An Introvert's Dream

I'm almost halfway through my two-week trip to Helsinki - my last trip before moving here.  I've decided I'm living an introvert's dream and possibly an extrovert's worse nightmare.  Not knowing the language is beyond alienating - in so many ways.  People have continually said to me "oh, but they speak English, right?"  Yes...most of them do, after being spoken to in English.  However, the conversations that go on around me, signs, directions, menus, everything printed is in Finnish (and in some cases Sweedish).  I keep finding myself wishing that either I had someone here with me or that I was doing this in England, or Ireland, or any other English-speaking country.  So after feeling sorry for myself for a while (and still doing that a bit), I'm realizing I will have to make a very very concerted effort to learn the language.  I don't expect to be able to have real conversations - just want to have some clue as to what is going on around me and not feel entirely deaf.  I would also like to be able to help myself at least a little bit when ordering in a restaurant or trying to find something in a grocery store.  The reality though is trying to take a language course and learning one of the hardest languages to learn while learning a brand new job is going to be tough.  Really tough.  But, both should have great rewards and will be worth it.  I'm also hoping I could possibly meet a few others in my position at whatever language course I take.

I've spent a little time in the office and a lot of time running around not feeling entirely productive.  The apartments I've been seeing are getting a little better - I have a little hope there.  Banking is another story.  Each of the three banks we've talked to here all have a requirement that I am currently unable to satisfy.  One requires residence - which I won't have for a good 3-4 months after moving here.  Another requires me to be paid Finnish wages.  That isn't happening as I'm getting paid in the US.  The third only requires a Finnish ID # from the magistrate.  But our visit to the magistrate says I need a residency permit to get the ID #.  So yeah...clear as mud as to how I'm supposed to actually do anything here.  I'm thinking about living in one of the cool cardboard forts I saw built around a fallen tree in the woods on my run Sunday.  Then I can buy groceries on credit card and it will all be good.

Meeting people will be huge and entirely necessary to me enjoying it here (I suppose that is obvious).  But figuring out how to meet them has been quite interesting and so far I haven't entirely figured that out.  I did go to the English-speaking service at a local Methodist church on Sunday.  It was so nice to hear English!  The service though, unfortunately, left a little to be desired.  I guess it just wasn't Tarrytown UMC.  Which I'm sure you are saying "no $hit."  There were 15 of us in the service and I had about the most boring background.  The pianist/singer was named Hilda.  She was fair-complected and had a fairly American sounding accent.  I asked where she was from and she said Mexico.  Not what I expected.  She grew up a German Mennonite in Mexico holding Mexican and Canadian citizenship currently studying in Finland.  Got all that?  The remainder of the group at church was from Ghana - I forget there is such a huge Methodist presence there.  It was pretty neat to have this one common thing bringing us together from literally all over the world.  That being said, I may try out the Anglican church soon too - as much as I'm looking for church, I'm also looking for a community and feel like I need to explore all options.  Also, sadly, the service was 1.5 hours because the sermon was given in Finnish and translated line by line - so that took a while and it was hard to keep my attention.  But when/if I make any progress learning the language, that may be a good learning tool.

After my run in the above-mentioned woods, I saw three girls waiting at the tram stop.  One had on a letter jacket with a UIL patch.  I heard one speak though and while it was English, it definitely wasn't American.  We ended up on the same tram and I finally asked the letter jacket girl where she was from and she was not only American, but TEXAN.  Poor girl probably feared I wasn't going to leave her alone.  But she actually laughed and told her friends (one from Germany and the other from Switzerland) "See!!  I told you we all talk to each other when we hear similar accents."  Her name was Blossom and she is a junior from a town near the TX/OK border.  She will have 16 kids in her graduating class back home.  Wow.  She has spent her junior year, along with these 2 other girls, studying abroad in Finland.  Her classes are in Finnish.  Wow.  I was so impressed.  And thinking to myself I need to tell Elizabeth I think her girls need to study abroad at some point.  How awesome that these kids are getting over at 16/17 yrs old what I'm not sure I can get over at this point.  Granted they have families and school friends to help the transition, but they are half my age.  Another person I was super impressed with is the housekeeper at my hotel.  She came in while I was there the other day to change my duvet and her English was so good I asked where she was from.  Kenya.  Not what I was expecting.  She knows five languages and is here studying business.  She had an aunt that lived here so that is what made her come here as well.  She knows five and I'm grieving over the fact that my one isn't cutting it.

Another huge plus is I think I figured out how to watch American TV over here - or at least get access to Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.  You have to get an American VPN which seems beyond shady and I half expect everything to blow up or the FBI to show up at my door but I just watched Nashville (at 7am) and am now starting to watch yesterday morning's GMA.  I'm normally a Today Show fan, but I'll take whatever is available at this point...even if it is a day late.  The 12' HDMI cable I bought a few years ago and the $50 HDMI/lightning connector I bought in Singapore have been clutch for the combination of awful hotel TV and foreign TV.

I bought new pink running gloves the other day - to be fair I actually kind of needed them.  The one pair I brought were cheapo cotton - what I wear regularly at home when it is cold enough to need gloves but not crazy cold (usually in the 30s-40s).  But I realized the other day they don't have the smartphone fingers.  Usually that isn't a problem in Austin - because I know where I'm going.  But here, I'm possibly lost more than I'm found.  For someone with a decent sense of direction it has been humbling.  So the beautiful thin gloves with smartfingers were entirely necessary.  And perfect on my run yesterday.  Along those lines - it is still cold here.  The days are already longer than in the US which is kind of neat, but the temps are in the 30s and 40s.  And it is windy and sometimes rainy.  My boss asked me from day 1 how I am with cold weather and I said I thought it would be okay.  I spoke without thinking too much (shocker - I never do that!) - what I should have realized is that I don't mind the cold spells that come through Austin.  I don't mind the cold when we go snow skiing (or at least I don't mind when inside by a fire....or just walking from inside place to inside place - sometimes the outside for hours part is miserable).  Cold for 9 months a year?  A spell of 2-3 months where it may not get over 32 degrees?  I'm not so sure about that.  My fear all along has been the 4 hours of sunlight we get in winter.  I need to add to that the 3-4 months of Colorado mountain winter and then the 4-5 months of Austin winter (which usually lasts 2-3 weeks in Austin).  Maybe it will be okay.  I do love coats and boots and layers and spiffy tech gear.  We will see how much I love it two years from now :-)

So glad to know I can now have that pink toaster I've always wanted.

...and the pink vacuum.  By the way, the Finnish word for pink has FIFTEEN letters.  REALLY??? Try this: vaaleanpunainen

Local Finnish pastry - don't ask me to say, spell, or remember the name.  I've had too much of it and too much hot chocolate.

Run scenery - about a mile or so south of my hotel

My fancypants.  The shirt I wore with these was the color of my shoes.  I went around 8 Saturday morning.  At one point a lady got out of her car and started talking to me.  Of course I had no idea what she said and told her that.  She said "oh I was just saying how bright and cheery you are in your colors."  So that made my morning.  Fancypants will have to come out often.