The One Place You Can’t Find on a Map

April 29th, 2014 Posted by Local Discovery, Self Discovery, Understanding the Transition

Where you lay your head at night. Where your family is. Where you grew up. Where most of your friends are. Where you work. Where you love to be. Where you feel at home…

The concept of home is ever-fleeting, especially for those of us who may have several homes, or even no exact place to call our own. What makes it even more confusing is that home means different things to different people.

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3 Life Lessons Learned from a Dog (in under 24 hours)

April 22nd, 2014 Posted by Inspiration, Life

It’s taken 23 years.

[twenty three years… just breathe that in a bit]

It’s taken me 23 years to ‘get’ a dog. I’ve wanted one since I can remember. In fact, every single birthday wish I remember making in my childhood went like this: …

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This is where I started 4 years ago

April 15th, 2014 Posted by My Story, Self Discovery

Time travel is an unreliable form of transportation. When we look at our pasts, we don’t experience them exactly as we do while remembering them now, from the comfort of the present. But today I wanted to time travel back to 2010 anyway, in light of my birthday having just passed, in order to see what I could piece together from that time.

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Live and savour the now!

January 21st, 2014 Posted by Local Discovery

When asking people what their language-related goals are, you might get replies such as the following:
“I want to understand what’s going on around me. I want to be fluent. I want to use the language at work.
I want to be able to speak the language with my children and in-laws.”

My perspective on the exercise is the following: if you spend time thinking about what you want, great. But understanding what it takes to get there is a little different. This makes up the difference between “it would be nice to…” and “I’m willing to do [blank] to get [blank]” …

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Is your glass half full?

January 6th, 2014 Posted by Local Discovery

The first time I picked up a Finnish book, I decided I would read the whole first page. It was 2009, I knew about a dozen Finnish words, and the only ones I understood from that page were ‘on’ (is) and ‘yö’ (night). And on it went from there! It’s easy to get boggled down in the glass half empty mind-set…

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TedXOtaniemiED widget 3

Hi! I’m Irina.

I’m a multibelonger to Finland, Canada and Romania, without ONE language or culture to call my own – I have several. My intention is to be present where I am and find inner peace and harmony where ever life takes me. I’m embracing the gems of the ongoing cultural and linguistic transition which is my life and hope to inspire others interested in doing the same. Click here to find out more!