I thought I'd dedicate my post today to give everyone a little bit of an idea of what it's like to live in a foreign country. We are very fortunate to be able to have this experience- obviously there are pro's and con's, but we are both loving being here. We realize that not many people are lucky enough to spend time living in Europe (and getting PAID to do it!) so we're going to make the most of it.
Obviously, the majority of people living here speak Finnish, which, as I mentioned in a previous post, is one of the most difficult languages in the world. There is also a small amount of the population that speaks Swedish as their first language, and almost everything (signs, road names, food in the grocery store, etc) is written in both Finnish and Swedish. It's a little bit easier to pick out some words in Swedish, but still very difficult. Thankfully, English is widely spoken, especially around the city. It's interesting how English is such a dominant language that that is how tourists are able to communicate when they travel. For example, if a German family comes to Finland, the means in which they would communicate with the Finnish people would be by using English. Some people are timid to speak English because they are afraid they will be made fun of for speaking improperly. I always tell them I'd rather hear their English, than them try and hear my (non-existant) Finnish :)
Even though English is so widely spoken, the saying "s/he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language" takes a literal sense. I feel like I am constantly being stared at when we speak English. I know they are just curious where we are from and what we are doing here etc., but it does tend to make a person feel self conscious from time to time! It's funny how people eating at a restaurant will look over while we are talking and eating dinner or people sitting in front of us at the game will turn to try and "sneak a peak" when they hear me speaking English with the other girls. Guess what: I SEE YOU! :)
The other thing about the language barrier is that you don't realize how much you miss eavesdropping!! Now, that's not to say that I walk around the U.S. tapping into everyone's conversations all the time, but it's so nice to have the words you hear around you mean something and not just be "background noise"! I find myself getting very excited anytime I hear English being spoken and I actually understand what is being said around me. Sounds strange, but I'm sure anyone who has lived in a different country knows exactly what I am talking about!
For those of you who hate taking the time out of your lives to go grocery shopping- you'd never survive here. Shopping for food takes about 3 times as long when you have no idea what is written on the package. We find ourselves most often going by the pictures on the packaging, or sticking with fruits, veggies and meats. It's very difficult to determine which foods are healthy and which are not, but we've somewhat learned how to read the nutrition fact labels. When we are home, we like to eat fairly healthy and lots of natural/organic foods, which is much more difficult to do here. That being said, I also stick with my theory that, in general, people in Europe eat healthier than Americans, and therefore the foods produced here are of much better quality and nutrition than back home.
Stores and shops here are open much shorter hours, and they have more public holidays. For example, last Sunday was "Isänpäivä"- Father's Day in Finland. Thank goodness we had food for the day, because pretty much every store and shop in the city was closed!
As I've mentioned before, I don't drive here because I can't drive a manual (pretty much all cars here are manual) but even if I were able to drive, I'd be a little nervous. The signs are different and obviously in Finnish/Swedish. On top of that any and all street signs are on the side of the buildings on the corner, and not anywhere near big enough to see. I don't know how anyone gets anywhere unless a) they know exactly where they are going or b) they have a GPS. J seems to have picked up on it pretty quickly, so between that, and my navigation skills, we manage to get around okay.
I am sure there are more obvious differences that I am missing, but I think that's a pretty good rundown of what life is like abroad for now. It certainly makes for an adventure every day! The things that make us homesick are lots of times the same things that we enjoy about living here. We just like to think of it as a 9 month vacation :)
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