Erkki Nevalainen´s life story
Hi! My name is Erkki Nevalainen and now I want to tell you a story of my life.
It was a freezing December morning in 1939, I was 15 years old and me and my family were waiting for our ship to Iceland. Our trip to Iceland was going to take long time, maybe a few days and will be very dangerous. Some people died because of cold. We were forced to leave Finland because the Winter war was started at the end of November and it was really dangerous to live in Finland. The trip to Iceland was really difficult because it´s winter and cold, some people got really sick and were not likely to get better.
When we arrived to Iceland we didn´t have much money at all but we needed a place to live in. Otherwise we wouldn´t last for long here. So, we moved into a barracks with another family who couldn’t pay the rent for the barracks alone. Moving to Iceland was really difficult because we didn't speak Icelandic and the people were not very welcoming. Getting jobs was not easy but finally we got job, we did not make much money but we made it.
There was a girl in the other family who lived with us. She was called Sjöfn Jónsdóttir and we became really good friends. She was small like most people in Iceland with blonde curly hair and blue deep eyes.
Me and Sjöfn fell in love really fast and we spent a lot of time together. We for example walked around Reykjavík and we talked a lot about things. Our favourite place in the city was on the seaside. I had never seen in Finland something like that.
Even though it was only few weeks it felt like years and we were already planning our future together. But suddenly everything fell apart, we got the news that the winter war was over. My family wanted to go back to Finland, check our house and meet our family who didn´t come with us. It was hard to me. When we were leaving for Finland it was really difficult but she promised to come and visit me when she turns 18. When we came to Finland we found out that our house was burned and nothing left, that was very shocking. We had to build new house but that took time so we stayed at our relatives for a while. Building a new house was very expensive so my parents had to work in a factory and I worked at the local grocery store.
After a few years the girl came to Finland and we met again. We fell in love again and we had a family. Our family consists of me, Sjöfn and two beautiful girls. We have lived in Finland our whole life and we are happy.
Collaborative writing by Gígja Karitas Thorarensen and Saimi Eskelinen
It was a freezing December morning in 1939, I was 15 years old and me and my family were waiting for our ship to Iceland. Our trip to Iceland was going to take long time, maybe a few days and will be very dangerous. Some people died because of cold. We were forced to leave Finland because the Winter war was started at the end of November and it was really dangerous to live in Finland. The trip to Iceland was really difficult because it´s winter and cold, some people got really sick and were not likely to get better.
When we arrived to Iceland we didn´t have much money at all but we needed a place to live in. Otherwise we wouldn´t last for long here. So, we moved into a barracks with another family who couldn’t pay the rent for the barracks alone. Moving to Iceland was really difficult because we didn't speak Icelandic and the people were not very welcoming. Getting jobs was not easy but finally we got job, we did not make much money but we made it.
There was a girl in the other family who lived with us. She was called Sjöfn Jónsdóttir and we became really good friends. She was small like most people in Iceland with blonde curly hair and blue deep eyes.
Me and Sjöfn fell in love really fast and we spent a lot of time together. We for example walked around Reykjavík and we talked a lot about things. Our favourite place in the city was on the seaside. I had never seen in Finland something like that.
Even though it was only few weeks it felt like years and we were already planning our future together. But suddenly everything fell apart, we got the news that the winter war was over. My family wanted to go back to Finland, check our house and meet our family who didn´t come with us. It was hard to me. When we were leaving for Finland it was really difficult but she promised to come and visit me when she turns 18. When we came to Finland we found out that our house was burned and nothing left, that was very shocking. We had to build new house but that took time so we stayed at our relatives for a while. Building a new house was very expensive so my parents had to work in a factory and I worked at the local grocery store.
After a few years the girl came to Finland and we met again. We fell in love again and we had a family. Our family consists of me, Sjöfn and two beautiful girls. We have lived in Finland our whole life and we are happy.
Collaborative writing by Gígja Karitas Thorarensen and Saimi Eskelinen
Gígja and Saimi present their story in Finland