About little girls

[secondlina]

 

You don't see that many islamic ladies with Burquas this time of year. It's a type of clothing that mixes badly with winter, snow and winter coats. Islamic religious garbs have always kindoff been in the middle of controversies. Lots of people claim it goes against women rights, other says that if the women does it for herself it's good, but then again, is she doing it for herself because she is brainwashed or because she honestly believes it brings her closer to god. Or maybe it's just a style of modest clothing, the same way a woman chooses to wear baggy pants over a mini skirt. Basically, it's complicated. I still think it looks kinda mystical and beautiful in it's own way. It still must suck to wear one in the winter.

Link came by this weekend and while we walked in the market on saturday, the weather was mighty fine. We did see three women in burquas walk by. 

On sunday, a much less gorgeous day (rain, rain! COLD rain!) Link and I saw some friends and also visited for the first time his new niece, Lumi. Lumi means "Snow" in finnish. Lumi's mom, Maria, is finnish. She's very small. I was worried about taking her in my arms because I drop everything. But they ended up passing her to me anyways. Figures, she got hungry while I holding her and started crying, which made me feel pretty bad. Ah, she's a cute little snowflake. No boy is ever gonna harm her - she has seven uncles. 



Link was a lot better at holding babies then me. I think he likes babies more then me. I prefer children. If they can outrun you, it's more then parenting, it's a challenge! *laughs*

I also saw Bolt with Link. Our favorite line in the movie in when poor Mittens is confronted with Bolt's "Buzz lightyear" syndrome (aka - I am really a superdog with a super laser stare) and says "Now, I feel concerned on a number of levels."

Priceless.

-Isa
 

Comments

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Kids can say the cutest things. I always thought Burquas were neat to look at too. Not sure if I would personally feel comfortable wearing one all day, but to each his own. ^_~

As cute as babies are, if I get to choose between working babies or children, I'm leaning towards working more with kids once I'm done my course. I love it how kids always have to explain what they're doing and if anything else, you don't have to worry about changing diapers with older children. XD

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Working with children rather then babies is less stressful. I've worked with kids a lot in the past, but always from 5 and up. Older kids can take care of themselves and can vocalize their feelings. Babies can only cry and are somewhat fragile. It freaks me out.

[(Anonymous)]

Heh, Lumi... I didn't get the connection before you said it! That's just weird and scary... I'm from finland by the way (If you didn't figure it out already...)
I dunno about you guys, but I find it a little weird that where ever I go on the net, I always seem to find people who have a connection to Finland... And not just that, I have friends in Sweden, Estonia, Germany and France! (I mean the kind of friends who I can go visit when ever I feel like it and not the internet friends...)
And why is that weird? Well for starters there are only 5 million of us in total and most of us are the family kind of people (meaning we want to stay where we are, start a family and all that... Can't say I'm any different...), so I'm just wondering how can that kind of numbers be enough!

I'm seriously interested, how did Maria end up in USA? (I understand if you don't want to tell, there are all kind of people out there... I'm just interested though, heh heh)

*Laughs* about those uncles... I have somewhere around 35 of "Great uncles" and then there are my fathers brothers and... I have a feeling I'm never going to meet them all... There are some really big families in the Saami culture...

Love your drawing style by the way... I have been studying art for 9 years and I can positively say when someone is talented and/or a hard worker! Dunno about your abstract work though, but hey, that's just my opinion, its still good even if I personally don't like the style...

~BallSabre ,on FF.net

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Slight correction - I'm not American. I am canadian, so Maria is currently living in canada. :) I'm not really sure how she came here first. I know she was here for a year for some kind of study/work exchange program and during that year she met her husband, who is my boyfriend's older brother. They got married in Finland and came back to Canada together. I'm foggy on the details...

I know Canada has a good relationship with Finland, and we actually have a lot of work or study exchanges with that country. A cousin of mine went in a two year study program to finland. When she returned to Canada, she loved finland so much, so got the finnish flag tatooed on her shoulder. (I'm not kidding.) I think she actually is currently in Finland once more. She really feel in love with the language and culture.

Big families are awesome, you are very lucky!

Thank you for your kind comments about my drawings. It's always so great to hear. It's also very nice to meet new people, i'm curious on how you found my journal. I hope you'll keep dropping by so I can get to know you :)

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, my bad... I actually knew you were from Canada, but it just slipped my mind... And I'll try my best to hang around...

How I found this journal? Blame it all on Slayers! I happened to stumble on Revolution's first chapter on onemanga and well I think you know what happens to people who see Slayers... But I have no idea how I ended up with Fanfiction (I have actually written something already!) and of course you can't talk fanfiction (especially not L/G) without DQBunny! And I ended up reading through her work and somewhere along the way I came across LJ, found that hilarious comic about Gourry daydreaming...

I actually commented it, but me being me I totally forgot to sign it...
""Its a shame I can't write down hysterical laughter...
Seriously! That is just... Just... So... TRUE!!!
Trauma... Yes I can definitely see that... I'd probably bee sitting there till the next week... Angry redheads are SCARY!""

Really?! Sorry to say, but your cousin has a weird taste... I'm bored to tears in here!! That's why after the army (Its not optional to men by the way) I'm going to get off my lazy ass and travel the world!

Anyway... What I can tell you about Finish culture in its purest form before you hit the mid 20 or 30 is, it basically consists of tree things... Alcohol, sex and getting drunk! And I'm sick of it!!(And I never thought that was even possible...)

I have heard that people think finnish sounds almost like singing... They say the language the elves speak in LOTR has originated from finnish... (I'm not even going to say what I think about finnish... Me and my friends speak more english than finnish actually...)

Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilaidenkin (66 letters) <= that is one word in finnish and no, I'm not shitting you... you can find it in Guinness world records... the only that is longer is from our *Loved neighbor* sweden! (130 letters!)... sick...

Big families are fun to a certain point anyway... Like I said, I know only 15% of the lot and I have seen about 40%...

~BallSabre

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Aren't you the lucky winner? I was reading your post last night and just before I hit the reply link, the power flickered and the internet went down for the rest of the night. XP So, pretending this is still last night...

I've encountered a lot of women in Muslim dress, especially in Seattle. I can't help but respect someone who would dress head to toe in garb that covers them, although most every woman I ever saw didn't have her face wrapped, but usually a scarf (since I don't know the proper word) on their head. They've always been some of the nicer people I knew. I don't agree with the reasons why women are supposed to be completely covered, but if they want to live that way it's their own choice. It has stirred up controversy in some states though.

And beware the baby! If you find yourself holding her again in a few weeks or so, you might be victim to the baby want to suckle on any breast, finger, nose...thing that they think might provide them with food. I always knew it was time to relinquish my oldest niece (as a baby of course) when she's start turning her head toward my breast. XP So awkward! My oldest brother loved to rub her cheek with his nose since she's instantly turn and clamp her mouth over the tip of his nose. He just thought it was the coolest thing.

Babies become a lot more fun when they become more aware of their surroundings. There's nothing better than getting a baby to smile and laugh, not to mention when you form a bond and that little baby seeks you out. Sheesh, I'm so soft... I hope you get to be around Lumi more so you can feel more at ease around babies. It worked for me!

(And it's probably a given that I adore Mittens. She doesn't get enough love!)

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

I probably would't feel so icky about hijab and burkas if they weren't mostly about putting reins on a woman. Any woman that can turn it around and make it her own has my respect, but women who only wear it because their husbands or fathers force them....it enrages me. Not necessarily at the woman, but at the whole damned culture of it all.

I think it would be sort of good in winter, though o.o. So warm...

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Awww, Lumi is a sweet name! Welcome lil Lumi!!


Bolt is adorable!

[anna-nimmie-tee.livejournal.com]

I've lived in Saudi Arabia for several years. Some of the women told me they felt their husbands respected them if they wanted the wives to cover themselves completely. Some felt more secure when outside the home. You don't get body parts oogled when you're talking. No need to say "Eyes up here!" (Frankly, though, I feel if women have to cover up, men should, too. Then we could all just pay attention to what people say instead of being turned on or off by looks.)

(An interesting thing I learned from a Saudi woman friend was during the pilgrimage to Mecca, it's considered improper for a woman to cover her face. And apparently, while the Koran requires women to cover their heads, it doesn't mention the face. Face covering was a later cultural development. It used to be a status symbol that showed a woman wasn't a nomad or a farmer. During Haj all are equal. No ostentation is allowed.)

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the U.S. has a large population of Finnish origins. It used to be very much amining country as well as a logging region in addition to farming, this last despite the harsh, long winters. My uncle married a woman of Finnish background from the U.P. Surprisingly, Finnish is from the same language family as Turkish! It's not an Indo-Aryan language, which most common Western and Eastern European languages are. My husband, who's studied Turkish, and my aunt once spent a fascinating morning comparing vocabulary relationships and language structure.

When a baby is your own, you learn to love and deal right from the start, fortunately for most of us. (It helped me having other mothers around to consult and to reassure me, I'll admit.)

[(Anonymous)]

"The Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the U.S. has a large population of Finnish origins."
Really? have to drop by some day... heh heh

I actually heard that after the Russian occupation ended and the civil war started many people left to America... And It seems they didn't feel they needed a change, loggers and farmers... that's what everyone did here as well, while giving the international hand sine to the long winter

Your right about that, but it would seem we have something else in common with the Turks... We love KEBAB!

[anna-nimmie-tee.livejournal.com]

The Finnish population of the U.P. of Michigan has been there at least over a century. They probably started emigrating to the American Midwest about the same time as the Swedes and Norwegians to Minnesota, Wisconsin, & the Dakotas. When contacts and marriage with other ethic groups is limited, languages or vestiges or languages do tend to survive in the States.

When I was a little kid, we moved to a small, eastern Pennsylvanian town that had been founded by Germans in 1740. In the 1960s you could still hear the German dialect of the original settlers spoken on the streets by the old folks. Modern German speakers do have a difficult time with it, though. The same thing might happen if you tried to speak modern Finnish with one of the Michigan speakers whose knowledge of Finnish was passed down through time in the family.

[(Anonymous)]

My finnish wouldn't be understood outside the most southern parts of Finland! Heh, you ever heard of slang? They are REALLY powerful here...

Well if they have been there for that long they must be the ones that ran from the Sweden's rule... (Or they could see into the future and just barely avoided THE bloodiest time in Finland's history)

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I wonder, couldn't a winter coat be worn over a Burqua? I've never been much for fashions or religious conventions, but I'm all about staying warm!