Happy New Year

The holiday is over & work/school has begun. The guests left us on Saturday & we won't have any more (at least from Finland) during January. In the end of last week we made the Finnish version of the TV channel's latest presentation video. We'll post the download link to it in our next newsletter. We've already sent out December's newsletter in both languages & are eagerly awaiting comments...

Enjoying the holiday

The funeral went well & before returning to Cyprus I met some friends in Helsinki. My parents-in-law had arrived while I was away & especially the kids have enjoyed the company of their grandparents. We've attended a number of different Christmas parties & the holiday season with guests coming & going isn't over yet. In the beginning of the new year, my wife's brother & girlfriend will visit us during 1 week.

And now I'll return to reading one of the X-mas present books in the sun on the terrace... have a happy holiday!

Greetings from southern Finland

The from Cyprus trip went well although the flight from Istanbul arrived almost 2h late. My dad picked me up & we made it to Ekenäs with 5 minutes to spare before my cousin's Christmas concert started. The music was great & I bought a big bunch of their new Christmas CD:s to give away. You can also buy this Swedish á cappella/gospel/jazz/trad. music at www.romberg.fi (oh yeah, btw: I'm the bas voice on 3 of their songs...).

Yesterday I enjoyed the old fashioned Christmas market/fair with my parents & brother+wife. After lunch we helped mom bake a batch of ginger bread cookies & in the evening we took my grandmother to visit some relatives while I went to the chapel to practice a song I'll be singing tomorrow at the funeral.

Today we went to Hangö to test the projector & sound system at the parish house where we'll have coffee after the burial ceremony. I'll be showing a video there of WAX singing a "goodbye" song. It feels good to be with family during these sad times...

Funeral in Finland

During the past weeks I've been back at work. We've had a conference for our partners & an inauguration party for our studio. It took until the end of Nov before we had the Oct newsletter ready & we plan to send the Nov newsletter tomorrow.

On Dec 1 my mom's father in Finland passed away. So only 1,5 months after my dad's father was buried in Sweden, it's again time for me to attend a funeral in Scandinavia. I'll be in the Tammisaari/Ekenäs & Hanko/Hangö area Dec 12-16, returning to Cyprus Dec 17.

On the way to recovery

The surgery today was very painful but afterwards the "slipped disc pain" had disappeared! I'm of course still very sore & weak from the operation but I can already walk/stand for shorter periods. I'm excited to see how quickly the recovery will be during the coming week/s, can't wait to get back to work ASAP...

Surgery Nov 4th

"Selective Endoscopic Discectomy is a minimally invasive spine surgery technique that utilizes an endoscope..." Read more & watch a narrated animation at http://www.sciatica.com/sed-surgery.html

So what's going on?

Well, we got the September newsletter sent before I left for Sweden (& we got a couple of good comments back which is always appreciated of course). I'm very thankful that I had the possibility to attend the funeral, it was important to be able to mourn together with my relatives.

This Friday I was working in our new TV-studio in Limassol. During the day I felt pain in my back slowly increasing & when it was time to go home I was in really bad shape - it seems as if the slipped disc situation has returned... On my way to Nicosia, I called the doctor who treated me during the spring episode to tell him that I wanted to schedule an operation.

My parents will be arriving to Cyprus tonight which is good timing as my wife can then get some help during the coming week when I'm of no use. They will stay for 2 weeks & participate in our TV network's conference Nov 11-13. I also expect that I can perform my job responsibilities as floor manager there as the doctor said I'd be at 70% work capability the same day that I've been operated.

My boss from Finland will also come for the conference & after that we'll have some days of sending agency meetings with him. On Monday Nov 16 we will have an inauguration ceremony for the TV studio & we'll also film a pre-Christmas party there. But first of all I need to get the operation done & over with, the preliminary plan is to do it in the middle of this coming week...

Beautiful photos from Afghanistan

Some months ago, I got one of my friends here in Cyprus hitched up with my contacts in Afghanistan. He spent a couple of weeks up in the mountains, photographing the people he met. Here are some of his pics in a brand new video, enjoy!

Afghanistan 2009

Funeral in Sweden

On October 10th my 95 year old grandfather passed away. Thankfully my parents made it back from Afghanistan within 24h in time to say goodbye before he died. The funeral will be on Oct 23rd so I will fly to Copenhagen one day before & take the train to southern Sweden. I return to Cyprus on the 27th via Istanbul. The 28th is a national holiday so it's great that I'll have the possibility to rest after the trip before returning to work.

Today I was in our own brand new TV studio in Limassol, getting the equipment ready for the 1st day of filming tomorrow!

July-August newletter

...was sent 27th Sept. My wife also wrote an article in Finnish that was published in our sending agency's magazine 25th Sept which I translated into Swedish for another magazine (which will be published soon).

At the moment we have guests from Finland (29th Sept - 6th Oct) & when they leave, some relatives will come to spend almost 2 weeks with us (10th - 21st Oct). Now we'll soon start working on September's newsletter...