Af-riikka

Almost a month had passed in Senegal: a lot of the time it has meant moving around, from city to another city or inside the limits of a city. Rufisque, Dakar, Fimela, Toubab Dialaw, Mboro...the time spent in various vehicles of public transport or walking would make something like 60-70 hours in total, I guess. The local transport that I used for moving inside Dakar during one week consisted mostly of blue "Dakar Dem Dikk" (= Dakar aller-retour) buses. I was proud to be able to mainly use the public transport, although it is a lot hotter and more time-consuming than taking a private taxi. Although taxis would cost something like 1,5 euros to 6 euros maximum in the Dakar city area, it feels ridiculous to pay that much when I know that a bus, 10-20 times cheaper, will also take me to my destination. My decision could have been different if I had not stayed very near of the end stop of the bus line 7. Getting into the bus with the first passengers meant that I could get a seat,...

Editor's note: the text was written on Tuesday the 30th, but I was too busy or out of internet connection until now to publish it...so here it goes: I am writing this text in Casablanca while waiting for a transfer flight to take me to my final destination, Dakar. The airport is one long hall with a light-green roof, pretty cool modernistic windows, Arabic hits as background music. Most of the people here are either heading back to Europe or continuing to the Middle East, or Western and Central African destinations such as Senegal. A lot of men with long robes and beards, and a lot of very stylish women with high heels and veils. The airport has the usual selection of souvenir and tax free shops – and a Zara store with an almost too friendly service ("soyez la bienvenue! let me take your clothes to the dressing room already!") where I went for some final shopping. The airport of Casablanca. Royal Air Maroc was also the cheapest airline for flying to Dakar from Europe, but...

I knew it, and was expecting it, but it still hit quite hard when I heard the first proper conversation in Scottish between a bus driver and a passenger going to Glasgow from Prestwick airport: I could not understand a single word, though the meaning of their verbal exchange was somewhat comprehensible from the context. That was a rough welcome to Scotland for me! During the one-hour busride to Glasgow I admired the amazingly green Scottish winter scenery: sheep, a sign for ”watch out for elderly people” (they love signs in Scotland!), the little villages and countryside houses. In Glasgow I visited the gloomy cathedral and a rather presumptuous Necropolis, and was quite surprised to find brochures for whisky tours in a cathedral (only in Scotland!). I took some photos at George Square with Japanese tourists and watched the statues of great Scotsmen being covered by snow. I went for some shopping in the design district, and ended up only buying a tacky Scottish language kitchen towel. ...

I went to Brussels for a week, and what did I get? First, the thing I went there to look for: an apartment, or rather a room in which to stay for five months. I made the decision already after seeing four different rooms during the first two days. Finding an affordable (read: less than €500 with all charges) furnished room for a short-term rental in a city with thousands of trainees coming there every year was not THAT straight-forward. It was still a lot easier than finding a place to stay in Helsinki right now. Not my house, unfortunately, but an art nouveau house of an architect Victor Horta, now a museum in Ixelles (a part of Brussels where I'll live). I'll have a smallish room with two little roof windows, facing some gorgeous art nouveau buildings across the street, in a house with five other trainees of various institutions. I'd assume it's around 20 minutes by public transport to the EU Commission buildings, and perhaps 30 minutes by foot, if I'll ever feel...

I returned on Friday from an 11-day vacation to two of the most important cities of the Byzantine imperium: Istanbul and Thessaloniki. We spent first two days in Istanbul, then took a night train to Greece, to Thessaloniki, stayed there for two nights, then continued to a small village of Agios Panteleimon for a Greek wedding and returned back to Istanbul the same route for three more nights. Besides a lot of sightseeing - a dozen of Byzantine red brick churches, ruins, castles, half a dozen of mosques and some more ruins - and countless matches of backgammon, we indulged ourselves with delicious (and sometimes weird) food, drank refreshing white wine, shots of ouzo/raki (especially at the wedding!) and on the Turkish side at least a few glasses of excellent tea every day. Yummie Turkish tea in Pierre Loti café in Eyüp, Istanbul. But what would traveling be without learning things? I was happy to notice that my learning skills had not been totally destroyed by thesis-writing. After two...

The symbols of Swedish-ness to me: the flag and Rekorderlig cider next to each other on the grass in Uppsala City Gardens. Sweden celebrated its National Day, Swedish Flag Day yesterday. I had to check with the help of Google (see one result on "the official gateway to Sweden" ) the reason for it, and I found out that it has been called a National Day since 1983 and given the status of a public holiday only in 2005. Very new tradition it is, then, although it does signify in some sense the end of Danish-ruled Kalmar union in 1523. When comparing the ways of celebrating the National Day of Sweden (6 th June) and the Independence Day of Finland (6 th December), one can notice that they could not differ more. Certainly the time of the year already sets some limits: when Finnish ‘celebrate’ during one of the most depressing times of the year, when it’s sleeting and dark outside, the Swedish have a nice out-door picnic in the sun when the lightest days and the whole summer is ...

I spent five days in Berlin last week and assembled here a picture cavalcade of the most memorable instants. Many of those moments are related to eating and drinking: enjoying fresh Vietnamese food, sparkling organic apple cider, exciting Ethiopian meal or lovely Ghanaian mango and passion fruit beers called Dju Dju (their German info page at www.djudju.de ), meaning the voodoo religion also massively present in Benin and Togo. Our first day in Berlin, however, included loads of Russians. It was the 9th of May, the Victory Day (Der Tage des Sieges), and hundreds, if not thousands of Russians gathered in the Treptow Park in Berlin. Bringing flowers to the feet of the Soviet soldier statue (in the picture) was not the only programme number, but Russian bands played classic songs, sausages were grilled and vodka sold. What a great way to spend a sunny afternoon! If you ever go to Berlin and love or even like coffee, go to an Ethiopian restaurant. There are several of them, but we went to...

According to the original plan at this moment I would already be in Finland – but as explained in the previous post, my homecoming got delayed by one day. So right now I am at the Grand Regency hotel in Doha , Qatar , watching Arabic and Western music videos from a huge widescreen TV in my air-conditioned, fairly elegant room. Apparently being late for your flight and getting a new one which has an overnight transit instead of a night flight was a good thing after all! I arrived from Dar to Doha after 9pm, asked around at the airport, was first being told that I should just sleep in the quiet rooms at the airport, but after checking them and stating that they are full I gave another try at the transit desk, and yes! Qatar Airways offers this night, which at the moment is like the best gift ever, although it also feels very surreal being in this five-star hotel after staying in all those crappy, cheap guesthouses in Tanzania . Room here would ordinarily cost 1400 QR, which is about ...

Right now I should be sitting on board of Qatar Airways flight, going to Doha and on to Vienna & Helsinki. But I am not - instead I am at a shopping mall 'Slipway' in Dar es Salaam, trying to spend another extra night here in Tanzania. What happened? I got to the airport - a bit late, I have to admit, but last days are always so busy everywhere. But I was there 1h20min before the flight time in my ticket. It didn't help though, since the actual flight time was about 1h5min before the time (16h35) mentioned in my ticket. So there I was, tired, with two heavy bags, trying to find someone to help me - all the Qatar Airways employees were finalizing the flight that I could not be on. Finally after pleading the security guards and various other airport employees, I got hold of one QA employee who managed to get me a flight for tomorrow. So, on Monday evening I will finally be in Finland, if everything goes well (inshallah!). What I learned? Always, always reconfirm your flig...

yes, YMCA in Dar es Salaam! I really do enjoy staying here, I already stayed three nights during my first week in Tanzania, and now I am back again since last Wednesday. I personally think that YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Mission) is a lot better than YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Mission) in Dar es Salaam, although all the guidebooks tell me the opposite. It is cheaper, there is more light and air going through the building, rooms are bigger and nicer, the staff is friendlier and the café/shop better equipped. The two hostels are situated almost opposite each other, near the main post office in the centre of Dar es Salaam. ‘Posta’ is also one of the main daladala (the public transport minibuses) stands, so I don’t have to walk too much if I want to get out of the centre – in the very city centre I can just walk. Most of the oh-so-grumpy staff in the beginning have started smiling, greeting me cheerfully ( “Rafiki! Mambo vipi?” ) and even trying to pronounce my name (I think I heard so...

Lushoto, a lovely small town in the Usambara mountains, a few hours from Arusha and at least 7 hours from Dar is Salaam is really the place for getting away from all the hustle and bustle of the coastal towns. Crisp mountain air, brisk walking in the rain forest and eating organic food at a farm - something completely different after strolling on the narrow streets of Zanzibar Town, munching greasy chapattis and samosas all day. Yesterday I really felt like being in Finland again when I was having lunch at Irente Farm, a few kilometres from Lushoto. The table was filled with rye bread (yes! real rye bread...didn't believe I would find that in Tanzania, in the middle of the mountains!), "the tastiest cheese in Tanzania", delicious jam, fresh vegetables and juice. Soon it also started to rain a bit, it got chilly and I had to add a sweater on top of my T-shirt. I felt happy :) Don't get me wrong, I really like the hot climate too, but after sweating for so many months...

Apologies for not updating for some time. My last weeks and days in Zanzibar were frankly just too hectic: trying to photocopy, write down, interview and otherwise absorb as much information as possible. On the research process and exhilirating interview experiences I will write something later in Finnish - let's just say that it involved dirty jokes and phrases such as "Patria o muerte, venceremos!" ... Thus I left Z'bar on Wednesday, with my new, heavy bag full of books and papers. I left most of my stuff at a friend's place in Dar so that exploring Tanzania would be a little less painful. Unfortunately I only have one week for my little tour, because I have to be (well, I don't HAVE TO be, but I kind of want to...) back in Dar for the Finnish independence day on the 6th of December, since all Finnish ex-pats are invited for the reception at the ambassador's residence. After leaving Z'bar I stayed one night in Dar and continued then to Bagamoyo again...

I have now spent a bit more than one week in Burkina Faso, former Upper Volta. It is supposed to be one of the poorest countries in the world, but strangely enough, at least in the cities, the poverty is visible mostly in the multitude of beggars. Especially little boys flock the streets with their little buckets - this is something I haven't seen in the southern neighboring countries, where beggars were usually old, sick or handicapped people. Otherwise life in Burkina seems good for those who have money (as almost everywhere in the world..!). There are basically no power cuts, whereas in Benin, Togo and Ghana they were more or less daily entertainment. Neither is there a shortage of running water so far, although the country is very dry, with almost no water resources. So those who can afford electricity and water are doing relatively well here. Food is cheap, but petrol is expensive. Which might explain the scarceness of vehicles on the roads, mostly donkeys and bicycles fill th...

I’ve been reading quite a few travel books lately – both actual guides and more literary works about people’s experiences. One that I haven’t finished yet is called “Chicken Soup for the Travelers’ Soul”, a collection of dozens little stories by different writers. It might be that I’m just having an emotional time right now, but those stories have awaken me a bit. I have remembered what travelling is all about. Travelling at its best means meeting people in the strangest places, having connection with someone even without a common language, deviations and detours. And at its worst it’s even more memorable – another unfinished book is called “Worst Journeys: The Picador Book of Travel” (1991). The author of Viceroy of Ouidah (which I didn’t manage to read before leaving, but I saw the movie by Werner Herzog, Cobra Verde – can’t really recommend to watch that one), Bruce Chatwin describes his experiences in Cotonou during a coup in 1972. He was captured by the police, suspected of being ...

Checklist: guidebooks leafed through, vaccinations done, anti-malaria drugs started, packing list written. Only finishing touches for the mental preparation and good-byes to Finland, family & friends left. Somehow it would be nicer to leave in October than in the middle of a beautiful Finnish summer (see the photos), but I can't really complain: winter with temperatures ranging from +25 to +35 Celsius degrees doesn't sound that bad, in the end. Besides traveller's guides, I've been doing some other Africa-related reading lately, too: Alex de Waal's "Who fights? Who cares? War and Humanitarian Action in Africa", Ryszard Kapuscinski's "The Shadow of the Sun" (strongly recommended - Eebenpuu in Finnish) and Annie Caulfield's "Show Me the Magic - Travels Round Benin by Taxi" (very strongly recommended!). Tonight I might watch Hotel Rwanda - will I have an Africa overdose already before leaving? Oh, and not to mention African dan...