When John Case told me he wanted to make a film about a 75 year old decathlete called Raúl, I never imagined that moment would be the beginning of many long-lasting friendships.
Over a year and a half later, Raúl and his family have become part of what I call my Inner circle of friends, and so has Tanja, the delightful Finnish girl with a passion for traveling and meeting people from all over the world who hosted Raul, my partner in crime (and in film) Gonchi and myself during the shooting of our film in beautiful summertime Finland.
The story goes like this, Raul had no money for a hotel to stay at during the senior athletics world championship, so he had secured a bunk bed at a school gymnasium. Knowing about the existence of couchsurfing.com, I thought it was worth giving it a try, as I felt Raúl would be more comfortable at a house, to concentrate on the decathlon.
Meet Tanja & her family. Because of the championship, it was hard to find couchsurfing hosts in Lahti with available beds. All the hotels were fully booked, etc. So, it was almost a miracle to find the wonderful Tanja. As it turned out, I needed beds for Raul, Gonchi and me, plus Hugo (our cinematographer) and his wife Alejandra, who was joining us to see a bit of Europe with her husband after the shoot.
When you start exchanging emails with a stranger, there is a moment when you know that everything is going to be OK. Tanja took such an interest in Uruguay and Raul; she even Googled Hugo´s band Trotsky Vengaran and asked him to bring her a CD (yes, our cameraman is also a rock star, but that´s another story…). So, when we boarded that plane, I knew we would meet loving faces on our arrival. In fact, when the issue of hosting Hugo and his wife arised, Tanja offered her parents`house, which was only a few blocks away from hers.
When we got to the house, we met Kimo, Tanja´s husband, and Timmy and Nicky, their two wonderful little boys (they have actually had a gorgeous little girl as well since). As it turned out, the family had vacated two of their three bedrooms for the three of us and planned for the kids to sleep on a mattress on their parents` bedroom floor. We felt awfully bad about forcing them to be crammed in a little room like that, so, we said we could all sleep in the one room with three beds, but they told us the kids were way excited to sleep on the floor, so, that´s how we slept for the rest of our stay.
Tanja lived by a streetcross between Mansikkakatu and Mustikakatu (Strawberrystreet and Blueberrystreet). This was the quiet suburb of Ahtiala, in the outskirts of Lahti. There was a beautiful lake at walking distance, where we took many an energizing cold water dive. On the edges of the lake, there was of course a sauna; as it is customary in Finland. In fact, every house we went to featured a large sauna, where we shared drinks and stories on occasion, though we were known to break the traditions of going in naked and women separated from men; we wore swimsuits and went in all together, South American style. Our hosts were nice enough not to mind and to play along.
One of the most touching things I remember from our couchsurfing bliss is the amazing relationship that developed between Tanja´s father Markku and Raúl. Between Raúl´s basic English and Markku´s Finnish, it is simply impossible to tell how these two men got as close as they did, but so it was.
When Raúl left Finland, the family had a party for him and Markku gave him a special hand-carved knife. He explained that this was an old Finnish tradition to show love for a guest who had been appreciated.
My first and only couchsurfing experience was a total success, and I am just thrilled to know that we are going to have a Finnish premiere of our film at some point, and that we will see Tanja and her whole lovely family again. It is a wonderful feeling to feel so welcome and among friends in a strange land. I look forward to the day when I will see the sign for Strawberry street again, because to me, it will mean that I am home; I am lucky like that to have more than one of those.
