So much to blog! Cell phone, Kela and Library Card!

We received our Security ID#s (aka Personal Identification Codes) today - wahoo.
As I mentioned before - Tim and I have unique numbers according to our DOB and some randomly generated stuff added on the end. As well beneath it, it says ALIVE.

Ok - so we went downtown and I stated a cell phone stop would be wise first as we'll probably have forms to fill out that will request a phone number (which we did) - and it was great.
The cell phone company is DNA. They're pretty hip and they have lime green shirts and ties they have to wear....it's pretty neat. Anyways - the guy we got to help us spoke decent enough English that we could get what we wanted.
Simple phone, cheap phone, and text messaging and a cheap plan. BINGO. We opted out of a 2 year contract and went with a 1 year contract that automatically goes month-to-month after the 1 year is completed. As well a one year contract gave us 14% off our calls on the weekends.
As well there's this code you can punch in before dialing a Canadian number - and it only costs 4 Euro Cents a minute!! However that is the present special now - it can fluctuate in pricing the guy said. He kindly gave us the website so we can watch the pricing... it's similar to YAK! or any of those other programs where you dial a # (it all goes on your regular phone bill) and then dial the # of the person you wish to speak with....
Oh and here's the best part. It's cheaper to text someone in Canada (18 Euro Cents/text) than it is to text someone in Finland (varies with plan). HAAHAHA.
The plan we picked was 66 Euro cents /month for a monthly fee (Finland is pretty much the cheapest in all of Europe we've been told) and then 67 cents/minute or per text. So even if we sent 100 text messages - a monthly bill would still be under 10 Euros!
It was just wonderful to be able to speak to a salesman who wanted our business but was not pushy about 2 year contracts (it costs 100 Euros/line to cancel your contract here on top of whatever is owing at the time) or getting us to pick expensive phones. We ended up buying the phones outright (under 60 Euros each!!) and were very pleased with the services we got.
So it's a Nokia 2330 Classic - in case you're the type that is curious. Short form?
Camera, blue-tooth, fm radio and not a flip phone. But it's simple enough to use and has Brain Challenge Vol. 2 and some other neat games already installed on it. AND it's in English. Wahoo - just not the booklets - but that's okay - my friend found one online for me.

Alright - so we went to the Kela - which is a service for coverage for people of Finland and those who have residence Permits (aka us). She looked over our documents and we're good to go to use the public services (aka I can pop at anytime with peace of mind - as opposed to this morning) and the Kela is more for private health care. Not quite sure how medications fit in with this - but once our application is approved (can take up to 4 weeks) then we're good to go! Kela runs a lot of things besides medical/dental care. They're also the social services (from what I understand) for those who are on maternity/paternity leaves, un-employment, job search, private health care(s) etc. I confess I nearly passed out when she said we'll get the information in 4 weeks - as that would mean I'd have 2 weeks to meet a mid-wife etc. But she confirmed because we have our Personal ID #s - we're okay to go and have the baby across the street and the clinic is up a little hill from our building. I can actually see their parking lot from the living room window - where I am sitting.

OKAY - so the most exciting part of my day was going to the library!! I stopped going to the library when I was in Halifax because of location and trying to save on gas and probably pure laziness. So I got into buying books again (thank goodness for a Chapters discount card).
But now that I'm in Finland - I figured to keep myself on top of things - I should get a library card. The library is downtown on a corner and has a cafe inside.
It's huge - I would guess the size of your above-average Chapters or Superstore with 3 floors.
Tim and I walked in just to take a peek (before he headed to school to get some admin stuff done) and we had our jaws down to the floors.
It's 3 floors, spacious, has bathrooms (or WC) on every floor and the English selection of novels really wasn't that bad!! (I was too tired to find some books on needle felting - maybe on Monday...) It's really like a mall in all honesty.
All I needed was my Passport and I got a library card.
When you've picked up your items you want to scan and check out - you can do it yourself or get a staff member to assist you. It's pretty neat actually.
There's a touch screen and you insert your card into a slot. While the card is in there (the touch screen gives you choice of English, Swedish or Finnish) you place your book barcode up and when it is done scanning then you'll see the book information on the bottom of the screen. Once you're done - remove your card and your receipt will print out with the date it's due and the time/day you checked it out.
I thought this was neat - and at first I was scanning the book like at the grocery store...just running it under and removing my card as soon as I inserted it. Thankfully the same lady that set me up with the card was able to assist me. Yep - I will now take this opportunity to blame it on the pregnancy brain AND the hidden blonde roots.

Now the loan periods are as follow:
Books/mags/musical notes/recordings/language courses/cd-roms = 4 weeks
Express loans = 2 weeks
Videos/dvds = 1 week
You can renew an item up to 5x as long as nobody else is on a waiting list for it and you can go into the library to renew it, phoning the library or on the internet with a special password.

Alright - that's enough for now - sorry for the blabbing but I am very excited!