My little monkeys

Old post that didn't get published Due to internet issues. And then was forgotten...

I finally started bringing the kids to class at gymnastics. They love it of course - my boys - and I love to have a new place to spend some time with them. Fun and games :)

Last Saturday rain season really showed up and only the Finns were brave enough to come to class. At least I had some time to snap pictures...

This is so easy äiti!

That way?

Balance.

First cartwheels over the block!!

Loving it...

Can I try?

Who needs hands on a headstand anyways???

Oh, so cute 😍!!!

Ninaitwa Maiju

Living life in Tanzania has had a strange effect on me. The things that I value the most are changing. Actually strike that. I believe my values have always been the same, just that the external pressure I felt in our previous life geared me away from those values.

Here in Tanzania, you are easily defined by external factors. I am a wife. I am a mother. I get frequently called Mama Julius or Äiti. So much so that on some days I feel like screaming that my name is Maiju. I am more than a wife and a mother. I also get called "mzungu" - a white person a lot. My Finnish friend brought it up the other day when we were fabric shopping (OMG! That is a whole other story - the beauty of print fabrics), she asked me if it bothers me to be called that. And it does. I don't walk around the streets pointing to every person and calling them black. Who does that. And yet in this country people don't mean it in an offensive way. Or so I am told. I shrug it off most of the time, but...

The interesting thing is that in this country of many definitions, I am still more in touch with who I am. And who I am is starting to resemble a lot the little girl I once was. Does that mean that my true self is emerging again or does that mean that I am just so tired working mother of two that I no longer care to pretend ;). Who knows, but so far I am liking it!! 

School is out for summer

The cutie monkeys finished their school year last Friday and to keep them busy I try to provide some activities. Today's challenge was junk-storage-make over. While I have embraced the new minimalist life style and we keep a very few items in our home there is still some of things you need to keep around even though they don't bring any added value to my daily life. Like tools - I hate that I have to keep my hammer close by, but I do need it every once in a while. Other one being medicine. You need it couple of days a year but it needs to be in the house. Don't want to be looking for a pharmacy while sick. Sewing kit, cleaning supplies finally some shoes that don't get much wear. It is not much but definitely enough to create chaos. And the thing is that I'm not that kind of minimalist that just wants to have less stuff and everything organized. I want everything to look beautiful too. 

So back to the chaos. Originally built for kids toy storage (under a bed when we were living in one room at the inlaw's place). The shelf unit was pushed into our back corridor to hold said items. But it would get messy and definitely became a catch all for all things random at our house. I forgot to take a before picture of the chaos but here is a "we just started" picture of the little helpers sanding the old paint off.

When it was a under the bed unit, it didn't need a top, since the bed was acting as a top. Also the finishing was not very well done. We sanded it down, painted it with a couple of coats of fresh whiteness and added two pieces of wood to act as a side table/folding table etc. 

I was really wonky and I feel like I wasn't able to finish it perfectly but it serves it's function and looks kind of pretty too :).

Maybe now that it is pretty I won't be crowded with stuff.

At the final location. The shoes found baskets at the bottom. Middle baskets hold tools, cleaning supplies and meds. I'm looking to purchase two small boxes for the meds and sewing kit that I can now place on the top. To be out of sight but still one step away. 

The top shelves host soap and cat food. Both used daily. I'm so pleased with the results and it was a fun and easy activity for us.

How do you define you?

I have been lacking time and energy to keep up with the posting, but with DSM gymnastics on a break it's time to get talking again. I have been keeping up with the news in Finland and more than one friend of mine is struggling with lay offs and job losses. I feel for them and can realte well to financial struggles that they might be having. This has gotten me thinking thinking of why am I so much happier here than I was with my life in Finland, because on paper I definitely got the short end of the stick.

this little guy takes away all the worries of the world... it does, really, he is magical, as is his big brother

Let's compare.

In Finland
1) new house designed with anything and everything we wanted
2) nice, well paying job
3) new Nissan qashquai +2 car
4) 2.0 kids and a husband
5) new phones, ipads, clothes, whatever we wanted at our fingertips

In Tanzania
1) small 2 bedroom rented apartment, BTW no oven
2) couple of companies to run to make ends meet
3) used Nissan Safari car - (that is currently in the garage for the fourth month because the insurance we had for it turned out to be fake)
4) 2.0 kids and husband (some things have not changed)
5) still struggling to find most of the things that belonged to my everyday life in Finland

During my journey into the life of an immigrant I have learned some things that might have been self evident to others but were not for me.

Money does not define me. My bank account does not define me. And by the way it is very liberating to say that sorry, can't afford that now, rather than trying to pretend that I can. Money is just money: "pieces of papers with numbers on it" -Buffy (:P)

Who I am, how my children look at me defines me. Working on projects that might make loads of money some day but are at the start up level for now makes me happier, and more content than anything else. The fact that I can work around my kids schedule, and be there for them while they are still small gives me happiness beyond anything else. Yes having less money to work with gets irritating - and at the same time "normal" things for me are super duper expensive. But in the end, does it matter?? Does having less money here make me lesser me somehow??? 

Every once in a while I take a step back and think if I made the right choice. I sit down, go through a relaxation exercise and when I have brushed away the stresses of every day life I ask myself. If tomorrow would be the last day of my life, would I be living it here doing this or go back to Finland and sell insurances. (Of course if it was the last day I would spend it with all my loved ones but you get the idea...) I always always always choose this life over that. I am not saying that this is the life for us forever, but this is THE life for us for now. So happier me is worth a millon euros more than the actual million euros on the bank account would. I'll get the money someday. I hope. <3 font="">

Ámate, part 2

For the past few weeks I have been asked "did you lose weight" about 100 times. And I have no idea. I have no scale, my mirror is 20 x 30 cm, so in the traditional sense I have no idea. Yes the clothes feel loose but coming from a culture where I used to weigh myself atleast weekly, it feels rather strange to not know.

A year ago when I moved to tz I know I dropped some kilos. But some of them came back when I spent the summer in Finland. The way I eat there just doesn't seem to suit me. Toward the end of last year we did a work related photo shoot at the beach and to my horror when I was going through the pictures I had been captured in my bikini. I was not very happy about how I looked in those pics. 

I can't say that I was very big, I was just not in any shape at all. Like a 20 min walk would exhaust me. But the funny thing is I didn't go on a crazy diet/fitness frenzy, but slowly learned to love this Maiju and take a better care of this Maiju. 

A few weeks later I started to coach again and beginning of this year found a sport that I truly enjoy: pole fitness. For the first time in years my lifestyle is active. It's not a plan to get fit for the summer, or for anything else. Just being more active and eating loads of good fresh food. (It doesn't hurt that a plate of fresh octopus costs around 4 euros😉) I eat less bread, because it's not as good (or cheap) here, but I will have the occasional chocolate, ice cream, brownie, cake, pizza or a burger if there is a reason for it. I have learned that if I try to cut down all the sugary sweetness I eventually go off the deep end and it gets ugly.

So to answer the question. I guess. But for me it's just been a journey back to an active lifestyle and a fun new hobby. And hey, if I get re-aquinted with my abs because of it - it's all good. 😘

Update on Minimalism

In my pursuit for happiness (= minimalism in my head right now), I've made a discovery of my personality. I am picky. This is how I found that out.

I've been going through the steps of creating a dream wardrobe. And let me say thank you Pinterest, because getting dressed has evidently become a scientific experiment that no normal person can manage in their own.

For those of you still in the shopping is my cardio-zone here's what you are supposed (😜) to do to achieve that killer wardrobe.

Step1 the purge

Clearing out the closet. Donate, throw away, keep. I got that down so bad that I actually had to stop before I was happy or I would've had to join a nudist community.

Step 2 design your style 

This is the best excuse ever to enjoy the world of Pinterest😍, the haven of visual people. Identifying that I have three different roles that I need to function was the key point. There is the work-at-home-busy-mom-of-active-boys-do-it-while-looking-32-and-cute-Maiju. Ha! Easy😜. This turns into outfits that have to be comfortable, but look nice. If I stay in my pajamas the whole day, I won't be able to kick in the work-Maiju. I also don't want to wear a suit at home. Nooooot. So I identified that easy uniform for this is some cute blouse and shorts, maybe a stretchy dress or skirt - sometimes. 

The other Maiju is business Maiju. Very minimal role in my life but sometimes I do need to attend meetings and look professional. It can't be just one outfit, so the customers don't think I only have one dress. I have one dress now. 😝

Then I have the coach-Maiju. It's hot. Like really really hot. And I can easily have 17 kids to coach. And I didn't prepare to have this role in Tanzania. Still no idea what to wear to be comfy, not sweating like 🐷 in 2 minutes, and also somehow not be too naked. Respecting the fact that there is a mixture of cultures going on here.

Step 3 shop to complete

The shopping is supposed to be about grabbing pieces that will bring together the whole wardrobe and makes it mix-and-matchable. In Tanzania. Yeah, right.😎

So I'm back in being picky. I keep going to shop and coming back with empty hands. This is coming from a person that at age 14 was given an hour to shop (this was a competition trip and tight schedule) and actually came back with one of those massive sacks (jätesäkki) full of clothes. Is it Tanzania? Have I changed? The directions keep saying that really think if you want to bring this item into your home, will it match with several other pieces? Will it? WILL IT? And I keep running out of the shop in panic thinking it won't, it won't... 

So I've become picky. Who would've thought??? And soon will be writing my application to the nudist community.

Enjoy your day!!