YOU KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN IN FINLAND TOO LONG, WHEN……
(source Facebook, Miika's comments added)
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 garbageBeen there done that, how about you?
2. As you walk past the Parliament Building in Helsinki, and see the statue is titled "Svinhufvud" you no longer read it as "Swinehead"… instead you think "What a good Swedish name!"No comments.
3. When a stranger on the street smiles at you:
a. you assume he's drunk
b. he is insane
c. he's an AmericanUnfortunately I usually choose the option b.) when thinking why a people was smiling in the street. Only well reasoned reason in the street for smiling is when talking with someone on the phone.
4. You don't think twice about putting the wet dishes away in the cupboard to dryMost brilliant thing in Finland is the cupboard where we can dry our dishes.
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.Yes, when we are talking about Europe, we are not talking Nordic countries. But god bless those foreigners who comes to us and claims that Finland is not part of Europe.
6. You no longer scrunch up or fold your paper money. You always put it in your walletOf course, every respectable person have a wallet.
7. You see a student take a front row seat and wonder "Who does he think he is!!??"I know she/he is nerd!
8. Silence is funIt is maybe not fun but it can be relaxing.
9. The reason you take the ferry to Stockholm is
a. Duty free vodka
b. Duty free beer
c. To party hard….no need to get off the boat in Stockholm, just turn around and do it again on the way back to FinlandHere we are talking about the boat you have been already. Viking Line!!!
10. Your coffee consumption exceeds 6 cups a day and coffee is too weak if there is less than 10 scoops per potYou know already Finnish coffee.
11. You pass a grocery store and think "Wow, I had better go in an buy something!"I wonder where this comes from, somebody explain me!
12. Your native language has seriously deteriorated, now you begin to "eat medicine", "open the television", "close the lights" ´, and tell someone "you needen't to!"
Expressions like "Don't panic" creep into your everyday language.My native is Finnish. Sorry guys if your beautiful Brazilian Portuguese gets deteriorated.
13. You associate pea soup with Thursdays
Not only pea soup but pea soup pancake combo!
14. Your idea of unforgivable behaviour now includes walking across the street when the light is red and there is no WALK symbol, even though there are no cars in sightWe are law obeying people here.
15. Your notion of streetlife is reduced to the few teenagers hanging out in front of the railway station on Friday nightsHaha, yes, probably true. No Favelas here.
16. Your bad mood becomes your good moodHey, this depressing thought, I disagree.
17. Sundays no longer seem dull with all the stores closed, and begin to feel restful insteadThey recently changed some laws and more stores are open on Sundays but not all, not all. It was God himself who told rest on Sundays.
18. "No comment" becomes a conversation strategyPoliticians.
19. You finally stop asking your class "Are there any questions?"We do not ask, we know.
20. The fact that all of the "v's" and the "w's" are together in the phone directory seems rightFor us they are same letter and pronounced same way. W is just old fashioned V.
21. Your old habit of being "Fashionably late" is no longer acceptable. You are always on timeSorry guys.
22. Hugging is reserved for sexual foreplayNot true, hugging without being foreplay happens even in Porvoo.
23. You begin to understand Jussi Jyylanpaarvi's broadcast of the hockey gameNever heard.
24. You refuse to wear a hat, even in –30 degree weatherMy personal problem.
25. You hear loud-talking passengers on the train. You immediately assume:
a. they are drunk
b. they are Swedish-speaking
c. they are American
d. all of the aboveHow disgraceful it is not give others their silence! :)
26. You give up on trying to find fat-free food and pile on the butter, cream and sugarI consider we are health conscious.
27. You know how to fix herring in 105 different waysI hate herring.
28. You eat herring in 105 waysSee above.
29. You no longer look at sports wear as casual wear, but recognize them as semi-formal wearHmm..it is always better when there is less clothes to iron. We do not have housemaids.
30. You can now reconstruct the missing letters on a building. For example :MERI…….LITTO OY31. You have undergone a transformation
a. You accept mustamakkara (Black-blood sausage) as food
b. You accept alcohol as food
c. You acceptYou better do!
32. You understand why the Finnish language has no future tense"Preesens" is handy it can be used for future tense as well.
33. You no longer have to search for the flushing mechanismWhat?
34. You no longer see a problem in wearing white socks with loafersYou never did see any problems with your white sport socks in Brazil. Let us keep our socks with loafers. Even our president did that.
35. You no longer correct people who say MAC Donald'sWhat?
36. You just love JaffaBetter than Fanta.
37. You've come to expect Sunday morning sidewalk vomit dodgingNot really, but occasionally, if you are lucky you can find vomit in bus and tram stops.
38. You know that "religious holiday" means, "let's get pissed."True.
39. You enjoy salmiakkiOf course you do, right, Marcelo?
40. You know that "men's public bathroom" is another phrase for sidewalkIf help is needed answer can be close.
41. You know that more than three channels means cableCurrently more than four.
42. You get all Swedish jokesSwedish are something to laugh about!
43. When you're hungry you can peel a boiled potato like lightningMy mother used to peel the potatoes before boiling and I am so ashamed since I am so clumsy peeling my boiled potatoes. I try to avoid do that in public. And this was true story.
44. You've become lactose intolerantMany of us are. It makes people farting. Welcome, haha :)
45. You accept that 80 degrees C in a sauna is chilly, but 20 degrees C outside is freaking hot.
Also, you accept -30 outside as a reasonable temperature, but anythuing under 22 indoors is unreasonable...That's how it is.
46. You give the air hostess your undivided attention when she demonstrates how to fasten, tighten and unbuckle your seatbelt. You eye the person sitting next to you suspiciously when they don't do the same.No idea. I am already sleeping before take off.
47. You don't waste alcohol. When you spill your drink on the desk and actually contemplate slurping it up anywayHmph
48. You stop asking "how are you" when you meet people. It's just plain "hi" or "mmph" or *nod*. Communicating becomes less and less important...We do say "Mitä kuuluu?" (=how are you?) which is literally "What are you hearing?". Isn't that little ironic here.
49. It doesn't matter what nationality the other person is, they'll understand finnish as long as you talk really loud. If this doesn't help, just talk very slow (but still very, very loud).Haha, I could see my father or mother talking to foreigners.
50. Upon hearing finnish when abroad, you immediately duck for cover and hope they go away. Whatever you do, you in NO WAY, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE utter a single finnish word (By god, they might want to come and talk to you, as if that was completely acceptable finnish behaviour when not in Finland!)I am the opposite.
5
1. You start to believe that pulla is a treat.Oh yes, it is, especially korvapuusti type of pulla. Can you think of anything better than freshly baked pulla (still warm) and glass of cold milk!
52. When jumping into a lake to sober up and then carry on drinking seems like sound advice!Oh, summer and summer cottages.
53. You sincerely believe that Fazerin sininen is the best chocolate in the world.One of the best, if not best. It beats Marabou at least anytime.
54. You find it normal to drink milk with your meals.My fathers been doing that non-stop 72 years. Unique thing in Finland is that we have big selection of milks and most people drink no-fat milk nowadays.
55. You eat dinner at 6 PM and understand the concept of iltapala.Overexaggerating. However "early bird catches the worm".
56. You think it’s normal to pay 50% income taxes.Money is relational concept. Like wealthiness.
57. You understand why people talk about church boats (kirkkovene) all the time.Or spiders...
58. You answer the phone by saying your name rather than 'hello'.With the table phone we say our whole name.
59. You understand the question ‘What’s your gallery nick?’I do but I do not have my own. www.irc-galleria.net
