CURRENT MISSION

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. ~Galileo Galilei~

ABOUT ME

My name is Anu and I'm from Turku, Finland. I grew up in south-east Finland, little town called Hamina. After 12 years studies and working in Helsinki (and some longer and shorter trips abroad) I moved to Turku in October 2011.

I'm interested of new cultures, places and people. I've travelled quite much but nowadays my life is pretty much around my little baby girl.

PHILOSOPHY

I have noticed million times that you can't run from your past. And you can't run from yourself. Life is full of surprises - you never really know what's around the next corner. But if you do the best you can, and you give 100%, then you can go to sleep with a clear conscience.

What you didn't win today, you can always win tomorrow. NEVER lose sight of your goals. There are always some people who are really worth that extra time and effort. And in the end, I believe, if you work hard enough... everyone comes around.

I think that the key to real success is to take all your fears and put them in a box and lock them away. Of course, not every evil can be tied up in a neat little package, but that's the challenge: to face our own personal darkness and put our demons where they can't hurt us anymore, and to do what we can to make the world... a better place.

Failure is much better teacher than success. My failure was in underestimating my competition, which was far more complex and dangerous than I had suspected. I don't necessarily learn by somebody telling me stuff. I learn by trying myself. And I have taken many lessons in that. Not always so nice, very painful ones as well, believe me, but learned a lot. Life is a teacher.

Things that really matter... When the smoke clears and you get right down to it, it's important that you have faith. Faith that everything will be just fine, after all. Things usually have strange habit to solve out. Everything will be ok after all, sooner or later.

Things I believe in are my little precious family, my dearest friends and the nature. One wise man from Jämsä (middle Finland) says: the nature is the biggest God. I agree. He has the wisdom. I can feel the peace if I go to the sea side, to the beach, to the forest, hear the waves or wind in the trees and can be alone. You can never struggle against the nature.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

During my travels I've been meeting CouchSurfers in places I go, organising CS meetings both in Finland and abroad and surfing couches. It's so great to meet locals and other travellers and stay at someones home (beats scruffy hostels 6-0).

My most active CouchSurfing years were 2007-2010 when I did lots of travels. After that I was'nt "online" for 4 years. During those four years I moved to Turku, worked, got married, lived family life, gave a birth to little Pulmu and, unfortunately in the end, divorced.

Now I'm planning to do so-called "comeback" to CS and start hosting and maybe on some point also surfing. Let's see how it works with a little kid.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

This far all my experiences are just good. I have hosted in Helsinki, Turku and Australia and couchsurfed in HongKong, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, USA, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Great Britain and Finland. I have joined CS gatherings all over Europe, south east Asia, USA, Oceania and also organised them both in Finland and abroad.

Generosity and hospitality I've met via couchsurfing is something awesome and beautiful. I've travelled around the world and these CS-people have "rescued" me so many times by sharing their home, food, drinks and experiences. I've been lucky to see many different life styles, homes and daily agendas. And it is interesting. Something you cannot buy in travel agency.

Interests

Some pics of my 2008-2010 travels are here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/AnuMaaritSinkkonen
are things which are quite me. I try to live in a moment. I feel best when there is something new going on.

I love animals very very much and wish to have some other animals too one day. More dogs, and few cats. A rabbit. And if possible, also own horse. From Australia I will adopt a wombat, platypus, few koalas and a kangaroo family. Then we will live happily ever after.

• animals
• cats
• dogs
• books
• festivals
• dining
• coffee
• running
• sauna
• drinking
• flying
• movies
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• surfing
• scuba diving
• sailing
• skiing
• boxing
• rock climbing
• swimming
• teaching
• religion
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies:
Lapland Odyssey, Amores Perros, Frida, The Beach, Dead Poets Society, The Hook, Gilpert Grape, Amelie, Closer, Holiday, Catch Me If You Can, Trainspotting, Lord of the Rings, Liar Liar, Bridget Jones, Sliding Doors, Leon, Love actually, Notting Hill, The Pursuit Of Happyness, Lost in Translation, Ratatouille, Maria Full of Grace, Ice Age -movies, The Visitor, Mr. Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran, old Disney films
(just to mention some ;)

Books:
Production of John Irving, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Khaled Hosseini, Kata Kärkkäinen,
Åsne Seierstad, Tuomas Vimma, Outi Pakkanen, Anna-Leena Härkönen, Ilkka Remes, Shalom Auslander and many others. I love books.

Music:
Bo Kaspers Orkester, Tschaikowsky, The Imagine Project by Herbie Hancock, Buena Vista Social Club, Amelie Soundtrack, Classical, Madonna, Les Mills music, The Rasmus, Kwan, Samuli Edelmann, HIM, Sunrise Avenue, Nightwish, chill out music
...in general I listen almost everything (death metal, opera and Finnish iskelmä not my favourites but a l m o s t everything ;) What's your song?

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Birth of my little daughter.
Climbing up to Mount Kinabalu 4095m with my dad.
Spending a day in Sepilok orangutan rehabilitation centre in Borneo.
Benji-jumping from 150m in Helsinki Kaivopuisto.
Sky diving in Wanaka, New Zealand.
Living abroad (6 months in Greece, 6 months in UK, few months in Australia).
Travelling around the world and feeling that I BELONG to airports ;)
Unforgettable day at Great Barrier Reef, Australia.
Spending a day on Cambodian farm with khmer family.
Uluru the Rock and sleeping under the stars in Australian outback.
Glow worms underground galaxy in Waitomo caves.
Listening the symphony of the sea on Pancake Rocks, NZ.
Hiking on Franz Josef Glacier just next to the rain forest.
Riding an elephant in Thailand.
Staying the whole night on beach in Bournemouth back in 1998 and watching sunrise.
Whales and dolphins swimming free in the sea.
Touching wallabies in Australia.
Flying with small air craft around Port Philip, Melbourne.
Christmas in the house in the middle of snowy forest with the ones you really love.
Meeting wonderful (CS-)people all over the world.
Supporting my tiny family whatever it takes (they are priority number 1 in my life).
... and lots of other stuff.

But I hope that more amazing things will happen in the future. I really hope. Things I mentioned are absolutely Experiences with big E but what I probably appreciate most of all, are the friends I have got and with whom the connection has stayed. And my family and my closest friends - they are always the most important ones.

Teach, Learn, Share

What has happened to me...

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." ~Galileo Galilei~

"Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." ~John Lennon~

"The world is a book, those who do not travel read only one page." ~Saint Augustin~

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home." ~James Michener~

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~Mark Twain~

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." ~Woody Allen~
(... God is kidding with me all the time ;)

When to visit Helsinki:

January: Winter, (hopefully) snow! DocPoint film festival. Good time to go ice-skating!

February: Winter, as cold as it gets, -30C (about -20F) if you're (un)lucky. You can walk (ski, wind-sail, drive a car, whatever) on the ice from island to island. Not so dark anymore.

March: Um. Mind blank. Not sure whether anything happens in March. Am probably hibernating in March but going to work and hobbies somehow that I don't even remember doing it. March - hmm. Have to think about this.

April: Easter (unless it was in March). I seem to enjoy going overseas in April, annoyed at it still being more winter than summer.

May: The first of May is Vappu (Labour Day), one of the more important boozing days of the year. World Village festival brings a touch of the world into Helsinki, good food, music etc.

June: Summer!!! People get drunk and drown celebrating Juhannus (midsummer night). Outdoor music events every weekend. Nightless nights, lots of daylight (nightmare for vampires ;) Wonderful time to visit Finland.

July: Finns flee for the countryside, tourists replace them in town. Offices are quiet and everybody are on holidays. Tuska metal festival fills Helsinki centre with people sweating in black leather for a couple of days. Hottest month of the year, I go to the beach!!!! The best month of the year!

August: Everything happens in August. Festival after festival and event after event, both small and large. Still very warm and romantic blue evenings. My another favourite month :)

September: The biggest Finnish film festival, Love and Anarchy. Supposedly the best time to visit Lapland and see ruska (trees in million colours).

October: Autumn. Getting dark and cold. Candles, cosy to be inside, go to sauna, stay in the corner of couch and read book or watch movies while sipping hot tea or coffee.

November: Dark, cold and miserable. Better to go somewhere else. Unless you don't fancy rain/snow in grey landscape.

December: Christmas, outdoor handicraft markets, snow on and off. Sunrise and sunset both happen during the day while I'm at work, which is better than northern Finland where they don't happen at all. 31.12 New Year celebrations (usually in damn cold weather).

Teaching is fun, learning is even better. Tell me something and ask me anything!!!

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Finland, Greece, United Kingdom

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