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Finland Storytelling

My Optimistic Koala Co-Worker

“You’re such an optimist,” I whisper to the little koala dancing on my window sill.

“You’re such an optimist,” I whisper to the little koala dancing on my window sill. With a sky as white as the ground, how he managed to find any sunrays at all is a mystery. Hard as I try, I can’t see the sun, nor the sky. 

Dust from the Sahara, said the news the other day when we had fog. 

A cold spell, they said today, when we had a blizzard. 

But my solar-powered koala from Prague just dances away, giving my typing a quiet clicking rhythm. 

“It’s a beautiful day!” I hear him think.

I type fast. My fingers work hard, even though my brain hasn’t caught up. Done! Next!

Today, I’m a human copywriting machine and my brain has merged with AI for a quick peek at whatever I don’t know. I don’t process the information, I simply note its relevance. It’s a Yes or a No. Split second decisions. 

Tomorrow, I’m a translation editor, weighing each word carefully in the quick draft, using the time I won to catch up. 

I sink further down in the couch, until the blankets swallow me. My skin hasn’t felt sunlight in months, possibly years, and I can’t remember what my favourite pastimes are. Did I used to have passions?

The clicking sound awakens me and I look at the clock. Time to get up. I peel myself off the soft cushions. I do like my job. But do we always have to have so much on our plate?

“Brighten up! Life’s a dance!” the koala smirks. “It’s just a matter of perspective!”

I used to chase dreams. Now, I dream of safety, children’s laughter and the invisible solar energy that the koala found. 

I still like palm trees, though. That much I remember. 

39 replies on “My Optimistic Koala Co-Worker”

You need sun, Snow. Badly. Not the Sahara sand but the Sahara itself. Or somewhat north of there, Southern Europe. Palm trees. Cool glass of rosé. A bit of tapa, antipasta, mezze. Talk to the magic Koala. He can take you there. 🙂 (Beautifully written lament though.)

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We had a fairly mild winter so I hate to complain. Predictions were for a difficult winter but except for a week or so in the negative numbers, it was mild. But cloudy. Spring came early and I kept predicting that it would get cold again. It has for a couple days at a time. But it’s been gray and cloudy. Or cloudy and gray. A little bit of rain once in a while to wet the grass and plants but not enough. I wouldn’t mind the clouds if he got some good rain. Sort of.

You live in the land of my people, or close enough. I should be heartier and more tolerant of the cool gray days. Perhaps it’s my mother’s ancestors. We’re not sure where they’re from.

I love your koala. Perhaps you need a trip to the land down under.

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I’m a half breed Swede. My mom’s people apparently just magically appeared in Michigan. I live in the southern part of Missouri in the US, that’s the midwest and part of tornado alley.

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Hey Snow, I first looked at your images before I read the text, and thought how amazing those chunks of ice looked. Floating there, stoic and persistent. I haven’t really seen ice so thick in gigantic shards like that. I have seen it either completely solid and iced over, or non existent. You are fortunate to have seasons. As you know, its only two seasons here, and that seems to blur into one lately. It is April and so very humid, I couldn’t breathe this morning until a stormy shower arrived. Why can’t we swap!
If you can find a koala souvenir in Czechoslovakia, of all places, it must be possible.

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Hey Amanda! The problem is exactly that we don’t have 4 seasons really, just an eternal winter that never ends. Cloudy, windy and mostly 0-10C all year round. It’s tiring. Humans need the sun just as much as plants do.

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Your photos exactly match your mood it seems. I hope your koala can conjure up some sunshine and warm weather soon. It’s been a (relatively) cold winter here. Where my boss lives the temperatures have dipped into the 40s (Fahrenheit) and she comes to work looking like a polar explorer! I shall have to post some palm trees for you, posthaste.

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I had to convert 40F but apparently it’s 4C – wow, that’s low! Do post palm trees, please! Maybe you can teleport some, too – I’ll make room in my living room next to my work space, aka couch. These 8-month long winters are really getting to me, coupled with the requirement to always be 100% efficient at work!

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It was the high 40s, but still! You could get one of those inflatable palm trees for your room, but it sounds like you could really use some sunshine, and sand between your toes. I hope things perk up for you soon.

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I hear you! Having lived in Ireland for more than two decades where for most of the year we see nothing but gloomy dreary landscape combined with greyish sky, I know what it’s like to long for spring and warmer weather. While we don’t need air conditioning in the summer and we rarely see snow, a few more sunny days would be a blessing.

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Yes, exactly! It’s hard to describe what it feels like to never have a nice, warm, sunny day that you can spend outdoors. And it’s not much of a consolation if it happens once a year while you’re working your office job 😆 Such a simple thing, but it can have such an enormous effect on your energy levels. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Well in theory, but we have another blizzard right now so no sky in sight and you can’t really tell what time of the day it is. It all just looks the same, slight differences in the shades between the whiteness and greyness of the day and then the black night.
But yeah, that koala is a fashion guru, for sure! 😎

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Oh dear! I wish that the sun shows up there soon 🌞! After living in Germany through some winters, I understand the feeling of despair that comes with prolonged periods of grey skies. But…Spring is on its way. Keep up the spirit just a little longer..And good food helps 😉

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Thanks! Funny that you said that good food helps, because today I skipped lunch entirely because of the blizzard! I would just rather not eat than venture out there 🙈 (don’t worry, I had a yoghurt and a banana, I’ll survive👌) But yes, good food does help!

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Your koala equals our fairly fragile, solar-powered driveway gates. Every time they open I whisper a silent thank-you to whatever hidden source of power keeps them going. Extended dark days of winter shut them down completely, engaging a battery backup designed to last but a few days. Solar-powered anything is the promise of light and warmth to come, so your koala is anything but silly. Even so, I enjoyed the wistful collage of photos to kick off your post.

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Hahaha that made me laugh… I think I haven´t had a conversation like that with a Koala or a Bear.But my daughter has dinosaurs guarding the window sill. I´ve had to removed them to clean the windows!

Cheer up, I am sure Mr. Sunshine will go to Finland soon! :-))

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💓 Thanks for the sweet feedback! It’s been snowing here, too, daily! And it’s almost May! I’m DONE with winter, but what can you do! (Well, good to know that South Germany is usually a viable option!) Hope your days get sunnier soon, too, and thanks for reading!

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