Well, it's terribly tempting to just tell anyone who's willing to listen all about everything that has happened while my Madre is resting her feet. But I'll try to just keep it down to the basic points.
The first thing I want to talk about it Frankfurt, Germany. How does this relate to my travels in Finland? The one layover that we had on the way here was in Frankfurt. The security seemed slightly tighter than in the US, but I just assumed that it was different procedure in a different country, cool. When we finally touched down in Helsinki and stumbled to our hotel and collapsed in our room, we turned on CNN. It's a European CNN, but not BBC News or anything like that. I just know it's not the USA CNN - they are showing a lot of big stories that have been headlines all over the world for the past month or sometimes more which I've never even heard snippets of back home. Anyway - when we turned it on they were talking about the terrorist plot foiled in Germany. Ears pricked, we leaned forwards and squinted at the images on the TV. Allegedly, the men in question were planning attacks on two main sites, one being the Frankfurt airport, one of the largest in the world with pleanty of flow of traveling and vunerable westerners. Reports say they are still tracking down the rest of the cell involved, and as far as I can remember, they have made a couple more arrests. If I'm wrong on that account, feel free to let me know.
Sidebar on this: I really, really hate terrorists. Obviously, I hate them because of the things that they have done to our country, their own countries, and their people. But I also hate them for what they have done to their religion. Obviously I don't have the mind of a terrorist and I don't know how they think, so similiarly I have no idea how they pulled out of the verses in the Koran that it is vital to slaughter so many innocent strangers. Having read the Koran, I did not get that all. Of course there was mention of killing one's enemy, and being a religious text the enemy was usually made out to be non-Islamic, but it also seemed that every time this was mentioned the enemy ion question wasn't an enemy because of religous differences, but because of past assults of kinds, for instance the killing of a member of your tribe. This in no way included people on the street who had never done a thing to harm you or your family. I find it sickening that people would do this - destroy innocent lives, all the while shaming their religion and god.
Anyway - I had to go on that rant, because it makes me so angry. Back to Finland, and speaking of Islam...so, I accidentally took a pamplet on Islam in Finnish. I'm going to keep it forever, because it was kind of funny that I managed that. Anyway - the man who gave it to me seemed very kind. Later that same day I met another man handing out pamphlets. He spoke Finnish, but not Enlglish - I don't think that he was raised here, because Finns learn English from a very young age. So I asked if he knew English, but he said no. I took out my pamphlet and showed him that I had one, and he just patted my on the shoulder and said "Anteeksi" (pardon me) and wished me a good evening and wandered off. We were in a flea market and I wasn't with my Madre, so I (unfortunately) didn't get to see this. The man approached my mom to give her a pamphlet and instead of saying "Kiitos" (thank you) she said "Kissa" (cat). Of course, being her, this normal. I just have to wonder what he thought...probably that she was insane. In any case, it put a smile on both of our faces, even though I was suffering from a touch of food poisoning at the time (I'm never eating Greek food again. The thought of it makes me feel ill).
Our first day here while we were trying to find out way to our hotel, a woman with reddish dread locks and a yellow shirt approached me. She had a red notebook in one hand and baggy pants. I kind of stumbled over my words, trying to tell her that I only speak English. "Puhutteko - no, uh...Puhun vain englantia," is what I said, also known as "You speak - no, uh...I speak only english." She smiled and laughed with a nod and told me that it is good to hear me try at it, even if I have no handle on it. I do wish that I had more of a handle on it, because language is so entirely important to any sense of communication, and I know that a lot of Americans have this attitude of not wanting to learn other languages because they "don't need it," but in this rapidly expanding world with so many mixing cultures and languages it really is important, especially since, the way we're going, we're not going to be super power anymore. I think it is terrible that this attitude has seeped into our school system as well. Other languages are not offered until very late in our schooling, especially when compaired with other schools around the world. Like I said, in Finland, they start to learn English and Swedish at a very young age. The way our systems are set up, it's very, very hard for people to get a grasp on a second language, because that part of our brain has already done most of it's developing. It is almost as though the system is even geared towards that way of thinking - "Well, I'm American and English is all I need" - because they wait until so late to even offer another lanuage. Maybe it is different in other schools, but at my school we didn't get it offered until ninth grade. I honestly feel very inferior here, hearing people around me speaking Finnish and then so quickly switching to fluent English if I need to ask a question.
Anyway...on to something else. At least I'm trying to stick to the main points!
People always talk about the architecture of Spain and England, France and Italy. Is it just because Finland is so near the top of the world, so cold and isolated that it's architecture is so rarely discussed? Helsinki has amazingly designed buildings - absolutely beautiful. I will say that I honestly don't know a thing about archiecture, but I know what's pleasing to the eye. A lot of the buildings in Finland are young in European standards, because this land has been to plagued by war until the last century that most of the buildings were always being destroyed. But in any case, the older buildings are always the ones that I lean towards. The Lutheran Cathedral to the side of Senate Square in Helsinki is a very good example of some of their great architecture. And, while it's totally seperated from the kind of buildings I'm talking about, the Turku Castle is gorgeous as well. It's one of the older buildings in Finland (800 years) and it is massive. I just barely step foot in it today and plan to go tomorrow. Some street performers playing mideval music outside told me that just walkling through it can take two or three hours - not counting stopping to look at art and read the information.
Well, I guess I have to sum this up. I'm running out of time and need to go explore. For now I just want to note that Finland is remarkably similiar to the United States, but at the same time remarkably different. I'll have to explain that another time, because I don't know quite how to do it in just a couple of minutes.
Wishing you peace from Finland
