Things I Have Come to Know

Moi!

We have officially come to the one month in Finland mark! It was a whirl wind of activity and new experiences, and now things are finally starting to fall into a rhythm. Through this rhythm, there are a few things that I have come to notice about Finland, and my everyday life, that seem quite normal now, but a year ago would have baffled me had someone told me that these were in my future. These are the things that I have come to know:

1) Silence is fun! No really, I have come to enjoy the quiet atmosphere that you can find throughout this country. This sounds quiet, and you may now have an image of stone-faced Finns walking through the streets of Helsinki not saying a word. That isn't the case at all, its just that when you compare where I come from to where I am now, its like the volume level has been turned down about five notches. People here believe that if you are going to speak, you should have something to say. This means also that what a Finn says is the truth, and each word holds a new weight that I hadn't before felt in the US.  Because of this I have found that I have much more time with my own thoughts, and I have a better chance to observe and "people-watch", as well as learn much from the people that do speak with me.

2) Finland is like a small town, it seems that everyone knows everyone else. A very good example of this is when I told my host mother Annica that I wanted to join a yoga class. She smiled and said that "Oh yes, I have a friend named Monica who teaches a yoga class, let me give her a call and see if she can fit you in." Less than an hour later she comes to me stating that I was signed up and ready for a few weekend courses at a local studio, and that Monica would even teach in English for me so that I wouldn't get lost in the folds of the Swedish language. It was extremely kind of Annica to use her connections to help me out, and it also gives a good perspective on the community aspect of this countries culture.

3) Food. Ohhhhhh the food. I had no idea what I would be eating when I came to this country. I had heard horror stories about "blood-cake" and blood this, and blood that, so naturally I began to wonder if the people in Finland were really all vampires... No not really, but these rumors made me nervous about what types of foods  I would eat. Today I am happy to report that the food is good! The main staple foods that are included in most every meal are potatoes (peruna), tomatoes (tomaatii), cucumber (kurkku), fish (kala), bread (leipa), and butter (voi). There is an extreme emphasis on the bread and butter, daily I have at LEAST four pieces of bread with butter. And thats considered a low number. I quite enjoy everything we eat!

4) Public transportation has become one of my dearest, and most trusted friends. I say most trusted because when everything else in my life is a little bit crazy, I can always count on the bus I need to take to be there at the exact time that it is scheduled to. On a normal day I usually only use the bus to get where I need to go, but occasionally I need a train or a metro to get me to my destination. Each of these forms of people movers are very convenient, and I enjoy the freedom they give me.

There are defiantly more to add to this list, but its quite late, and I am terribly sick, so I should probably get to sleep. I'll start posting picture of my trip for those of you who haven't seen them on Facebook!

Hyvää yötä!