From a tropical country to winter wonderland
The following experiences might not be true to someone coming from a tropical place like mine, however it might be true to others in the same way as I experienced it.
Where are The People?
I literally said it on the way home from the airport when I could not see the amount of cars or people that my eyes were accustomed on seeing. Coming from a country where there is over a 100 million people to a country of over 5 million people with a few times fold in size compared to my country was frightening. Back home, it is very easy to call on neighbors for any help or assistance with anything, say an accident, someone to watch over your kid or pets but seeing the empty roads and distant houses forced me to feel out of my comfort zone.
I live in the countryside of Finland so literally there are fewer people than in the cities and as the time goes by, I like my own quiet time, entertained by many interesting activities outdoors.
Cold Weather and Dark Nights on Winter Time
When I say cold, I mean that the temperature of 0 degree is not surprising, and +1 degree is already warm enough on winter time. The cool weather is about -1 or a little higher, when people say ”it feels fresh on the cheeks¨. A -5 degrees or -10 degrees is cold but life is still normal as it is, as they say in Finland, there is ”no cold weather, only wrong clothes”. Kids in the kindergarten or daycare centers are still playing outside as a mandatory requirement for the day. In the North, a temperature of -30 degrees is not surprising at all. Winter also means long dark nights and dark means that you leave your home to work and come back in the dark. People spend the daylight inside the workplace unless their work requires spending time outside. After December 21, the long dark nights start to become shorter for 5-10 minutes per day until summer time when the daylight is much longer than the nights, around 3AM to 11PM, basically there is only a few hours of darkness.
If you are ready for this, then you can survive living in the country.
Deafening Silence
I used to hear and read of this phrase ”deafening silence” from literature books. As good as it sounds to me before, was as scary as I had experience it the first time, I thought I lost my hearing :). But I was totally fine and kidding aside, silence was true and there are places in the world where you can say humans haven’t inhabited/exploited yet. Nature is real and the stillness of the water in the lake, the swaying of trees and the sounds it make, the singing and dancing birds in the sky, the tiny creatures crawling amidst the moss and century old rocks and the presence of wild animals from a distant is a beauty parallel to none.
Boldness in Sauna
In Finland, majority of the people have saunas and going to sauna before bedtime, on holidays or on a regular basis during the week is part of life. For most Finns, sauna is life and is taken seriously like a ritual. Perhaps the attitude of the younger generations have changed over the years, but for most people, it remains the same as far as I have observed. In the sauna, everyone is naked, parents, children altogether in the same place and it is pretty normal. Sauna is a place fore relaxation and peace for some people. In public saunas, there are separate places for men and women. A mother or a father can take with them their kids around 4 years old or younger in the sauna, and it is totally fine. Seeing someone naked in enclosed public saunas is not surprising at all, except when you are foreign like me in the beginning. Culture teaches us how to behave in different situations and this was something extraordinary new to me in the beginning.
Own Privacy
Normally in Asia, it is easy for people to chat with someone they know or meet on the street, inside the lift, or any public places. In Finland, it is a little bit different not because people do not like to talk to you, but some people only are hard to fathom whether they want a conversation or not, many prefer to have their own space and not mind other people’s business. This can be hard for a newcomer who is used to chit chat a lot with other people because this action might be taken as an invasion of privacy. In my culture, it is easy for people to ask questions like ”how old are you”,” where do you live”, ”are you married”, ”do you have kids” ”why don’t you have kids?” or even ”how much does your car cost?” all the WH questions we can think about, not because we like to invade privacy but its just about the culture. Questions are a good conversation starter when we meet someone new, but in some cultures like in Finland, people have different norms and having own privacy is not negotiable to some people.
Free Food for Students
Yes, I find it shocking and the first thing I thought about is ”how lucky the kids must be having free food and education”. I didn’t study for free, and had to bring my own food to school back in the days when I was studying. For this reason, it is shocking to know.