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 […]
My dear Olga, I am writing this email from Shanghai, in China. Sorry for writing to you in English but I want to post this also in my blog and therefore it must be in a language that also other people can read. Our friends from abroad for example. So this is Shanghai. Someone at the conference I am attending described it as the gateway of China and maybe it is so. This large town […]
Every morning, when I cycle to the office, I cycle along the laterite road on the Stung Sen riverbank. I pass the village; see the women working in the garden and watering the vegetable and plants, pass the kids in school uniform (white shirt and blue shorts) walk to the local elementary school. At the end of the road, just before turning left to pass the bridge on the national road that cuts through Kampong […]
It is nice to be back in Cambodia. Heavy monsoon clouds have greeted us here in Kampong Thom. Warm rain is falling this afternoon, trees are shaking with the wind and the fields have become finally green now that farmers are planting the new rice. At the exit from Pochentong airport yesterday evening the dump warm air filled me its tropical-Asia-flavour. I kind feel at home as here is where we have the house and […]