1) Not much is going on in my life other than the study of Finnish. Once again, I must say, I don't exactly mind. It's pretty rewarding to form a grammatically correct sentence in this language, and I seem to be doing that more and more these days. It hasn't been entirely without frustration, though. There was one particular day last week on which I felt rather lost in class. I spent the break poring over my dictionary in search of words I hadn't understood during a discussion on the Finnish presidential election. Then, a classmate of mine expressed her own frustrations, which prompted our teacher to advise: "Rentoudu!" or, "relax!" and "Ota iisisti!" or, "take it easy!" Having someone command me to relax was precisely what I needed, actually. After reflecting a bit, I realized that one day on which I felt lost doesn't erase the fact that I feel relatively competent most of the time. What I really need is to stop wanting to deliver absolute perfection. It won't happen.
2) Which brings me to a subject that will likely be much more appealing to most of you. What is my downfall, you ask? Finnish candy. You see, they have these little candy stations in a lot of the common grocery stores. These evil things typically have a large variety of stellar candy available for scooping into a paper bag and, later, directly into your face. For someone who is both weight conscious and in possession of a stupidly sensitive stomach, this isn't a good thing. Damn you, Candyking! Actually, I believe this company has its origins in Sweden, so I suppose I'll just do what the Finns tend to do in matters such as these -- I'll blame the Swedes.
Just kidding.
I did bring a bag home for a group of my friends last month, and I believe the consensus was that Candyking is positively delicious. Here's hoping I don't become morbidly obese and further fulfill the American stereotype!
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| I apologize for this horrible picture. |
2) Which brings me to a subject that will likely be much more appealing to most of you. What is my downfall, you ask? Finnish candy. You see, they have these little candy stations in a lot of the common grocery stores. These evil things typically have a large variety of stellar candy available for scooping into a paper bag and, later, directly into your face. For someone who is both weight conscious and in possession of a stupidly sensitive stomach, this isn't a good thing. Damn you, Candyking! Actually, I believe this company has its origins in Sweden, so I suppose I'll just do what the Finns tend to do in matters such as these -- I'll blame the Swedes.
Just kidding.
I did bring a bag home for a group of my friends last month, and I believe the consensus was that Candyking is positively delicious. Here's hoping I don't become morbidly obese and further fulfill the American stereotype!
egad. i've tried to comment on this 3 times but stupid no good blogger won't let me. okay, this is my last attempt...
ReplyDeletethe candy sounds yummy.
i am excited you can put together a grammatically correct sentence in finnish. you're on your way.
i had written lots of other things, too. but i am too frustrated to try again in case this doesn't work.
but good job!!!
Sorry you had trouble. You're not the first person to have trouble leaving me a comment lately... perhaps my blog is cursed.
DeleteBut thanks! It is exciting to actually speak a little Finnish. Now if only I could just work up the courage to speak it in public! And the candy is so f-ing yummy. :)
I've always remembered my Finnish course's words in terms of learning Finnish: "It will feel like one step forward, two steps back from time to time. It's a perfectly normal feeling."
ReplyDeleteFYI, the teacher we had was a lovely half Finnish/half Russian. She spent 20 years studying Finnish before she became a Finnish course teacher foreigners, so she has a firsthand experience on learning Finnish as a foreign language.
I must say that you've learnt the language VERY fast. So kudos to you!!! :-D
I'm not that crazy about candies, but my soft spots are CHIPS and chocolate! HA HA HA HA HA...And it doesn't help having this kind of shift job for my weight - after evening shifts I almost always come home hungry (esp. in winter!) and it's really not a good habit, but what can I say? I try to eat until I'm full at work, but still...oh well...
I have some odd eating-times here, too. I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I'm sort of sitting at home much of the time. I'm sure you're hungry because you've been working hard, though! :)
DeleteWow, it must have been really nice to have a teacher who had been in the position of learning Finnish as a foreign language. Our teacher is a native speaker, and she pushes us to do well, but she's usually sympathetic if we're not "getting" something. I think she speaks five or six languages. She's a smart person, and I definitely admire her.
And thanks for the kudos. Not sure if I deserve them quite yet, though...hehe. :)
I've met foreigners who've lived here for years struggling so hard with the grammar parts that you've seemed to have absorbed already, so trust me when I said you've learnt so fast, I meant that. :-))) I read what you wrote in Olli Miekka's site about Finnish grammar and from the bits and pieces I've read here, too, I made that conclusion he he...
ReplyDeleteOur Finnish teacher also spoke different languages...she can speak French (not sure how well, but enough to carry a conversation with a French student who couldn't speak English too well), though her English is passive, but she understands most of the things we said to each other. And of course she had to speak Russian with the Russian woman at our course who didn't speak English. So yeah, it was really nice to have a teacher who understood completely how it felt like to study Finnish - and she could also explain to us very well how things worked because she had the same questions herself (not just learning things academically). :-)))
Your teacher speaks 5 or 6 languages? Yeah, she's definitely talented in languages and is a smart person. :-))) At least you're getting a really good and reliable full-time teacher. I know an Indo friend who lives down south who didn't get a "real Finnish teacher" full-time, so she only got her half the time and the other half was spent with a native speaker (but this native speaker couldn't really explain the grammar). It was 'coz the city was out of teacher resources, so they had to share the real teacher with other classes.