Outlandish

 I thought name days were a tradition only in the Nordic countries. But apparently they are even bigger deal here! Every now and then in the office I can see a team hugging each other and changing gifts and turns out, usually these outbursts of affection are about name days. On Friday a member of the Polish team had a name day and we headed to Slavin for a little after-work. Slavin is a memorial monument and a cemetary for Soviet soldiers who fell during the World War II. The monument is on a hill where one can find the President's residence and some of the most beautiful and expensive houses in Bratislava. We walked up the hill in just under 30 degrees celsius but we could've also taken a 'trolly'. It was definitely worth the climb: the view was amazing! And the monument was a perfect place for a little picnic. Speaking of names; I've always been under the impression that my name is probably the most international name ever. Everywhere in ...

One evening on my way home from work it rained quite hard. It didn't last long but it was definitely what was needed after many weeks of heat. I love the smell that follows heavy rain; freshness. So, walking home in the wet sunset I found myself feeling extremely content. I'm happy here. I have a job in a great company in a country that's easy to live in. I've had no problems with settling here and I haven't even managed to get lost! That's a big deal for me :D  Anyway, this week has been about reminding the world of the fact that gay, lesbian and transgender people are regular people just like everybody else. Dell is also involved in spreading awareness on this issue by inviting us working in Bratislava to take part in the Rainbow Pride Bratislava march on Saturday. I had to go and see what it was all about, especially since in my dear home country 10 middle-aged bricks decided to rule over the 166 000 people who voted for gays to have the same ri...

What an exciting start for the week! I always travel to work by cable cars and as an honest Finn I always pay for a ticket... Actually I don't. There aren't machines or anything on the vehicles to check the tickets so it's easier and much cheaper to travel without one. Except, on Monday on my way home I saw a girl taking out her travel card on the way and instantly I knew: trouble's coming! A guy in a black shirt was moving through the carriage with a contraption beeping people's travel cards. Oh, the adrenaline rush! Next stop, come oooon next stop!! Fortunately there was another unfortunate foreign soul traveling without a ticket and the contraption guy got to him first. It took them so long to find a common language and then to start considering whether he had the right to be on vehicle or not that the next stop arrived and I hopped to freedom. And got right on the next cable car. After the incident I've had this daredevil feeling when on public tr...

In Finland everybody's been celebrating Midsummer, the nightless night this weekend. This is the first time ever in my life that I do not spend Midsummer at my parents' summer house. But it was quite ok, even though on Friday I had to go to work when the Finnish and Swedish teams had a day off. If I had also had a day off I would have had to clean up my room... so I was happy to go to work.  Home, sweet home    Light lunch with cocktails      The lunch on Saturday streched a little and we ended up watching football for the rest of the evening accompanied by cocktails, beer and wine. Finally I got to see some football! On Sunday I cursed the fact that I had remembered to take all kinds of medicine related to flu and such with me, but the one thing that I believe will cure cancer and everything, those medicine I forgot! And that would be Burana. They probably sell other similar medicine here but I just don't think they are the sam...

I started a tradition of buying something from Marimekko when I moved to London. Back then it was trainers. This time I had spotted a beautiful clutch from them in a magazine and I had to have it. The print was so rare, though, that it was maybe only sold in an outlet in Helsinki. I asked for help from friends in Helsinki and they told me that the bag wasn't available anymore. So, you can imagine the delight I, as a hopeless materialist, experienced when my friends surprised me with this beauty on my last night in Finland. Goes to show how special my friends are; they get me. And that's why they are so bloody important to me! ♥ I would also like to pay homage to all the old and faithful Nokia phones! The ones that will still work after the wold has ended. Once again taking my old Nokia with me was the bestest idea: after landing in Bratislava airport I was able to call mum and then my Samsung decided it would co-operate no more. I couldn't call, I cou...

  For a change my flight through Oslo went without hiccoughs and I arrived in Bratislava tired but excited. It is only my 3rd day here but I have already managed to empty the local Ikea, gotten a Slovak phone number and internet connection to my phone and also opened a bank account. Although I must mention, none of these things probably wouldn't have happened yet if I hadn't had a lot of help here! There's a saying 'Home is where your heart is'. I've always thought I left a chunk of my heart to Brighton when I was there at the age of 15. And obviously a big part will always reside in Finland. But basically I feel at home anywhere where I have a comfortable bed. That's why picking up bed linen was my first priority on Sunday morning. On Monday I turned a brand new page in my life and signed my first ever permanent work agreement with Dell s.r.o. The thing that, for some reason, especially thrills me is that after a year I will be able to ha...

Six days until it's time to be on my way again. The last two weeks I've planned and prepared my flat to be packed up and all the time I've tried to adjust to the idea of leaving. But it hasn't felt like reality so much yet. Last night, though, I dreamed I was sitting in my room at my parents' place after it had been emptied. There was a desk with nothing on it or in the drawers. The wardrobe doors were open but there was nothing in them. And in the morning I remembered again the feeling that follows after you have done everything else, and the only thing left to be done is leaving. That feeling sucks. But it's something you have to get over and just go. The odds are something great is waiting behind the corner, which you will miss if you let the not-so-great feelings take over.  The picture above gives an accurate picture of my packing method: going through the closets one can find clothes that have been overlooked for a while and come up with new o...

Packing... the ultimate nightmare. But unfortunately it is also a necessary evil that has to be faced when moving abroad. Although the process is very familiar to me, it always succeeds to overwhelm me: how on earth am I supposed to fit all these clothes, all these bags and shoes, all my books, bed linen, shoes, tea mugs, shoes, etc. into a single suitcase and one hand package-sized bag??   The picture above shows not even a third of all my shoes. All important to me, all beautiful (except maybe the sneakers) and all of them shoes that I want to wear still in future. But, unfortunately, some of them have to be left behind. Good thing some of my friends have the same shoe size, it would be difficult to give my darlings to strangers. Because tossing them is not an option!  The summer weather here is also proving to be very distracting. Instead of swimming in shoes and clothes I'd much rather go out to sit by the river Aura with a nice cup of coffee from Café Art...