I love my job. Of course every once in a while comes a day when you feel a bit under the pump and want to crawl back under the covers. But not a couple of weeks ago, when I was heading to Russia!

I have traveled so some peculiar places during my professional life, for example Natal Brasil and Tbilisi Georgia. One could argue that the capital of Russia wasn’t as exiting, but for me it was. Some of you might already know, that Kipinä Center has turned its eyes towards distant lands to seek international business. And by distant I mean Sweden and Russia 🙂 Through this business market quest in our neighboring countries I bumped into the privilege of attending the Finnish-Russian Education Marathon’s Moscow Forum. And not just to attend, but also give two presentation: “The Magic of Finnish Early Education” and “The Power of Pictures in Helping Children Participate And Learn Language”.

I myself enjoyed the program thoroughly, both Finnish and Russian experts. The atmosphere of wanting to know more and learn was palpable. I got to know meet amazing people and also  a wise and lovely colleague from St. Petersburg, Anna Matveeva. I also learned a lot, for example how to just blurt out positive things from my heart to people I have never met and will probably never meet again (Hello to the lovely security person in Seremetjevo airport with amazing nails!). This valuable skill I learned from soaking in the magical aura of Kaisa Vuorinen for two days. Please check out Positive CV!

But even before I left the thing I hoped the most was that something I would say or do during this trip would affect a child’s life a positive way. And this came true when a few days after the trip I received an email that said that they had tried using pictures in the way I talked about in my presentation. And the cognitively impaired 4 year old had responded by pointing to a picture to communicate and with a smile on their face. I love my job.

-Iina