Looking Elsewhere

It’s been a while since I’ve had the time to write. I’m grateful for the readers who keep coming back despite my long absences. I can’t remember when I last had such a busy time. Now that I’ve rested for a week I feel that things are gradually getting back to normal. Just a week ago I felt like I hadn’t got a good night’s sleep in four months, and I probably hadn’t. I’m one of those people who need a lot of sleep, and most of the time that is just impossible to get.

In a way I do enjoy being busy, especially when I feel that it is for something important and something that I’m good at. This spring all my students graduated, and I couldn’t imagine a better reason to stay busy as to ensure that they all had a chance to get the best diploma they deserve. Also since I have been so active in using social media in teaching, I have been asked to give courses to other teachers and that takes up a lot of my time, although again it is something that I really enjoy doing. For me, that is just a great opportunity to show people all the great projects that my students do online. That is, after all, the point of doing them online – being able to show the world what we do, and students get motivated in doing them when there are more people than just me who see their work.

I was also contacted about taking part in a photo exhibition. A gallery owner had found my photos in Flickr and asked me to join the group show. The opening was a couple of weeks ago in an old mill by the river Mustijoki. It was a beautiful occasion and a fantastic opportunity for me. I hope to show you photos of the mill one day, the opening night I wanted to concentrate on enjoying the atmosphere, talking to some good friends and getting to know new people. I am most grateful for Lee Tracy whose World Rivers Project initially inspired me to photograph Mustijoki. There will most probably be a book about the exhibition photos, I will let you know if it happens.

During the last six months I have traveled to four different countries, three of which had new cultures for me. You can find photos from my trips in Flickr. For me, traveling at best means getting into the culture of the target country as much as I possibly can and I have in fact been able to do that in all my travels this spring. I will always remain grateful for the wonderful people who have let me into their homes and their lives wherever I have traveled. I will be gone again next week but I hope to keep writing throughout the summer and catching up with others’ work.

I see that the previous post I wrote was in March and about the last days of winter. It was a cold spring, -30 celsius during nights and lots of snow. Now three months later we have +30 degrees and brand new curtains of green everywhere you turn to look. Due to the busy spring, it almost feels like the change took place over night. But of course it didn’t. I have just been looking elsewhere.