Outlandish

Estonia has actually two Independence Days. The first one was on 24th February, when they celebrate the Independence Declaration made in 1918. After the Second World War, though, they were occupied by the Soviet Union and the country was forced into communism. In 1991 when the Soviet Union was crumbling, Estonia declared itself independent again while the Soviet tanks roamed the countryside trying to stifle all hope of becoming independent again and soldiers were trying to take over the TV tower to shut down all communication channels (which obviously was much easier back then). But despite all Soviet soldiers' efforts Estonians stood their ground and on Saturday 20th August they celebrated their 25th year of Independence.  Estonians are quite patriotic, especially when I compare them to their brother nation, Finland. They take their independence seriously and Tallinn was filled with all sorts of concerts and markets and Estonian flags. In Finland people just...

Finally back in Tallinn after a month of traveling all over the place. Good to be back! I arrived again on the last ship on Wednesday evening and oh how wonderful it was to close the door behind me and see my perfect apartment in front of me just as I left it three weeks before. My couch, my kettle and my bed! I can't even count how many kilometers or hours I spent altogether on buses around the European subcontinent or the places where I slept. Even at my parents' place I sleep in my brother's old room so I didn't feel "at home" sleeping anywhere this past month.  But don't get me wrong, I am not complaining! This has been probably the best June I've ever had, also weather-wise! Instead of going to Turku to home office after my trip to Slovakia I was able to go home and work from there already on the second week of the month. Being able to work from basically anywhere is an absolute necessity to me these days, I don't even understand ...

This gorgeous summer weather already in May (yes, up in these latitudes it’s a rarety that May is warm and sunny, usually we can expect snow any minute) is making me nuts! I’m so happy, I feel like a balloon that’s too full of helium on the brink of exploding. Any moment I might just jump up from my work chair and start climbing the walls and laugh uncontrollably without any proper reason. Just because I feel like it and it’s this woooonderful warmth and sunshine that is doing it to me! Last week I traveled home to Turku on the first morning boat. I was sooo tired and as always also quite grumpy. Before 10AM is just too early to be expected to be jolly about anything. But sitting there on the view deck at the front of the ship, watching the sun rise from the East and two swans flying diagonally past the front of the ship no matter how tired and grumpy, I smiled to myself. On Thursday morning me and my brother and his girlfriend drove to the Turku Archipelago to ...

Spring, what a wonderful excuse for shopping! The days in Estonia have already grown long and the Sun shines all the way to 7pm. Sun. Exactly, it has been seen multiple times in the past month and snow is only a bad memory (may it stay that way!). The bare trees still look a bit miserable but from the way my eyes are starting to itch I can tell there is pollen in the air, which means there is hope, even though the next few months will be challenging for us pollen allergics.  Spring makes me so happy every time. And the least you can do to celebrate such happiness is to look good. I never get out of the door if I'm not happy with what I see in the mirror but winter with the coldness and wetness made my choices clothing-wise very limited. I never wear the same shoes two days in a row but in winter I don't have a choice. So when spring comes and the streets are dry I take all joy out of my neglected shoe closet (yes, I have a closet full of shoes). With the shoes I...

We are hiring more Finnish people to the office and I’ve been responsible for doing the interviews. My favourite question is “describe yourself with three adjectives” because it totally throws Finns, every time. They go all quiet and their brain is working like crazy to come up with something and usually people say that if I had asked for negatives, it would have been easier for them. At first it made me laugh because it’s such a stereotype but so true as well. But after the third person struggled with this questions  I grew more worried than cheery. It can’t be right that people don’t appreciate themselves enough for three little words. It made me think about self-esteem and what it requires. Especially in today’s media-centric world girls and women are given the impression that they aren’t good enough until they are starving 24/7 or muscly enough to resemble a man, but also in that case they are almost required to have an eating disorder. But not just media, also cult...

International women's day! Still in the 21st century, even though we in Nordic countries don't put much stock on it, it is a very important day, in my opinion. In my several travels I have realized how much work we still have to do even in Europe to reach equality between sexes. In Southern and Eastern European countries women are still too often seen as baby dispensers and as someones whose only purpose in life is to make a man happy. Also in Western countries this can be seen unfortunately much and it's not necessarily a man's fault that a woman is in such a repressed position in a relationship. Eventually we have to take charge of how people around us perceive us and not let them determine that for us. In Finland I have followed how we have slipped backwards worth several decades in just a year or two when it comes to attitudes towards women. Internet has given men an easy and faceless way to attack unknown women who dare to think differently from thems...