100 ways of greeting.

Jokunen päivä sitten mieleeni tuli (omasta mielestäni) mielenkiintoinen asia, jota ei ehkä tulisi ajatelleeksi omassa kotimaassaan. Nimittäin tervehtiminen, ja ne sadat tavat tervehtiä. Suomessahan esim. käden heilautus ja etäältä huikattu "Moi!" on täysin pätevä tapa tervehtiä, varsinkin puolituttuja. Ehkä hieman uudempi tapa on halaaminen (tähän minulle entuudestaan tuntemattomaan tapaan törmäsin ensimmäisen kerran 17-vuotiaana itähelsinkiläiseen opiskelukaveriin tutustuessa), jota todennäköisesti käytetään lähimpien ystävien kesken. Ja virallisissa tilaisuuksissa tietenkin kättely on se ainoa oikea tapa.

Täällä kaukomailla asuessa monenlaiset tervehtimistavat ovat tulleet tutuksi. Kuten arvata saattaa tuttavapiirini koostuu monien eri kansallisuuksien edustajista, eikä ole aina ihan iisiä muistaa millä tavalla ketäkin tulisi moikata. Yksi asia on kuitenkin tullu aika selväksi; etäinen "hello!" ei yleensä tule kysymykseen, ellen eksy kaksikymmenpäiseen joukkioon. (Luulisin, että raja tässä asiassa, ei-henkilökohtaisessa-tervehtimisessä, menee jossain yli kymmenen henkilön ryhmässä.)

Puolassa yleisin tapa tervehtiä tuttua oli halaaminen, ainakin näin nuorten kesken. Muistan varmasti ikuisesti sen ensimmäisen kerran kun eräs ikäiseni puolalainen neito tervehti halaamisen sijasta poskipusuilla jo toisella tapaamiskerralla. Taisi olla minulle about toinen kerta elämässäni, ja olin hyvin, hyvin hämmentynyt. Myöhemmin stressasin tämän kyseisen leidin tapaamista, koska en millään muistanut kummalta puolelta pusujen anto aloitetaan (maailman nolointa olisi pussata suoraan suulle) ja kuinka monta niitä pusuja nyt pitikään olla.

Täällä Ugandassa asuessa ja myös Saksassa vieraillessa olen pikkuhiljaa tottunut tuohon pusutteluun, mutta kyllä se vieläkin hämmentää. Kavereiden kesken se tuntuu jo melko luonnolliselta, mutta esimerkiksi Wolfin kolleegoiden (erityisesti niiden ylemmässä asemassa olevien herrojen) kanssa olen aina ihan hukassa, enkä varmasti anna kovin pätevää kuvaa itsestäni. Itse mieluummin vain kättelisin, mutten toki halua vaikuttaa epäkohteliaalta.

Kyllä siinä onkin muistamista, miten jokaista kaveria ja tuttua tulee tervehtiä: yksi haluaa aina kolme poskipusua, mutta hänen miehensä haluaa halata, eräs pariskunta haluaa vain kaksi poskipusua (joskus erehdyin antamaan kolmannen, ja sillehän sitten naureskeltiin jälkeenpäin), erästä pariskuntaa tulee pusujen sijasta halata... Nyt täällä Ugandassa asuessa eleiden lisäksi tervehdykseen on tullut mukaan automaattinen "How are you? Fine." jonka voi oikeastaan sanoa "Hello":n tilalta.

Kummallisimpia tilanteita ovat ne kun tapaan jonkun vasta toisen kerran, mutta ensimmäisestä on pitkä aika. Mitä silloin tehdään? Kätellään ja esittäydytään taas? Halataan? Pusutellaan? Kuka sen päättää? Ehkäpä oman tervehtimistavan ja -säännön muodostaminen auttaisi minua tässä viidakossa, tervehtisin kaikkia aina samalla tavalla, ihan sama mitä he asiasta ajattelevat. :D

Auta armias, jos joskus muutamme Aasiaan, jossa erilaisia tapoja kumartaa on varmaan kymmeniä...

Kuva täältä

The other day an interesting thing came into my mind. Interesting to me at least. How to greet people. You see, in our own home countries, we usually know the appropriate ways of greeting someone, whether it is a friend, acquaintance or complete stranger. In Finland in an official situation you might shake hands, with acquaintances you'd probably just wave your hand and say "Moi!" and with friends you might hug.

As I've been now living abroad sometime and my everyday life is full of people from different cultures, I have become more aware that greeting does not work the same way everywhere. In Poland, with friends, hugging was quite common, but there was one Polish girl, who I will remember always, because she was probably the first one ever to greet me with kisses. I was so, very confused, and I feared meeting her again, because I could not remember from which side to start (it would be so embarrassing to kiss on the lips, wouldn't it) and how many kisses to give.

Now I've gotten more used to the cheek kissing thing, even though it does still confuse me sometimes, especially in situations where I'm not exactly friends with the other part. (We Finns like our distance, and kissing, or hugging someone not-so-close-to-you is weird.) The most confusing it is with people from Wolfi's work (especially those high-position gentlemen).

It takes some brain capacity to remember how to greet which friend: one wants always three kisses (and very generous ones, too), her husband likes to hug instead; one couple wants two kisses (once I gave third one, and that was weird) and another couple always hugs. Here in Uganda, apart from the gestures, in my greeting repertoire has been added "How are you? Fine", which can sometimes be used even instead of "Hello!".

Weirdest moments are those when you meet someone the second time, but it was a long time since the first. What to do then? Shake hands and introduce yourself again (I would prefer this one, as I cannot seem to remember whether we've met already)? Kisses? Hug? And who decides how to act? Maybe my life would become easier, if I'd just decide my very own way of greeting and greet everyone that way, no matter what they think (this would probably be waving hand from far distance :P).

I can't even imagine the complexity of greeting if we would live somewhere in Asia where there's 100 ways to bow...

Happiness is an inside job...*

...but external things can help finding it. Last couple of weeks we have been preparing our home for spring. I know it's only February, but spring can never come too early, right? The apartment was fully furnished, with red, black and white, which frankly are not my favourite colours in decoration. Eventually I got used to them, and on Christmas time it was very easy. But now, after Christmas we wanted to have fresh springy colors. Now the only room left with red is our bedroom, the red-white-striped wall was too hard to hide, so I just had to go with it. ;)

Home <3

Yesterday we made karjalanpiirakka with another Finnish girl who lives here in Wroclaw. We were both newbies in this, and a bit nervous how they're gonna look like. For some reason everybody, including us, thinks that karjalanpiirakka is really hard to make, when in reality it's easier than korvapuusti. Ours turned out very nicely, and the taste was also authentic. :)

 Today (Sunday) we had our, already traditional "Hotel Breakfast Noora's & Wolfi's Style". I'm not sure if you already know, but we both are breakfast freaks and nothing makes us happier than a huge breakfast buffet. So after last summer's travels, we decided to bring some luxury to weekend mornings at home by having yummy breakfast. Usually we have quite basic stuff like bread, toast, milk bread (kinda like pulla), ham, cheese, perfectly boiled eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice, jams, Nutella and cappuccino. Once or twice I have also made pancakes. Nam nam.

 

After breakfast we went to cinema to see "Lo Imposible": movie that tells a story of one family that survived the tsunami in Thailand. The movie was obviously very touching, and the actors, especially kids, were amazing. I would definetely recommend the movie, even I had to close my eyes couple of times.

And what could be perfect ending for this perfect sunday? Sushi! So we had sushi-dinner to celebrate my new job (that starts tomorrow, yaiks). And boy, it was gooood.

P.S. I wanted to go to this sushi place only because of the lamps in the ceiling. They look so pretty and I definetely want to have those in our home someday. Luckily also the sushi was delicious. ;)

*Quote by William Arthur Ward

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day*

Long time, no see... I've had some kind of crisis about what to write here, so the result was not writing at all. Sorry. As in so many other things (believe it or not) I overthink; I come up with an idea and then abandon it because I think it's stupid, too personal or nobody cares. But I guess you would not be reading if you wouldn't be interested. ;) So I'm gonna report from here, Starbuck's, where I'm hiding our cleaning lady every Thursday. Life's tough...

Sooo, what have I been doing lately? Apart from the life that's becoming a norm for me aka housegirlfriending, I have had a real job interview! Actually two (part l & part ll), in the same company, and we are waiting for results. I have pretty good chances to get the job, since they need a Finnish speaker and there's not too many of us here. But "pessimisti ei pety" (pessimist won't get dissapointed), as the famous Finnish saying goes, so I refuse to believe I could get the place, before I'm actually writing my name in the papers. Anyway more about that if I get the job. If not, don't bother asking about it. :P

www.popscreen.com

Two weeks ago we were visiting my maybe-future-parents-in-law in Germany. It was a very nice weekend, once again I felt like in my third home. On Saturday we were in a huge techno party, and I got to know that my "good" old alcohol using habits are still there, even I've been very nicely here in Poland. I blame Finland and Finnish culture for this (not you mom and dad). So I decided to keep away from alcohol for undefined period of time, until I've learned the limits of sophisticated drinking (never?)...

www.google.com

And back to happier subjects: winter came and winter went away. Which means here is now lovely spring weather: sunny and +8 degrees. Reminds me of the winter in Cyprus. Propably the winter will "surprise" us at least once more this year, but I don't mind taking a break from it. :)

In addition to hanging out in coffee places, cooking, reading (3rd part of Hunger Games), job hunting and couchpotatoing with my love, I have finally started to refresh my memory in German. I found amazing web page, with soooo much material. Who needs expensive courses or books, when you have internet and a personal tutor. ;)

Update: I got the job!


*Quote by A. A. Milne

Mówisz po polsku?

Today I wrote fifteen sentences in Polish! Wuhuuu!

Lately I've noticed that apparently I do not look very different to Polish girls. Almost everyday somebody asks something in Polish when I'm on my way to work. Of course it could be that people are just assuming there cannot be anyone non-Polish speaker living here... But Polish girls are usually pretty, so let's stick with that theory. ;)

My answer to these questions has changed from I "I don't speak Polish" to "Nie mówie po polsku" (I don't speak Polish) and even "Nie wiem" (I don't know; because usually I have no idea where this street and that office is). I hope I'm able to develope my skills a bit more. :P

http://www.twardoch.com

 I have been told, without even exaggerating much, about hundred times how hard language Polish is. Mostly by Polish, but foreigners tell me this too. I invented my very own answer to that; "I heard Finnish is one of the hardest languages in the world, I learned that, so I think I'm able to learn Polish too". Funny or not, you can decide. Truth is that Polish is hard, like any other language I've learned (or tried to learn). There is so many rules, so much to remember, and then when you finally think you got it, "just a few" exceptions. As I might have mentioned before, the pronunciation is not so hard once you get that you are not suppose to pronounce every consonant. You can easily skip every other... :D Obviously I have no idea how good or bad my Polish sounds or if it even sounds like Polish at all, so maybe it's the safest to ask advice from someone else.

http://travelogue.travelvice.com

 Now that I've learned some useful words and phrases, I should start using them. And that is the problem for me. You see, I'm not the person who tries every new word right away like a kid. I am the person who wants it to sound perfect. And it never will. So I cannot even order my food in restaurant in Polish (or German) because I might make a mistake. That's why I like writing, I can think and check before I publish anything. So if somebody has solution for this mental problem I would be really glad to hear it. Somehow I got over this problem with English...maybe that was the exception. :D

www.talkingtotheworld.co.uk

Funny thing here (or not so funny anymore) is that often people ask if I speak German or if I'm learning it. Well of course it could sound like a rational question to some people, but lately it started to irritate me. Why would I learn German? We are in Poland, for God's sake. I'm learning Polish, isn't that obvious? And if (when) they ask this because my boyfriend is German, why nobody ever assumes him learning Finnish (except as a joke)? I'm sorry about this sudden burst of annoyance, I promise I will learn to speak German when we live there. :P (Actually I think German skills would help me to get a job here...) Anyway I enjoy studying Polish, and I'm sure I will enjoy learning German someday too. ;) Fifteen year old me would never believe her ears if she would hear this...