CATCH THE SPEECH

Spring has happened. Days are warm. Sun is shining as crazy. Aurinko paistaa, the Finns would say; well, the sun literary fries these days. What this April has brought is direct flight connection between Ljubljana and Helsinki. Yey. Within my trips to Finland last year, I was lucky enough I did not have to use that Ryanair from London - Stansted to Tampere. One long long trip that would be. In winter, I used Klagenfurt airport and I had to change planes in Frankfurt. In August, I traveled first with train to Vienna, I stayed there a night in a hostel. Then, I finally flew directly to Helsinki. Fuck, the trip back to Slovenia was killing as I was so tired and sad. Well now... the way to Finland seems much shorter. Helsinki are only three hours away. Or even less, I don't know yet.

Last week, I had lots of small errands. It also happened so that I was walking home through Ljubljana park called Tivoli. Sun was shining as crazy. All of a sudden, I heard Finnish spoken. I smiled. I looked around. There were two young ladies chatting. Well, I do not know if this was already Ljubljana-Helsinki connection effect. I just recalled some similar events happening when I was abroad. And I heard Slovenian spoken all of a sudden. Even in the middle of nowhere.

In summer 2003, I traveled to Iceland. Alone. Really fantastic trip. I also saw Dimmuborgir; another story. One day, I went to see the famous Strokkur Geyser. In the middle of nowhere. There were some tourists waiting the geyser to spurt. Suddenly, Slovenian family appeared. Chatting and all. It felt so strange to hear Slovenian spoken after two months. In that magic wasteland far up North, with some springs literary ejaculating boiling water. Last summer in Helsinki, I went to Suomenlinna. Six archipelago islands close to the city with remains of a fortress; to get there, short ferry-ride is required. Oh, I liked Suomenlinna a lot. I was walking around and... Slovenian couple appeared. Caring a plastic bag from one Ljubljana-shop. Chatting. I so remember this meeting, it was at Augustin Ehrensvärd's grave. While in Finland, I also did short trip to Estonian capital Tallin. Wow. In the middle of Tallin, there were two Slovenians. Shopping. Hei, do we come in such masses as Japanese, for instance? Nope, we are only humble two-million-people country...

I have never been that much attached to my native land; I guess I am a bit of nomad. Yet there is only one native language, no matter what. And hearing my native language all of a sudden so far away from my current home has always felt kind of special...