Showing posts with label stereotypes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stereotypes. Show all posts

Thursday, 8 July 2010

Blast from the past


Someone commented to the first entry of my little blog yesterday and that got me into reading my divorce related entries again (well, it was after 1 am and I didn't want to sleep because my Darling is not there by my side) and noticed interesting prediction: One thing seems to be sure for me. If I found someone someday, he wont be from this country. I do not know how I know it but I just do. For some reason..." (Editorial note: please excuse my appalling lack of grammar, my tenses suck even worse then than they do now.)

 

Since the separation I did not date one single Finn (went to a date with one Finnish man though (and even he had been born and raised elsewhere), didn't work - even I rather enjoyed it (some men just have so poor taste when it comes to women )), and then eventually was found by my Darling Husband and proved myself right for good.

I had fun while reading this entry: "I need someone stubborn enough, someone with his own free will. Someone strong and reliable, who keeps what he says... " as He really is like that. Two very stubborn parties in one relationship makes it sometimes quite interesting though.

And, of course, reading those old entries also made me appreciate the fact that ex-SIL is an ex as she would have harassed me SO badly about Mr. Wonderful (ref: this) and got into such levels with her questions which would have made me just feel plain disgusted and angry. (Remembering all the nauseating questions and comments she made when I was dating Abhi (who was/ is Indian) I would almost imagine that she would have got much worse about her questions and comments regarding my Wonderful (just knowing all the idiotic stereotypes some people have about black men..)).

Anyway I have been pleased to see that I really did achieve what I hoped for: I grew up, learned to love and appreaciate myself, and eventually found a good husband: Mr. Wonderful who is really a gift from G-d.

That's all folks, see you again some other day!

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Clips of interest :)

"Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story"

And all the enthusiasts can relate to this...

Friday, 11 November 2005

You know you've been too long in Finland when...

    1. You rummage through your plastic bag collection to see which ones you should keep to take to the store and which can be sacrificed to garbage.

    2. As you walk past the Parliament Building in Helsinki, and see the statues is titled "Svinhufvud" you no longer read it as "Swinehead" ... instead you think "What a good Swedish name!"

    3. When a stranger on the street smiles at you:

      a. you assume he is drunk
      b. he is insane
      c. he's a Dutch

    4. You don't think twice about putting the wet dishes away in the cupboard to dry.

    5. A friend asks about your holiday plans and you answer "Oh, I'm going to Europe!" meaning any other Western European country outside Scandinavia.
    6. You no longer scrunch up or fold your paper money. You always put your money in your wallet.

    7. You see a student taking a front row seat and wonder "Who does he think he is!!??"

    8. Silence is fun.

    9. The reason you take the ferry to Stockholm is:

      a. duty free vodka
      b. duty free beer
      c. to party heartily...no need to get off the boat in Stockholm, just turn around and do it again on the way back to Finland.

    10. Your coffee consumption exceeds 6 cups a day and coffee is too weak if there is less than 10 scoops per pot.

    11. You pass a grocery store and think "Wow,it is open, I had better go in an buy something!"

    12. Your native language has seriously deteriorated, now you begin to "eat medicine", "open the television", "close the lights off", stay "by" somebody and tell someone "you needn't to!"
    Expressions like "Don't panic"creep into your everyday language.

    13. You associate pea soup with Thursday.

    14. Your idea of unforgivable behavior now includes walking across the street when the light is red and there is no WALK symbol, even though there are no cars in sight.

    15. Your notion of street life is reduced to the few teenagers hanging out in front of the railway station on Friday nights.

    16. Your bad mood becomes your good mood.

    17. Sundays no longer seem dull with all the stores closed, and begin to feel restful instead.

    18. "No comment" becomes a conversation strategy.

    19. You finally stop asking your class "Are there any questions?"

    20. The fact that all of the "v's" and the "w's" are together in the phone directory seems right. (you "vatch a wideo")

    21. Your old habit of being "Fashionably late" is no longer acceptable. You are always on time.

    22. Hugging is reserved for sexual foreplay.

    23. You begin to understand Jussi Jyylanpaarvi's broadcast of the hockey game.

    23. You refuse to wear a hat, even in -30 degree weather.

    24. You hear loud-talking passengers on the train. You immediately assume:

      a. they are drunk
      b. the are Swedish-speaking
      c. they are Americans
      d. all of the above.

    25. You give up on trying to find fat-free food and pile on the butter, cream and sugar.

    26. You know how to fix herring in 105 different ways.

    27. You eat herring in 105 different ways.

    28. You no longer look at sports pants as casual wear, but recognize them as semi-formal wear.

    29. You can now reconstruct the missing letters on a building. For example MERI.........LIITTO OY.

    30. You have undergone a transformation:

      a. you accept mustamakkara (Black-blood sausage) as food
      b. you accept alcohol as food
      c. you accept.

    31. You understand why the Finnish language has no future tense.

    32. You no longer have to search for the flushing mechanism.

    33. You no longer see any problem wearing white socks with loafers.

    34. You no longer correct people who say MAC Donald's.

    35. You just love Jaffa.

    36. You've come to expect Sunday morning sidewalk vomit dodging.

    37. You know that "religious holiday" means "let's get pissed."

    38. You enjoy salmiakki.

    39. You know that "mens public bathroom" is another phrase for sidewalk.

    40. You know that more than three channels means cable.

    41. You get all the Swedish jokes.

    42. When you're hungry you can peel a boiled potato like lightning.

    43. You've become lactose intolerant.

    44. You accept that 80 degrees C in a sauna is chilly, but 20 degrees C outside is freaking hot.

    45. You have "flu" as soon as you sneeze

    46. YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIVE ANYWHERE BUT IN FINLAND!

Saturday, 29 October 2005

Cultural differences?

Little something I've been wondering since last autumn. As in my opinion it is bit odd that I seem to had more "cultural clashes" in my relationship with Finns than I've had with A. and M. There are few possible "explanations":

    1. Our upbringing has been bit different than majority of Finns.
    2. I'm not "Finnish" by personality.
    3. There is no such thing as cultural differences.
    4. "Cultural differences" are in fact differences in

        4.1. religion (I've had more problems with Christians than I have had with Buddhist and pagan) and
        4.2. native languages (leads to different interpretations).
And before anyone wants to burn me, I'll explain a bit.
  1. My childhood family was non-religious, pro-reading, pro-thinking and more or less equal when it came to treating according to sex (so, even I'm female I had quite free atmosphere to be non-girly (even it seems that my mom worried about my non-girliness. And it was a problem for my brother.).
    This seemed to be problem to majority. Because I wasn't just cute show-around girlfriend nor nice, silent wife-type. I had no obsession to be "feminine" nor degraded because of my sex. I never have wanted to look less intelligent than I am just because I'm female (or because it was problem to some men to have woman who's more intelligent than they were).
  2. Well, it's old joke between Sonnenschein and me that our nationalities are mixed, and he should have Finnish passport and I should have Spanish. He's practical iceberg and I'm drama queen.
  3. Come and burn me.
  4. :
    4.1. I've dated only Christians in past and there were always clashes because of religion. I was able to accept that my partner was Christian, but they were unable to accept that I was not and that I weren't willing to become one.
    My ex wasn't fortunately Christian (ok, he was member of Evanchelic Lutheran Church, but only because he apparently weren't informed how easy it's part from a congregation according to our legislation - he signed off after we got married.), A. was Buddhist (born as Hindu) and M. is non-religious (raised in non-religious family). And there has been no religion based clashes. I can't help wondering that. (No, I've nothing against anyone's religion as long as my religious views (or lack of them) are respected.)

    4.2. Only clear difference between us (Sonnenschein and me) seems to be in our ways to use language. If M.'s native language is X and mine Y, and we both communicate with language Z which isn't native to either of us it's in a way obvious.
    Now someone could say that culture causes those differences, but is there culture without language? -> Language creates culture and therefore cultural differences are language based.

I think that was mostly all about that matter today.