It’s holiday time! We all survived (school) year number two “back”. By now I’m counting on reading, being quiet and sitting still being overrated what comes to kids of today succeeding in the future. Talky’s grades (which they officially only get at the end of 6th grade) are the same as in South Africa. Only […]
Author: CTmeetsHelsinki
Losing
The past months have proven, that it is – at least for me – impossible to live in Finland without getting caught in that work-sleep-work-sleep-work-sleep mindset. Maybe it’s in the air, maybe it’s in the food, maybe it’s in the water. For the past months my social life has been next to none. Reading books […]
HELMETS AND NETS
Once upon time I took Talky, then 5, scooting along Sea Point promenade in Cape Town. Mom, I’m the only one wearing a helmet, I feel retard. Me [looks around]: Right, take it off. Once upon time we lived in South Africa, a country without nets. No safety nets provided by the state, no safety […]
MANNERS MATTER?
BOX OF CHOCOLATE It was Valentine’s Day yesterday. In Finland it’s also known as Friend’s Day. As a temporary single parent – the other went to a country where electricity and water don’t come for granted – as felt entitled to post a picture on FB stating: Roses are red chocolate is brown you’re getting […]
COMPLEX AND SIMPLEX
EVERYDAY BLA-BLA-BLAAH Today I visited for the first time the almost-world-famous library Oodi. Reason for my visit was a book launch. I was curious to hear how a Finnish author ended up writing about South African black middle class living in security estates and belonging to what she called start-up churches. So here I am, […]
PARALLEL UNIVERSE
aka things not likely to happen in ones real universe. Not that I’m saying they necessarily all happen in the parallel universe either. 1. Have a few too many glasses of wine when having a braai, and then drive home without even realising it’s not ok. 2. Go on a five day hike as the […]
ON THE LESS SUNNY SIDE
That weekend happiness was short lived. NO ELECTRICITY NO COFFEE On Monday morning the alarm clock went off at 6:30am as there was a manuscript deadline looming at 6pm, and the customer was only to deliver the draft with comments in the morning. I have a really bad habit of checking the news (or Facebook) […]
ON THE SUNNY SIDE
It was a rainy grey day when I booked a flight to Cape Town. Sporty had at some point said to me “why don’t you go to Cape Town for November”, obviously not thinking I might actually go ahead with the idea. So here I am. And as it happened, my arrival in Cape Town […]
BEING CREATIVE
aka trying to be a little less rational and analytical. Sometime in August I had a huge energy boost accompanied with some optimism with time management. This sudden boost resulted in spending Wednesday evenings on a creative writing technique course, and Friday evenings on a photo art project course. Creative writing techniques I’m very much […]
TOP 10 PHOTOS
One of my Let’s Close This Chapter project was making a photobook. What started as a fun project – so fun I at some point considered exploring the opportunity to making it a business – almost ended up one of those Then When projects. Thanks to everybody in South Africa who contributed in the form […]
MONEY MATTERS
and injury issues. Both sports related. Now when we have successfully medicated Talky to meet the requirements set by the world famous Finnish education system, there is more time and extra energy to focus on other Very Important Problems. Such as doing sports. And not doing sports. MONEY MATTERS Talky takes swimming classes five times […]
YEAR TWO
after Cape Town. Today a year and 11 days, to be precise. Not that I’m counting days, like with my not-running (28). I sure hope years are different from children – wonderful ones, terrible twos. YEAR ONE Because year one back in Helsinki is not a year I ever want to relive, nor do I […]
FRIENDS FOREVER
Some people come, play an important role in a play called your life, and go. Think about your childhood best friend, best friend in high school, first boyfriend or girlfriend, ex-colleagues, and so on. I’m still in touch with my childhood best friend. Sort of. Facebook, you know. I’m still friends with my high school […]
LETTING GO
BACK VS. HOME VS. BACK HOME So when is one back? Or home? Or back home? There is the lame saying home is where your heart is. Yikes. Perhaps if you want to know where your home is look where your mind goes when it wanders is slightly better. We’ve been back/home/back home now almost […]
DOING BUSINESS HERE AND THERE
Business is one of the fields where Finland and South Africa are worlds apart. As entrepreneurs, we’ve had the pleasure of doing business in both, as well as witnessing Finnish companies doing business in South Africa and South Africans doing business in Finland. FINLAND IN SOUTH AFRICA Most Finnish companies are completely in love with […]
AN ACCIDENT
There probably aren’t too many parents for primary school aged kids in Finland, who to at least some degree don’t get chills, when “There is a message for you in Wilma” pops up on the screen. Getting a message with subject “Accident today” definitely was one causing chills. Although my instant first reaction was did […]
FLASHBACKS
We left South Africa only a few days after our last big South African roadtrip. Whether it was denial, living in a moment, or just plain hurry, the end result was certain things turning into loose ends. One of them was our beloved and trustworthy companion, our Kia. Faithfully serving us for more than 100,000 […]
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
ONE SIZE FITS ALL IN FINLAND? When we moved to South Africa we pretty much knew, the country isn’t going to adapt to us, we are the ones who need to change. When we moved back to Finland, we had changed, and knew we needed to revert closer to our already partly forgotten original mindset […]
WINTER FUN
Getting dressed was so easy in Cape Town, says Talky when putting on third layer of clothes. Value of stuff lost was so much lower in Cape Town, I’m thinking. The truth is, I think we all are loving the proper white winter, arriving the day I landed in Helsinki after five weeks in Cape […]
HOW SOUTH AFRICA MADE ME DEMANDING
To save some time – we are culturally bound to busyness – I bought Talky a rug online. You know, here in the developed part of the world we do everything online and digitally. The rug was supposed to be delivered in 2-3 days. A week passed, so did the second week, and I had […]