Bon Voyage

In 5 hours I am leaving for home. I am nervous about negotiating the train. Please think good thoughts for me.

Quick Travel Notes

This month I have had the opportunity to travel to two cities in Finland--first, Helsinki, and then just this past weekend I went to Vaasa. I am glad I got to do this because it helps give me a better over-all impression of Finland. I liked Helsinki because I like big cities. I like their buzzing energy. I like the fact that there are people on the streets performing music and shows. I know that Finnish people usually don't like this and call them beggars, but, Finnish people don't really know what beggars actually are. I was enchanted by the opera singer and the man in a rainbow suit on stilts parading around the streets. When you tilt your head up to the sky in the bustling town centre, you will find yourself looking at a mess of thick black wires that look like a spider on caffeine had made a home there; these are the tram lines. There are basically four ways to travel in Helsinki--by tram, by bus, by subway, and by foot. I did all four in my 30 hours spent there, but mostly relied on my feet. 16 hours of running around Helsinki can really take it out of me, and it did. I don't like acting like a foolish tourist who stops at every possible dot on the map just because... but my 'guide' decided I was one and I wasn't comfortable with the thought of trying to navigate Finland's capital city by myself, so I attempted to grin and bear it. I do a lot of that lately. The stops I did like were visiting the three famous churches, going to the art gallery, and going to the aqaurium zoo. I love staring at aqautic animals, it is so relaxing. Plus, there is no fear of them escaping and killing you like there is at a land-animal zoo. Hey, it's happened! What I didn't like was "Scandinvia's biggest mall", "Scandinavia's biggest department store", and basically any lame shop I stepped into for no reason. Helsinki is expensive, and travelling to Helsinki is expensive, and I am out of euros now because of it. Thankfully I got the student discount on the bus ride to Vaasa, though the 3 mile taxi ride back to my host house kind of negated the savings.

Vaasa is a nice place. It kind of takes the best of both worlds as an intermediary of Kokkola and Helsinki. It has a buzzing, energetic town centre, but it also isn't super large so it isn't as dirty or crowded as Helsinki. I visited my slightly-distant relatives who live seven minutes outside of the city. They have two children, 6 and 4, and the whole family is adorable and level-headed. I will miss them a lot. I took pictures of them but I am not very well versed in formatting this blog, so it is easier for me to make picture posts separate from my regular blogs. So look for the Vaasa pictures sometime soon. And for those of you who have been wondering when I will be putting pictures up of my host family, I am sorry, but I won't be. I don't like them and I don't want to remember them. So that's that.

Oh, I also liked the market-places in Helsinki, where 'vendors' in booths were selling fresh fruit and vegetables and of course--pastries and bread! There are a few big market places like that in America, I've been to one in Pennsylvania, but there certainly are more of them in Europe and I really like them. It sure beats tv dinners.

It is only 3:50pm and it is already super dark here. I only have two weeks left. It has certainly been an experience, but not really a positive one. I just hope I get home safely. I miss everyone.

Picture Post

Sooo, I decided that I am too lazy to go back to my old posts and insert the relevant pictures--so here are some random ones! Above is a picture of the sign for the school I am working at. Here are some more from September:


Outside the school, where the students' bikes are

Just a nice picture from a beautiful day, on the way to the bus stop from the school

On the way to the school

In the back of the school, where the playground is

Through the Football Net

Sand on the playground

My favourite fall tree!

The ocean-side

A beautiful sunset from the back yard

Now here are some from early October:

War Memorial

Me with the captured English paddle-boat from the Crimean War

A view of the Town Center

I decided a giant church organ was a good place to stick my head

Part of the stained glass in the 'modern' Lutheran Church

The Old Church

This is how they used to give money to the poor

My Europeanification

And from the first snow on Halloween!

View from the driveway

Down the street

So happy I get to wear my new winter coat now

That's all I have for now. Enjoy!

Light and Cold

Last night it snowed, and this morning there was a light dusting covering all the yards as if someone had sprinkled powdered sugar over everyone's green grass. The clouds had parted and the sun was rising, shining brightly and sharply and adding sparkle to the white snow. Across the sky from the sunrise, a full moon glowed, stark, almost transluscent grey floating over a back-drop of pale blue sky. I stood at the bus stop, with the moon to my right and the sun to my left. The moon hung highly over the pastel houses; the sun seemed to be illuminating directly onto the colors of the houses rather than the structures themselves, and glimmering frost danced over the pinks, yellows, and blues of the homes in front of me.
It was a nice morning. A nice morning to just be.

The Little American That Could?

'Ello loves,

So it has been almost a month since my last entry. It's a hard one to follow up, I'll admit. I have endured sickness and being left behind and all sorts of other lovely things that have kept my mind pre-occupied with wanting to come home rather than blogging about my time here. This weekend I am going to Helsinki. Maybe I'll blog about it when I get back, maybe I won't. Heellloooooo despondency, right? Can you hear it in my written voice? Only a month to go... "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" that worked for Obama, did it not? If he can pull the train of America over a mountain, I can surely live through 4 more weeks here. There is some sarcasm in those last two sentences. I am all over the place. But I'm alive! Hi!!!

The Curse of European Radio

I had heard rumors that European countries were rife with bad American music on their radio stations. I have discovered, unfortunately, that Finland has not escaped this curse, and all the rumors are true. But it is not just bad American music (though that takes up most of it, no surprise there)... it is bad music no matter where it is from. If you think listening to American Top 40 is bad, thank your lucky stars for popular alternative rock and grunge. It is like Chopin compared to what they circulate on European radio.

Turn the dial to any channel, and you will, at least 3 times a day, hear Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". Think they play "I Kissed a Girl" too often on American Radio? I once heard it played on the same station just 3 songs after it had already been on. I probably hear it five times a day, if not more. And anything from the 80s you won't hear in America because it is too cliche, you will hear here all.the.time. Like "My Heart Will Go On", anything by Michael Jackson, the Backstreet Boys, the first 5 hits of Britney Spears, "It's Raining Men"... you know, things that Mix 103.1 in Anchorage won't even touch!

But, as I said, this bad music curse is not only reserved for bad American music. There is a song that is played constantly by an artist called Anastasia that goes "I can feel you, when I touch you, when I kiss you... I can feel you, from my head to my toes". Really? You can feel this person when you TOUCH them? I am SO happy your nervous system works! I wish there was a disorder where people lost the sensation of feeling, so I could pretend this was a song about someone who was cured of it. But no such disorder exists... there is only one where people cannot feel pain. Oh, but I feel pain. Pain in my ears.

I also discovered that it is very difficult to explain to a European that Americans hate disco. The other week I had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: "It is nice to hear techno music played here. It is nearly non-existent on American radio because it reminds people of disco, so they're afraid to play it."

European: "Afraid... of disco???"

Me: "Yes."

European: "But I thought Americans loved disco!"

Me: "Well, they did... in the 70s. But then around 1979 everyone got sick of it and they had disco burning bonfires and then everyone hated it."

European (looking confused and aghast): "But they must have played some disco in the 80s... just a little."

Me: "Nope. No disco in the 80s. Not in America."

European: *complete disbelief*

Somehow that whole anti-disco movement in America never was even registered as happening in the European mind. In Europe disco just started becoming really popular in the 80s, and that is when a lot of European bands started doing their own disco songs. So while disco and the disco ball is inherently connected to the 70s in America, in Europe when a really popular disco song comes on the radio, you will hear young people yell "Disco! 80s!" And, to an American, that is bizarro world.

Along these lines, the other night I attended a dinner with 10 other young people from 9 different countries (one was another American) ranging 4 continents of the world. It was amazing to hear old American cultural meme phenomena spit at me in 2008 from Kenyans and Italians and Germans. I stepped in the door and was greeted by wagging tongues shouting "Wazzz Uppppppppp!" Just like those annoying beer or football or nacho commercials or whatever they were from a decade ago. And they weren't mocking my American-ness. Honestly, it's just what they do, because now it is a world-wide meme. It is quite amusing to hear these things constantly in conversation amongst young people in an international setting... because in America, if you said any of those old worn-out memes from commercials and songs and movies... you'd probably get punched. So, America, you can be proud of your trend-setter status. But you probably should be shot for the trends you set. And, my friends (who can resist a McCain meme??), in the very Kantian vein, next time you repeat a catchy line from American media, think to yourself "Would I really want everyone in the world to constantly be saying this all of the time a decade from now?" and I bet, most of the time, you'll keep your American mouth shut.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Being French

I have been up to quite a lot. Meeting Finnish University students, going to visit churches and museums and the English paddle boat from the Crimean war (once I get the camera connector I will edit all my previous posts and add the relevant pictures). Also swimming and more sauna, of course. I like young Finnish women because they dress like very stylish yet conservative Russians, but they don't come off as having any attitude like lots of Russian women do--they are very sweet and caring right off the bat. Obviously my impression of young Russian women comes from my encounters at UAA, though. It's possible they are different when in their own country.

Going swimming helped me realize something, though. I am actually glad I am not one hundred percent Finnish. When I was younger I would lament this fact, because it is more common to be of French ancestry and I liked my "exotic" Finnish ancestry. When people would ask what my background was, most of the time I would just say "Finnish". I also connected more with the Finnish in me because it was much more celebrated and visible compared to the French side of my family. But now I am yearning to go to France and make it more visible and celebrated for myself. Not that I am disliking my time in Finland whatsoever... sorry to say, it is much better run and seems to be a more just society than what I have back in America. And I do like a lot about this culture's peculiarities... how bumping into each other is not anything to feel apologetic or guilty about. How your front lawn is not only for green grass but for an individual statement of landscaping. How you eat berries on top of savory foods, not just sweet ones.

However, I have come to see that there are some things about the Finnish cultural personality that I am not very keen on. For you Alaskans, imagine a country full of all the REI-shopping, New Sagaya-lunch grabbing, Subaru-driving, Kaladi-drinking, Cross-country-skiing, Plastic-recycling blokes and gals in Anchorage. There is a lot of good that comes from living a lifestyle in that demographic. There is *gasp* also some bad. Especially with the slightly older Finnish crowd, the parents and grandparents, there is no such thing as enjoying life. Everything is done with a purpose in mind, there is no such thing as an end in and of itself in any activity. Like I mentioned before, the Finns are obsessed with counting calories and fat intake. They are also obsessed with logging exercise. For someone who used to have an eating disorder, this is highly frustrating. And being someone who basically 'self-therapized' herself out of having eating disorders, I think I know what is important when it comes to eating and staying fit. I am not at all saying the Finns all have eating disorders. I am saying they do not know what is important.

You can't just go on a walk because you'd like to, you go on a walk to get exercise. This is evidenced by the fact that almost everyone employs those Nordic walking poles so they "stay fit" on their walks. You can't just go swimming because it is fun, you go swimming to build muscle. You can't even just go orienteering to hone a skill and enjoy nature; it is all for the absolute purpose of staying fit. In my personal philosophy, one stays fit because it is easier to enjoy life that way. It seems to me that everyone here forgoes enjoying simple activities to focus on staying fit. What's the point? I'm not sure. There is also a culture of "live to work" here that I find similarly repulsive in America. Everyone is very focused on careers and everyone ignores their illnesses to go to work until they are too ill to physically be able to even transport themselves to work, when at last they finally call in sick. These things are quite sad to me. There's never any time or thinking power left to enjoy life after all of this working and running around and counting fat content and logging exercise. I used to only worry and concern myself with most of those things, too. It led to an obsession with perfection that gave me the lovely habits of starving myself and self-hurting. Obviously I was not in balance. But then I embraced my "French side", learned that life can sometimes be about eating food because it tastes good and going on walks because the world is beautiful to observe, and I got the heck over myself. If I could, I would mandate that the Finns start using real butter on their toast and all the adults must go to a water park where there are no lanes for swimming laps but there is a giant slide and fountain, and then go dancing afterward without the aid of alcohol. I mean, no wonder Finland has drinking problems. People just won't let their brains enjoy life so they turn them off and let their bodies do the enjoying (until the morning after)! Uh obviously I am making gigantic, humongous, whopping, enormous generalizations. But they are not unfounded. But I will let these observations rest in this blog post, and get back to enjoying my time here ;)