Tua retired and immediately moved to Tenerife—even though her children and grandchildren stayed in Finland: “You only live once”

The parrots squawking in the palm tree are now an everyday sight for Tua Sjöblom. Bullfinches made way for parrots when she moved from Finland to Tenerife in the Canary Islands just over six years ago.

Tua points at the massive palm tree on the corner of her terrace and explains she has to clean up after both the tree and the green parrots. For three months of the year, the palm drips a syrupy goo onto the terrace. After that, the pollen becomes floury and thicker. Once seeds begin to appear, the parrots show up to eat them, dropping empty, sticky shells all over Tua’s terrace.

Fortunately, she doesn’t have to shovel snow off the terrace. Tenerife’s climate stays around twenty degrees Celsius even at its coldest.

“I’ve always disliked Finnish winters. In that kind of cold, I get all sorts of aches and pains. I’ve wanted to move somewhere warm for as long as I can remember. As soon as I retired, I made that dream a reality,” Tua says.

Congratulated for her courage

Tua previously worked as a service manager. She started thinking about moving abroad well before she retired. She joined a Facebook group for Finns living in Tenerife, where she found both information and local contacts.

At work, Tua shared her plans with coworkers as well.

“When my retirement day came, my boss congratulated me. He said he admired my courage in deciding to move abroad on my own.”

Tua has two adult children. She split up with their father when they were very small.

“I’ve been an independent woman ever since.”

Besides the warm climate, safety also factored into her choice. Tua weighed various possibilities, and Spain and Turkey made it to the final round.

“I wondered which country a European woman could move to and be self-sufficient. In the end, Tenerife felt right. I’d visited several times on vacation when my kids were little.”

Before she moved, Tua also researched which area would suit her best. She had a few requirements: she wanted the terrain to be flat, without steep hills, and she didn’t want a rowdy tourist zone.

She finally settled on Costa del Silencio, or the Coast of Silence.

“The area has services such as a grocery store right outside my building’s gate. The area is peaceful and green,” she says.

Escaping mold

Tua arrived in Tenerife with two suitcases, giving herself a month to find a permanent rental. She sold her place in Finland before moving.

As a Finnish pensioner, Tua says it was easy to search for rentals, because Spaniards tend to view Finns as dependable tenants. Still, she faced some bumps along the way.

She had to leave her first rental in just a few weeks. It turned out there was mold.

Her next rental was in the same complex she lives in now, but it was expensive and the terrace was too shaded, making it chilly and tough on her plants.

Neighbors in the building clued her in about her current place: a two-bedroom with a kitchen, living room, and a big, sunny terrace.

“My current terrace is like an extra room in my home. I spend hours there nurturing chili peppers, raspberries, papayas, flowers, and vines.”

The home was originally in rough shape, but Tua chose to fix it up. She painted the walls herself and hired a professional for tasks like electrical work.

According to Tua, in Spain you can’t assume landlords will handle small repairs. Besides painting, Tua replaced the bathroom lights, fixed cupboards and doors, and installed new faucets and kitchen counters.

“Landlords around here act like gods. When I asked for a new oven at my previous apartment, they told me to buy my own, fix the old one, or move out. So I decided to buy one.”

Daughter encouraged her to move

A big smile spreads across Tua’s face as tiny toddler feet patter by. They belong to her grandson, one-year-old Asser. For the past couple of months, Tua’s daughter Anni Sjöblom, 41, Asser, and her 14-year-old first child, Aino, have been staying with Tua.

This visit was possible because Anni is on parental leave and Aino got permission to do part of her eighth grade remotely.

When Tua first moved, Anni’s daughter Aino was still in preschool. Tua admits fighting feelings of missing out and worrying how Anni would cope with a small child on her own. But Anni was supportive from the start.

“I encouraged Mom to move. I figured we could visit her during breaks from school. It’s a bit like our summer cottage,” Anni says.

As Anni approached forty, she decided to have another baby on her own, becoming a single mom by choice. She’s always been close to Tua and shared her thoughts about parenthood openly. At that point, it was Tua’s turn to offer support.

“Mom has always been positive and encouraging. She told me to go for it,” Anni says, grateful.

“When it was time to give birth, Tua flew to Finland to be with me and even came into the delivery room.”

“Witnessing a birth at my age was unbelievable. It’s a rare thing, and I’m truly thankful for it.”

The cat that chose Tua

When Anni and the children aren’t visiting, Tua is kept company by her pets. She adopted her rescue dog Calvin from a local shelter, and a stray cat simply wandered into her home one day and made itself at home.

On the day of the interview, it’s hidden so well that Tua can’t track it down. Later, she sends a message saying she found it under a blanket on the lounge chair.

“The cat got here before the dog. It just showed up. It picked me.”

Meanwhile, Calvin circles Tua’s feet nonstop. If she steps too far away, Calvin grows uneasy.

When Tua visited the Las Chafiras shelter three and a half years ago, Calvin was the only dog not barking. She thought a quiet companion would suit her home, especially with another apartment upstairs.

Once Calvin settled in, though, he showed his true character: at the shelter he seemed apathetic, but at home he’s a lively guy who loves to bark. Luckily, it hasn’t bothered the neighbors.

Just everyday life

Mornings start around eight-thirty with going on a walk with Calvin, after which Tua has breakfast. Then she gets immersed in novels passed on by other Finns living on Tenerife. Right now, she’s reading Anna Jansson’s Maria Wern mystery series.

Besides reading, Tua brushes her pets’ fur and knits. Recently, she’s been knitting a wool outfit for Asser and socks for Anni.

In the afternoon, after another dog walk, Tua often takes a swim in her condo’s pool. Sometimes she meets her neighbors or friends.

“Pets and chatting with neighbors in the yard are great ways to meet people. And through new people, you meet even more people.”

Living abroad has made Tua appreciate Finland in a different way. According to her, it’s common in Spain for people to have zero-hour contracts and skip paying taxes. It’s also wise to be prepared for theft. A shower rail she ordered arrived at the post office opened, missing a few parts.

“The gap between the rich and the poor is much more visible here than in Finland.”

According to Tua, locals here can’t even count on their equivalent of social security arriving on time. She isn’t directly affected because she receives her pension from Finland.

Recently, Finland passed a law that ended national pension payments for Finns living permanently overseas. Tua gets a larger occupational pension, so the ban doesn’t apply to her.

“I’m thankful I was able to move to Tenerife. You only live once.”