It’s a rainy Friday night in my favorite city, Vancouver. For quite some time, I’ve been wondering if writing a blog is a good idea, and every time I ended up deciding not to, mostly because I couldn’t decide what language I should write in. Writing only in English would probably offend people in Samiland, and having a blog in Sami would be, well, very limiting. Besides there are many things I’m not so good at expressing myself in Sami (like a good part of my research). However, the need for an outlet in writing has suddenly become very pressing – since I moved back home to Sápmi a few months ago. But I had to travel back to Canada to get a brainwave – have a bilingual blog! I don’t (hopefully) have to choose between the languages I feel are mine most (hopefully because I haven’t tried yet whether the Sami fonts work). I also reconciled my longterm ambivalence with blogs – I tend to think one needs a good cause to have a blog (like anything to do with making the world a better place), otherwise you’re just some ego maniac who thinks that whatever you have to say is important and worth reading. My reconciliation came with a realization that it doesn’t really matter if nobody reads this blog – that having a blog to stay sane is as good as any reason. At least I can have a feeling of being connected with the outside world (even if I might not always be as much as I’d want to) and if that feeling helps me in the process of adjusting in my “new” living environment, so be it. That’s also why I think it is very fitting to start this blog in Vancouver, in my old hometown that I learned to love so much that part of me didn’t really want to leave and when I left, I missed it so much. My mother came to visit once and she quickly pointed out that this city casts a spell on you. In my case, it didn’t happen immediately but I couldn’t agree more with her. Now I’m back for a short visit for the first time since I left for home and have to admit I was quite nervous about coming – maybe I wouldn’t want to leave like so many times before! This time, however, it is very different: I am very calm (so much so that I can’t quite believe it myself) while I enjoy being in a city that I know so well – in fact, better than any other city in the world. So I think this is a good place to get started. I think it is a sign that I’m also getting started in adjusting in my new location, i.e., being back home. And I hope and promise my blog is not going to be just a series of personal confessions like this one. But this is just getting me started.