From Dusk Till Dawn
May. 18th, 2008 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyrasantae
0300 - What began as a drizzle in Helsinki became a downpour, and then snow as we go into Jyväskylä. Because of that, the bus was a wee bit late, and poor Matthieu was left waiting all alone in the wetness for a while for me. Now the sky is getting lighter again. He drove me in his European wagon-style Toyota Yaris to his apartment, where I get his young daughter's room for the night. I can't figure out how Finnish washrooms work. Instead of a shower stall, it's just a curtained off part of the washroom. Flush toilets also warrant further investigation. I can't unpack too much right now; I need to drag this suitcase back down 4 flights of stairs and into his car tomorrow.
1025 - I repacked my things into two packages for easier moving before I slept; now I am woken by mother and daughter, maybe going to church or something? Given that the only bit of the little girl's whining that I understood was "äiti..." I wonder if she's also being taught French by her father.
As for the washrooms I remember that one of the others from my uni on this trip had a sister who previously came here for a whole term, and had made a similar remark; well now I can tell you that such a layout is not simply a student apartment thing, it's a residential thing.
Since I didn't actually sleep until 0615 or so, jet lag may have become an artificially-induced issue, but I'm sure coffee will keep me going. Alas, it is still snowing, and as a Canadian you would think that I'd have brought a touque and gloves, but I didn't. I think I'll try to go back to sleep for a bit.
1525. I woke up again around noon, where I found the family playing "memory" with the girl. Sort of. Matthieu was cooking. Ate turkey roast and spinach, and some yogurt, which comes in cartons one pours out of. But right now, I think it has made me somewhat sick to my stomach, trapped in the washroom in my flat. Speaking of the flat, I met up with Harri at the student village. He's very tall. (By the way it is only raining lightly now). If I made jokes about the place looking like a prison, it's almost true. You can't mistake Soviet-era-style block architecture, complete with concrete, peeling paint, and bare walls. It's humbling. There is a Finnish girl who lives here also; I would think she's a full-time student, given all of her furniture. My room has a cot, a chair, and a closet. That's all that's there besides the second-hand blankets and sheets I rented from the residence office. The kitchen is smaller than a Hong Kong kitchen. The roommate has a friend over. I think she's leaving right about... now. The friend, I mean.
1945. I wanted to go, like, "woot" with my maksalaatikko, but my roommate, Johanna, is vegetarian. Oh well. She has a keyboard in her room so I played on it for a while and showed her some pictures from my camera on her computer.
2100. There are two grocery stores really close by, and they are right next to each other. They're like the only things open on Sundays. Johanna and I went to get some food and she cooked me some small dinner with random things she found in the fridge. Still working on the rye bread taste.
About her: she's a sociology/comparative religion/education student here, and she is trying to exchange to Scotland next year to study photography. She has a good friend from Ontario, wants to go visit him in the Fall. She's never been to Canada so she's asking me lots of questions and I'm happy to answer them. She seems happy to get to practice her English.
2345. J showed me loads of her pictures from places such as the UK and Sweden. She says I'm welcome to use her computer, which is all in Finnish and thus a bit o_o but my visual memory is serving me well. Earlier she asked if I felt any sort of culture shock and, let's be honest here, of course! But I think it's inaccurate to call it that - it's more of a lifestyle shock. I mean, like the issue with the bathroom. And the world's smallest kitchen. And living with a vegetarian. And going to the grocery store and being a bit unsure of buying anything because you don't know if buying any given thing will cast come stupid impression of you as a foreigner on everyone else in the store (if there is anyone else there at all). Maybe I'm just too self-conscious. And being too shy to even say "kiitos" where obviously appropriate because I worry that they'll think I know Finnish.
There's a tremendous amount of trust here, I think. People just lock the wheels of their bikes to their frame, but not the bike to the rack. the grocery stores trust you to weigh and print stickers for the produce. The bus driver trusts you to get off at the stop you paid the fare for, and to take your own suitcase. Note to self: groceries charge for bags.
1025 - I repacked my things into two packages for easier moving before I slept; now I am woken by mother and daughter, maybe going to church or something? Given that the only bit of the little girl's whining that I understood was "äiti..." I wonder if she's also being taught French by her father.
As for the washrooms I remember that one of the others from my uni on this trip had a sister who previously came here for a whole term, and had made a similar remark; well now I can tell you that such a layout is not simply a student apartment thing, it's a residential thing.
Since I didn't actually sleep until 0615 or so, jet lag may have become an artificially-induced issue, but I'm sure coffee will keep me going. Alas, it is still snowing, and as a Canadian you would think that I'd have brought a touque and gloves, but I didn't. I think I'll try to go back to sleep for a bit.
1525. I woke up again around noon, where I found the family playing "memory" with the girl. Sort of. Matthieu was cooking. Ate turkey roast and spinach, and some yogurt, which comes in cartons one pours out of. But right now, I think it has made me somewhat sick to my stomach, trapped in the washroom in my flat. Speaking of the flat, I met up with Harri at the student village. He's very tall. (By the way it is only raining lightly now). If I made jokes about the place looking like a prison, it's almost true. You can't mistake Soviet-era-style block architecture, complete with concrete, peeling paint, and bare walls. It's humbling. There is a Finnish girl who lives here also; I would think she's a full-time student, given all of her furniture. My room has a cot, a chair, and a closet. That's all that's there besides the second-hand blankets and sheets I rented from the residence office. The kitchen is smaller than a Hong Kong kitchen. The roommate has a friend over. I think she's leaving right about... now. The friend, I mean.
1945. I wanted to go, like, "woot" with my maksalaatikko, but my roommate, Johanna, is vegetarian. Oh well. She has a keyboard in her room so I played on it for a while and showed her some pictures from my camera on her computer.
2100. There are two grocery stores really close by, and they are right next to each other. They're like the only things open on Sundays. Johanna and I went to get some food and she cooked me some small dinner with random things she found in the fridge. Still working on the rye bread taste.
About her: she's a sociology/comparative religion/education student here, and she is trying to exchange to Scotland next year to study photography. She has a good friend from Ontario, wants to go visit him in the Fall. She's never been to Canada so she's asking me lots of questions and I'm happy to answer them. She seems happy to get to practice her English.
2345. J showed me loads of her pictures from places such as the UK and Sweden. She says I'm welcome to use her computer, which is all in Finnish and thus a bit o_o but my visual memory is serving me well. Earlier she asked if I felt any sort of culture shock and, let's be honest here, of course! But I think it's inaccurate to call it that - it's more of a lifestyle shock. I mean, like the issue with the bathroom. And the world's smallest kitchen. And living with a vegetarian. And going to the grocery store and being a bit unsure of buying anything because you don't know if buying any given thing will cast come stupid impression of you as a foreigner on everyone else in the store (if there is anyone else there at all). Maybe I'm just too self-conscious. And being too shy to even say "kiitos" where obviously appropriate because I worry that they'll think I know Finnish.
There's a tremendous amount of trust here, I think. People just lock the wheels of their bikes to their frame, but not the bike to the rack. the grocery stores trust you to weigh and print stickers for the produce. The bus driver trusts you to get off at the stop you paid the fare for, and to take your own suitcase. Note to self: groceries charge for bags.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 06:16 am (UTC)Highly unlikely. Probably playground instead.
'I can't figure out how Finnish washrooms work.'
Just pull the tap and water pours out ;).
no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 12:37 pm (UTC)Haha yeah... it's so simple it's clever. No wonder Otto made a random comment about Finnish toilets being better.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 07:04 pm (UTC)