[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Did you? Now that is the question.

Well, that can never happen. Can it? We still needed to get the stuff on the other side, the house was to get a tenant, I was still to join new job and wife to get her's... but then, at that moment, knowing that I was on my way back to Finland, I was definitely relaxed.

[dgoyle]

Phew, what a roller coaster ride. Good to know you are in sales. Remarkable ability to tell tales. Best of Luck!

[kaushikr]

What a wonderful tale!

Must applaud your risk/opportunity taking decisions and your family to support you through it. I have been sitting on a decision to get a dog for the last year, and you have managed to get a dog, buy a house, 2 cars, sell them move continents and what not.

Would love to hear the rest of your tale.

[AlphaKilo]

Welcome back or should I say "Tervetuloa takaisin" to Nokia land! That move from continent to continent is indeed a herculean task which you managed quite well. How is everything going with the pandemic? Hope you guys reached and settled down in the new place.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by dgoyle

Phew, what a roller coaster ride. Good to know you are in sales. Remarkable ability to tell tales. Best of Luck!

Thanks. Inevitably every individual is a Sales Guy in one way or the other. We just don't know it. .

Are you one too? I'm sure there are many on this forum.

Originally Posted by kaushikr

What a wonderful tale!

Must applaud your risk/opportunity taking decisions and your family to support you through it. I have been sitting on a decision to get a dog for the last year, and you have managed to get a dog, buy a house, 2 cars, sell them move continents and what not.

Would love to hear the rest of your tale.

Thanks. I still don't know how my family tolerates this modern day Md-Bin-Tughlaq in me. I hope this is where my Nomad-ness ends.

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

Welcome back or should I say "Tervetuloa takaisin" to Nokia land! That move from continent to continent is indeed a herculean task which you managed quite well. How is everything going with the pandemic? Hope you guys reached and settled down in the new place.

Thanks. Googled translated Finnish is quite ok for the most part but can't use it in daily conversation. Finn's tore up their grammar books into the fire a long ago. many such quotes are seldom used Colloquially.

All previous moves to US and back to India were always easy. never once did I have more than 2 large pieces of baggage per person.
Same was the time I moved from India to FInland too.
The time I moved from Finland to US too was quite easy except the Excess baggage shipment via Cargo but by and large manageable.
Of course there was always the Mantle/dismantle process which involves buying/Selling stuff at either ends and inevitably losing money too.
However, this move from US to Finland was, as you rightly said, Herculean. Anything could have gone wrong midway and impacted me big time. Big gamble. Luckily all ok with the move and still so after 20 months of being back in HEL.

The Pandemic - it has been ok so far but the Paranoia persists. Life is all normal as I type this but who knows what is to come.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back to my Story then....


There was a sense of home-coming and rejoice unlike any other during the flight already. Just saying 'Musta Kahvi sokeriton (sugar free Black coffee)' to the Flight attendants felt like being at home. Slept like a baby rest of the flight and reach HEL on time. Seeing that I have returned to Finland after a while, the Immigration officer, as they always do, asked - ''Puhutko Suomea (do you speak Finnish)?'' and my standard answer has always been ''Puhun Vähän Suomea (I speak a little bit of Finnish)'' this is enough to make them happy. ''tervetuloa kotiin (Welcome home)'' he said and I hopped on anxious to see if my Dog, Bongo, made it alright on the other side.
some anxious moments go before I get to see him in his crate coming out of the Special baggage area. Cut open the zip locks and open the crate to see a Gleeful Bongo jump out in joy. Luckily all seemed ok.

Put him in his crate again and took him to the Custom's Clearance. All the effort spent in paperwork in US paid off. He was good to enter Finland.
Folk from the Pet-boarding place were waiting to receive him. As was the usual practise in Pet boarding in US, I handed to them a full set of vaccine history. Lady looked puzzled and asked ''why these papers?'' and I replied question with a question...''Don't you need them here? Don't you want to know if he is not a danger to the other dogs?'' laughing out loud she said ''if he made it past customs, I'm sure he'll be alright. We trust you..don't worry''. Aaah...The golden word - Trust. was missing it all the while in US. Sigh. Home indeed. Handed them the bag of Dog food that Bongo was used to (switching food has to be gradual) and went on to my Air BnB accomodation which was owned by a Finnish Entrepreneur- Markku.

While on the one hand I was getting the sense of Deja Vu everywhere I went, Markku, who lived on the upper floor of that house, made sure I didn't forget US. Turns out he was a huge Trump fanboy and I was not. still am not. He has a huge A2 size poster of Trump outside my room. He enjoyed talking politics and it sounded like I was the 1st individual he has ever seen in his imaginary Apocalypse. Had to dodge talking politics..it is always opinion based and a slippery slope.

Made a quick start to my new job. Something many who keep shifting jobs are pretty used to but not some, like me, who spend more than a decade (or 2) in the same company. At that point, I was not entirely sure what was making me more happy- the new job and the perceived good-ness of the new employer or the fact that I got a chance to come back to familiar ground. Either ways, got a wave of positive energy.

Soon, the settling down priorities had to be taken care of. For reasons I still can't figure out, I hadn't closed my bank accounts and nor had I destroyed my credit cards. With the 'Money' sorted out, I jumped on to the house situation. As said already, I had filed in all the papers while I was still in the US. Typically applicants make choice of properties and the Housing company, based on availability, 'offer' the apartments. One has to pick out one of the options and, if he/she is on top of that list, can accept and plan the Financials and close agreements. In my case, I made no multiple choices. Picked in an area I was familiar with and, fortunately, got the same unit offered. All that was left was to complete the financials which meant applying for a loan for the 15% down payment I had to make. Thanks to the pre-existing bank account, it was merely a 'sign here, here and here' situation and I got the money disbursed. rate of interest was around 1% IIRC. It did take a few days though but it was all smooth. Property Hand-over was post money transfer but I had decided to get Bongo only after I got in all my stuff.

Now the inevitable comparison- For the most part, the processes are quite similar to housing companies in the US. the one thing that does change is the damn Credit Score non-sense that US so religiously follows. How does one 'inherit' credit score? One always inevitably, starts from the bottom. This is so skewed and irritating when I got to hear 'we will only offer to the applicants with high Credit Score'. Anyways all that was History. none of that mattered here. Every bit of my history is in easy access thanks to the population registry.

Bank Accounts - Check.
Check-in at new job - Check. x
Housing - Check.
Goods - Still in Transit.

[14000rpm]

Back from a quick Summer break. temperatures of 20-25 Deg C with no cloud cover are something to look forward to. Perfect days like these are hard to come by. When it came up, I quickly took a brief vacation and spent some lazy time at a friends Summer Cottage (more on these later), Picked Blue-berries in the backyard woods to last the winter, Hit the beach, strolled around the sea-side. Wished such blissful days never ended but sadly, business wasn't going to take a break. Anyhoo, here I am.

As you may have gathered in previous posts, I moved from Vaasa to Helsinki (Espoo..to be precise) back in 2016. Found a good one in an area called Tuomarila. Why Tuomarila? Well, it could have been any area but I chose available properties around Train Stations just so local commute would be easy. Public transport is free within the city when traveling with a Child in a Stroller/Pram. Might as well use it well right? Anyway parking in the city is quite expensive. A decent apartment became available around Tuomarila. There are several other areas, some with more proximity to shopping Centers etc. I just chose this and have stayed here. I'll skip the details and leave it for another post but the house I am currently residing in is my 3rd on this very street. Goes a long way to state the sense of familiarity that I look for in the place of living.

Amenities in the vicinity -
- Playground + sandpit for the little one.
- 5 min walk away to the station. Close enough to reach soon, Distant enough to keep the sounds away.
- Woods in my backyard. Woods are everywhere in Finland actually. I just chose the area closest to the Woods where I can take a walk or Run (which has seldom happened). Pick berries in the Summmer.
- Sports center with Football, Ice Hockey/Skating Rink, Open Air Gym.
- Dog Park.



When I was looking for apartments for my return from US, these very 'wants' drew me back to the same area when I saw a good option come by in the listings. Now you know why I never made multiple choices when applying.
What makes it interesting is the sense of Deja Vu. We lived in the 'R' block before, I got an apartment in 'Q' block. I had parking spot # 32 before, now I got # 33. Heck, some of my neighbors in my apartment complex are still around and even recognized me despite the 18 month Hiatus. Same scene at work - my new office location too is in the neighboring block of my previous employer. Walked over to my previous employers office and many out there still recognized me. This was a pleasant surprise since I was in touch with none while I was away on my American Sojourn.

Visited all my favorite eateries, Coffee Shops and drinking holes.
Nothing had changed. Life started to feel Normal again. What a warm comforting feeling.

[midazolam]

Wow! What an amazing write up sir. Read this thread form 1st to last page while I was down with viral, felt like reading a good book.
Waiting for some more updates, it’s been a while!

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

who in their right mind disrupts a good 'Settled' life. Right?

The curious and brave ones I suppose.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I Finnished reading your thread in one go and loved it. You have a flair for telling captivating tales.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by midazolam

Wow! What an amazing write up sir. Read this thread form 1st to last page while I was down with viral, felt like reading a good book.
Waiting for some more updates, it’s been a while!

Thank you my friend. Glad you liked the narrative. It has indeed been a while. @happywheels usually puts me in a guilt trap for delay in updating but he too has given up. That says I late I am. Need to do something about this and will. I've only come till Nov 2018 in my chronology of events.

Originally Posted by kiku007

The curious and brave ones I suppose.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I Finnished reading your thread in one go and loved it. You have a flair for telling captivating tales.

Hahaha. Your Finnish'd certificate is on its way.
Thanks for the compliments. It is certainly encouraging.

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

...I'll skip the details and leave it for another post but the house I am currently residing in is my 3rd on this very street. Goes a long way to state the sense of familiarity that I look for in the place of living.
....

What makes it interesting is the sense of Deja Vu. We lived in the 'R' block before, I got an apartment in 'Q' block.

Since my update to this thread, I have now moved into my 4th house on the same street. hahaha. Either I am lazy or I am simply unwilling to dismantle my comfort zone. don't know. After 'B', 'R' and 'Q' I am now in 'K'. Very easy to change address.

[14000rpm]

Yikes. It's been too long since this thread is idle. Guess it's time to make this thread Current.


Rewind to December '18 - The container with all our stuff hadn't arrived in Finland yet but it soon did just before Christmas.
The car was unloaded from container first as it had to driven out for customs clearance which I had to take care of.







As mentioned earlier, given that I was a returning resident of Finland, I was given Customs tax exception on everything that came in the container. yoo-hoo !!

The rest of the stuff was moved from container into a moving truck and reached me a few days later.

In the meantime, the car couldn't be driven on US plates. The little bit that I did drive on US plates to home was technically illegal but I seem to have gotten away without a ticket.



Even more critical were Winter tires without which the Sorento was slipping and sliding around. That's the first thing I took care of and got myself Studded winter tires..



..and then drove over to an inspection center for my 1st reality check about the car. it was a one of one in Finland. Check this thread (The story of my Kia Sorento 2.4L AWD... and how it chose me) for the deets.

The inspection center, which checks the car and registers if need be, needs to know the emissions just so they can apply the right recommendations for Road tax. Given that a petrol KIA Sorento is unheard of in Europe, they had no details in their repository and hence had to go the long way of measuring tailpipe emissions and then work up the Tax. It was to take some time. I was given temp tags to drive around with.



I was now mobile.

Some decals to localize the Sorento.





When the movers finally unloaded all the boxes, I could not help but think about Tetris. Boxes Boxes everywhere. We literally had to squeeze between boxes from room to room. The house in the US was about 1950 sq ft. Obviously we had furnished it accordingly. When they all reached the house which was 865 Sq ft, chaos ensued. To top it all, the packers in US were super generous with their 'boxing' and ended up using way more boxes than I needed and hence took way more space in the 865 Sq ft. house.

I kid you not we really needed a strategy for unpacking. While this was being resolved one room at a time, I had about 250 large cardboard boxes to dispose. It then became my late night task every night for the next few nights to go Dumpster hunting since the dumpster for Cardboard for my apartment filled up pretty quickly and so did most of the neighborhood Dumpsters. Thankfully I managed to get it done soon enough to start my work travel.

A few more steps closer to being settled down.

[14000rpm]

Next Big step - Kids education.

While we were still planning our return, we started looking for a daycare for the child who was almost 3 at the time of return to Finland.
The education system in Finland is rated very high in the world and it is free.











Finland's early education system is known for its play-based approach, emphasizing creativity and social skills. Formal schooling begins at age seven, but before that, children attend voluntary, government-subsidized daycare and preschool. The focus is on holistic development, with minimal standardized testing. Teachers have a high level of autonomy, and there's an emphasis on fostering a love for learning rather than early academic pressure. Overall, the system prioritizes equality, individualized support, and a relaxed start to formal education.

Finland's education system is often considered among the best globally due to its student-centered approach, minimal standardized testing, and emphasis on holistic development. Features like shorter school days, ample recess, and well-trained teachers contribute to a focus on quality over quantity. Additionally, Finland values equal opportunities, with limited variations in school performance across socioeconomic backgrounds. The system prioritizes cooperation over competition, fostering a positive learning environment.

However, the schooling is in Finnish (for the most part) and in Swedish in some places. There are a rare few that teach the same curriculum but in English. Our plan all along was to have our daughter go to a school called Espoo International school (EIS) which is one such that teaches the standard curriculum in English. This is most sought after and therefore has competition. This is total anti-thesis of what is generally known as least stressful education system. It is what it is.

Therefore our choice of daycare as well was an english daycare. Daughter had an amazing time there and we thoroughly loved her development.
Pretty much all the parents of the kids in that daycare had the same plan for their kids - moving them to EIS when the time arrives.

Kids are in daycare till they turn 6 and the last year in that place is Pre-school. This is the prep stage before the big leap. This is where the kids are tuned to the school's way of teaching et al. In the case of kids going to EIS, the daycare/pre-school preps them for the test. Owing to the high demand, kids need to go through a test and get selected to be in that school. All EIS bound kids and their parents are in that pressure cooker for a year.

As for us, when the pre-school time came around, we made a decision. A decision that came after lots of introspection of the future of her education and integration into the country etc. We decided to remove her from the English pre-school and enroll her in a local Finnish Pre-school.
Thus far, she knew only elementary Finnish. She is and has been extremely fluent in English since that is the only language we use at home.
With this english proficiency, adding Finnish to her language skills, according to our now firm philiosophy, will make her versatile in making future education track choices which, unfortunately become a bit limited in higher education. Not all the courses available in Finnish are available in English. This was the basis of our scenario planning and thus far we are still very convinced we made the right decision.

Took the gamble and enrolled her into Finnish pre-school. It was a big gamble since she knew only elementary finnish whereas the other kids were all conversing in Fluent finnish. It was a bit of a struggle for her but we're really proud of how rapdily she has learned the language - a very difficult language. Heck wife and I gave up on learning it a long time ago. True testimony was when our daughter had a fight with another kid in Finnish and she won !!!

Soon it was time to enroll to school which, in the case of Finnish schools, is a no-brainer. No Test. No Stress. It's a simple application in the system with choice of school, if needed, with a rationale for the choice. Given that education is free and compulsary, a school is automatically assigned if no application is made. Schools are assigned to the area's of residence as registered in the system.

As of writing, she is now in the 1st grade and extremely fluent in Finnish. Fluent enough that she teaches us Finnish now. At times a bit of a in-house Grammar Nazi but it's fun to learn from kids.

A few kids in the neighborhood go to the same school and they all refuse to have us drop them in the car. They enjoy the walk through the woods and have fun all along the way. It's a short 10 min walk which is totally safe.

While we don't really have a fear of Child Kidnapping, To manage our anxiety of them wandering off, we have her wear a Kids sim-based Smartwatch called Xplora.



Limited functionality and access to internet. Can make calls and send text to only a few numbers that we have saved in her phone account. Most important for us is the Geo-fencing feature and location tracker. If she wanders out of the zone, we get an alarm. It hasn't triggered so far. touch wood.