actually they went to Helsinki to apply for UK visa and on the way back to Oulu they stopped over my place and stayed for 2 nights. We spent the weekend together.

They came with a nice gift for me. That is a poker chip set. Previously I was talking with Gagan that I am thinking to buy a set of poker chips. He kept that in his mind, and when they came here they did not forget to bring one for me as a gift. Its a nice gift. I liked it very much. Thanks to both Gagan and Shanila :)

This is the chip set in the box. 4 different types.

Arranged on the table as if I am playing with Phil Ivey :D

Early winter this year

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:43:00 +0000

Winter came early this year. Since the last week of September it is cold and it started snowing in the last week of October whereas last year it was 16 November when I saw first snowfall in my life. Its only the first week of November and all the streets of Tampere are covered with white thick snow.

For last two days it has been snowing. The whole day today it was snowing. So there are thick snow in the streets. My shoes were drown in the snow while I was coming home from university this evening. Its nice to see white all around you.

I hope the temperature will not rise to positive so that the snow will remain. Its really disgusting when the temperature is +1 or +2 and snow is melting. Consequently you will experience dirty and wet street which is not so pleasant. But the fact is this snow will melt and the streets will get dirty. Moreover, dark December is ahead of me. I wish I could make a hyper jump to February.

Cleaning up for Eid

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:27:00 +0000

Its been my practice to have a haircut before eid day. This time I am having my third(last year 1 eidul fitr & 1 eidul azha) eid in Finland and as always I had a haircut. This time not in any ordinary salon, rather it is Eamon's Hair Dresser :D Yes I had the haircut of my own.

Its difficult to cut your own hair, mostly the back side of head where you cannot see. I did a blunder on the back side but its not much visible. So it is just ok. Let's have a look at myself :P

First exam in the new academic year

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Today I have appeared in the first exam of the new academic year 2009-2010. The exam was on Introduction to Object Oriented Programming. The exam was not so well I guess. I made some silly mistakes as always. I hope I can still get some better grade. Just wish me luck.

Experience skype

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:50:00 +0000

I used skype several times before but I am not a regular user of it. I used it while I was working in BordingVista. I also used it in my home back in Dhaka to transfer some file since I knew skype is really good in file transferring. When I came to Finland, I found skype is popular in Europe. European people like skype than yahoo messenger. Yahoo messenger became so heavy these days. I don't know why it occupies hell lot of memories. Recently I heard that skype has a new feature called screen sharing in its 4.1 version. Sometimes I need to operate some remote pc and I thought to try skype for it. But skype's screen sharing is just continuous screen shot of the remote pc, you cannot have the control privilege. I was kinda disappointed but then I just tried the voice call and video conference in skype and it was really astounding. It seems I am talking landline-to-landline phone in the same city and the cam was like a movie, so smooth. I am so convinced and satisfied with the performance of skype. From now on, I will use skype regularly and I think I will try to shift to skype from yahoo messenger slowly, for sure it will take time.

Those who wants to try it, can download from here.

Programming solution

Brownout in Finland :-O

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:30:00 +0000

This afternoon around half past three, while using my laptop, suddenly the monitor's display dimmed and I lost the internet connection. I looked at the internet hub and found that it's out of power and then I noticed that my laptop is running on battery. I was so amazed. I put my room light on and it did not lit. Now I am really amazed. This is happening for the first time during my 1 year stay here in Tampere. The power was off. I don't know the reason but it was a long brownout in the context of Finland. It was off for almost 20 minutes. I had nothing to do but lying on my bed during that time. This was one of the few times that I was in bed not for sleeping. Yea its true; while being in my room most of the time I am just on my chair sitting before my laptop watching or doing something.

Programming solution

Convocation of Miraj vi and Farzan vi

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Yesterday was the convocation of Miraj vi and Farzan vi. Miraj vi finished his Ph.D. few months back and Farzan vi just completed his masters from Communication Engineering Department. Yesterday afternoon they got the certificates. Later at night we had a nice iftar and dinner in Miraj vi's home.

Here goes some pictures from the ceremony.

A nice chorus song to start the ceremony

The rector is announcing the names and giving the certificates

Smiling Farzan vi with flowers from well wishers

Miraj vi and his family

Sharing his certificate :D

... and his flowers too :P

Programming solution

Second Ramadan in Finland

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:05:00 +0000

This is the second Ramadan I am passing in Finland. It started yesterday. This year it is longer than the previous year, more than 18 hours fasting. Good that you do not perspire here so you wont feel thirsty.

The first Ramadan was nice. We, the Bangladeshi community here, had the iftar together. Every family came with a dish and finally there were lots of items. The iftar ended with a full tummy dinner.

Here are some pictures of the first iftar of this year.

The plates are being arranged

The fruit salad

Everything is ready

Programming solution

1 year since I left my home

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:00:00 +0000

Today is 16 August, 2009. Exactly the same day I left my home in Dhaka. On 16 August, 2008 very early in the morning I started my journey. I have passed a whole year being apart from my family. Time passes so quickly. It seems that I came here only few months back but actually its a a long time.

In this one year so many things happened. I have completed most of my masters courses, I did very difficult outdoor job for 6 months, I have learned to live alone, I got job in the university, I met my very special one and so on but what I cannot do yet is fixing a date to go to my home :( It is still uncertain. I don't know when I will be able to manage everything and tell my mom over the phone that I am coming home in few weeks. So many things need to be fixed. I wish it wont take long time to visit my home :)

Programming solution

First ever fishing :)

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:40:00 +0000

It was long time ago when I tried fishing for the first time in my life, may be 16-17 years back. That was in my village and I was just a kid then. I tried for a long time but, so far I remember, I did not get any fish. After that very first time more than a decade passed but I never got a chance for fishing. Luckily yesterday once again the chance came for me.

Badal vi wanted to go for fishing along with his family and he asked shaikat vi's family and me to go with them. I did not want to loose the chance, so I agreed to go with them. We went to the rose garden in Hatanpa. Beside the rose garden there is a lake and Badal vi and me started fishing in that lake while others were just gossiping and roaming around. With my very less experience in fishing I was not very hopeful to get any fish but suddenly I got one after 20 minutes may be. At that time badal vi was on his four I think. I was having hard time with timing. As time passed by I was beginning to learn when to pull the hook and amazingly I started to get fishes. We were there for almost three hours. We got forty fishes in total and I got twelve, not a bad start though :) Later, at night, we processed the fishes in Badal vi's home and had dinner with khichuri and fried fish :D

Here goes some picture of the day

Looking at the water with much concentration

The first one I got. Shaikat vi came to help me

It jumped of suddenly

Finally Shaikat vi could manage to grab it

We got these within an hour I think

Lots of fried fishes. The camera was not focused well :(

Programming solution

Got diploma for volunteering

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:40:00 +0000

The European Youth Olympic Festival organizing committee gave us a diploma for working as volunteers during the festival. In my certificate it is written that I worked 18-25 July as a volunteer in 10th European Youth Olympic Festival in Tampere, Finland. In the recommendation letter they said I worked 8 hours per day. I don't know where will I use this certificate in future but still it gave me good feeling when I received the diploma.

Here is the diploma they gave all the volunteers

Here is the recommendation letter from the volunteer manager

Programming solution

My resident permit extended

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:35:00 +0000

When I came to Finland my student visa was for a year, from 5 August, 2008 to 5 August, 2009. So it was time for me to apply for an extension since I have to stay here for couple of years more. I applied last month and today i just got the extended student resident permit for one more year. Now my staying here in Finland is valid until 5 August, 2010.

Here is my extended Finnish resident permit :)

Programming solution

Trip to strawberry garden

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:58:00 +0000

Today we, 19 people, including kids, went to strawberry garden. There were 3 cars. We started around 1 pm. It took almost an hour to reach the garden. After entering into the garden we started to take out the strawberries. There were different kinds of strawberries. The rule of the garden is you can eat as many strawberries as you want but you have to buy the amount you want to bring home. Just beside the strawberry garden there was green pea garden as well. We ate lots of strawberries and green peas. I did not buy any, I just ate to the fullest of my tummy :D

We were there until 4 pm. It became very gloomy at the end. We had coffee, cake and coke. Then we got into the cars and it started raining. I never saw this heavy rain in Finland. It was somewhat like the rain of our country, Bangladesh.

Here are two of my pictures.

With strawberry

Just before coming back. Suddenly it became very gloomy.

Programming solution

10th EYOF is closed

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:08:00 +0000

Yesterday, 24 July, 2009, the 10th EYOF has come to an end. The festival was for a week. Throughout the week Tampere city was in festival mood. It was nice to see lots of people in the streets with colorful sports outfit. Yesterday was the closing ceremony. It held in Tampere stadium called Ratina. I went to the closing ceremony. I didn't have any responsibility this time as a volunteer. So I just sat in the gallery and enjoyed the program. Next year it will be held in Turkey. So the chairman of European Olympic Committee(EOC) thanked Tampere for a wonderful arrangement and declare Turkey as the organiser of the 11th in 2011. Here are some pictures from the opening ceremony.

Kids made a nice display with long cloths

Here they come

The back side of the gallery was totally empty :D

The young athletes

The official song for this festival is going on. It was raining a bit

Programming solution

EYOF 2009 and volunteering

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:10:00 +0000

Its been long time I am not posting in my blog. Somehow I could not manage to write here. I think now its time to start writing again :)

Tampere is arranging the European Youth Olympic Festival(EYOF) this year. This youth olympic held in every 2 years. All the athletes must be under 19 to participate. This year 49 countries are participating. I always have interest about this kinda big sporting activities. When I heard about it I was excited to see it live because my university is inside the olympic village. So as soon as I heard they need lots of volunteers to make it a nice event I went to the website at once and applied for it. They approved me and now I am a part of this EYOF 2009.

I became an eco advisor. I have to encourage all the athletes, team members and also the spectators to be environment friendly. Where to put the waste and how, means in exact position - bio waste and plastics should not be mixed up. All these wastes will be recyled later and bio fuel will be produced from these so if those are mixed up it will be difficult to recycle. Beside being an eco advisor I also got chance to be a volunteer in the opening ceremony in Tampere ice hall. I was a spectator guide there. It was really a nice experience to see the opening ceremony live. It was a short but very nice program.

I became a volunteer just to be a part of this festival. I didn't know that there are some benefits as well. I got nice volunteer outfit - Tshirt, 3/4 trousers, cap and back pack. They gave an ID card to all the volunteers and with that we get free lunch in one of the restaurent here in the olympic village from 13-30 July. This card is also working as my bus pass during the festival. I need not to pay in any bus inside Tampere. Nice benefits huh :D The best part is I get to know many people by this. Lots of people came from many countries and I have to work with them. There will be a grand party for all the volunteers when the festival is over. Hopefully it will be a nice party with lots of foods :)

Programming solution

First week of my work

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:55:00 +0000

Its been a week that I joined my work. I wrote about the first day before. After that my room is changed. They allocated me a new room. Another person was already in that room. So I have to share the room with him but he didn't show up yet. Since this is the beginning I am gathering idea about my work and do necessary document review. I will try to give update from time to time. Let's have a look in my room.

This is my desk

Me, reviewing some documents.

Programming solution

First day in my job

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:49:00 +0000

Today I joined my job in the university. In the morning I attended the weekly meeting. To my amazement everybody talks in Finnish language in this meeting. I was just sitting in one corner and having coffee. after half an hour the secretary who was sitting beside me told me to introduce myself. I greet everybody in Finnish laguage(Huomenta - goodmorning), told my name, country, my program, my project etc. The meeting was short. At the end, one of the teachers came with his new born baby and a big cake. Everybody was seeing the baby in the perambulator and then had the cake.

After the meeting, the secretary showed me my room. The laptop is not yet ready and my professor was extremely busy with a training program. So I had nothing to do and I decided to come back home. At 12 afternoon I came back. I had a scheduled meeting with my professor and other team members at 5 pm. So I went to the university again before 5. In the meeting, my professor explained the main goal of the project and his plan about it. I was hearing carefully but it sounded so difficult for me and I am kinda afraid if I will be able to help the team as they expect me to do.

The first day was nothing special. I even didn't enter into my room. Hopefully tomorrow I will get my laptop and I can spend some time in my room.

Programming solution

Got a job in the university as Research Assistant

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:18:00 +0000

You know I came from Oulu suddenly to attend a meeting with my professor. I met the professor today and he formally let me know that he is going to take me as a Research Assistant under his supervision. My joining date is June 1, 2009 means next Monday.

Today the professor introduced me with the secretary of our department and she helped me to do the procedural stuffs. I had to fill up few forms. Next Monday she will give me the key of my room and then the laptop that I will use for my work.

Its a 6 months' contract as a full time worker(weekly 37.5 hours). So from next Monday I will sit in a tiny room in my university from 9 to 5 and hopefully my 3 months' long summer vacation wont go in vain :)

Programming solution

Oulu tour came to an end suddenly :(

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:57:00 +0000

We have been thinking I would come back to Tampere after this coming weekend. But our thought became false with a tiny mail from my professor. This afternoon he mailed me and told me to meet him in his office tomorrow at 11:30 am. So I had to pack my stuffs up, caught the 05:45 train from Oulu and came back to Tampere.

I stayed 8 days in Oulu. In fact that's a long time. Yet it seems we could not do many things that were part of our plan. Actually, we thought I would obviously stay 3 more days and 2 of those will be in the weekend. So we postponed many things for the weekend. This morning I was afraid if my professor mailed me today and told me to meet him tomorrow and that exactly what had happened this afternoon around 01:30 pm :( Upon hearing my leaving Shanila came back from her work earlier than usual. Gagan came back earlier than Shanila since he was having migraine and couldn't continue working at office. Shanila made few nice dishes so fast and we ate hurriedly. Gagan couldn't accompany me to the train station for his migraine. So its only Shanila who escorted me to the train station. I reached Tampere around 10 pm and entered into my own room around 10:40 pm and suddenly felt so bad when found myself alone in my room. Last few days was really enjoyable. I have few more pictures to share. Mostly of foods :D

Buritos made by Gagan. Just like Shorma in our country

An interesting bike. 3 persons can sit at a time.

Delicious noodles made by Shanila

Me, with tobla :D

Programming solution

Four days in Oulu

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Mon, 25 May 2009 08:58:00 +0000

On Wednesday afternoon I came to Oulu. Gagan fetched me in the railway station. Just after coming home I freshened up and ate rice with delicious chicken curry(vuna murgi) and shrimp mash(chingri vorta). At night we gossiped and played a new board game. Shanila won the game and I was the 3rd among three :P

The next day(Thursday) was sunny and it was a public holiday here. So we decided to go to a small beach nearby. We took different kinds of foods and tea with us and started by bike. Suddenly it started raining. So we didn't go to the beach rather we went to a nearby lake side. We couldn't be there for long time as the rain started heavily. So we returned and watched a movie titled "The last king of Scotland". Its a nice movie. At night Gagan makd a big pizza and we finished our dinner with that. After dinner Gagan and me played chess and I won.

Here are some pictures of Thursday.

Trying to be kid again :D

Gagan was trying too according to Shanila's instruction but couldn't manage well :P

Gagan said it as a romantic picture hahahaha...

Two fellows

Screaming with big grin

Gagan is making a huge pizza

The next day, Friday, I woke up a bit late. By this time Gagan and Shanila left for their own workplaces. I was just in home, browsing and chatting with my friends. Shanila came back around 12 O' clock and we finished our lunch. Gagan came back from office around 5 pm and we prepared "kacchi biriyani" for the dinner. Shanila made "borhani". The kacchi biriyani tasted awesome with the borhani. At night one Finnish couple(Nico and Tanja) came and we played a board game called Power Grid. It was a long game, took 2 hours to come to an end. They left around 12 midnight. We were still gossiping and finally went to bed around 4 am I think.

Some pictures from Friday:

Rainbow from the kitchen window

I am cooking the "Kacchi Biriyani", beside me "Borhani" is being prepared by Shanila

A closer look to the kacchi biriyani I made

Borhani is also prepared, everything is ready for dinner

Playing board game at night

The next day was Saturday, weekend. Again I woke up late. We took a heavy breakfast and found the weather turned into sunny. So we decided to go to Nallikari beach. We got ready and started biking towards the beach. Luckily we found that it was the day of marathon that is arranged once in a year in Oulu. So it was kinda festival mood in the beach area. We were in the beach for 2 hours may be. It was raining at the time of returning. At night Shanila made "chotpoti" and we made our tummy full by chotpoti only. We were very tired at night for long time biking. So we slept earlier than usual.

Here are some pictures of that day.

Going to Nallikari beach

I just stopped to have a look to the marathon, Shanila was still running.

So many participants

On top of a tower in the beach

A duck in the sea. I never saw like that before

There is a platform to get the nice view of the sea

Somehow Gagan grabbed me in a frame :)

With Gagan. Why the hell he is gaining so much weight these days :-S I look so thin beside him :(

I told Gagan, "A mermaid is sitting beside the sea"

Nice shade of light

Getting down from the tower

I was eating chips. I don't know why it seems so weird. May be because nobody eats chips while in the beach.

Shanila was really cheerful. She was making the court of "Ekka-dokka" :P

And here she goes, playing ekka-dokka

Shanila made Gagan to play as well. Look at him, how clumsy he is :D

Playing "Pentago". I don't know why the background seems painted :-?

The marathon was almost finished while we were coming back, people were coming back.

There is the finish line

Shanila made nice delicious "Chotpoti". We finished our dinner with that and we were totally full.

Closer look to the chotpoti

On Sunday morning I woke up around 10 am. The weather was gloomy. It was raining from time to time. We finished our breakfast with pizza and coffee. Then Shanila prepared a very nice spanish dish called paella. Since the weather was not so nice we were just gossiping and waiting for lunch time. Paella is a nice delicious dish and we ate until there was no empty space in our tummy :P Again we were gossiping and playing with some puzzles. In the evening, Gagan made a big cake and we finished half of it with coffee. Finally, Shanila made a delicious "Khichuri" and we finished our dinner with khichuri with scrambled egg and chicken curry. The next day is working day again for Gagan and Shanila. So we went to bed early.

Cake, made by Gagan, juicy and delicious :P

Shanila prepared a awesome "Khicuri". We ate that with scrambled egg and chichen curry as our dinner.

Today I woke up a bit earlier, around 9 am. Gagan and Shanila went to work already. I am just in home. The weather is really nice, bright and sunny. I may go out for biking. Let's see what comes next :)

Programming solution

Going to Oulu

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:15:00 +0000

Its 20 May, 2009. I am going to Oulu to visit Gagan, one of my best friends. Since I came to Finland, I have been thinking when I will be able go to his home in Oulu. Finally, the time has come and I am going there today.

I have finished my exam last week and my summer holiday has been started since then. I have no class, and no work as well. So, when Gagan invited me to visit him, I decided to take the opportunity and utilize my holidays.

I am going to Oulu by 12 O' clock train. Oulu is at almost 500 kilometers north to Tampere. It will take more than 5 hours by train. I will reach Oulu at 1712 according to the railway service time. I hope everything will be fine and I will spend a nice vacation there.

Programming solution

Eurovision night with pizza dinner

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:25:00 +0000

Yesterday was the final round of Eurovision 2009. We were thinking where we were going to watch the program. As always Miraj vi appeared as the reliever. He invited all of us to watch the program in his home in his giant flat screen television.

We went to Miraj vi's home at 9 pm. We were found that pizza making process was going on. We were gossiping and waiting for the pizza and the eurovision program to be started. The program started at 10 and pizza started to come to the living room. We were watching the program and enjoying the pizza. Seven big pizzas were made for 11 persons. So we could consume as much as we want. The pizza was nice. I ate a lots of pizza and coke. We eneded eating with ice cream and then tea.

I was also enjoying the program. This year the host is Russia since they are the winner of 2008. The Stage was nice and the lighting was also awesome. After all the countries' performance, there was 15 mins time to vote through sms. We were waiting for the result. There were 25 countries in the final. We were eager to see who will be the winner among those 25. The result was declared one by one nation. Finally, Norway won with a big distance to second place. Iceland was in the second place and Azerbaijan was the third. I am amazed, why Finland was at 25th position. Their performance was not so bad I think.

Let's check some videos from the participant countries.

Here goes Norway, the winner of eurovision 2009

Here is Iceland, 2nd place

Here is Azerbaijan, the 3rd place

Here is this year's Finald's performance

And here goes Finland's performance in 2006 when they wins eurovision. Its kinda weird :P

Programming solution

One academic year completed

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:50:00 +0000

Today I just attended the last one of three consecutive exams. The fifth period of academic year 2008-2009 has been over with this exam.

I started this academic year in August, 2008. It seems that I came here only few days back but by this time 9 months has been gone. To tell you the truth, I still haven't worn some of my cloths that I brought from my home. Those are in my cupboard as were folded in Dhaka. Time really does fly.

From today, the three months long vacation is starting. Its a long vacation. For few weeks now, I have been feeling like going home. I am afraid I wont be able in this summer :-(

Programming solution

Leaves are showing up

noreply@blogger.com (eamon) — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:07:00 +0000

For two weeks now the weather is been very nice. The sun is shining almost all the time during day, and the day has become 17 hours long already. During day, the temperature is around +15, thus, it became very comfortable. May be trees are feeling comfortable with this weather too and that's why I am seeing new leaves are showing up.

For almost 6 months, there is no leaf in trees. I was not able to see anything green even though there are lots of trees in Tampere. I have been seeing thousands of trees, all gray. The blooming started with the first drop of rain last week. The trees are becoming alive again. Hopefully, a week from now, all the trees will be green and flowers will start to bloom as well :)

Programming solution