Perché le parole di Terzani colpiscono così a fondo? Perché parlano al cuore, vengono dal cuore. Affrontano le nostre incertezze, le nostre debolezze, la nostra paura atavica della morte, ridimensionano la civiltà occidentale e la confrontano con un Oriente con la O maiuscola. Un’ Asia che, nonostante progresso e sviluppo economico, riesce a mantenere una dimensione spirituale. In alcuni paesi più che il altri.
This is how it feels. These are the moments when I miss home, Italy. I am writing from Finland, nice summer evening, sun falling slowly at the horizon, families in these block houses where we live that are having dinner. In few minutes will start the final of the World Cup, Italy-France. I know I will miss the Italian summer, the voice of TVs coming from neighbouring flats where the open windows make fresh air […]
I am working on my PhD dissertation. The last stage. Putting things together, trying to fit into a readable text experiences, books, articles, and data collected during the last four years in Cambodia. I have met many people who have gone successfully through this stage and they all described it as a difficult, challenging, intense, lonely, frustrating time. However all agree that it is worth it. I have been thinking which metaphor better describes this […]
So what to say? It now three months we are back in Finland after so many years in Cambodia and the real impact of change starts to become more vivid just now. One main difference which is very easy to spot is the silence in public places, the soft noise in the streets where cars run modern engines that are almost noiseless. Then there is the silent and reserved character of the people. This is […]
Julie, Marie and Victor are three students at ISA in Lille who joined the intercultural week about living and working abroad conducted by David Hoffman of the University of Jyväskylä (Finland). They have posed me few questions about living abroad that I am happy to answer through my Ubatuba blog. With my wife Katja and our daughter Olga we have just moved back to Finland after spending 4 years in Cambodia working in development and […]
It is afternoon. Raining here in Colombo. We have packed our things and tonight will fly out. We will fly home. During this trip here in Sri Lanka I always knew that it is a one way trip and that it will end in Europe. BUt this feeling never got so real as now. To me it has been a journey in anothe rtropical country, and coming from Cambodia we would also go back there. […]
We are back in Colombo. The idea of this diary was to follow with short stories the various stages of our trip in Sri Lanka, but it did not work out very well. One reason is that during the Christmas and New Year we ahve been in very small places and tried aslo to choose guesthouses not directly in the town or village. Access to internet has therefore been reduced and so the possibility to […]
So we are now in the South. In a small fishing village called Mirissa. The new year has come and we want to wish to all of you all the best. Electricity is now out and the PC will shut down in few minutes. I do not have the time to update you about the Christmas in the mountains, the train journey to Neuwara Elya and the great views from Haputale. I will do so […]
Kandy. The name of this town in the hills of Sri Lanka reminds me of a young woman and in some way does not seem to fit with the country other towns name. We are at about 500 meters of altitude. The town is spread over several hills covered by jungle. The houses seem to dissapear under the thick layer of trees. In the middle of the town an artificial lake borders the Tooth Temple, […]
So here we are. This is warm and humid Colombo. We thought to have left the moonson behind us in Cambodia, but here it is again. I am writing from the home of a friend, Denis, whom we know from Phnom Penh. He has recently moved here with his wife Olga to work on peacebulding issues a sector which is quite relevant in this country. Our Olga is sleeping upstairs. A long morning nap after […]