What a whirlwind visit! What an adventure! I set off on the Monday afternoon, flew via Doha and arrived in Helsinki at 07:00 on Tuesday morning, had Tuesday to settle in. Wednesday and Thursday were dedicated to the TVET for Impact Roundtable and Expert Forum in Espoo, Finland. Then, flew back on Friday afternoon and arrived back in Cape Town on Saturday.
English, Afrikaans and very basic French, has always helped me to get by in most countries, not so much in Finland. Finnish is something tooootally different.
What.An.Incredible.Week! Here are some of my favourite moments:
The very first photo I took was inside the Central Train Station, such a beautiful old building.
The building directly opposite the Central Train Station. Taking that first step out of the warm building, I immediately regretted not having my gloves close at hand, and realised I had forgotten to pack a hat!
When I book my accommodation, I always like to be within walking distance of the venue. Day one was at Omnia TVET College in Espoo which is about a 30 minutes drive from the city center. There were not too many places in and around the area to stay, so I zoomed in and around the venue for day two, House of Estates, and found a place slap bang in the middle of Helsinki. Hotel Arthur was the perfect fit, less than 500 metres from the train station and seven minutes walk from House Estates, and breakfast was included, perfect! The photo above was en route to the Hotel from the train station. Shucks it was cold! -1˚C!
After settling in at the hotel I went exploring the streets of Helsinki.
The Christmas decorations in the windows are absolutely delightful, just love the detail!
Random scenic picture :)
It was cold! All the puddles of water were frozen, so you have to walk very carefully to make sure that you don't slip!
Another random beautiful scenery pic!
Helsinki Cathedral is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka.
I stumbled across this 'Noah's Ark', it is the Kamppi Chapel. It is also known as the 'Chapel of Silence'. I thought that it was an art installation, so didn't realise that I could go inside.
Had a super later lunch / super early supper (lupper?). After getting directions of a local
spot from the front desk, I headed our to find my first Finnish meal. There are the most beautiful animal sculptures all over. Spotted this one of a mare and her foal en route to the restaurant.
It was a toss up between the Herring and the traditional meatballs. Opted for the meatballs because I was h u n g r y and it is a dish that this restaurant is known for. The dish is served with mash with a massive chunk of butter, gherkins and pickled beetroot. I polished it! This I washed down with a local beer.
On my way back to the hotel around 17:00 and already quite dark, a clear sign that winter is in the air!
Day 2, Wednesday
I absolutely love super early morning runs, especially when I am in a new city. It is the best way to acclimatise, get your bearings and explore the place. I had clearly packed by suitcase when it was quite warm, and didn't even think of packing for winter running. Layered myself as well as I could, concocted a hat out of a tshirt and set off, at -3˚C I did not care how ridiculous my headgear looked :)
As I was running in the park next to the hotel, I came across the circus. I did then think to myself...mmm, aren't all of those wonderful murder thriller books and television series' based in Scandinavian counties...don't horrors usually involve a circus and invariably something happens to the runner in a park...? I won't confirm or deny whether this made me run a bit faster... :)
My beautiful view during breakfast!
Navigating my way on the trains and busses (and language barrier), I made it to Omnia TVET College in Espoo. The conversations, insights and knowledge shared was incredible. I am so grateful to have added a reputation management voice to the conversations and encouraging the management of reputation to be considered and thought of by all the different role players and stakeholders.
During the day we had a tour of Omnia, it was really impressive! The construction students start off by learning the basics at the campus (top photo). The college then buys a piece of land where the senior students then build actual homes and buildings. These homes are then sold and the profit invested back into more land to be bought and equipment.
The restaurant where we had lunch and supper, is run by students. The students get front of house as well as managing and working in a kitchen experience. Once a year they participate in pouring coffee for the President of the country, what an experience! What an opportunity and how amazing to add to your CV that you served coffee to the President!
They also have wonderful technology component and interactive programs (photo on the left). There are so many lessons that all TVET colleges can learn and share from each other.
One of the things that I found incredibly refreshing was just how healthy the people in Finland are. Instead of getting pastries and cookies during breaks, fruit was served. Check out this amazing super juice which was absolutely perfect to prevent a mid afternoon slump: honey, salt, raspberry, strawberry, lingonberry, blueberry, banana and yoghurt!
The conversations continued over supper, also at Omnia campus. I was absolutely thrilled and super Proudly South African when I saw that the wines being serviced were from Cape Town!
Day 3 Thursday
Another crispy early morning run. Absolutely magical! Not so cold this time round at 1˚C.
The second day's session took place at the beautiful and impressive House of Estates.
All the incredible people from across the globe discussing TVET for Impact!
I am forever grateful for meeting the wonderful Jon-Hans Coetzer from UNITAR at the Brand SA Summit earlier this year (make sure that you've booked your spot for the Brand Summit 2020, the knowledge shared, conversations, networking and people you'll get to meet are amazing!). It's not often that you meet someone that you just resonate with instantly. I am incredibly grateful for UNITAR for making this trip to Finland possible.
I am incredibly grateful for meeting Maria (this photo is from the night before at Omnia). Maria was so kind to show me a few non-touristy places after the second day's session.
We first went to this beautiful old library. There is something incredibly soothing about being around books. It reminded me a bit of the old library in Pretoria that I used to go to with my Mom. Libraries are magical places. The smell, the silence, the wealth of knowledge and the magic of stories that surrounds you is intoxicating. It's a place that instantly puts me into a happy space and re energises me. I think this is why I so enjoy hanging out at second hand book stores.
The colour combination of these books caught my eye.
There is a 100% literacy rate in Finland.
From one magical place to the next, the children's museum. It's a free museum. One section of the museum is remodeled to represent a typical Finnish house of the 1960's/70's. Nothing is locked away, or glued down, the visitors are encouraged to interact with the things on display. And get this, no security cameras or guards. Children are taught to respect things, museums, books, other people's stuff from a young age. Here are few more photos of the museum
1960's / 70's kitchen. I thought the drying rack in the cupboard is quite a clever way to neaten up a kitchen.
Streets are denoted with different animal symbols.
When Finland turned 100 years old, it gifted itself a library. They build this library in near proximity of the train station. They wanted to create a space that people would use as their own lounge and space to work from.
Space inside the library where you can sit and chill, read or work.
View over the books from the top of the area of the previous photo.
Another photo of the library.
One of the local foods I really wanted to try out was reindeer. I had spotted that Hotel Arthur had reindeer hamburgers! The perfect meal to end off the last evening. When it arrived, I did wonder to myself whether all the additional bits (cheese, bacon, gherkins) were entirely necessary; would this not hide the taste of reindeer? Nothing.will.hide.the.taste! For some or other reason, can honestly not tell you why, I thought it would be similar to ostrich meat that tastes very similar to beef. Not reindeer. It's a hit you between the eyes with it's hooves wild taste :D
Day 3, Friday
I love the Rotary community. I was very happy and grateful to meet up with President Birger of the Helsinki International Rotary and enjoy a delicious coffee with him at the central library.
Then it was time to wrap up my trip, back and head back to the airport.
What a fabulous, marvelous, unforgettable, magical week!
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