Goodbye Ribera

Hanna has left Cordoba. My 3-month internship ended this Thursday. It was a very nice day, a bit emotional but it just added to the flavor. I made a Finnish breakfast (porridge, of course) and we had a session where I told them about Finland, the culture, the people, beliefs and habits. They were very enthusiastic in learning about how we (I) saw things and make a lot of question.

In the end came the best part. When thanking me for the time spent at La Ribera, my colleagues said that I had integrated very well into the group. The group my colleagues formed was neither homogenous nor united but I got connected with them. I was one of them. That was the greatest compliment they gave me.

Why was it so wonderful? Because most of my colleagues hadn’t spent time with a foreigner before. When they had heard that a Finnish girl would come to work with them, they had been a bit preoccupied. “Will she be cold and distant? Will we find anything to talk about? Will she be able to do anything here?”. It resulted that all these worries were unnecessary and that we really got along great.

Beside the personal satisfaction, I know that these people will see the world a bit differently now. When they hear somebody talking about Europe, culture shocks, different languages or even sausages, a tiny unconscious part of them will remember me. What an exciting thought that is. My simple existence has permanently changed a fraction of a person’s mindset.

This sounds very grandiose but think about it for a while. You do it every day too. By a simple thing you do or say you influence the other person’s thoughts and create memories that will guide that person’s actions in the future. As people we are fairly insignificant but as individuals we can change the world surrounding us.

TV - the changing face of culture

TV tells a lot about the culture of a country. Especially the advertisements are very entertaining at best, promoting something in a way unthinkable to what we are used to. Today I watched a cooking program. Fairly interesting it was. The people were cooking a type of pastry cream but they had 3 different versions of the cream, “do this”, “this is okay” and “don’t do this”. So now I know that when making crema pastelera the mixture should stay moist at all time.

Comedy here resembles very much the Mexican one. It’s a bit unfair to say but I think comedy here is fairly simple. Big gestures, dramatic reactions, people falling over or bumping into a tree. When you mix that with the fake breasts, bare skin, old men and young women, anything can come out. Oh I do laugh and get amused too but for other reasons than the majority.

News have a yellowish stamp on them. A car crash attracts loads of people watching but also press, taking photos of torn body parts and crying family members, and interviewing eye-witnesses who explain everything to the smallest detail. News are designed to attract attention, be it with blood, drama or young sexy girls (this is the perfect example when it comes to weather forecasts: http://imgur.com/gallery/1JbOn ).

In general there is more passion, more drama and more excitement here. It is possible to feel strongly about anything on TV or in the newspapers, whether it’s about politics or an art exhibition. Living is passionate here and there isn’t a dull day in sight.

Solidarity

One of the biggest differences between the Northern European and Latin cultures is the social aspect of life.  Here people kiss, hug, touch, share things and comfort one another. The affection is noticeable. Even between two people who don’t know each other, a certain level of caring is shown.

Meeting a person a simple question  “How are you?” is asked without a necessity to have a truthful answer. Not in Finland. If you ask someone there how he is doing, you will hear the entire story of the latest visit to the doctor or the problems finding a good sofa for the living room. If you ask something, you really want to get the truthful answer too. For me the casual “How are you?” abroad at first was almost offensive. The thoughts that passed my mind were “You don’t really care, do you?  Hypocrite…”. Haha I’m more relaxed these days.

At work solidarity is very present. The one’s who have cars take the others to and back from work every day. Everybody leaves at the same time, nobody goes early or is left behind. I’ve taken the bus only a handful of times. When it comes to eating I belong to a group of 7 people. Every 7 days it’s my turn to cook for 7 people. The other days I eat the food of others. I simply love that system, it should definitely be incorporated into the international working culture. Also, I've gotten to introduce them some Finnish evryday dishes and I've eaten a variety of feasible main courses.

People share dinners and the mate-drink. They get together for the fun of it.  People invite half strangers into their homes or to spend the weekend in the countryside. If someone has problems, that person will not be left alone. Maybe the government doesn’t provide them with everything, maybe care and guidance isn’t given free of charge. Nevertheless, a person in need has the support, the company, the aid and the affection of other people, be it family, friends, neighbors or colleagues. That is simply priceless.  

Something to lose, something to gain

I'll leave Cordoba this Friday. The four days of next week I can take off so I'm heading to northern Argentina very soon. I'll be there for maybe a week. Then I'll cross the border to Bolivia, do a tour on the Uyuni salt flat (where I'll most likely freeze to death) and slowly head north towards La Paz. After that I'll somehow try to get to eastern Bolivia (where it's supposedly warm and I'm happy). There's a train from Santa Cruz to the Brazilian border and in that area is Pantanal, a huge natural reserve with abundant wildlife. The 27th of June my flight leaves from São Paulo via London to Helsinki.

This is the plan.

The last few days have, as expected, been very active. We've danced a lot. I went to an advanced tango class with a friend, ready to be eaten alive, but noticed that with good dancers I'm good too. In the milonga (the place to dance tango freely) people actually asked me to dance and I started liking Argentinian tango. Now there are a few more things to do and a few more people to meet and then the time is up. Hope this will be a fun week!

Gotta love the modern world

There are people on five continents who read this blog.

Sometimes this is almost incomprehensible. Modern technology enables so much. Sometimes I wonder why I don't put more effort into writing articles in stead of writing this blog, my diary or random thoughts and aforisms on Facebook. It would be nice to write more although it does get its downsides once it becomes a job.

It's great to know that I have a wide audience and that what I write sometimes really has an impact on people. Thank you for being there!

Spanish a.k.a. castellano

Spanish is the main language here in Argentina. Here it's called castellano instead of español after the Spanish region of Castile where it originated. The language is the same in Spain, Mexico etc - except that it's not. The Argentinian and the Uruguayan accent are famous for the "ssh" sound for ll and y. So my name is - yo me llamo is pronounced in Mexico jo me jamo but in Argentina ssho me sshamo. It's charasteristic especially for the Buenos Aires accent. Here in Cordoba the tone is more singing and the "ssh" isn't as common.

Apart from general oddities in verb conjugation, one speciality is the second person singular pronoun (you) that is vos in stead of tú, so you say - tú dices - vos decís. Like in most Latin American countries, the second person plural pronoun (you, pl.) is not vosotros like in Spain. Instead it's the third person plural pronoun (they) that is ustedes, so you speak - vosotros habláis - ustedes hablan. The conjugation of verbs follows this rule as well and I love it!

There's an excellent song on Youtube about the differences of Spanish in different countries called Qué difícil es hablar el español (How difficult it is to speak Spanish). It makes fun of the different meanings of words in Spain and different parts of Latin America. After two weeks in Argentina, I was completely ready to sign that statement. I've had to change my vocabulary a great great deal here because the people simply didn't understand me when I was talking about shoes, fruits, clothes, kitchen items etc etc etc. So speaking Spanish in one country doesn't mean you are understood everywhere. It's like the Swedish in Finland or the French in Canada sometimes. The language needs to be adapted.

My accent has been doing cartwheels here. The language I speak has been developed through studies in Finland, living in Mexico, speaking with Spanish people in Finland and now living here. When I arrived, I was told I have a Mexican accent. One month later my accent was supposedly Spanish. Now quite a few people unknowing of eachother have said a have a Guatemalan accent. Say what?!?! Well that was unexpected. I knew my accent would change and become a weird mixture of Mexican and Argentinian but this?

Spanish is easy to get started with but difficult to master completely. My Spanish is quite good already, I don't have to make an effort to understand or to speak but I do still fail a great deal on articles, choises of words and in general ways of saying things. Improving by the day. So even if you only know how to say Una cerveza, por favor you're doing good. Speaking Spanish is fun! You should try it!

This is my home

I live in Córdoba about 10 blocks from the main square. I live in a house that is in the middle of the block with a small garden and a barbecue, so it is very peaceful and quiet here, which is very rare in a big city like Cordoba. That's why people usually comment that the house is simply wonderful.

We are four people in the house. Silvia is a Spanish girl. She was here last year working as a volunteer. She found a boyfriend, went home in December as planned but then returned in March to Córdoba. After one month of intense job search, she found a good place that matched her curriculum. Now the major employment problems of Spain don't affect her and she can basically stay here as long as she pleases.

Nawal is from France. She's doing a 6-month internship at a company working with intercultural exchange (internships, volunteering, language courses...). Her Spanish has gotten a lot better during these two months. It was with her that we went hiking in the Alpes. She has a really good camera and an infinite reserve of cookies.

Matt is the newest member of the household. He's an Australian who initially found an Argentinian girlfriend that he followed to Buenos Aires. That relationship didn't work out but the love affair with Argentina continued. Now Matt has been living in Argentina on/off for almost 2 years and he's planning to stay for as long as it's nice. He teaches English in different companies like in the Fiat factory.

The house is rented by a foundation called Plurales. Apparently it is active in rural areas in northern Argentina but that's about everything I know. They have meetings here during the weekdays so there's usually people here. It's fine though, I can escape to my big room with a heater that works well although the gas leak forces me to keep the window open even if it's cold. The problem with local gas heaters is that the toilet and the kitchen get very cold. Good thing we have very hot water (also heated with gas).

The rent for my room (in a house shared with three other people) is a bit over 200 euros per month. Considering the low salaries, the general price level and the high inflation, living here is very expensive

This is a good house, excellent location and very nice flatmates. Very happy here :)

No fear

Happy to be back. Last couple of weeks.. Wonderful, busy, lifechanging, exciting. Old and new people, new sides of them, new places, old things with new people, new sides of myself.

I have exactly one months left. Kind of I'm excited to stabilize my life and to be able to enjoy of these things I'm living now with more stability and for longer periods of time. Then again I am not looking at all forward to returning to Finland because I fear my opportunities will partly seize existing, that I wont find this thrill or passion in people over there. I fear things will be more bland. I know it's mainly up to myself but here it is easy to jump on the stream of neverending adventures and enjoy the ride. In Finland I am the wagon, I am the motor that brings me forward.

Probably the Finns understand me when I say that despite the cold, the darkness, the drunks etc what I most fear returning is the grayness. Day in and day out we work, fill our duties as taxpayers, follow the rules, comply with our duties, do what we are supposed to do on our free time and complain about how life is boring. How easy it is to fall in that trap. How will I notice if I do fall in that trap? Is it actually a trap? Am I maybe better off there, secure, controlled, with little surprises but little drama as well. Or do I want more?

Well, thoughts. This does cross my mind every now and then though. Am I living the most exciting years of my life and the ones that follow will be completely horrible? I surely hope it's not like that. At least for now home is wherever I lay my head. Lets just hope it brings happiness too.