The Life and Travels of Mrs Suvi

I can get quite obsessed with challenges. My current obsession is Cee’s Share Your World. Check out this week’s fun questions!

What was your favorite subject in school?

I always loved history. And not just any history. My favourite time-frame is what we studied for O’levels (can you call something that was bleak and terrible a favourite?) – starting from the late 19th Century to the 1990s. And the things that piqued my interest (and still do) were Communist Russia, Nazi Germany and the Cold War.

If you could have a servant come to your house every day for two hours, what would you have them do?

I would love to have someone help me tidy up and vacuum the floors. We had a cleaning lady come in once a month very many years back. It turned out to be a lot of work as you had to tidy up beforehand so that the cleaning would be quick and straightforward. When we lived in Asia, the cleaning lady did all the tidying and dusting first and cleaned afterwards. In the end the Finnish version of cleaning (for which you pay an arm and a leg!) caused a lot more stress than just doing it all yourself, so that was that. In case you are wondering – I don’t like the word servant at all!

Where did you live when you were in the third grade of school?  Is it the same place or town you live now?

I lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – in Bangsar to be exact. And in Bangsar we lived in a condominium complex called Bangsar Indah on Lorong Maarof. It was a good place to grow up – the condominium area was guarded, I had lots of friends living there and it was easy to discover many places to explore and hang out. There was a swimming pool and a little shop where you could buy ice cream, sweets and comics. Even though I am an only child, I had a bunk bed so my friends could stay over (yes, I was quite spoilt, LOL). Our next door neighbours were Greg and Bruna from Michigan. They had cats and Bruna had a zillion colorful eyeshadows which she’d brought with her from the US. Our downstairs neighbours were from England and they had their airconditioning on all the time – their apartment was like a refrigerator. We only used the aircon to cool the room before going to bed. I thought their children had such cool names – Benji and Daniela – and I did feel quite inferior in comparison.

In your opinon, list some places that are great for shopping?

I mostly shop online these days. My favourite store to look for clothes for myself is Lindex. Right now I’m really into looking for things for our home, so Jotex and Ellos are places where I go “click, click, click”. In Helsinki, the most gorgeous interior decorating store is White on White. In Espoo, it’s Finnmari in Iso Omena – their prices are also affordable. Another shop which I always enjoy visiting is the Nespresso Helsinki store – excellent service and great coffee. Oh, and let’s not forget the Kindle Store on Amazon – it’s somewhat amazing isn’t it – I love how you can sample the books before making a purchase.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for the chance to hang out with some great Danish girls who came to visit Helsinki for a day trip last Saturday. I am so grateful that our boat is on the hard now. Apparently it’s going to snow real bad on Wednesday this week. That I am not looking forward to. What I am looking forward to is a weekend without work commitments.

These pictures are again from Tallinn, from an area called Pirita. The huge Soviet buildings  and hotel were built for the Moscow Summer Olympics of 1980, as Moscow was not suitable for the sailing events. Thus, Pirita was the Olympic Sailing Center. This is the area where we docked our boat this summer for a few days.

What are you grateful for this week?

xx