(written on Sunday 30.10)
Howdy! This is maybe my favorite day of the year. Because it’s one hour longer! Meaning, that I get to sleep one hour more! Oh heaven, I needed that. Today going to skating practice and work and driving lesson after that didn’t feel too bad. Especially with Gilmore girls and my printed Ecuador photos cheering up this sunny day. Yesterday after orchestra practice we had a diwali night at the ICYE organization, and after a nightly walk with my indian skirt and a painted red blessing mark on my forehead (I confused a lot of people walking in the same direction, another goal of life accomplished :D) I catched a bus to my friends, where we had a nice halloween themed get-together. So a really nice weekend again, just that this part where it’s ending is always the most annoying one. But my life has been going on normally again, so I got all deepy-deepy and decided to finally finish with this title that I’ve had in my crafts for a while now. It has been 4 months since I came back from Ecuador, and 14 months since I left from Finland. So for this occassion it seemed like a good theme to handle.
All the exchangers know the deal; you go for exchange, and when you return you’ll never be the same again. And all of us also know the deal; we do are the same. A bit different, but still the same person.
How I changed after coming back after exchange: //
Como cambié despues cuando regresé a Finlandia:
This maybe confuses my ecuadorian friends a bit. Your surroundings easily change you, and especially your life situation changes you. And just as it changed when I went to Ecuador, it also changed when I came back to Finland. Here in Finland we have different values, I have more stuff to do and more things to study and different themes to talk about. I dress differently than I did in Ecuador (or before Ecuador) and I talk differently. I have this weird finnish-ecuadorian-european accent in my Spanish! I also don’t let others boss me that much, now when I’m back on ”my comfort zone” and I’m completely free again. This is weird to explain, but it changes the way I act and think. But I’m still the same person I was in Ecuador, and I still miss Ecuador and my people there as much as ever (that feeling is never going to go away)
//Esto tal vez confunde un poco mis amigos en Ecuador. La gente y todo resto alrededor de ti puede afectarte. Y eso pasé cuando me fui a Ecuador desde Finlandia, y también cuando regresé a Finlandia desde Ecuador. Aquí en Finlandia tenemos valores diferentes, yo tengo más cosas para hacer y más para estudiar y cosas diferentes en mi mente y en nuestros discussiones. Mi estilo es diferente aquí (también estaba diferente en Ecuador comparandolo con lo de antes) y hablo diferentemente. Tengo un accento raro, una mezcla del accento finlandes, español y ecuatoriano en mi español! Y ahora entiendo mejor el valor de mi misma, y tomo más mis propios decisiones ahora cuando estoy nuevamente en mi ”zona comoda” y estoy totalmente libre, sin las mismas reglas. Es algo raro para explicar, pero eso afecta la manera en cual yo actuo. Pero sgi siendo la misma persona cuál estaba en Ecuador, y sigo extrañando mi otro país tanto como antes – eso nunca pasaré.
How I changed during my exchange:
//Como cambié cuando durante mi año de intercambio:
I’ve grown up // He madurado
The one change that my parents are the most confused about. During a year when I was more than 10 000 km away from home, and all alone and didn’t know anyone. I had to manage by myself, and learn to survive in harder circumstances. Even that I had amazing people around me and a hostfamily, there still wasn’t my mom or my dad to go complaining or asking advice from. Needless to say, a person has to grow. And so did my friends in Finland, in Finland after 18 we are adults after all. Just that my parents missed the year when I grew the most – and the fastest -, so they sometimes think that I’m the same little girl I was before I left and learned to survive on my own.
I appreciate my freedom more // Yo se valorar mi libertad ahora
I’ve talked about this before too. Under the rules of an exchange organization and under the rules of a different culture, we didn’t exactly the freedom typical to european teens. So now when I do again, I’m really happy and really grateful about it.
I don’t trust in tomorrow like I used to // No confio en mañana como antes
This I’ve only told to a few people. And I won’t tell more about it for now. But when something really unfortunate and really sudden happens, this might happen too. I make plans for my far-away-future and I wake up every morning smiling (it’s a saying, actually I don’t smile, I growl and slam y alarm shut), but in the back of my mind I keep standing on my toes a bit.
I answer to things with a-ha // Contesto a todo con a-ha
Well, not to everything. Also thanks to the practice. But sometimes this ecuadorian answer comes back, and confuses Finns a bit because it’s a rude answer here!
I love greeting with a kiss on the cheek // Me encanta saludar con besos en la mejilla
Oh, I was so afraid about that when I left to Ecuador! But now I miss it, I need it! I’m so confused about what to do when I meet new people, what if we don’t kiss each other on the cheek or even shake hands, do we just stand there? Yes, we do. But when someone does give me a hug, I automatically give them a kiss on the cheek too, haha sorry about that!
I ask ”How are you?” even thought you shouldn’t (in Finland) // Pregunto ¿”Como estás?” aunque no deberia (en Finlandia)
¡Buenos días! ¿Comó esta usted? doesn’t translate too well in the Finnish culture. Neither does talking to strangers in general. (but it’s slowly changing, go North!)
I don’t mind sharing my food // No me importa si quieren compartir mi comida
In Ecuador everbody shares everything (don’t let me get started on what everything means). So if someone wants to srink water from my glass, taste my sandwich or even put their fingers in my food, I’m actually kinda used to it.
I realized that I don’t need that many clothes (at all) // Me dí cuenta que no necessito tanta ropa
After living out of a suitcase for 10 months, I realized that I actually managed with those clothes in my suitcase more than well. So when I came back with that suitcase and saw my too-full-closet, I felt emberassed! And determined, so I sold more than half of my clothes in the fleamarket. Except that now I got troubles, because I forgot that we have 4 seasons in Finland, and I don’t have enough clothes now!
I don’t feel 100% like at home anywhere // No me siento 100% en casa en ningun lugar
It’s the price you pay for having two home countries at the same time.
I’m mentally half Finnish and half Ecuadorian // Soy mentalmente mitad finlandes y mitad ecuatoriana
The world moves, this stays. Can I get a note in my passport, please? //El mundo se mueve, esto se queda. Puedo tener un cambio en mi pasaporte, por favor?
