Writer: Evgenia Belova (Hostess at HUONE)
How does it feel to work in HUONE? I will try to answer this question, at least to myself. Especially since recently I have being really struggling to do so. But first, I will tell something else…
Evon is sitting in front of me with a brand new copy of “Taivas & Helvetti Volume 2” book. There is her story inside, and she is translating it for me into English. With the last words of the chapter coming out, she starts crying. I look at her realizing a very simple, very obvious thing I haven’t thought about before: she is just a girl, vulnerable, sensitive, emotional. And she is my boss. About a year later I will be reading Evon’s story in a SISU book, and I will get this feeling that there is something missing in both of the stories. It just feels like I know something others don’t; something they don’t write in the books; something Evon doesn’t tell in her sincere speeches from the stage.
They don’t write, for example, how being very busy and stressed about HUONE’s expansion and going to Singapore, she still closes her laptop and listens to me with attention about napkins running out, about thermos for hot water being broken, about my bachelor’s thesis, about my theatre group, about my visa, about many things, which could be unnecessary for her to even matter; about things, which she still finds energy to care about. They don’t write how she comes on Sunday to HUONE to help you with endless pile of dirty dishes and sends you a text message: “Stay home and get some rest”. They don’t write how she makes you believe you are better than you thought you were, just because she has a huge trust in you.
So… How does it feel to work in HUONE? It feels like HUONE invaded your whole life, with most of the time spent at work, with constant thinking about work even on your day-off. But I guess everybody does that when you love your work. There is a pile of unread books in my room and a long list of old movies I am eager to watch; there is a sewing machine hidden in the wardrobe and my promise to Eva to make a shirt for her together. During these busy periods of expansion and Pikkujoulu, I desperately miss my life outside the beautiful walls of HUONE, I miss my friends and all the things we do together. In the end I will find balance. But this is something I will never tell my boss.
To work in HUONE feels like having a family, where you love every single one, and controversially you happen to be mean to those who you love the most, knowing they will understand, forgive and support.
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