Friday, October 14, 2011
THE STORY OF A KLUUVI MAC
Sunday, August 28, 2011
JACKASS, DUUDSONIT AND FINNISH CULTURE
Monday, October 19, 2009
SHOPPING SPREE

Either in Finland or in Slovenia - same stories. Young schoolgirls with their schoolbags shopping after school. I don't know why, but for some reasons I feel bothered. Sure, one needs clothes, especially when it comes to job and stuff like that. I am also an active part of consumer's society and sometimes I really like shopping. I like to have my style, I like to be elegant. I probably put too much stress on my clothing and I like new clothes; however, I'm not very proud of this fact and I'm also trying not to care so much. Also, I don't care for brands, or even not at all.
Maybe these clothes-shopping little girls bother my mind because I don't have a very nice memories on my last year in primary school. We were 14 years old teenagers when girls got into clothing (and makeup) and in my school it was all about famous brands. It was about shopping in Italy and Austria and having a different jumper every day of the week. I was different, quiet, artistic and more introverted at those times; however, I remember how some of the girls-with-brands in my class were verbally torturing their different fellows. Kids can be so very cruel.
I'm sorry I didn't possess some of my ''older wisdom'' back then; well, I'm not sure how wise I'm now but I guess there is some improvement. I'm sorry I was not proud of myself as being different, quiet, artistic, I'm sorry that I didn't have enough strength to fight with all stupid commercial and shallow ideas, I'm sorry that I was so insecure. I'm not happy as I still feel how my values were missplaced. And I'm sorry as I sometimes cannot fight those ghosts from the past even nowdays.
I guess now the times are much more materialistic than those ten years ago. Schoolgirls and schoolboys now carry their own bankcards; probably, the differences are much bigger now. I am affraid that today among kids it is much more important who can buy a new jumper in H&M after school and who can't. And probably those that are somewhat different do not feel any better than we did; they feel even worse.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
FAIR TRADE

Dear consumer!
It is very nice to see you care for the nature and for the fair world. Regardless the higher price, you stay loyal to those better products, and basically everything what you have is either organic or fair trade. You might also be vegan/vegetarian as you don't support the cruel food industry. However... (there will always be a however if I am writing, OK?)... so, however...
Dear consumer,
there is something I don't really understand. You seem to be so supportive towards nature and, most of all, fair trade products; you don't want to be ignorant as so many other consumers are., just buying the stuff, no matter if it was done by a poor kid somewhere in India. Yet, my dear consumer, you are ignorant. You care about the world, but you don't care about those that live close to you; near you. You care about fair trade, but you don't care to organise a fair sharing of the, for instance, student appartement. You don't care if the pipes in the bathroom get stuck, regardless the fact that you sometimes take shower even twice a day. You can use a kitchen-item and you don't care to either a) ask about it or b) say thanks. You don't feel like sharing the shelves in the common kitchen, also. And you still don't ask if this or that would be fine with others. Overall, despite some good impressions that you can give, especially with the choice of the products you make, you seem so very ignorant.
Dear consumer...
Are you sure you understand the meaning of organic and fair trade? Do you really support the ideology behind these products? Do you really care about some poor kid in India? Do you really care about trees if you don't care about your actual neigbhours?
Dear consumer
I am afraid you don't actually support neither organic nor fair trade ideology. Well, actually you think you do, honestly you think, but all your other behaviour is controversive. Thus, my dear consumer, I would dare to say you are only following some general trends, some Cosmopolitan writings that scream to you buy organic, buy fair trade! Because it's cool., because it's so trendy... because you have to show you're different... you have to at least pretend you're not ignorant.
However, my dear consumer, you are very ignorant, and buying all these organic and fair trade products feels so very phony, careless and empty...
Saturday, May 09, 2009
AN APPROACH TO INDIVIDUALISM

In my previous post, I was writing about Finnish food, so let’s just continue with my recent observations of Finnish culture. When I have checked keyword analysis of my blog, I have noticed that somebody visited my page due to the word finish individualism. Thus, I am offering one of the possible approaches to the subject; however, please be aware that Finnish individualism has many faces, and this is just one among many. The post might feel a bit black-and-white as I am just writing from my angry part of self. Of course there are always some nice exceptions – but do they only prove the rule?
The beginning of my interaction with Finnish individualism reaches about four years into the past. Even then I had some feelings the society might be very self-orientated. However, when I have started to live with Finns and when I have started to deal with Finnish society more active, my experiences have grown. What bothers me, and sometimes also hurts me a lot is the fact that what an outsider would perhaps see as individualism might actually be egocentrism. The I-only-care-for-myself-and-my-own-good attitude. Egocentrism surely is a part of human nature after all; my friend M. would even say that altruism does not exist.
Blame it all on the developed capitalism.
Lately, I have been reading some forums where the Finns themselves were complaining over their Finnish flatmates; and no wonder some magazine was writing how to behave towards those that live with you. In this society, everything feels like a competition. I was here first, I don’t care about you. This is mine, I don’t care about you. If one is too soft and too kind, one gets hurt; the developed and welfare world is cruel. No, I guess young Finns are not so introverted – they can be just so very ignorant. And that ignorance produces social coldness here up North; the frost among people which might also appear as daring individualism.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
PRAKTIČNA PRISPODOBA
P.S.: Današnji dan je bil popolnoma zanič in zoprn. Za en drek. Ihan perseestä!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
NUJNOST SAMOSTOJNEGA VSAKDANA

Deklica mlajše generacije je razlagala svoji starejši družabnici, po vsej verjetnosti mami, da se, ko bo dosegla določeno starost, ne misli odseliti od doma. Zakaj le, ko pa imam doma vse preskrbljeno, perilo je oprano in hrana skuhana. Takšen bi bil povzetek argumenta, v katerem je deklica opisala ugodje, ki ji ga ponujajo mamina gospodinjska opravila. Seveda, ko se nekdo preseli, gospodinjska opravila postanejo neizogibna nujnost samostojnega vsakdana.
Sama sem si kar nekaj let želela, da bi se odselila od doma. Ker sem študirala v domačem mestu, se selitev v študijske namene ni zgodila, dokler se nisem odločila za magisterij. Na Severu Evrope, izkušnje imam predvsem z Islandijo in Finsko, pa je tako ali tako nekaj popolnoma običajnega, da se otroci odselijo od doma že zelo zgodaj. Družbene razmere so tam res drugačne, standard višji in situacija mnogo ugodnejša za tiste, ki začenjajo samostojno pot; ni primerjave, pa vendar...
Če so razmere naklonjene odraščajočim mladim, ali ne - želja in hrepenenje po samostojnosti lahko ostaneta prisotna. Špekuliram in razmišljam, da si bodo mulci prizadevali ravno nasprotno- čeprav se jim bo ponudila možnost, bodo vztrajali in raje bivakirali v udobnem Mamahotelu.
Kakorkoli že, ugodje zna biti tudi to, da se nekdo ob življenju na svojem nauči dobro opravljati osnovna gospodinjska opravila, od kuhanja in nakupovanja živil do pranja in spoznavanja primernih pralnih sredstev; enostavnosti, ki lahko prinesejo samozavest in občutek neodvisnosti ter tako osvežijo življenje.
Friday, February 20, 2009
DO YOU NEED A BAG?

According to my experience, in Finland one would be at first asked, and then the plastic bag would be given - or not. However, I have noticed that in Slovenia, a plastic bag would be placed automatically, without a question; not in all shops, I guess, and also when buying grocery the plastic bag has to be purchased, so the user has time to think about it. Yet here were certainly some not-a-grocery-shops I where have missed the ''crucial'' question. When there is no interest from the other side, however, I tend to stop the act of giving away a plastic bag myself. Despite the fact I am so used of being asked about the bag that I sometimes even forget how generous Slovenian shops can be when it comes to their plastic additions...
Anyway, I don't feel like writing a long essay about the waste and all other ecological facts considering the (over)use of plastic bags; I just feel canvas shopping bags are useful and good. In many ways.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
CLEVER
Winter sales in Finland went all the way to 70% off the original price and thus it was easier to spend money on some additional and perhaps slightly silly thingies other than just clothes. Lately, however, my obsession would not be clothes but vegan and bio cosmetic products; well, this could be another post within too many times neglected Cinnamon Book.
There were winter sales that turned my attention to this clever set for traveling. It surely is all-in-all plastic and it probably has been made in one particular Asian country... but I don't care. When traveling, I do not plan to search for products in small bottles I would probably throw away after the trip, thus polluting the environment. One can fill these little bottels with liquids-already-at-home by her own choice; in my case, everything would be just products for using while taking a shower. Or a bath, whatever.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
BIVATI S FINKAMI ALI GRELNIK VODE
Poleti sem srečala samo eno od njih. C, po črki na vratih njene sobe, je včasih prišla po pošto. Punco A sem prvič samo slišala; nek junijski dan se je prišla zjutraj stuširat, nato pa je šla, ne da bi se videli. Ampak takrat je bilo poletje, predavanja so se končala in študentom ni bilo treba ostajati v študentskih naseljih.
Septembra me je pričakalo stanovanje v enaki zasedbi - jaz in isti dve Finki. Kmalu se je izkazalo, da je C več ali manj pri fantu ter da v svoji sobi prespi le tu in tam. Doma pa je bila A, čeprav sem to včasih vedela le po tem, da je bilo v veži več čevljev kot ponavadi. Z A sva sobivali po cele tedne in tudi čez vikende - in kljub temu je približno dva meseca skupnega življenja sploh nisem videla. Nekdo je uporabljal kopalnico in šel v kuhinjo takrat, ko mene ni bilo notri. Tudi ko sva se prvič srečali, se je to zgodilo po naključju: jaz sem šla v stanovanje, ona pa ven. Tako se nisva nikoli predstavili druga drugi; njeno ime vem samo zato, ker pobiram pošto. Kasneje sva se srečali še dvakrat in vsa najina konverzacija v pol leta deljenja kuhinje in kopalnice do tega trenutka obsega jutro in živjo. Dobro, vsaj to dvoje je bilo v finščini.
Že prej sem slišala mite o finskih cimrah in cimrih, da so kot duhovi, da se jih sploh ne sliši in podobno. Po drugi strani pa sem slišala tudi zgodbe o tem, da so finske in nefinske cimre med seboj postale prijateljice. Spet tretja Finka mi je rekla, da je popolnoma odvisno od človeka; s tem se strinjam. Tudi sama nisem najbolj zgovorno bitje, poleg tega pa zelo težko navežem prvi stik. Če me ogovori drugi, nimam problemov in se lahko pogovarjam. Če zaznam nekakšen zid tudi na drugi strani, je težko... V vseh mojih študentskih letih pa se poleg tega šele v času magisterija prvič srečujem z dejstvom, ki se mu reče cimra in tako itak nimam nobenega pojma.
Opazila sem, da me je v teh mesecih medsebojne tišine začelo motiti dejstvo, da tako A kot C, kadar je doma, uporabljata moj grelnik vode; A pa tudi moj aparat za kavo. Deljenje stvari in posojanje kuhinjskih aparatov me sploh ne moti - ampak vseeno hočem, da me drugi vpraša za dovoljenje. Mogoče zato, ker sama nočem uporabljati stvari, ki ne pripadajo meni oziroma vedno najprej vprašam. Odsotnost vprašanja in samoumevnost me prizadaneta. Enostranskega posojanja in občutka, da nekdo samo izkorišča mojo dobro voljo, ne maram. Poleg tega imam nekaj izkušenj s finsko kulturo in vem, da so ponavadi vljudni in previdni. Po drugi strani sta tišina in nezgovornost Fincev površna stereotipa; vse te misli pa so končno samo posploševanje, če ne celo rasno razlikovanje...
V našem finsko-slovenskem primeru se druga drugi nismo niti predstavile, kaj šele da bi izmenjale osnovne informacije o delitvi stanovanja. Z A se še nikoli nisva pogovorili, kdaj ima katera predavanje in kdaj katera potrebuje kopalnico. Nikoli se vse tri nismo domenile, katera bo kupila toaletni papir. V sicer skupni kuhinji vsaka uporablja svoj detergent za pomivanje posode. Vse skupaj je kot hostel, ki ga občasno posesava jaz ali C, kadar pride; pa še v hostlih prebivalci govorijo med seboj. Po eni strani mi tak individualizem zelo ustreza, obožujem svoj mir in od cimer ne pričakujem, da bi postale prijateljice. Prav tako v vsem tem času ni bilo niti nadležnih obiskov, niti hrupa. Pa vendar... pomanjkanje osnovne komunikacije in občutek ignorance sta moteča. Finsko govorim dovolj dobro, obe z A sva naročeni na Helsingin Sanomat, tako da jezikovne prepreke ne morejo biti izgovor.
Ker se je moj grelnik vode začel obnašati čudno, sem ga po božiču raje pospravila in priklopila le, ko sem ga potrebovala in sem lahko preverjala delovanje. Takrat se je izkazalo, da je C tako ali tako že ves čas imela svoj grelnik, ki je bil v škatli in je čepel v omari. V tej isti omari je tudi škatla z aparatom za kavo in še ena škatla z mikrovalovno pečico. Nekje je bil svoje čase tudi palični mešalnik. Ko sem se poleti preselila, je bila kuhinja prazna. Ne vem, kateremu dekletu te kuhinjske zadeve dejansko pripadajo - ampak očitno so pospravljene in nekako ne na voljo za množično uporabo. Kakorkoli, ko je C prejšnji teden spet šla, je izginil tudi njen grelnik, A pa je po dnevu ali dveh popolne odsotnosti grelnikov v kuhinjo od nekod prinesla svojega. Nobena izmed njiju me ni vprašala, kaj je z mojim grelnikom narobe ali zakaj sem ga kar naenkrat pospravila.
Če sem jaz otrok socializma, so potem Finke in Finci moje generacije potomci razvite kapitalistične družbe. Znamo mi deliti in oni ne? Smo mi iz držav v tranziciji manj individualistični in obenem tudi manj egocentrični kakor Zahodnjaki? Je nam manj vseeno in samoumevno? Najpreprostejši grelnik vode oziroma z njim povezana bedarija lahko tako kaj hitro preraste v družbeno-politični diskurz; vso to kolobicijo bi seveda rešila preprosta komunikacija. Vprašanje, odgovor in mogoče drobna vljudnost.
Otroci socializma ali kapitalizma - očitno je A, meni B in mogoče tudi C skupno to, da nismo ravno spretne v komunikaciji...
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
2009
I want to see the time as a constant flow and thus all this overdoing with the coming of the New Year can feel too much. Well, I want, but I don't know how well I am able to escape this Central-European way of putting a lot of importance on the switch of years; it is an old habit into which I was born. On 31.12. 08, however, I happened to be in Finland, or to be more precise - in Helsinki. Aelfsciene, the guy that does not write a blog and me went to attend these two evenings of metal gigs in Nosturi. I was very very happy to finally see Estonian folk-metal band Metsatöll live on stage; but there was also something else I have learned during those two nights in Nosturi.
I found out Finns actually do not count down at midnight - and I think this is more than great. Celebration all night long without stressing the exact moment of midnight; this makes the change on the calendar kind of smooth and it creates that exact feeling of the floating time I am also after.
Now I can return to the old perception of the time and review the past 12 months. Or the time which has been called 2008. It was... well, not a very easy bunch of time. Well, I am not even sure if a certain amount of time can be totally and by all means easy; things probably need equilibrium, too much of easiness might again cause uneasiness. My strange logic or paradox or whatever.
Life in general: In the past 12 months I have been dealing a lot with depression. Accepting it, overcoming it, kind of. There was also forgetting, yet I am not sure about forgiving; perhaps it came as a part of forgetting. I also had a lot of work with my studies and I moved to another flat. Now I am dealing a lot with cooking and baking - and I like it.
Trips: Fun with Aelfsciene in Finland. 9 hours long train ride to Rovaniemi and then the same amount of hours to get back to JKL was the longest train ride I had ever done. However, during the same train ride I saw a real Finnish moose for the first time, and it was exactly on the Midsummer's Eve, Juhannus. Another new experience was the polar day.
Studies: I went back with my Finnish skills, but I went forward in my knowledge of Japanese. In addition, I made some progress in Aikido.
Music and Culture: Seeing Flogging Molly live was a great experience. Tuska Metal Festival in Helsinki and Metalcamp in Slovenia were the only two metal festivals I attended. Tuska was cold, Metalcamp rainy; but both were more or less fine. Then, Lutakko, the coolest place for gigs in JKL, has become the place of my work. Considering culture I finally managed to see my favorite painting, Lemminkäisen äiti by Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
Animal: Sheep. Just don't ask me why...
Well... there was probably more events which I should write down, but as the time constantly floats I will rather stop making a big deal about that amount of time we have marked with the number 2008.
Finally, for good energy overall and not only in the time of the year that has just started, here is some nice lyrics in Estonian.
anna elu, anna kivile
kanna rammu, kanna hõimule
kanna maale kuhu sünnime
Metsatöll - Veelind
Friday, December 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
MIKSI TAAS?
Today, it was a mourning-day in Finland. The flags were at half-mast, the general atmosphere felt depressed. Despite so sunny, shiny and warm autumn day. I was pretty much speechles when I heard the news. It's even hard to think about why such things happen. Like, a 22 years old student enters his school, finds a class and starts shooting. He also lit a fire, which was due to the newspaper fatal for the victims.
In a way, it's hard to believe this has happened in Finland, the second time. Such massacres were kind of American thing, as they did happen there, or perhaps one would place them into some other European country with higher rate of criminal. And now it is Finland, more or less calm and friendly Northern country with high life-standards, organized healt-care and all that; all in all, wellfare society, and a peaceful land where people perhaps tend to be more self-destructive than destructive towards others.
According to the article in HS, the student that did the masacre was giving the impression of an ordinary young man, perhaps quiet, but not lonely; totally pleasant guy, who also had friends. But finally, he put on the internet some material in which he spoke about hate towrards people. He killed others, and he killed himself.
The surface can perhaps hide the inside. Like that people do not show what they actually feel. Psychotic and caotic mind that needs help can be thus hidden away. In my opinion, Finns actually do not talk a lot about their emotions, yet they can also open their souls after some time. They can also explode after a while, long whiles of silence - and yes, perhaps that can be destructive. The anger can be kept inside for too long...
On the other hand, perhaps the people that sorround these potential killers do not notice changes within the temperament of their friends. Sometimes I find this society too self-orientated, like too busy with everything else but others. Things are said and seen just from the surface. People are not lonely, yet they can be lonely within the crowd that interacts with them. Hard to explain again; perhaps more careful attention towards the other is missing as self is, even subconsciously, put on the first place too much.
The fact that Finland has suffered two school masacres in less than a year is still shocking, and I cannot find answers why such things happen right here. I am also a Finnish student, and thus I might not feel that relaxed wihle spending time in the university anymore. However, the state of the whole world is not that good: with simple words, the world has gone crazy. Now, Finland has been struck. The future feels uncertain, fear and grief have entered the society. But finally, such bloody story can probably repeat everywhere in the world...
All in all, it is just sad beyond words.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
ON RECYCLING
Nature in Slovenia is not as clean as in Finland. That's a fact. Slovenian ecological awareness is not as high as Finnish one. That is also a fact. Despite it, the awareness, is getting better, it still seems somewhat behind. There are still washing machines in the forests, and there are plastic bottles. Especially these ones, plastic bottles.
When it comes to Finnish ecological awareness, they have figured out a very useful process considering recycling of plastic bottles. Their solution is not all about special wastebins into which people are kindly asked to throw empty plastic bottles; of course, in some cases, they don't do so, but they rather throw their empty plastic bottle on the ground, thus letting it to rot joyfully in the midst of Slovenian green fields, under whispering lime trees. It was just a worthless plastic bottle anyway. May it be. For some years, or so.
In Finland, on the other hand, the situation is different. Clever Northern nation has invented nice and, of course, partly digitalized machine that usually operates in grocery shops. This machine has only one mission to fulfill. Collecting plastic bottles. Oh, and cans, too. The plastic bottles, at least, are used again, the cycle goes properly around - and, most important, the one who has decided to recycle them gets back 20 cents for small bottles and 40 cents for big ones. The machine counts the bottles, for it is very smart and it knows exactly what it ate, and then, when the recycler has finnished feeding the machine, it prints out lovely paper telling the amount of money. So, if one is keen and her or his ecological awareness is high, such plastic bottle income can be nice. Finns drink a lot, and many pleasant boozes come in plastic. But, well, Slovenians drink a lot, too.
Collecting plastic bottles in Finland seems to be a way of business. While we were waiting to get through the gates of Tuska festival, there were several people hunting for the empty plastic bottles and cans those festive metalheads would generously throw away. Yes, in this case, bottles would meet Finnish soil as they would also be picked up very soon. So, people from the edge of society with low income would get some money. Here, by the way, it is quite sad to see elderly ones, not tramps or drunks, but decent old people collecting this trash to improve their pension. But all in all - recycling machines can offer some comfort. For both, people and nature.
Why is not such recycling system dealing with plastic bottles and cans in Slovenia as well? Please may it be.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
COMPASSIONATE FASHION
These particular sneakers possess several functions. They are comfortable, they fit almost every way of dressing, from skirt to trousers, they are all in black, and for sure they signify an identification with a certain musically-related subculture. Yet there is more...

Thursday, March 27, 2008
SNOWCORE
I am not sure if this is totally common Finnish spring; I was reading in Helsinki and, well, Turku flowers had already started to pop out. However, we still have real winter. Loads of snow. Piles. Hardcore. Snowcore.
Now I understand a bit better Finnish joy and craziness which occur when Juhannus, Midsummer, is celebrated. We wait so long to see the proper daylight. We wait so long for the winter to disappear, for the snow to melt, for the ice to be gone with the snow, thus making our paths less slippery. We wait so long to enjoy mild breeze rustling in birch woods again; green, so green woods. We wait long for the ecstasy of summer music festivals. We wait long to kiss in the midnight sun. We wait long for mosquitoes to inhabit swamps and lake-shores, we wait long for mosquitoes to invade our sweaty skin. We wait long for the awakening of those jolly moose-flies on behalf of which we would cover our heads carefully when enjoying our hikes within deep Finnish forests. Well, at first, we have to hike through frosty darkness to get a sense of life and love again.
All in all, it is a long waiting for the summer. But when it happens, and I have seen summer happening in Finland, it appears in all its glory.
Friday, March 14, 2008
PLASTIC FLOWERS
Aivolävistys - Muovikukkia muovipuutarhaan
I was given a flower last week for International Women's Day, the 8th of March. The flower was a pink tulip. Until today, it has been living here in my room. Finally, as every flower withers, this tulip has withered as well. And I felt sorry when I had to throw it away.
Flowers are something I like, although there is a small detail: I don't like flowers to be cut and put into the vase. Bouquets and such things are not for me. Well, in a way it is nice to get a flower from a guy, like the intention and all, yet a ticket for a gig, in example, could impress me much more than roses.
Cut flowers look nice - for a short while, until then they die. I have not searched for any info how exactly this flower industry functions and how it affects the environment; just the fact of cutting a flower off, kind of killing a living thing for decoration purposes only, hurts me. Same goes for picking up flowers in the nature; I prefer to observe them where they grow.
Now I have replaced that withered tulip with some fake ones. But I have also started to wonder how and where these white tulips were made, by some kid somewhere in Third world countries, for instance - and how the production affected the environment. I still hope the situation is not that bad and fake flowers, if done properly, can be more ecological; still it all feels as an enchanted circle. Nevertheless, I can also perceive this fake flowers in my room as a constant remnant/warning there is a fake and plastic world of highly developed Consumer Society within a first-class European country lurking behind my window...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
ON FORGETTING
In truth, all sensation is already memory.''
From Kafka on The Shore by Haruki Murakami
The past has always interested me. Memories; even my two latest plays have been dealing with memories and the past. I know well sometimes it is useless to long for the things that are gone. I know well things change, and sometimes they change in a way that hurts. So it is. Yet there are still issues in this life I cannot understand. Perhaps I am too naive, perhaps I just cannot accept this world as it is.
What has partly brought me to Finnish language and culture was this communication I have had; well, the tag friendship can sometimes feel as a good, nice and polite mask for all the emotions floating beneath. For sure I was thinking a lot about meanings, values, purposes of friendship at that time. Friendship became a theme I have been exploring and rethinking over and over again. However, in my opinion, if the friendship is real, without that fake cover of the word only, without serving just one Ego, one does not have to think about friendship that much. Real friendship just exists. Both Egos equal.
It has never happened to me that I would finish a friendship. At least not in such a way. Overall, it felt cruel. There was one person, the Other in my life for some time - and the relationship was important for me. Finally, I have kind of realised the relationship seemed more important to me than for the Other, but still. So far, this has not been my way. Being in an active contact with somebody, and then just cutting it off. Theoretically, the Other is now gone from my life, as this person has never even existed. Regardless the traces left behind.
No, this has never been my way. And I still cannot get it. Why such things happen? All that time, the energy exchanged, was it all for nothing? Words meaningless and empty. Is a human relationship just something one can cast away so lightly? One day, the Other is in your life, this Other kind of cares about you, and you care about the Other. There is a contact, two lives are connected. Then, things change, the Other is gone. Silence. You do not exist for the Other no longer. And vice versa? Well, it depends, I guess.
Sometimes, words are said in affect. Pain, anger, disappointment, and all that. The friendship that finished died within a couple of sharp letters. But still. After some time, the Other is still in mind. After some time, one perhaps feels slightly sorry for what has happened. Then, there is this battle. You somehow do not wish to meet the Other; it still hurts if you see the person. However, you would like the Other to recall you. You still hope the Other did not perceive you just as some kind of a chatbot, robot, or something. A paradox of emotions. Perhaps, somewhere deep inside yourself, you still wish to see the Other again. To talk. To tell over some coffee how life goes now, after all this time, and so on.
Yet you do not know what the Other is thinking. You perceive the Other as a closed fortress with high walls, guarded with Other's personal Gods and Goddesses that are impossible to overcome. Cold and distant Other, forever lost from your world. And you so wonder if the Other ever thinks about you. Nevertheless you have existed once for the Other much more than you exist now. Finally, as nothing moves and silence just grows bigger, you end up with the thought the Other has probably forgotten about you. Is it really so easy to forget?
Writing this from my particular experience, I think I am not among those that can just cut off people as they would never exist. New people bring new energies and new interactions; still the ones from the past would keep their places in my mind. It depends, but still. I cannot replace people like things can be replaced. For me, it is hard to forget people with ease. It all feels cruel; or it just reaches beyond my naive mind.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
BACK TO FINLAND
During our New Year's Eve celebration at my Slovenian place, Salmiakki Koskenkorva vodka was poured into Finnish design Iittala glasses. Now, I sit here at my Finnish place in Jyväskylä and I drink herbal tea I have brought from Slovenia. Back home I would miss some things we have in Finland, here I would miss some things we have in Slovenia. But still, for some reasons during my Slovenian holidays, I have felt kind of connected with Finland. It feels like being between two countries and two cultures. It is perhaps even hard to describe with words. I can only try.
I guess one can also feel either Finn or Slovenian without any proper document. No political discourse included. Now, why would I want to be a Finn? And on the other hand, why do I want to be a Slovenian? I am happy when I can chat in Finnish and I am still happy when I am mistaken for a Finn. But I am not denying my basic cultural identity. It will always be a part of me and I will always feel connected with potica, too. Also, changing cultural identity, trying to assimilate, cannot solve everything. My character, all of my good and bad sides, would also travel with me. One cannot escape some shadows, no matter where the one goes.
I like new things and I like to experience new cultures. I also like languages. However, I am just fascinated with the fact how close Finnish culture seems to me; this has just happened, slowly within a couple of years. And well, as I cannot provide any deeper thoughts now, I guess I should return to my studies which desperately demand some serious work.