Aelan Laef!

Suomeksi alempana. FIFA World Cup. It’s a big event no matter where you are and it was an interesting experience to witness all the hype here in Vanuatu. It was impossible to escape it (not that I would’ve wanted to)! People were very open (and loud) about who they supported. Everywhere you went, there were flags waving. It didn’t even matter if that country/team had already lost and left the tournament. Almost every truck and taxi had a flag attached to it, sometimes several. Some still drive around with flags, even though the tournament is over! My favourite one was a taxi supporting the flag of Brazil — the flag was much bigger than the car itself! Just imagine the sound the flag made as the car was speeding down the hill... Since it’s all been so visible in the street view, it also lead to people commenting on the teams others were supporting: it was rather common to hear people yell at the supporters of the wrong or opposing team ”ENGLAND / BRAZIL / FRANIS BAI LUS!”, meaning yo

In case you were wondering what this place sounds like... Just some of the songs I can't escape, thanks to our neighbors :) // Tältä täällä kuulostaa... näitä biisejä en pääse pakoon, vaikka mitä tekisin. Kiitos, naapurit! Help. Apua.

Suomeksi alempana. You know those moments when you look around for an adult, and then you realize, you're the adult? And that you have to deal with whatever is happening? One day it was lunch break at school when all of a sudden I hear the kids start yelling and screaming, but not because they were frightened or anything. It sounded more like they were excited about something. I caught up with the kids and guess what. A baby bird had fallen from the mango tree. One of the kids had grabbed it and others were chasing him. They all wanted it for themselves.  "Ms. Elina! Ms. Elina!! Look at this baby bird!! Can we keep it? Who gets to keep it??? I want to take it home! No, I want to take it home! I had it first! But I saw it first!! BUT IT'S MINE!! Can I please take it home with me, I promise I will look after it?" So. Here's a confession. I don't know much anything about baby birds. Or birds in general. All I was thinking was that the kids should no

Suomeksi alempana. It's been a week since I arrived to Vanuatu, but it feels like much more than that. So much has happened in one just one week! The travels took about two days to complete. It wasn't that bad though, because I got to spend some time with my friends T'Challa, Eric Killmonger, Okoye, Shuri and Nakia. #wakandaforever!  I was about halfway through my flight from Doha to Sydney, when I finally received an email with a copy of the letter that would grant me a special category visa upon arrival. Everything went very smoothly, up until I arrived in Vila. It was close to midnight when I arrived in Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu. The moment I saw the lights of the city come to view, my heart started rejoicing. I was back! I had a strong flashback to when I was leaving the country almost 5 years ago with tears in my eyes, and here I was, finally coming back. But entry to the country didn't go quite as planned, though. Some paperwork was missing and t

Suomeksi alempana. Sometimes all you can do is marvel at life. How at first, nothing makes sense and then, in a blink of an eye, all of it makes sense. The highs and the lows, the pains and the growth. Sometimes things just come together in ways one could never have imagined. In my life so far, these moments have been few and far between. But oh man... When the moment arrives, if truly feels like life is full of magic. About three weeks ago I received an unexpected offer, one that took me completely by surprise. I was at the university library and was about to start studying for my last exam. I had just been at the dentist and so half my face was numb, I couldn't even speak properly. My reading was paused when I received a message that went pretty much like this: "Hey, want to drop everything and come work in Santo by the end of the month?" Hahaha, good joke. I mean... huh? No way, even if I could just drop everything, I need time! Also, I'm graduat

Every once in awhile I get these Vanuatu-moments. They are moments when all of a sudden I become really aware of the fact that I'm in a rather random corner of the Earth, on a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, suuuuuuuuper far away from everything I'm used to (or well, now it's more like "used to be used to"). In those moments I'm usually filled with awe and amazement. It's a bit like in TV when all of a sudden the camera zooms out out out, very rapidly and in stead of looking at, say, two people talking, you've now zoomed so far out that you're looking at the globe, chilling in space with all its  planet pals. Yes, it's a bit like that, images flashing in my mind and many realizations happening all at once. These moments are always linked with extreme happiness and gratefulness.  A couple of days ago I had one while I was standing inside of a 40ft container that just recently shipped its way here from China. It

Suomeksi alempana! -------------- Showgraon is one of the neighborhoods of rural Luganville. From the school, it's about 20 minutes walk to Showgraon, straight across the plantation. The plantation is a vast area, filled with neat rows of coconut trees, the occasional truck paths and roads going through it and heeeeeaps of cows (buluk) who are rather scared of you and stare when you pass. I'm not allowed to walk in the plantation alone because it can be dangerous. No, it's not so much the threat of coconuts falling on your head (even if I do know a person who walked across the plantation wearing a helmet - hahahah!) or because of the crazy buluks attacking you. It's because the plantation is quite deserted - which makes it a "perfect" place for a crime like attacking/raping someone. Therefore -- boys can walk across it by themselves but girls - no. Of course, I didn't know anything about this, so there was a time when I'd go walk ther