Retaker

I retake language classes all the time. This time I started a Spanish class. That should be an ordinary no big deal. But for me the first round is just warming up to the idea of learning it.

Italian. Start studying – get bored – almost fail – wait for 3 years – realise there might be a chance for exchange in Italy – start studying enthusiasticly.

Spanish. Get an internship in Spain very suddenly – go there – try studying a little – nah, not interested – go back to Finland – travel to Gran Canaria – get suddenly enthusiastic of the language again.

This week I got terribly angry at someone for thinking they were judging me of my poor skills of Spanish. After all, I did spend 8 months in the country and I can only say a few sentences. The fact was that he was not judging me but the issue was inflammable for me. I’m not proud for being lazy but the fact is that I’m. When others learn the first time, I try learning at least two rounds. (Or three times like math in high school.) I still don’t get this tradition of pointing out others obvious failures. Language seems to be an easy target as well because does not seem as personal like many other subjects like weight for example or family.

I tell you two things: STOP THAT and – this lime-cheesecake is delicious!

Green tea and jellyfish

Yes, there are many interesting places in the world. But if it’s green tea with jellyfish and you’re swimming in it, I’m not sure how thrilled I’d be.  If you again do fancy some action with million and millions of moon and golden jellyfish. This is your chance.

Jellyfish Lake or like the locals call it Ongeim’l Tketau is a marine lake on the Eil Malk island of Palau. The island is a part of the Rock Island which is a small group of rocky, mostly uninhabited islands. Jellyfish Lake being one of Palau’s most famous snorkling sites. The thing about it is… obviously the jellyfish.

The lake is connected to the ocean through coves and tunnels. But the lake is isolated enough so that the diversity of species has been greatly reduced from the nearby lagoon. Due to this, both species of jellyfish living in the lake have stinging cells but in general they are not powerful enough to cause harm to humans.

I think I’ll choose to wait on a Palauian desert island.

Yet another awesome travel code

“– Remember that there are not many “undiscovered” places left in the world. Focus on the places that are undiscovered to you and you won’t go wrong.

Obviously, each place you go to will offer unique challenges, but following this list will get you off to a good start.”

There are lots of codes and rules for travellers going around the world considering practical things and culture. A big amount of them might sound scary and I personally know many people who don’t want to go to certain countries because they have the image it is dangerous. Of course you have to be smart about it. However, the main thing is to be aware and ready for whatever might come on your way – or at least as ready as you could be.

There is a CNN program called AC360 which I have never seen. In it “Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news.” The program like every other nowadays has a blog, where lies a great thing from one of the contributors, Chris Guillebeau: 28 things I wish I knew before I started traveling.

“12. When you feel pressured beyond your comfort level by someone who tries to follow you, be polite but increasingly firm. Don’t string anyone along out of guilt—tell them you don’t want their help, and move on. If they keep following you, tell them to stop.

19. Like it or not, you have to be somewhat tolerant of smoking. There are lots of places in the world that haven’t picked up on the Western anti-smoking crusade. If this is hard for you to accept, you’ll likely be frustrated.

22. Don’t point your feet at people or touch anyone on the head. In several cultures, this is disrespectful or otherwise inappropriate.”

He also gives good tips from how all plane tickets are changeable no matter what is written on them – to politics, money exchange, byrochracy. Guillebeau has his own blog The Art of Non-Conformity. And as a side dish he will also teach you how to be awesome ;)

Mm, I didn’t have to tell you twice to go read it, did I? You went already didn’t you.. come back soon, ok?

Booty poppin!

I started a dancehall reggae dance class this autumn. My image of it was that it’s based on a lot of swaying, bendy legs and ass shaking. That’s how it seems on the videos. Little did I know.

Dancehall is a subgenre of reggae which came around in the late 70′s when digital rhythms came available also for reggae artists. Dancehall, like it’s parent, is Jamaica’s gift to the world of music genres. Later it’s popularity spawned dance moves that are just full of energy. Many dance moves seen in hip-hop videos are actually variations of dancehall dances. Just check Sean Paul’s Like Glue and Elephant Man’s Pon de River, Pon de Bank. Aparently very easy versions they are indeed.

Last time in class, the teacher was – and I’m not joking – telling us to stand on our head, doing the splits and booty pop at the same time. I laughed the first time she said it but put a straight face on very quick when the booties really started to pop. Booty poppin’ means that someone (usually a girl) is physically capable of shaking their booty without any other body part moving. Not the legs or lower back, just simply – the booty!

After class I did some research on it and found a lot of videos with titles like “Caucasian girls just ain’t got the ass for it.” I might be wrong, but I dare to state black women generally have some rhythm in their vains from birth while us white girls have to practise to find it. For me even trying to stand on my head doing the splits was hilarious enough, but there were some girls in the class who could do it – and boy, did they do it well.

I’ve always wanted to have some kind of talent which leaves others gasping for air. Some people are just unbeatable in cooking, some know how to walk on their hands, paint breathtakingly photographic pictures or have the ability to memorize amazing quantities of information about the volcanos. Some people have it naturally and others learn it through relentless practise. I think I just found what I want to be stunningly good at – as a caucasian girl ;)

(sigh) I have a long way to go, don’t I?

Scandinavian girls are more comfortable being nude in a sauna than other nations

I wanted to share a bit of an interesting research done by a Scottish guy who I met recently in Helsinki. Unfortunately the visit was very short. However, last night we were talking about it online and he ended up making a small survey at his work.

– Did you go to sauna?
– Thankfully not, otherwise I would’ve caught site of little Thomas!
– Come on! Sauna is for relaxing!
– Yeah but it’s not very relaxing when your mates are sitting there butt naked! Wouldn’t know where to look.
– I think Thomas was the only one who had a sauna.
– I think I would feel uncomfortable going to sauna with foreigners.
– I would find it easier being there with people I didn’t know. Can be quite embarrassing at the gym when you bump into work mates or bosses in the changing rooms.
– Why? At least, I don’t have a problem changing in front of people I know.
– Yeah, girls find it easier I think.
– Based on what? :D
– Hmm.. I’m going to find an article explaining why – to the internet!
– Ok, my belief that girls are more comfortable being naked in front of their friends than guys is based on no sound knowledge. I’m gonna take a quick poll round the office now though… I’ll report back with my findings.
– Write down the arguments as well!

And now I think it’s just fair to note the company consists of 90+% male workers.

– Ok, the consensus is that Scandinavians are more comfortable being nude than the Brits!
– Hahaha and why is that?
– Some replies…
“I’m not sure it is, I definitely know girls that wouldn’t want to be naked in front of their female friends and I know some guys that i doubt worry too much”
“I always thought it was good manners not to prance about naked in front of your same sex friends. I would probably be more up for prancing about in front of a group of female friends. Does that count?”
“I’m one of those who wait for the changing room at the gym kinda people. If I was comfortable with my body it’d be a different story though” (note: This one’s from a girl)
“Hey Scandinavians are much more comfortable with nudity than brits. Think saunas. There are five million inhabitants and over two million saunas in Finland. If it were males i know then i wouldn’t be too into it. For Finns, it’s traditional to strip off and sit in a hot, sweaty room with members of the same sex without any clothes on.”

What do you think about that, girls?

The many meanings of light

The first days that I lived in this new apartment, I lit the first candles of the year. I was trying to remember when I lit the last one. Maybe last December. Maybe November even.

The word light has many definitions. A device serving as a source of illumination or the visual effect of illumination on objects or scenes as created in pictures. Luminosity, brightness, luminance, luminousness, light.

Cottage in Korppoo, the archipelago of Turku

I’ve been thinking about how much light and climate effects on how people are.  Everywhere. Malagueños go on Sunday walks, while people in Helsinki mostly stay in. Spanish dance and but don’t drink themselves to the stage of unattractive, Finns stay in smokey bars and get heavily drunk.*

Light and climate create an ambience that effects on people’s personality and behaviour. Not to even begin with the food we make. Finns obviously cannot get as fine olive oils, fruits and vegetables because there is not enough sun light while all the Mediterranean enjoy their diets. I believe many people don’t like Finland just for the things that the climate prevents us to be and have. The climate was the number one reason for moving abroad what I heard from Finnish immigrants in Spain. (And there are plenty, up to 15 000 only in Spain.)

Absolutely everything seems to have an aspect that can be explained by how the dynamic duo has affected on us or the systems. The twists of the moods, the difference in people’s appearance between summer and winter, the traffic, the ways and times to work, how we work.. even politics. Like the british writer and comedian and a long-time resident in Helsinki, Neil Hardwick said: the seasonal switch between summer and winter puts the other rules on use. “The rules, which unofficially kick in on October 1st and run until April, require that people no longer smile, make eye contact with strangers, or wear anything colourful.”

Although light and climate seems to have a very deep of effect on us Finns, the contrast does have a thing or two to do with history as well.

* Sure I’m talking about harsh stereotypes but to proove a point that can only be prooven through them.

Source and more info if interested: Katja Pantzar’s The Hip Guide to Helsinki (Wsoy).

How to learn a language in 6 months

I’m known to be lazy when it comes to languages. If possible I always prefer the possibility to learn it in a genuine environment and even then it can be hard if there’s no effort put in it. I believe a teacher cannot teach everything, basicly he can only get you started and teach you good grammar. When you are not in the environment where they actually use the language, you don’t understand everything and a teacher cannot explain it to you correctly because it needs to be experienced. For example in Italy I found out that there are some words they use that just simply are not possible to translate in Finnish. It just doesn’t make sense and has so much to do with the atmosphere.

At school I still have an English class to attend, Work English. We have to write a CV and application letter for the course. A friend of mine was helping me with them and at a point we were trying to find – if for nothing else, just out of curiosity – the formal ways of saying how well you know a language. While searching I bumped into a series of advice for learning a language or recovering one.

Reading through the 10 steps to becoming fluent in a language in 6 months or less, I realized these were exactly the steps that made me get through to Italian. I remember someone telling me that you know a language quite well when you start to think in that language and not translate it in your mind.

Before going to Italy, I wrote a blog of unimportant everyday things but I wrote it in the spaghetti language. I even had an online friend who was going through the writings and telling me what went wrong. Through that I improved a lot. My first roommates were also very into watching TV which was quite good for me – I sat there mostly trying to get to know them and in the meanwhile I learned from the TV. They played their country mens music for me and I checked up lyrics online to understand what it was about. I still find the most interesting the local ways of saying something and learning how to make use of body language. In the end, the most important is to get understood.

In that year both my Finnish and English skills went downhill and now I’ve decided to sign up for English and Finnish prep classes after my graduation. So I guess you can say grammar is school stuff and everything else comes through life, doesn’t it?

From the same site you can find very good advice on how to recover a forgotten language and learn about the styles for learning one and which one suits you best. Other interesting (and laughable) things the site offers: How to pack, 10 things to do in Amsterdam except smoking pot, 8 incredible survival stories and how to have sex in a hostel! Check ‘em out!

Gray wallet and some cloride

I don’t really have much to report. I’m working and sleeping.. and being confused. It’s a 24/7 job to be me these days. Job as in there’s obvious bad sides in it as well.

So let’s do it random then:

I worked late hours last week. So I got half a day off on Friday. I slept a good part of it at the beach but then Steve took me to this huuuuge shopping center called La Cañana in Marbella. I have never been in such a big one. I have a new favourite store now as well: Blanco. LOOOVELY. So much colour that my wallet went very grey.

Enric is coming for a visit on Friday but before that there’s a two day trip to come. I’m going to the hot springs of Alhama de Granada. I got days free and a nice note from the chief editor when I suggested it as a travel story to the next newspaper :)

I called my parents just because one particular day in the past few weeks. After talking my mom for a moment, I can once again say how much I appreciate her calm being. However, the next day it just hit my brilliant mind. They are growing old.
Let me explain. After I came back to Italy, many things changed in the big family and in my nuclear family. One thing that happened during my stay away was that my parents grew more together and started growing old. I remember being annoyed from their ridiculous honeymoon period in the autumn and jealous of not getting the same attention I got before. Sometimes I think they didn’t even notice it.. but now I think it’s just a natural part. Children are growing old and leaving the nest. They get prepared for growing old together. They prepare to bare only each other :)
I tell their story to so many friends as a prime example of something I adore and respect.

To even more pleasant things: Nigel came back. I thought he might’ve commited suicide in the pool, but actually just the day after I washed my floor with cloride, he came back. Clever little fella was probably in my curtains all this time. Now he’s just going up and down there.

Nigel

Olin toissapäivänä ulkona kävelyllä ja juomassa kupposet lähibaarissa Lotan, Jutan ja Steven kanssa. Alunperin ajatus oli mennä juomaan kaupan sangriasekoitusta El Toro-kukkulalle. Steven ja Steven koiran, Jessin kanssa käytiin testaamassa paikkaa, joka osoittautui tuuliseksi. Hyvä, että peruukki pysyi päässä. Nähtiin tytöt sitten kukkulan juurella ja mentiin läheiseen baariin istuskelemaan.

Kotiin tullessani löysin Nigelin kylpyhuoneesta. Tapaaminen ei ollut kummallekaan kovinkaan mieleinen ja lämmin. Jähmetyttiin molemmat varmasti minuutiksi. Siltä se ainakin tuntui. Nigel näytti vähän syylliseltä. Lopulta syvän hiljaisuuden päätteeksi tökkäisin Nigelia kylkeen ja kipitettiin kilpaa oven suuntaan. Ehdin ensin ulos ja suljin oven perässäni.

Soitin Lotalle: “Mitä minä nyt teen?” Hän yritti parhaansa mukaan rauhoitella ja keksiä ratkaisukeinoja. Istuin sängyllä pitkään risti-istuntaa, ennen kuin uskalsin mennä kylpyhuoneen ovelle uudelleen.

Raotin ovea, enkä nähnyt häntä. Etsin joka puolelta. Jopa WC-pöntön takaa, kylpyammeesta, jokaisesta huoneen nurkasta, verhojen takaa. En nähnyt häntä missään. Yön pyörin rauhattomasti sängyssä, koska en tiennyt missä hän on. En ole löytänyt häntä vielä tänäänkään.

Nigel on siis torakka, jonka löysin kylpyhuoneesta. Illalla en oikein pitänyt hänen ilmaantumisestaan, mutta aamulla päätin ottaa häneen lemmikkisuhteen. Steven kanssa keksittiin ötökälle nimi Nigel. Siitä se sitten lähti. Vaikken toista kertaa häntä ole vielä löytänytkään. Juoskoon nyt kun on vielä nuori ;)

This freak of a city

Postilokero nollanollaseitsemän nollanollasatayksi Tampere kymmenen!

Work. Now its the interns job to make small news on the webpage of the magazine. So on Mondays and Tuesdays you can read real-time news straight from my pen. The rest of the days it’s other interns who write. The pieces are about Spain.
I went to the central post office with the assistent today. We talked about lots of things and I kind of interviewed her about life in Costa del Sol. She ended up telling me a small version of her lifestory which I tell you is quite a colourful one. She moved to Fuengirola already at the age of 19 with two kids. Her man followed later. The put up a dry cleaner shop and earned well but had no time for themselves. Sold the shop when it was at its best – and later she ended up working for the magazine.

Internet. I went to the shop of last hope today. They had some kind of an answer. The thing is that for a short term stay Andalucia does not offer almost anything. Here’s a little chart for you on my experience of desperate internet seeking. First the facts of my situation:
- I had the device (mokkula) ready.
- I don’t have spanish bank account and I’m not intending to get one for just 5 months of stay because I have any other use for it. Plus opening one obviously costs.
- I don’t have a local residence number (NIE/NIF) which you can get after some mysterious tricks from the police station.

So now the operators.

Vodafone: “No, you cannot have internet with that (pointing at my device). We only sell the whole package, so the device and sim card for it. It costs 79€ all together.”
Movistar: “Without the residence permit you can only get a connection of 1€/1MB.”
Yoigo: “Without spanish bank account you can only get a connection of 1,39€/day, but the connection is very bad. At it’s best it’s 400-600 kB/sec.”

Gotta love this country.

I think I’m going to try Yoigo, hoping that it fits together with my device and I can do what I gotta do with it. But if it doesn’t work, I only loose 10€ and on my way back from this journey, I found a finnish hostel who offer free wifi for 1€. Not rates per hour. Just pay a euro or get a drink for a euro. The problem is that it is quite far from my place, so I should really get that bike for faster connections. Now I’m spending 20mins everyday for going to work and the hostel is almost next to it. If I want to go home in the middle and go for internet a bit later, I’ll use a good hour just for walking and that’s about my free time there.

Contact. So as this connection seems to be a bitch (sorry), the best way of contacting me is via email. Every evening I have an email writing hour to answer the emails I’ve got before the office closes. Online I’m sometimes during the evening if I’m lucky. I have skype on while I’m at work, tho answer might take some time. If you don’t have my skype or email, just ask.

This freak of a city. (Note all the possible languages in the signs.)

(And the real freakness starts now.)