7th of July, 2022.
I arrive at the festival without knowing much about anything. I recognize Torstan and we start talking. I am introduced to so many volunteers that I don’t get what is going on. But then I am introduced to Maija, this angel, who luckily for me is the responsible for the Workawayers, so she starts to show me around and tell me what I can do. Funny thing is, I start by helping in the kitchen at the festival, and little I knew that this would be my area of action through my whole three week at the hospital too. But let’s not get ahead of us. First, the festival.
Three days of festival and about 30 people or more each day. We make food for selling, like wok, soup, pizza, croissants, pancakes, waffles, vegan burgers and hot dogs, plus some teas and coffee. There are also some protein bars and homemade vegan energy bars, natural ice tea and kumbucha. So basically, there are a lot of options, some really fancy ones for a festival like this, in my opinion, where the idea is to be about the planet, the energy and the earth, in a kind of hippie movement. And a lot of waste too. The truth is, nobody nowadays, no matter which kind of wave / movement they follow, are into simplicity, a simple life style which provides you with happiness and not 200 different possibilities of whatever is it that you want. And people are still unhappy, that’s the worst.
So I see all these people around here, worrying about the way they dress, nice clothes, nice appearance, stylish accessories, make-up, and I wonder, what the hell is it that they want? It is just a huge conflict of ideas, and ideals, for me. Because of that, it is difficult for me to fully immerse in the whole festival vibe thing and enjoy it. Even though the place is gorgeous! The space is by the water, the sea, and there is a small beach, some huge and nice rocks, lovely views and the forest. But I fee like, nobody is here for that, nobody is paying attention to the nature.
For two nights I am responsible for opening the doughs of the pizza. Maija asked me if I had done it before (nope!) but I am I sure I can do it, so that was kind of fun and I felt very useful because I don’t know who would have done if I wasn’t there.
On the last day of the festival, Sunday, I get real sick already on the day. I feel my throat is getting inflamed and that gives me some fever, so my whole body starts to ache. And I could deal with that but the problem is when those symptoms trigger my migraine. Oh, boy, I try to work as much as I can, for as long as I can, but at some point, right by the time when the festival is officially finished, I tell Maija that I must go go back because I am feeling just terrible. I feel bad about that because I know that today, with packing and cleaning everything, they will need lots of help, and I was waiting to be helpful, but there is nothing I can do now. Luckily Maija super understands and arranges for me to leave soon, with the first car coming back.
I feel like I am about to die so I take some codeine and paracetamol I still have from the time when I broke my wrist. Could that be Covid-19? But there is no coughing at all, only the phlegm, which is causing the fever, which is causing the body pain, and all of this is tearing my head apart.
Next day everybody is off, so do I, and I am hoping I will feel better, and I do, but nothing compare to what I was expecting. I am terrible still. I would rather not take more pills but if I want to make sure I will be able to work tomorrow, I better take some. But I am out of paracetamol. I will definitely not take any more codeine but for the fever I should take something. Another volunteer have offered me pills before, so I just ask for some. Emin, this very cute French guy, with an even more cute French accent, gives me these 1 g paracetamol and I take one for the night. You will be hearing more about Emin soon, for now, let me tell you the next morning I am feeling much better and ready to start some hard work.
We have a meeting next morning to discuss what everybody will be doing and some other stuff. They have just decided to open the small cafe they have inside the building to the public. It is located at the old cafeteria of the hospital, and until now it has been used only for the groups which come for classes and workshops. I think Maija and Torstan were happy about my kitchen / food preparation disposition at the festival, so they ask me to be responsible for the cafe. What? Wow! That’s is kind of huge for me but I am so happy and excited to do it! I still don’t know how it will work but you know I love cooking so it could be fun!
Now lets talk about the place and the people. This is an old hospital, built on the 1930’s where the people with tuberculosis could be treated. For that reason is down here, in the middle of nowhere, even though is still close to the capital Helsinki, only about one hour. It is huge as any other hospital you can think about. I mean, seriously, it is massive! And I am so excited to bme living here for three weeks! Actually that is one of the reasons why I chose to be here: to live in a hospital room as a healthy person. I think it is so cool! I mean, you must see the place, all the huge corridors, which still look like exactly like a hospital, but with a much better smell and so many colors all over the place, and some nice antique furniture. The same goes for the rooms, they are still looking like hospital rooms, all white walls and the same design as before, but with beautiful colorful curtains, lamps, bed linen, which gives a real nice attitude. I love it! I love my room too! There is a small desk and tiny kitchen! I chose it only because of its number: 13. We were passing by and Torstan said it was available, so I picked because of the 13. Good thing I am not a superstition person.
All the volunteers live in the same floor, where there is a big kitchen, some showers and toilets. Here also lives Maija, in one of the rooms, and a couple from Poland with their children, because they cannot go back to Poland. Torstan and his wife, Raissa, live in the floor above us. Also in our floor there is a big balcony, with many tables and chairs and beautiful flowers. There are beautiful wallpapers and colorful stuff all over the place. On the same day of the meeting, right after it actually, Maija gives us a tour of the hospital an it is insanely bigger than you can even imagine. It is just crazy… even though it is not a sanatorium.
There are many more projects to come. They have plenty of more rooms to be finished and lots of stuff to arrange around. Right now, they are offering the space for different types of courses (yoga, meditation, healing, music and dance, etc.) and also the accommodation for people who want to stay over during the duration of the courses. Still in the hospital building, they also have more complete rooms, in-suites, which are a bit nicer than the other simple rooms. I believe they used to be the private rooms of before. But there are also many buildings around the main hospital, which belong to different people, some are rented for employees of the Hub Feenix, and one of them it is a B&B which belongs to Torstan and Raissa, but mostly Maija takes care of it. Actually Maija takes care of almost everything around here. I don’t know how she does but she is always involved in almost everything. She even has three horses here and also takes care of a few sheep.
We are many volunteers right now, around 10 or more. Torstan keep saying he doesn’t really know who is coming and that “people” don’t really know when they are coming and then, all of sudden, they arrive. Bull shit! And he tells that in front of all of us, as it was our fault that he has no organization or schedule what so ever. But back to the volunteers, yeah, people from many different places, including a Brazilian guy who arrives only 2 days after myself. Some were already here when I came, and others arrived mostly at the same time as I. What surprises me the most is how many of them are up to stay a long period around here, in Finland. Everybody has a very different personality and life story.
I have so much to do that I don’t spend much time hanging out with the other volunteers. Most of them seen to enjoy just staying in the kitchen and chatting. They are nice and all but I just don’t feel that my travels are about hanging out with other volunteers. I want to meet the locals and get to know more about the country I am visiting. Well, unfortunately, that didn’t happen here either. If wasn’t for Maija, I don’t know what would be of this place.
I feel a good connection with Emin, though, the French guy, with a very cute French accent. I hope one day he finally believes on me saying that his accent is just cute, nothing bad about it, simply c-u-t-e. And that is the reason why I was always laughing at it: cuteness. He is a very cute and funny guy, and we have some good moments teasing each other, like I used to do with my friends back in Brazil. I also like Piper a lot, a young girl from U.S.A. She has this strong personality. About one week before I left, a German woman called Caro joined us and I also like her a lot. We work together at the cafe for the whole time.
About the cafe… I though I would be working mostly with restoration, because even though the place is looking great and loads were done already, there are still some floors and rooms to be finished. But as they asked me to take care of the cafe, that is what I am up to it! And only that! At first I am all by myself, which could be quite hard work sometimes. I have to open the cafe and prepare the “soup of the day” for the customers and the volunteers, meaning, it is a huge soup I have to make everyday. Because we use mostly fresh ingredients, it is a lot of peeling, chopping and cooking to do in five hours, while you have to take care of the customers, make coffee and tea, plus washing the dishes. Although I don’t think everybody realizes that. I have the feeling that most people around here think that it is the easiest job to do. Pfff!
Overall I enjoy working at the cafe, but the amount of waste of food here just drives me crazy! And I also disagree with many things / ways they run the place. That’s why is also so difficult for me to fully enjoy my time here.
When we start to have the cafe opened for 6 hours instead of only five, I got some other volunteers to help me out, which is great because it was getting out of hand. I just taught them everything I learnt and we work together for 4 hours, taking care of everything.
On my free time I am going for walks in the forest, morning time, before breakfast, so this way I can get fresh blueberries and raspberries. Amazing how many blueberries around here! Everywhere in the forest! There is also wild strawberries but they are quite tiny. I get so many rasp and blueberries, that I even decide to make a small desert for myself. A very long time since I made that. It was delicious!
About the food… I cannot complain. There is a lot of food. But a lot! Actually, even too much! At least for some ingredients. Because they are all vegan here, they provide us with lots of beans, lentil, oat milk, peanuts and seeds, some peanut butter but also some cheese. There is always plenty of bread, including the most AMAZING rye bread of all times, which I completely fell in love with it. There is also always coffee and tea, plus some fresh vegetables. From time to time also, whenever I see and know that something is about to expire down in the cafe, or we have any pastries, pies or whatever that it has passed three days so we cannot sell anymore, I bring up for us.
By the time I left, it seemed I was there for much less than 3 weeks, as there were not really strong bonds. But what I can say, the experience overall was good. And when I look back, from a even further ahead period of time, I think it was even more enjoyable than I might have espressed in the post.
The morning I left, I started hitchhiking just by the main road, not far from the main building.
10 Years Around the World 