Category Archives: Uncategorized

I just realised. I haven’t spoken Swedish for about five weeks. I Skyped with Kirke sometime just in the beginnng of my stay at the farm, and I’ve Skyped with my mom, but with her I always speak Finnish. So. No Swedish for five weeks. Excepting the odd conversation with a dog or a cat,Continue reading “Chapter 108: Speaking Swedish”

Friday: I woke up this morning and felt empty, but didn’t really know why. It was a lovely spring day outside and I was in Vancouver. Until I realised that there was no animals around. No cats to lay on my chest, no dogs to lick my fingers even before I’ve woken up properly. NoContinue reading “Chapter 107: The emptiness”

I’ve been such a good girl at the farm. Not only did I work and ride all day, I also decided to do some stomach excersices, you know, to not get problems with my back later. So every day, after work but before lunch, I did sit-ups. I even managed to work myself into aContinue reading “Chapter 106: Listen to me brag & whine”

When the Germans left, I thought that I wouldn’t have to listen to the country radio station anymore. But, turns out, the Austrian girls also liked country. So, with the argument that I was the only one with a rain coat, I volunteered to do all the paddocks, outside, in the pouring rain. But don’tContinue reading “Chapter 105: The perfect playlist for a rainy day”

My last week at Time Out Farms felt more like I was waiting to leave than anything else. Not in the sense that I wanted to get out of there – it was more a combination of circumstances that gave me too much time to think, which in turn lead to me dive into myContinue reading “Chapter 104: My last days at Time Out Farms”

One of the horses that I’ve been helping Jay train, is one of the horses that Diane has bred herself. She’s a big, brown thoroughbred. Her name is Portia. She isn’t that young anymore, maybe eight or so, but she has a story that explains why she is here training with Jay, when she shouldContinue reading “Chapter 103: Portia”

But in the end, I still want to become a geographer. Work as a geographer. So, in a way, one could ask what the point with all this horse shit is. More than just for the fun of it. I won’t need to know about the hierarchy in a horse flock when I get samplesContinue reading “Chapter 102: … and what all this might have to do with geography”

The exhibit at the Royal Alberta Museum that I enjoyed the most was the temporary photo collection of the moths. So, guess if I was excited when I found a sleeping moth on the fence in Russ’ paddock. Not as pretty and colourful as the moths in the exhibit, but still. A moth. My ownContinue reading “Chapter 101: My own little moth”

Today, I’ve been traveling for 46 days. Even considering that the first 27 chapters on this blog were written in Sweden before I left, 73 chapters in 46 days is a considerable amount of text. I find it hard being moderate. Not only when it comes to words. I doubt anyone has managed to getContinue reading “Chapter 100: The hundredth chapter”

I have a bright blue sleeping bag and dark blue silk traveling sheets. The traveling sheets I got from my aunt Eva, who is now living in South Africa, just before I left for South America in 2009, and the sleeping bag I borrowed from my dad once and never ‘remembered’ to give back. IContinue reading “Chapter 99: My blankies”