Bought a car

Since I have enrolled into driving school I have been looking for a car from time to time. But I started looking for one heavily from 2 weeks before my driving test. Somehow I was biased about German car. So I was looking for mostly Opel and Volkswagen because other German cars, such as Audi, BMW or Mercedes, are totally out of my capability. Just few days before my driving test I found one Volkswagen Golf MK4 2002 station wagon model which seems quite good. Also not very far from my home, around 30 km. We have talked to the owner of the car over the phone with the help of one of my colleagues, Mika. From the conversation it sounded suitable for us. So we decided to see the car in person.

When we went to the place and had a look at the car it also looked pretty OK. Mika had a test drive for 15 minutes and he said that it was fine. We checked the service manual and looks like they have been doing servicing of the car in a scheduled manner. There were few spots on the car which the owner already mentioned over the phone. Well, it's more than a decade old car, it can't be without any spot :) We agreed on the price and made the deal.

It was Wednesday, 11 June, when we went to pick up the car. It was just 2 days after I have got my driving license. Now I had to drive it back home because Mika will drive his own car on the way back. I was a bit nervous but finally jumped into the driving seat and started the car, my first ever car :)

I drove the car to my home. Called Sharmin to come down. She was amazed to see that I was driving it back home. She thought may be Mika would drive it here. I was smiling and said that at least I didn't have any accident :P We, three of us - Sharmin, me and Ninad, had a small ride for few kilometers and came back to the parking place. Then some of my friends came to see the car. Everybody did congratulate me for getting my first car. I was also quite happy :) Well sooooooooooo happy :D

Here goes one picture of our car :)

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Got the driving license

I never had a driving license in my life, neither in Bangladesh, nor in Finland. But exactly 2 weeks back on 9 June I got my first ever driving license here in Finland :)

I have started my driving lesson on 17 March this year. The theory lesson was finished in 3 weeks but the practical lessons took quite long. We had to take at least 18 hours of practical lessons. At the end of 18 lessons my instructor told me to take few extra lessons because I might not pass the test. So I took 3 extra lessons and then appeared in the test 2 weeks ago.

I was a bit nervous the previous day but on the day of test I was not tensed at all. I just took it normally and it went pretty well. I was talking with my examiner and looks like he was happy with my driving. So he approved me as a driver :) It did sound very sweet when he said that after my 30 minutes long test. Now I am legally allowed to drive here in Finland and also anywhere in the world, I guess :)



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Ninad's first abroad trip

Last week Ninad had his first trip to abroad. I mean outside Finland. We went to Sweden to apply for his Bangladeshi passport.

Unfortunately there is no Bangladeshi embassy in Finland. The nearest one is in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. For a newborn baby you have to apply for a new passport. Everybody knows that. But what I didn't know was the baby has to visit the embassy to show his face. So, eventually, all three of us (Sharmin, Ninad & me) went to visit Stockholm on 4 June.

We took the Vikingline ferry from Helsinki on Wednesday at 17:30. We reached Stockholm around 10 AM in the morning next day. From the harbour I took a taxi and went straight to the embassy. We submitted his application within an hour. I didn't expect it to be that fast. Apparently there were not many people in the queue. On the way coming back we took the metro. It took a while to come to Slussen. That is the nearest metro stop from harbour. We had our lunch in McDonald's and around 3 PM we started walking towards the ferry. It left the harbour at 4:30 PM Stockholm time.

This time the trip was very different since we had a small kid with us. We couldn't go to the dance floor or to the music room. Most of the time we were with our son. On the way to Stockholm the weather was quite nice. So we went to the deck for couple of minutes. I remember, last time before this one, Sharmin and me spent couple of hours on the deck :) But this time also it was not bad at all. We were sitting in the hallway beside the window, enjoying the archipelago. While coming back from Stockholm, the weather was a bit gloomy. So we didn't go to the deck. We stayed inside, having coffee and gossip. Ninad was also happily excited. He was so interested about the seagulls and looking at them constantly. On that night we also slept better.

This is Ninad's first ever trip outside Finland. He is so young to realize it but we were excited instead :P We didn't take many pictures but still here go some from those 3 days :)

 The journey started in a sunny day :)

 In front of our room, 5121

 Happy beside window :)

 On the open deck, it was very windy

Looking at the seagulls

Busy playing in the game room for kids :)

I liked that octopus :D

 Inside the embassy of Bangladesh, why he is so happy :-S

 In front of the embassy building

 In Stockholm metro

 Walking towards the ferry, in Slussen

 Boarding the ship for coming back. Ninad was amazed to see that doll :)

Came back to Helsinki. That's a new ferris wheel in Helsinki harbor.

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