Out with the Old, In with the New

Well the headline might be somewhat misleading, because the point of this post is mainly about reminiscing the past year and taking a look at what is to come. My past year has been completely amazing. I haven't had the chance to travel as much as I wanted, but instead I had the chance to make one of my big dreams come true. I went to Australia. But that's not the only great thing about last year. It was a big year in terms of meeting new people. Australia had a huge effect on that, not only while being in that beautiful country down under, but also because of what happened as a result of being there. I started a new hobby. I found the love of my life: west coast swing. For those of you who don't know what it is, I'll tell you. It's a swing dance style that originates from the United States of America. Logically from the west coast. If you are interested, there are loads of videos on YouTube.
 
In Australia I was lucky enough to take two classes a week with the absolutely fabulous Raw Connection in Brisbane, and coming back to Finland I was a bit worried about what the WCS scene here would look like. I was happy to realize that my city has the largest and most active scene in Finland, although much smaller and less advanced than in Brisbane. The people are amazing though and the teachers fantastic and inspiring! Thanks to WCS this fall has been full of dancing and new, amazing people. I have attended three workshops and a WCS cruise, and it's safe to say that it has been the best autumn of my life!

Australia was however about much more than just WCS. The greatest thing about that trip, as well as any other trip, were all the people I met. I think I've made some friends for life and I don't think I've ever felt that welcome anywhere. I miss you guys! The atmosphere was great and since I mostly hung out with dancers, I got to try out a lot of other dancing styles as well: bachata, salsa, zouk and kizomba. Needless to say that WCS was the one that stole my heart.

Going back to last spring, my biggest dilemma was saving up some money for Australia, which obviously meant that I couldn't travel that much. Instead I spent most of my time enjoying dinner parties with friends, but I did do a few weekend trips within Finland as well. What else did I do last year? I recorded a Christmas cd with my choir, Tampereen yliopiston laulajat, and finished my fourth and last year in the choir board. I developed my own company to a level I never would have imagined, and I arranged a lot of fun parties. I baked a lot of cakes, cooked a lot of food, smoked more shisha than ever and hosted loads of couchsurfers from all over the world. I managed to learn a lot of difficult songs and performed them at two different concerts with my beloved choir. With that same choir I attended the Tampere Vocal Music Festival and recieved a silver stamp. During the festival I also hosted the slovakian choir, Collegium Technicum, and arranged a lot of program for them. I surfed for the first time of my life (hopefully not the last time). I checked out the amazing city of Singapore and showed a fantastic Australian girl a good time in Helsinki. I enjoyed the most beautiful autumn since moving to Tampere and got sad because the winter never came. I spent more time than ever with my dearest friend, including my time in Australia, as well as Christmas and an epic New Years celebration. Well that's not all, but I suppose those are the highlights.

One of many cakes.

TYL on stage performing at Tampere Vocal Music Festival.

Picnic in the park with Collegium Technicum from Slovakia.

Little buddy at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Brisbane.

Visiting the best friend in the world in Australia.

A visitor from down under.

Mind-blowing autum foliage.

So is it possible to top such an amazing year? Well, it'll be hard, but I can sure try. I have so much planned already, so it is looking good. Travel-wise there will be a wedding in Spain, a birthday party in Amsterdam, possibly another wedding celebration in Slovakia, maybe a WCS event in the south of France and a choir trip to Slovakia. Not bad plans, considering it's only the 3rd of January today... There will definitely be more dancing and lots of great dinner parties. Maybe I'll finally even graduate. Here's hoping...

Well anyways, a huge thanks to all the amazing people in my life for making the past year so unforgettable! Let's make this one even better!

Between Tsunamis and Other Disasters

Today I stumbled upon a video on YouTube about the tsunami in Asia in 2004. It moved me deeply and I was nearly crying. It was put together with material that survivors filmed during the tsunami. It also contained interviews with survivors. When the tsunami happened in 2004 I was visiting two old friends in Sweden and we were about to go out celebrating. We were having a drink at my friends house and we were joking around, since we hadn't seen each other for some time. My friends mum was watching the news on TV and that’s when we saw it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had to sit down. We watched the news for a while, but we still went out and had a nice night. The events were happening so far away from cold and snowy Sweden and it was hard to relate. It was hard to believe. It felt very unreal, like it had been a film.

Here's the first part of Tsunami - Caught On Camera.

 

 Seeing the video got me thinking though. It seems that when these kind of horrible things happen, it must shake you to the core, even though you don’t notice it at the time, because still after years and years you can remember exactly where you were, exactly what you were doing and who you were with, when you heard about it.

I can still clearly remember where I was when I heard that Princess Diana died. It was the 1^st of October 1997 and I was 11 years old. I was visiting my friend and we were playing in the living room. Her mum was cooking pasta and we were always going into the kitchen to steal half-raw spaghetti from the pot. That’s when my friend told me that Di had been killed in an accident. First I thought she was joking, but she insisted. Then she showed me an article in the evening news paper, and I had no choice but believe. I was shocked.

There is also another thing that has happened during my lifetime, which has had devastating consequences. It was the morning of September 11^th 2001 and I was at school. I was 15 years old. We had our first break and we were watching TV in the hallway. All of a sudden the show was interrupted by an additional news broadcast. They were showing footage of an airplane flying into a tower and soon afterward another plane flying into another tower. A while after that the towers collapsed. That was the only thing people were talking about at school that day. Hell, I think that is the only thing the whole world talked about that day.

Nevertheless it is these kinds of things that stick with you no matter what.

Here in Finland we are leading a fairly sheltered life. We are not in a risk zone for disasters. We won’t have any earthquakes, tsunamis, erupting volcanoes or hurricanes. At least it is very unlikely. We are not considered a possible target for terrorists (except school murderers or men like Breivik). Who wants to attack Santa’s home anyways? Certainly our government has faced criticism from south European countries for not wanting to help them without any securities, but nobody really sees Finland as a political threat.

What I’m saying is that I feel very safe living in Finland. When I was watching that video today about the tsunami, I started thinking about my travels. My traveling has increased tremendously in the last decade and it isn’t unlikely for me to be at one of those places when something like the tsunami or 9/11 happens. After all, I don’t plan to travel less. I will rather be traveling more. It’s a scary thought altogether. What if a tsunami happens, when I’m in Thailand? What if I will be in the middle of a terrorist attack? For a minute there I almost said to myself: “I never want to travel again!” Then I got back to my senses and realized that I could just as well be killed by an icicle just walking out of my front door.

What I mean is that I can’t start being scared of things that might happen, because I would miss out on living my life and experiencing new things. Tell you the truth; I would rather die in a tsunami in Thailand while snorkeling, than being too scared to do things that I love. I will go when it is my time, but I will go with a lot of amazing experiences. 

Do you remember where you were when you heard about the tsunami in Asia, or some other disaster?

Do you have any fears that need to be conquered?