Last Week of Summer School - End of Summer Celebrations

Tuesday August 30th on the train to Helsinki (wireless connection works great!)
Last weekend was bittersweet.   Classes ended and we had a final exam last Friday morning.   I haven't taken an exam since before most of our fellow students were born!  But it was fair, I know we both passed and probably did fairly well, but certainly not an A!   Finnish is complicated.  We had to laugh just now reading an ad in the Helsinki times for classes to learn the "easiest language in the world."  Who says the Finns don't have a sense of humor?

There was a farewell dinner on Friday night at a restaurant that could have been in Boulder in the 70s (An old house with each room painted with different angel themes - but not icky - really pretty cool. Reminded me of Nancy's or the original Lucille's.  There were lots of tears among the departing students (not us - I don't cry ever) and it was sweet to see.  These kinds of experiences mean so much more or seem so much more impactful when you are in your 20s.  We appreciate it more intellectually, I think, but also know that life moves on and more is to come.

It was also the weekend of the Tall Ships Regatta - Some pictures posted below. All up and down the section of the river near our house (and the harbor) were boats from around the world.  We boarded a couple one day and went to see some after doing laundry - such a simple task now.  Anyone with a penchant for the sea would go nuts seeing these boats and their crews.  There are also tons of other boats docked here for the race and vessels that accompany the Tall Ships which are not motorized. 

The whole thing was kind of like the Boulder Creek Festival with booths with crafts, food, carnival rides etc on both sides of the river.  Except that the drinking parts and the kids parts were not separated at all..  You couldn't even walk your bike through the area, it was so crowded.  Even if you wanted to try you were not allowed - lots of security at the entrances, but no one complains and no one argues. 

There were tons of places to sit and drink but you couldn't take any alcohol out of the designated areas.

When we were leaving a beer garden, one of the students had his can of beer in his hand, unaware that he had crossed the magic line.  A security guard just walked by, took it out of his hand without asking and dumped the contents out on the ground.

After dinner we all walked the whole length of the river down to the Harbor where there were fireworks at 11 PM.  Before the fireworks, there was an awful heavy metal band playing for a while.  I decided, however,  that they couldn't be real 'bad boys' since their hair was so clean and shiny.  It was humid and cloudy so that the smoke didn't disperse and many of the fireworks were hidden from view.  It was still beautiful and matched to an incredible piece of symphonic music - nothing overtly patriotic, just dramatic.  It was very enjoyable despite the smoke. 

Excursion to Kuhankuono National Park - See pictures in previous post.

Sunday evening.

We just returned from a day in "Finnish nature" as part of the social program.  We took a bus ride about 20 miles north of here to the Kuhankuono National Park.  We were let off at trailhead and followed a trail 2.7 km to a lakeside where we were met by someone from the program who brought a delicious lunch of salads, smoked salmon and “makkara” -- pork sausages that are the staple of weekend barbecues.  There was a very functional grill and lots of birch wood to cook over.

As with everything in Finland, the different trails were clearly color-coded and we easily traversed bogs and fields with the help of wooden walkways made from tree trunks.  For Ken and I coming from Colorado, the lushness of the fields and forest was astounding.  On the way to our destination, we went through bogs and deep woods full of berries and mushrooms. 

        The etiquette of the national parks is just the opposite of that at home where “look, but don't touch” is the rule.  Here you are encouraged to take advantage of "jokamienenoikeus" -- every man's right.  According to our guidebook and many Finns we have talked to, this is an ancient Finnish code that gives people the right to walk, bicycle, or ski anywhere they like in forests and wilderness areas, even on private land, as long as they behave  responsibly.  This also goes for canoeing, rowing and kayaking in the lakes and rivers.  Both motorboats and snowmobiles are highly restricted.

You can also pick berries and mushrooms wherever you find them. There were blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries, and currants in the bogs in varying stages of ripeness. The blueberries were definitely the best - of course we tried them all.  (NOT the mushrooms even if they were tempting). 

There was a section of the wooden walkway that was falling apart and new boards were laid along side, soon to replace them.  Ken and I both commented to the people closest to us that every summer we participate in Volunteer Outdoor Colorado projects to do that kind of work in the national forests.  Liisa, director of the summer school, assured Ken that volunteers weren't necessary for such jobs, as the state was responsible for doing the work.  What a concept. 

There was a sauna that we were able to use.  Ken opted for a walk alone through the woods.  I went for the sauna and dips in the quite cold, but oh so refreshing lake.  The lake was a little off putting at first as the water was the color of over steeped tea.  It apparently gets so dark from the tannins in the pine and fir trees surrounding it.  It was weird to splash in clear brown water - not muddy at all, just brown.  I have been in enough saunas now to complain along with others when it isn't hot enough and vote for more wood in the stove and more water to be splashed on the rocks for hot steam. I will have to frequent the Rec Center sauna more often when we get back.  (Lucky me, I will qualify for the seniors pass by the time we return.)  Of course my totally relaxed body objected to the speedy hike back the way we came to get the bus, but it was totally worth it. And then there was the 2 mile bike ride back to our apartment.....

        A couple other examples of how life is orderly and predictable here.  The weeks of the year are numbered 1 to 52 so when you create a calendar of events or a weekly menu it is clear when your event is.  That is how I had to schedule the course I will teach.  In the nationally run liquor store, Alko, the wine is scaled for dryness/sweetness using a bar on the label on the shelf.  The less of the bar that is filled in, the drier the wine. This would have been very helpful to know the first time we went to Alko, when we guessed at a Spanish white and found it to be closer to cough syrup than wine.  We are so grateful to the clerk in Naantali who took the time to explain the system to us. Also the milk cartons are uniformly color-coded so that no matter the brand, anything in a red carton is whole milk, 2% is one shade of blue and skim a lighter one.

This week is our last week of classes including an exam on Friday.  I had my first meeting related to work this past Friday, which I am very excited about.  We will spend about 5 days in Helsinki for the Fulbright orientation and some sightseeing and then I begin work in earnest.  More on work to come later.

"Finnish Nature" - Photos from Kuhankuono National Park 8/22/11

Little things that make you laugh.

There is a sign on the door to our apartment that says

Ei mainoksia kiitos.

The sign is also on the door of the apartment next to us (both are owned by the university housing department).  We know that 'kiitos' means thank you and “Ei” indicates negative.

When you come into the apartment there is a big decal on the mirror that indicates no smoking (cigarette in a circle with a red line through it).  And the information we were given in English with all the rules for the apartment (there are many) stresses No smoking. So we just assumed that was what the sign on the door meant.  We have also seen that same sign on several other doors in our part of the building and a new one appeared one day on the door next to the apartment a couple floors below us where people smoke A LOT – (very annoying as it goes straight from their balcony to our living room).  Anyhow, this confirmed our suspicion that the sign said “No smoking.”  And since neither of us smoke nor buy cigarettes we had no need to learn how to use the verb “to smoke” in every day conversation.  The students in our class -- who smoke a lot -- all talk about it in English. 

Imagine our surprise today when we were working on verbs and the words under the picture of the man smoking were “polttaa tupakkaa”.  Where was the word from our door? So I eagerly asked the teacher if there wasn’t another way to say to smoke like. …

Well, I couldn’t really remember what it said on the door and after mispronouncing it 4 different ways - Manoski, no makoskia no maksoska, Ilmari, our teacher, finally said “OHHH.  You mean ei mainoksia (Well wasn’t that what I said?) “No that doesn’t mean ‘no smoking,’ that means “No Advertisements.”  The class (especially us) got a good laugh. No little relief that we along with everyone else in the class are totally confused by the language.   And what a good idea for our front door at home.  

Language Learning - No Easy Task

We are entering our third week of classes. I have said it before, but it bears repeating -- It is truly humbling to be a beginning language student. Especially of a language with few cognates and a completely different way of organizing reality. Our teacher began the first day telling us all the ways that Finnish is easy - they escape me now. We are mentally exhausted every day and that's with only 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours max a day of classes. The teachers use English to explain the grammar -- this helps Ken and I the most. Occasionally they clarify directions but for the most part they speak in Finnish at a normal pace. For our classmates it is even more challenging as they have to make sense of Finnish through their second (or third or fourth language). It is apparent that all of them have learned a lot more English as well - many have commented as such. And all we have to learn is the language -- no Math, no science, no high stakes testing - though we do have a final exam.

Things I want to remember. The beginning language learner is completely overwhelmed. You feel like an idiot and your mouth hurts from being stretched in the wrong direction all the time. There are thousands of words to learn and multiple tenses, prepositions adverbs. Dictionaries do help when used judiciously and are absolutely necessary outside the language classroom when trying to negotiate real life.

Finnish has cases -16 of them. Even with a background in linguistics I barely understand them, can't explain them, much less apply the rules to them accurately. I just know they change the way nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns are formed, spelled and used. If you want to say you come from a small house in the country the ending 'stä / sta is added to each word - small, house and country. Then there is vowel harmony - a single word can only have vowels formed in the front of the mouth or the back. E and I are somewhat neutral so when you learn the endings you have to use the right form depending on the word it is attached to. Talosta is 'from or out of the house' while etelästä is 'from the East.' Feeling tired yet?

Being immersed in the language and culture can help a lot of course, but it can also make you feel a sense of desperation that you are alone and stupid and will never get the hang of it. There is just too much to learn. And this from someone who is fluent in another language and understands a lot of two more and we will go home at the end of the year.

I already admonish teachers to intentionally make connections between what is being taught in one class and another. I can't stress enough how important this is. It provides tremendous relief to the learner and instills a sense of capability that is undermined when there is something new and different introduced every lesson. While I have said this over and over and written about it, now I feel it deep inside. It seems ridiculous to feel joy understanding that the mouse is in the cat, not near the cat, but yet there it was.

When I broke my sunglasses we rode by a store with a sign that said silmäset (glasses) a word we had just learned that day for describing people's appearance and I realized I knew where to get them fixed. An accomplishment far beyond it's actual value as there are also optikki and English speakers but I experienced a new sense of independence.

Today we were presented a list of verbs with pictures to go with them along with a story in pictures and words that used many of them. One of the verbs was 'to disturb.' later this evening, Ken and I were excited to recognize a form of this verb on the notice slipped through our mail slot about the electricity being turned off on Wednesday evening from 8pm to midnight - (seems like an odd time to us, too). The note closed with 'Apologies for the disturbance, (in Finnish). It took us a half hour to figure out the whole 3 sentences.it could have gone faster but we have opted for looking things up word by word alongside our class notes in lieu of google translator which does not have a good handle on the subtleties of Finnish or at times even the simple things. Because there extensive word families linking nouns verbs adjectives etc. It is very instructive to pour over the dictionary to see the links and separate roots from endings. Enough of the language lesson time to relax.

I hope you have a little better sense of what we are experiencing. Despite any frustrations or challenges we are loving this opportunity - It is unbelievably exciting to be learning in this group, with the teachers and tutors we have. More soon.

I never thought I would be happy to see a lot of traffic…

Tuesday August 9th

Today as we were riding back from a scouting expedition to a nearby grocery store (we are hosting a U.S. style brunch for our group on Sunday – more on that in another post) we had to wait on our bikes at a particularly busy intersection – 3 lanes of cars zooming by.  But in a strange way it was very comforting to know that we are actually living in a vibrant city and not the sleepy, half closed place we arrived to. When we got here it seemed that more than half the businesses on every street were closed.  It was really dead except along the river and I was worried that we had arrived to a city seriously suffering greatly from economic downturn.

But no worries - Finns (like most Europeans) take their vacation / holiday time very seriously.  It is not unusual for people to be gone for 3 – 4 weeks at a time and they simply close up shop.  Literally.  And unlike central Europe that closes in August – people here take off in July. 

The change began on August 1^st.  More doors open, the sale signs in the department stores taken down and people appearing everywhere.  Now the second week in August it is even more noticeable.  Cafes are crowded, streets are full and the bike lanes always in use by multiple people of all ages, sizes and ability. 

Riding bikes in an urban environment is an art, but thankfully bikes really seem to have the right of way and drivers actually look to see if there are bikes coming, slow down and wait for you to cross the street.  There are specified bike lanes incorporated into many sidewalks, but really people ride everywhere, both directions on the sidewalk, in the street, wherever.  You have to be prepared at every moment to slow down and even stop to allow pedestrians to pass across your path or when you want to weave around them.  There is no pedestrian / cyclist / driver tension – everyone seems to accept and abide by the rule that when in doubt YIELD – so different from at home where each group stakes out it’s position and complains about the other two. 

It is not, however, a good idea to ride the wrong way in a one-way street - as was pointed out to me by the cop who stopped me for doing that -- just as I realized it was a one way street because a car (a police car) was coming at me in my lane….  That is when “En puhu suomea” – “ I don’t speak Finnish” comes in handy.  But you can’t totally blame me.  All the lanes are marked with white on both one way and two way streets.  You have to pay attention at the corner and which way the cars are parked.  (No cars allowed to park on that particular street).  

Then there is the challenge of finding a particular address.  Street numbers are used VERY SPARINGLY and they hang off buildings in small square boxes.  And street names are all on the sides of buildings, sometimes tucked away.   We figure that in a small place, people just know where things are.  That reminds me of the Managua phone book in the 80s where you might see an address as “3 blocks from where the Garcia pharmacy used to be.” (Before the ‘72 earthquake)

Of course, there are things we miss, but being around so many people from so many places reminds me of how lucky I am to have had the opportunities I did have (thanks Mom & Dad) to live and work outside of the U.S., see other places, other points of view and ways of being. Even if we only got one more week here, we have had a lifetime of experiences! 

Tidbits, Impressions and new ways of seeing

Sunday August 7, 2011

So much has happened since I last posted that it is all becoming a jumble so chronological reporting will have to take a back seat for now.   We have completed our first week of Finnish classes, but to say just our classes is to overlook or minimize the enormity of the cultural, linguistic and interpersonal worlds in which we are interacting and all the dimensions along which we are learning.

Our group is made up of 16 participants, plus two teachers, two summer school staff and 6 or 7 “tutor/guides.   The students are all between 19 and 25 except two students other than Ken and who are over 30 and those two are just barely.  The group includes 3 men (Giorgios, Costas & Orestes and 1 woman Polytimi from Greece). Two will be studying here for the next two years, the other two are just interested in the language and culture.  One woman Gul is from Turkey who will be studying communications, I think.  Anna is from Russia, Laura from Romania (whose knowledge of colloquial English is astounding), and Adela from the Czech Republic – all just interested in the language and culture.  Stefi from Germany will be studying environmental science, Emmanual from Belgium is a translator for the EU (English & Polish into French) and loves to learn about different languages & cultures; Zaki is from India and will study here for two years, Andrew is from Australia by way of Hong Kong and he, too, just was curious about Finland.  Yukiko is Japanese – one of approximately 5, 000 students in Japan studying Finnish; Harald is a teacher in Austria (one of the “older” students). One woman from Iran will study here for 2 years.

About two thirds of us are just taking Finnish grammar and conversation classes, the rest are taking Finnish history and cultural identity as well.   [There was no way Ken and I any longer have the stamina or desire to be in school all day long, so we opted just for language]

In addition there is an incredible “cultural program” organized with activities almost every day, both to help us get to know each other and more importantly Finnish culture and daily life.  It makes the incredible challenge of  learning the language a lot more fun and bearable.

SO FAR:

Walking tours of the campus and its surroundings

Bus tour of Turku with detailed historical information

Spent an afternoon and evening at a cabin along the lake – including traditional Finnish food and sauna and games and contests.  THE HIGHLIGHT SO FAR!

Watching together a modern Finnish movie

Steam boat trip to the seaside town of Naantali (where Moomin land is)

Glow in the dark miniature golf

Today, there is nothing formal planned, so of course we all getting together for Sunday brunch at one of the two places in Turku that have it – not yet a tradition in most of Europe apparently. 

At the handicrafts museum yesterday our guide (dressed in traditional 18^th century attire) was a German exchange student who spoke very little Finnish, but excellent English.  She told me she took a crash course in Finnish history and culture to be able to learn to give the tour. 

And finally an excerpt from one of the Finnish news websites – an insight either into the Finnish sense of humor or straight forward way of speaking.

Lost berry pickers keep Finnish police busy

7/29/2011 at 14:38

Reports of berry pickers who have gone missing keep police busy during the berry picking season in Finland, according to a statement by Finnish police on Friday.

Often the reason for berry pickers getting lost is carelessness, such as dropping one’s phone while picking berries, and these cases unnecessarily waste police time.

In the statement police urged berry pickers to be better prepared in the future in order not to waste police time.

© Copyright STT 2011

Send feedback on this item to: STT

More to follow soon……