A good holiday smells clean / Kaija’s presenting
A good holiday includes a functional and clean apartment. When these are in good condition, the vacationer can focus on the most important thing, which is of course, the vacation.
Kaija has responsible for the maintenance and cleaning of our apartment. We met Kaija first time in last spring. When we went through together the maintenance issues we easily reached a common understanding. In addition, we found important common values, such as eco-friendly cleaning products e.g. pine soap, vinegar and soda. Those have a very good cleaning power, but still are saving the nature. In addition to this, Kaija impressed a very nice person and later I said it would be great to get to know her better.
We had an appointment with Kaija just before Christmas. We sat in the cafeteria and I had a few questions planned to ask. When we start of Kaija's story, there was a lot more to talk about, and those individual questions stayed aside in other more interesting stories.
But let's go back to Kaija's story. Before moving to Äkäslompolo, Kaija told that she had spent most of her vacations in Äkäslompolo and her dream was to move to Äkäslompolo. Before moving, Kaija had a long career as a clothing retailer in Kouvola, southern Finland. In 2015, after many coincidences, Kaija saw a job possibility in Ylläs, decided to apply for it, and soon started working at Hotel Saaga. The move to Äkäslompolo came true and the home in Kouvola was packed into storage. From Hotel Saaga, Kaija's road took her to Ylläs-Avain, where Kaija has managed her own customers by working a lot. Kaija has continued as an entrepreneur and she is working in that way for Ylläs-Avain. Kaija's aim for the job is to do it as good as possible. We have noticed this every time we arrive, because the cleanliness smells already from the door. I asked Kaija what wishes or tips she would have for apartment renters or clients and the following important points came out:
It is a good to make the very detailed instructions for the apartment's all the appliances and put them together in one folder. Too much instructions are better than less. In addition, the most important instructions should be displayed in the apartment, for example, with the dishwasher tap open / closed. It is also advisable to give more information about extension cords, that nobody accidentally cut off the power of the refrigerator or freezer. About recycling, it may be forgotten on vacation, even if it could be possible. In this case, it is advisable to leave the bottles, for example, to the cleaning service and this will ensure that bottles are ending up to the correct recycling point.
Some tips for apartment renters are closing windows and doors when leaving the apartment. In winter time. open windows or doors can be very damaging if the apartment gets frozen or machines break down.
In addition to Saturday, Sunday and Friday have also become general exchange days. It helps to divide the work over several days. At the same time, there is enough time is for cleaning and quality is better at every apartment. Anyway, the high season from Christmas to First of May, weekends are very busy and free days can be spent during the week.
Kaija has enjoyed living very well in Äkäslompolo and she has found many new friends. She has been able to enjoy nature all the year round and nature is very important to her. In addition to spending time in the nature, Kaija's hobbies are photography, singing, berry picking, mushroom picking and herbs. To the collection basket ends Cloudberries, Blueberries and Natural herbs for example. From Spruce Sprout and Angelica Kaija makes herbal tea. Nature herbs sounded very interesting, so I dug in for more information from the following links: https://www.arcticwarriors.fi/en/ and https://www.arktisetaromit.fi/en/herbs/
In addition, one dear hobby is yoga. Yoga has taken Kaija around the world for example India, Morocco and upcoming trips to Portugal and Nepal.
Kaija could officially be retired but she is still fully employed. I was amazed at Kaija's youthfulness and energy and her energy to continue her career. At least for the time being, Kaija's work continues and the home stays in Äkäslompolo, but later the Kaija's road can lead somewhere else.
Kaija will spend Christmas and New Year in Äkäslompolo and for Christmas she will have a daughter with her grandchildren and a sister with her husband. There is plenty of snow this Christmas in Äkäslompolo, so the snow is sure to bring a lot of joy to grandchildren as well as adults. To Southern Finland Black Christmas is coming again.
As I mentioned at the beginning, there was much more to talk with Kaija than I had expected. With her came the feeling that I had met an old friend and we had much in common. We said together that that life with its surprises is very nice and that everything has its own purpose, just like Äkäslompolo is for both of us, as well as this interesting conversation moment.