Ok, I haven’t even been gone for a very long time, although it feels like an eternity, and I have been missing you guys a lot :)
Now, there are lots of fun things I want to embark on (detox, exercise, studies, blog stuff) in the near future, and of course I’ll write about them here!
M and Z (who are completely sober) are queuing together with half of the island’s population and some lost tourists, waiting to enter a night club. To kill time they do what most people in a similar situation would do: they engage in an interesting conversation about something completely irrelevant. And since their language of communication is usually Polish, that’s the language they choose this time as well. The drunken teenagers behind them start whispering and pondering [oooh, how fascinating, there are two real life foreigners standing in front of us], thinking that the noun foreigner equals the adjective clueless. Z takes a deep breath, turns around and gives the girls a big smile:
Z (in the poshest English she can master): Excuse me, if you are wondering something about us, you are more than welcome to ask us directly to our faces, there is no need to talk about people behind their backs. Please remember that people might actually understand what you are saying about them, even if they are speaking in another language.
Drunken teenager: oh, you understand what we are saying? Are you [bad word] Russians?
Z (gets annoyed and switches to Swedish): well, for your information, I’m from this island and I understand everything you say perfectly well. Besides, it’s not very well-mannered to use that kind of words when you ask people where they are coming from, or in any other context either, for that matter. And by the way, do you have a problem with Russians?
Some mumbling follows.
Drunken teenager: Sorry, but you can’t be from here. I refuse to believe it, it’s just not possible. You look Russian and you speak Swedish with an English accent.
Z (looks up to the skies and thinks to herself): well, if coming from this island means that I need to hang out with such cultivated and well-mannered people like you, then I almost prefer to be homeless and nationless. Then she turns to the girls, smiles and wishes them a very nice evening.
Heard on the radio at 2 a.m and I kinda like it, although it’s not really my style of music.
Today’s exercise: 20 + 25 minutes running and some brain gymnastics. Running feels amazing, even after the small break. Next up: a midnight swim in the Baltic Sea.
"The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult." ~Marie de Vichy-Chamrond, Marquise du Deffand, letter to Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, 7 July 1763
In the past few days I have taken three tiny steps towards my humble goal of conquering the European languages.
Translating a couple of poems written by Endre Ady into Swedish has been fun but tiring. Hungarian isn’t exactly an easy language but it has the same sort of playfulness as Finnish, and to a lesser extent, the Slavic languages. It’s like creating a puzzle from all the grammatical pieces that are lying spread out on the floor. Why Swedish then? That’s a good question since I have also done some translation work from French into Finnish. If I’m translating for fun, which sometimes is the case, I usually pick my source language randomly. Hungarian and Swedish somehow belong together since I’m studying Hungarian at a Swedish university where most of the teaching is (evidently) in Swedish. It’s funny that: once you are used to combining two languages, it feels strange to use them with any other languages. The same thing happens in Russian; I could never imagine translating Russian into any other language than English, since that’s what I spent 4 years of my life doing.
I have also tried to brainwash myself into thinking in Polish, but it’s not going too well, I’m appalled with my own level at the moment. The verbs are messing it up, together with the instrumental case. The basic rule is that the instrumental case is used with the verb to be = by´c, but I keep using the nominative instead.
And there is actually a fourth step, but it’s even smaller than the others, it can hardly be called a step at all: tonight my bedtime story will consist of beginner’s Czech.
Guess what I found? A box full of wonderful books that I had forgotten existed: classics, in different languages, a huge dictionary, funny books AND a text book in Czech.
This morning we had to catch a bus at 4.30 to get to the ferry on time, which means that I stayed up all night talking to my aunt. It was nice, but now I feel more dead than alive. And tonight we’re supposed to party, well, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve fallen asleep in a bar (without drinking alcohol, mind you!)
I took a photo of all the stuff in my handbag. Can you see what’s missing? Yes, that’s right: the phone. It seems impossible to travel without forgetting one crucial item somewhere along the way. Years ago I forgot the keys to my English flat in Spain, and when I arrived I couldn’t get in because my flatmate had gone to London for the weekend. Another time I lost my passport in a night club, and recently my glasses somehow ended up in the lost and found box on the ferry.
By the way, a lot of this stuff is just wonderful (yey, listen to the materialist): there’s the tastiest energy drink, the most delicious chocolate, the best lip balm and a wonderful wonderful journal from moleskine.
I finally found a man who likes shopping. One that can stay inside a shop for more than 5 minutes without complaining, and who seems excited when he hears the word "clothes".
I present to you, the perfect shopping buddy.
Starting the journey with a couple of cocktails.
View from ferry.
The famous cappuccino. The rest of the world was partying hard, but I just had to try the cappuccino they had in the bar. And wonderful it was.
Arriving at Helsinki.
Lesson learnt: do not wear jeans when it’s 35 degrees outside.
"Our" ferry looked something like that, except that it was red on the outside. These passenger ferries that traffic in the Baltic sea can take up to 2,500 passengers and they are filled with bars, restaurants and duty free shops. Since my brother (see below) is working on one of them, we bumped into some of his friends and hang out with them.
Helsinki Railway Station.
One piece of little brother. The suitcase is from Primark: I got it years ago for 10 quid and it’s still whole :D
In Helsinki you can catch the train to two of the most exciting cities in the world: St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Yet another day with double shifts, but at least I managed to squeeze in an ice cream date with one of my oldest friends, as well as do some cycling and shopping. The second shift is about to start, and after it finishes at 9 a.m. I still need to meet another friend and pack. The ferry for Helsinki leaves at 11.30 p.m.
Idyllic small town.
Swapping lunch for raspberry sorbet and a berry smoothie...
One of the two harbours in Mariehamn.
This is what I’m surrounded by... the nature is definitely one of the good things about this island.
With most of her fur gone, Tomi now looks like a kitten.
Old mills in the countryside
Huge cows.
The water was coooold!
