I have lived in Australia most of my life. We all get conditioned to the surroundings around us. It becomes everyday and something that becomes so ordinary that it becomes a part of our life’s fabric. What is interesting to me is that we become almost blinded to our surroundings, so much so that it takes an outsider to point things out to us, for us to take note.

I especially notice this occurrence when I visit Finland. I am like Alice in Wonderland when I visit my birth country. I notice things that the locals do not. In fact, I have been told many times that they love looking at their country through my eyes. Finns often long to visit other countries, yet they are frequently blinded by how exquisite their own country is. It takes an outsider to point out the everyday beauty, the quirkiness, the delicate, dainty, and subtle charm of their own land, for their eyes to be open.

To me visiting Finland is almost like stepping onto the pages of a fairy-tale book. My senses become heightened, the smells of the earth and of rain, the blue of the sky and the lakes, the sounds of the birds and the children’s laughter, as well as the taste of its mundane foods.

I do not need to visit the top ten tourist attractions. I want to sit in a rocking chair, with my stripy woollen socks on, inside an rustic country house with a grandfather clock ticking and rag-rugs on old wooden floors. I want to smell the freshly baked rye bread out of the baking oven and anticipate the evening’s sauna visit. The everyday becomes a pearl that fills up my senses so totally, that I become convinced that it is in those moments that happiness is found. ⁠