Janita, who is originally from Kajaani, and her husband often visited Kajaani, but it wasn’t until they started expecting their first child that they began to think about moving back to the peace and quiet the city offers.
“On the train from Helsinki to Kajaani, it took me a while to process the idea that instead of taking a holiday, I was moving back. In Kajaani, I was met by my spouse, who had arrived earlier, our new home together, gorgeous winter weather, and peace and quiet.”
The return to Kajaani has felt good. The young couple feel they have everything they ever wanted: Janita feels that she enjoys her everyday life more in Kajaani. Although everyday life is more or less the same everywhere, the advantage Kajaani has is that you don’t need to spend much time at all getting from one place to another. When your workday is over, it hardly takes any time at all to start roaming the forest, get to the public swimming pool or any other leisure activity.
There are also better opportunities for pastimes in Kajaani than in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, as they include hiking, skiing and long-distance running. Ordinary life feels good when you have time to do the things that are really important to you.
“Here in Kajaani, I have more time to do the things I really like, such as spending time with my family and pursuing hobbies without feeling rushed.”
Work and a new home were easy to find
The young family found a home in Kajaani easily. There were plenty of properties to choose from, also in the centre, and the housing market felt more flexible overall.
“There were plenty of dwellings on offer and we had time to think and decide.”
Janita’s husband, from Helsinki, had already hinted earlier that he was interested in moving to Kajaani. As her maternity leave got closer, Janita also got excited by the idea. Her spouse particularly enjoys the peace and quiet, the convenience of everyday life. They both enjoy their work, but their hobbies were also a deciding factor.
In terms of work, things worked out well for them: Janita is on maternity leave and her husband works remotely for a company in Espoo. He was invited to many job interviews and even received several interesting job offers from Kajaani and the surrounding area, but working remotely for a company in his former hometown seemed like the best solution for now.
Janita, who worked as a public health nurse before her maternity leave, will probably find a job in Kajaani fairly easily.
Families expecting a baby are well looked after
Janita’s first experiences of the maternity clinic in Kajaani are happy ones. You can easily get in touch with your own public health nurse through various channels. Janita also appreciates the opportunity to visit the maternity hospital before the birth.
“You can contact your nurse directly here. My husband and I will also be able to visit the maternity ward together, which is, of course, interesting and very important for the future father.”
From the point of view of the mother-to-be, it is also important that services are easily accessible. Moreover, as the pandemic is still going on, Janita also feels the services are safer to use because there are fewer people around. It’s also easy to enjoy the outdoors here: in Kajaani, you don’t have to walk far from your front door to be surrounded by stunning scenery.
What Janita hopes for family life with a baby is peace and quiet and time with family and loved ones. Thanks to the short distances, there is certainly more time for the family than in the everyday hustle and bustle of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
Janita BoreniusI always felt that Kajaani was a safe place to grow up. In the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, competition is already fierce in comprehensive and general upper secondary schools. Here, the schools don’t compete for status; instead, everyone has the same opportunities. In Kajaani, children can grow up free from unnecessary pressure.
