Category / Finland

by mirvaonthemove

Työpaikkana luksushuvipursi

Jos merielämä houkuttelee mutta tuhansien ihmisten karibianristeilijöiden väenpaljous ahdistaa, pienelle luksushuvipurrelle pestautuminen voi olla oiva ratkaisu.  Jari Miettinen kertoo tässä miljoonajahdilla työskentelystä.

Siinä missä loistoristeilijöillä henkilökuntaa on noin tuhat, pienillä luksusjahdeilla heitä on vain kourallinen. Tai kemiläislähtöisen Jari Miettisen tapauksessa vielä vähemmän.

– Olen yksin, eli teen kaikki hyttisiivouksista kapteenin hommiin, useiden miljonäärien palveluksessa Mallorcan saarella jo vuosia ollut Jari kertoo.

Nykyisessä työssään 72-jalkaisella jahdilla Jari toimii toisinaan myös kokkina, sillä brittiomistaja ja hänen perheensä haluavat usein nauttia aamiaisen ja lounaan laivalla. Englantilaisperheeseen kuuluvat nuorehkot vanhemmat sekä 9-vuotiaat kaksospojat.

Jarilla on jo noin 15 vuoden kokemus jahtielämästä Mallorcalla, viiden eri raharikkaan alaisena. Sitä ennen mies teki töitä öljytankkereilla. Nykyisellä huvipurrella hän aloitti työt vuonna 2014.

-Olin oikeaan aikaan oikeassa paikassa ja sain unelmaduunin. Pomo on aivan mahtava. Voin huoletta sanoa että mulla on saaren paras työpaikka, Jari hehkuttaa.

Jarin tämän hetkistä työtä edelsi seitsemän vuoden pesti 82-jalkaisella jahdilla hieman vanhemman englantilaismiljönäärin alaisena. Tuolloin hänen ei tarvinnut laittaa ruokaa, sillä kyseinen pomo halusi käydä vain päiväpurjehduksilla Mallorcan edustalla ja nautti aina myöhemmin kunnon ravintolaillallisen maissa.

Jarin uusi vene

JARIN NYKYINEN TYÖPAIKKA ON TÄMÄ 72-JALKAINEN HUVIPURSI

Jarin vanha työnantaja myös kustansi hänelle avomerikapteenin Yacht Master –tutkinnon, jonka hinnaksi Jari arvioi kolmisen tuhatta euroa. Sen jälkeen Jarilla olikin kädet täynnä työtä: maaliskuusta lokakuuhun kestävän purjehduskauden aikana hän veneili seitsemänä päivänä viikossa, klo 9-18. Marraskuussa koitti perinteisesti loma, ja joulukuussa hän alkoi tekemään jahdille vuosihuoltoa.

Myös nykyisessä työssä tahti on kova ja hommia riittää. Purjehduskauden aikana hänellä ei ole viikossa yhtään vapaapäivää. Kun jahdin omistava perhe on paikalla, Jarin tehtävänä on olla aina käytettävissä.

– Kun omistaja on jahdilla, niin olen ensimmäinen ylhäällä ja menen hakemaan aamiaiscroissantit sekä patongit ja muut lounastarvikkeet ennen klo 9. Päivän päätteeksi kun perhe on mennyt yöpuulle, laitan paatin ns. nukkumaan ja lopetan päiväni.

Omistajan ollessa Englannissa Jari kertoo työtahtinsa olevan rennompi, mutta päivät venyvät silti usein ympäripyöreiksi. Uuden omistajan kanssa purjehduskausi kestää marraskuuhun. Muu aika vuodesta tehdään huoltoa. Jarilla on vuodessa lomaa kuukauden päivät, jotka hänen on pidettävä välillä marras-helmikuu.

Satama-alueella vilisee Bentley-luksusautoja ja toisinaan siellä käy mm. saudibisnesmies Nasser Al-Rashidin Lady Moura –jahti. Välillä iso työmäärä väsyttää, mutta noin yleisesti Jari on tyytyväinen ammatinvalintaansa.

– Tykkään olla töissä. Tässä näkee nopeasti työn tuloksen: on kiva kun pomo tulee paikalle ja on tyytyväinen, että paatti näyttää hyvältä. Saan usein kiitosta ja tykkään ajaa itse näitä paatteja.

Jari kertoo bongaavansa Välimerellä tämän tästä delfiinejä.

– Valaan olen nähnyt kerran. Oltiin merellä matkalla Mallorcalta Ibizalle ja satuttiin näkemään valas kun se sukelsi.

Toisinaan Jari pääsee myös matkustamaan miljonääripomojensa seurassa hieman kauemmas kotivesiltä. Erään jahdin kanssa tehtiin iso Välimeren kierros.

– Lähdettiin huhtikuussa: Sardinia, Korsika, Italia, Ranska, St. Tropez, Monaco. Hirveän hienoja paikkoja. Tultiin marraskuussa takaisin. Ihan mahtava reissu, hän muistelee.

Nykyisellä luksuspurrellaan Jari ei ole vielä päässyt matkustamaan Espanjan ulkopuolelle, mutta Barcelonan F1-kisoihin hän pääsi seilaamaan nelisen vuotta sitten.

– Aikomus olisi kierrellä Välimerta kunhan pomolla on aikaa, Jari kertoo.

Jari ja koira

VAPAA-AIKANAAN JARI ULKOILEE VÄLIMEREN MAISEMISSA KOIRANSA NIKIN KANSSA.

Miljonääreistä Jari on oppinut asian jos toisenkin vuosien varrella. Hänen pomoistaan yksi on ollut saksalainen ja muut englantilaisia.

-Engelsmanneissa sen huomaa siitä että on miljonääri, että heillä on hirveän hienot käytöstavat. He ovat myös kauhean mukavia ja rentoja.

Eräs Jarin pomoista jopa suostui olemaan syömättä lihaa laivalla, jottei Jari joutuisi kokkaamaan itselleen erillistä kasvisateriaa. Nykyistä edeltänyt pomo pyysi toisinaan häntä seurakseen sukeltamaan.

Välit työnantajiin ovat Jarin mukaan yleensä olleet oikein hyvät ja juteltua tulee usein.

– Tietysti täytyy pitää tietty raja, ja muistaa, että pomo on tullut laivalle viihtymään ja lomailemaan, hän miettii.

Ainoastaan saksalaisen jahdinomistajan kanssa sukset menivät ristiin vuosia sitten. Jari sai yllättäen lähtöpassit päivän varoitusajalla.

– Jotkut luulevat, että kun on rahaa, niin on ylempänä. On laivan omistajia, jotka haluavat pitää ison kuilun itsensä ja työntekijän välillä, hän miettii.

Tämäntyylinen epävarmuus työn jatkuvuudesta onkin Jarin mukaan työn suurin miinus. Työsopimuksia pienillä luksuspursilla ei juuri tehdä, vaikka EU:n alueella ollaankin. Jari sanoo sen olevan lainsäädöllisesti liian hankalaa, kun laiva on rekisteröity yhteen maahan, omistaja asuu toisessa ja työntekijä on kotoisin kolmannesta.

Huvipursijpg

JARI ON VIIHTYNYT VÄLIMEREN JAHDEILLA JO YLI 15 VUODEN AJAN. TÄLLÄ 82-JALKAISELLA HUVIPURRELLA HÄN OLI TÖISSÄ 7 VUOTTA.

Haluatko loistoristeilijälle töihin? Lue merille töihin lähteneiden suomalaisten kokemuksia ja bongaa työnhakuvinkkejä aikaisemmasta jutustani täältä. 

Teksti: Mirva Lempiäinen

Kuvat: Jari Miettisen kotialbumi

 

by mirvaonthemove

My Big Russian Media Debut!

Check this out – I’m famous in Russia! Woohoo!

Okay, well maybe not that famous, but at least a little bit – a translated version of my article about travel writing was published today in a Russian travel website called Arrivo. Apparently the website gets about one million unique visitors a month, so not too shabby! I would guess that’s just a few more than what my blog gets. 😉

You can get a general idea of the gist of the article if you read it with Google Chrome, as the browser does an automatic translation.

Or better yet, you can read the original English-language version here, as the article was first published by 219 Magazine, a publication of my alma mater, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

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For those of you that can read Russian, you’ll notice that the English version is organized slightly differently. In the words of the translator, Ivan Kuznetsov, “It’s not a word-to-word translation, but that way it sounds better in Russian. We changed it a bit: made it shorter, mixed myths and truths and your personal story, which was originally in the beginning, as your quotes.”

And how did I get to be published in Russia? Easy. All I did was host Ivan, a Russian guy, through Couchsurfing.com in Finland for one night back in the summer of 2012.

Ivan recently emailed me that he was on the path to becoming a travel writer himself, partly due to being inspired by my example! And he asked if he could translate this article of mine for Arrivo, one of his clients.

Those of you that speak Russian can learn more about Ivan from his traveler profile, also published on Arrivo. He also has a personal blog that is partly in English: www.kunavithewriter.com.

And here’s a picture of me and some friends with Ivan (who is wearing glasses) from his trip to Finland in 2012, when we went to visit the eco-village of Livonsaari near Turku. That was a fun day and we definitely saw some alternative ways of living – including a family with young kids that was happy to have no running water. They just bathed with buckets in order to save water and eventually the planet. That sounds all fine and dandy in the summer time, but the Finnish winters can be pretty harsh! Brrrr. But of course they had a sauna that makes it slightly better…

SAM_8884

SAM_8893There was another woman building a giant wooden house for herself in the forest, after being tired of living in a “kota” for three summers – kota is a Finnish teepee of sorts. And there was another lady building a house with huge windows that allow in as much sunlight as possible.

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Speaking of alternative life choices: It turns out that Ivan’s life totally turned around after this visit to Turku and the eco-village!  Though not in the way you would expect (nope, he didn’t move to the woods to be a hippie). Instead Ivan met a Polish guy at the eco-village who told him about the European Voluntary Service (EVS) program and he decided to apply for the program himself.

Here’s what Ivan wrote to me a year later from Italy:

“I would like to thank you very much for this unexpected tour to this village.I mean, this day in Turku with you and your friends really changed my life. My main goal was Stockholm, it was cool, but nothing amazing happened there. Turku was on the way to Helsinki, but many things happened.

The story behind is that after this day in Turku I thought about my life for the rest of the summer. I decided to quit my office job, my rental apartment in Saint Petersburg which I never really liked, and go for traveling. While applying for the EVS I discovered many new things and possibilities for budget travels, like Help Exchange and WWOOF, and many others.

Now I am a volunteer in an environmental education center in a small city or better to say a village – Lamon, in Dolomites mountains, about 100 km from Venice. We do workshops for kids, learn local nature, meet local people, learn Italian and just have a lot of fun. The place is very beautiful. Mountains around. I have never been in such a nice place. I love Italy very much. We already visited south of the country – Napoli (which is just a crazy city, in some ways even more crazy than New York!) and we are planning to go to Toscana the next weekend.

After the EVS I am planning to go to South America for at least one more year to travel, to learn Spanish and to collect material for my new book. Actually, my new book is writing itself just here in Italy. But this is only the beginning! Okay, it going to be a long letter. I just want to wish you good luck, to send a picture from my window now and to say that I miss Finland, north, nature and people very much.”

Here’s the picture he sent me. Not a bad outcome for a night of Couchsurfing in Turku! And cool that it lead to my Russian media debut as well. Life can be pretty surprising sometimes. 🙂

Dolomites

by mirvaonthemove

Christmas in the Dark

Merry Christmas everyone! Or happy holidays to those of you that don’t celebrate this occasion. Unlike last year when I skipped Christmas, this year I went all out – all the way out to Finland, that is. And Finland is where I’ll be for another four days, until it’s time to celebrate New Years in Tel Aviv. Can’t wait!

The reason why I’m super excited for Israel is very simple – I miss the sun! I’ve barely seen the yellow friend since arriving in the Arctic North about two weeks ago. Somehow in my enthusiasm to spend the holidays with the family I almost forgot that my homeland sucks in December. Big time. There’s no light! Here’s a photo taken around 4 p.m. Could it get any darker?

Night

I recently found a blog post that describes the Finnish winter down to a T: “November in Finland is murder. It’s just as beautiful as a summer’s day in Mordor, or a day spent in a windowless house without any lights.  You wake up, it’s dark. You come home from work, it’s dark. It’s not the nice and soft kind of darkness. It’s wet and rainy and awful. Pitch black.” Yes, exactly!

You see, a third of Finland is located above the Arctic Circle. That means that a third of the country experiences what is called the Polar Night – a period of about 50 days when the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon. As you can see in this chart taken from Gaisma.com, the number of daily sunlight hours in the city of Utsjoki currently stands exactly at 0:00. ZERO. A month from now the day lasts a whopping 3.5 hours. Yee-haw. :/

(Then again, in six months the day is exactly 24 hours longer! That’s because the Midnight Sun lights up Northern summer nights. Here’s a cool video of the phenomenon. Now THAT is a great time to visit Finland!)

Picture 16I hail from Southern Finland, a good 700 km away from the start of the Arctic Circle (that’s 400+ miles for you Yankees). So things aren’t quite as dire down here in terms of sunlight hours as they are up in Lapland, where this chart is from. But don’t be fooled: they are still pretty bad. Right now the length of the day stands at about five hours in Helsinki and Turku, the two Southern cities I always zig-zag in between. The worst part is that we usually get five hours of cloudy weather, not five hours sunny hours. And then it’s back to darkness again until the next cloudy day. And this goes on for months. Right now it’s been a week since the sun last made an appearance. Our short five-hour days look like this:

TurkuDuskGloomy

Isn’t it cheerful here, especially since we have no snow to brighten up the scenery? A true Christmas in the dark. Makes me think longingly of the Christmas I spent in the Australian wine country, in the middle of the hottest summer. Ahhh, that was the life!

While nobody likes the lack of sun, most folks in Finland seem to be able to deal with the winter blues somehow (especially since it means we have awesome summers in return). People keep themselves busy with hobbies or look forward to their two weeks of winter holidays in Thailand or the Canary Islands. They go for brisk walks despite needing a flashlight. That’s great for them, but I just want to get out of here! I feel like I’m only a few steps away from being diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) – I definitely feel anxious, hungry and sleepy (and the jet lag that keeps on lagging on is not helping). Maybe I have a harder time adjusting to the darkness since I haven’t lived through a full Nordic winter in 13 years. Two weeks is already too much for me! I am a child of the the summer, a major-league beach addict. I feel totally out of my element when I don’t see the yellow blob in the sky for days on end.

We did have one relatively bright and sunny day about 10 days ago. That made all the difference in the world. I went for a walk up a hill in Helsinki with my sleep-loving friend Mira, with whom I traveled around Central America last winter. Without that day I probably would have gotten the first flight out of here even before Christmas had started. 😛

Sunny day

As lovely as it has been to spend quality time with family and friends, I’m happy I only have one more weekend of this doom and gloom and then I’m off to sunnier pastures. If it’s up to me, I’ll continue my life as a climate refugee and avoid the Finnish winter for many years to come!

Have you been to Finland or Scandinavia during the winter? How did you cope with the darkness? What are your tips for surviving the winter blues? 

(PS. If flying off to the tropics isn’t an option for you, there are other ways you can try to alleviate SAD.)

by mirvaonthemove

Playing tour guide in Helsinki

Sorry for the blog hiatus, guys… I’m still here, still on the move! I’m currently in New York, after a whirlwind train tour of Russia, Mongolia and China and a 4-day pit stop in South Korea.

But before I get into the train trip (which I did with my dad!), let me tell you about this past summer that I spent in my native country of Finland. I was back in the Arctic North for 2.5 months, which is just enough time to catch up with friends and family in different parts of the country, attend a rock festival, travel to an island or two, get sweaty in countless saunas by the lake, party it up during the summer’s white nights, pick some mushrooms in the forest and eat all the Finnish foods and treats I’ve missed.

This summer I also ended up playing tour guide in Helsinki on four occasions to my North American friends. Most were visiting just for a day onboard one of the big cruise lines, so I got to be quite an expert in showing what the capital of FUN-land is all about in a matter of hours.

Thus I thought I’d share some of my tips with you guys in case you are ever headed to Northern Europe. So here are some of my favorite places to take my visitors in Helsinki:

The Helsinki Cathedral

-This one is a given. It’s the best-known landmark of the city, smack in the middle of Senate Square and near the Market Square where you can find overpriced souvenirs, tasty berries and sweet peas, and salmon sandwiches.

The fancy neighborhoods of Eira and Ullanlinna – the “Upper East Side” of Helsinki (in New York terms)

-Tram 3T is known as the “tourist tram” in Helsinki as it goes past some of the most important sights and the nicest neighborhoods. With my visitors we’d get off at Tehtaankatu and walk around the many picturesque streets in the area, such as Huvilakatu.

Temppeliaukio Church (i.e. The Rock Church)

-It’s a church built inside a piece of granite rock and always teaming with tourists. Many Finns don’t think it’s anything spectacular but foreigners seem to love it, including my visitors. I do think it’s pretty cool too. The church was built in 1969 by Finnish brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen (whose last name, randomly, translates to “Finn”).

The rough and ready Kallio – The “Lower East Side” of Helsinki

-Kallio is a working class neighborhood dotted with Thai “massage” parlors, cheap pubs and subsidized government housing projects. Years ago I even spotted a sign that said “Mirva’s Erotic Show” –  Haha! It’s not often I see my name spelled anywhere, let alone in this context. But as has happened with the Lower East Side in NYC, Kallio (“The Rock”) has also undergone bouts of gentrification and is now home to tons of trendy restaurants and bars, vintage shops and artists and students. It’s because of this eclectic mix that it’s one of my favorite neighborhoods in Helsinki – and the cheap beer doesn’t hurt either!

Punavuori – The “Williamsburg” of Helsinki

-Hipsters are everywhere in Helsinki these days but they are particularly plentiful in the Punavuori district of the city. Earlier in the summer two American girls opened a coffee spot there called Brooklyn Café, which makes the area resemble its New York counterpart even more. Organic food in cafes and restaurants, vintage and design shops, trendy people, cute little city parks… what’s not to like? The gay-friendly street of Iso Roobertinkatu also has a tiny sliver of the vibe of the West Village.

Hotelli Torni (Hotel Tower)

Built in 1931, the legendary Hotelli Torni and its 12th floor offer the best viewpoint in Helsinki where you can see the whole city and even all the way to Estonia on a clear day (or so the legend goes…). Just walk into the lobby and take the elevator to the top floor’s Ateljee Bar. The terrace is a great place to grab an overpriced beer or try a tasty Finnish pear cider. Don’t forget to visit the toilets as they have huge windows – you can see everywhere but people cannot see you as you are so high up.

Linnanmäki amusement park

Finland’s oldest amusement park is a fun place to walk around and people-watch. Entry to the area is free, and there’s one free ride. That’s the UFO-looking round sightseeing wheel that takes you up in the air and offers good views over the park and the city. Every other ride costs around 6 euro and a full day-pass is 38 euro. The best deal is to get the three-hour night-time pass at 7 p.m. for 28 euro, and then pay 5 euro to validate it for the following night as well. That way for 33 euro you’ll get two nights of fun and can try all the rides, including the historic wooden rollercoaster built in 1950. It looks tame but is wilder than you’d think! The rollercoaster is also one of the few left in the world where there are “brakemen” standing in the back of each row of wagons.  They make sure the wagons stop accordingly. This is often said to be the most fun summer job in all of in Finland and some brakemen have been doing the job for decades already.

Some other things I recommend for visitors to try in Helsinki:

Hesburger: The Finnish equivalent of McDonald’s with its own secret mayo recipe. I’ve taken countless American visitors there and most have loved it. One even went so far as to say that Hesburger was her saving grace while visiting the Baltic countries (the chain is also present at least in Estonia, Latvia, Russia and Germany). I recommend trying a kerroshampurilainen (the local “Big Mac”) or megahampurilainen (a mega-sized Big Mac). My vegetarian visitors have thoroughly enjoyed the falafel burger. Don’t forget to get a side of the bell pepper, cucumber or chili mayo to go with the fries!

Pick-and-mix candy: Finnish supermarkets and video rental stores like Makuuni and Filmtown have the best selection of candy in the world. I’m not exaggerating – it’s true. Most carry as many as 400 different types of fruity candy, black licorice and chocolate varieties from which to pick and choose your favorites. For the widest selection I recommend visiting any Prisma or Citymarket, but the Makuuni that is near the Rock Church is a good choice too.

Riding the metro: The Helsinki metro system is one of the shortest in the world and thus you simply cannot get lost. It consists of 17 stations and only one line than splits into two in the end. You should ride it to Itis (formerly known as Itäkeskus – Eastern Center), a big shopping mall crowded with people from all ethnicities.

Sparkling wine deals: Finland is notoriously expensive and especially so when it comes to drinking alcohol due to our high tax rates. But for some reason sparkling wine deals are stills plentiful in Helsinki. One of my old favorites is Bar Baker’s and their afternoon Sparking Bar special: you get a glass of sparkly for 1.5 euro for 100 minutes, from 5 p.m. onward (it actually used to be 90-cent glasses for 90 minutes!). The deal is valid from 5-6.40 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Just walk upstairs to the bar that’s in the corner of Mannerheiminkatu and Kalevankatu, and you’ll see a line of people standing next to hundreds of glasses of sparkling wine. It’s a sight to behold. Other sparkly deals are to be had in the bars located just up from Bakers on Kalevankatu.

And sure, you probably should also try some reindeer meat, cloud berries, rye bread, Karelian pies, blood sausages, bread cheese and other traditional foods. But for a truly authentic Helsinki experience, don’t skip my list!