Meeting in cultural cross-roads

9 hours in a plane to reach the spring seemed like a short time for once. Listening to a conversation in the most useful language in the world about how it is easier to be a football coach in China than in Spain. The most useful language? Bad, really simplified English that consists of only few key word sentences. There a note for the Finns here, you don't need get the grammar in place and be afraid to talk because the less you say and the worse you say it, the better you will be understood. Not: ” I would like to have an Americano” but ”Americano”. Straight shooting that sits well with Finnish charracter :D.

Just couple of days ago I met an Australian lady who was totally lost in the city. We talked a good while and this feature of Finnish people shoked her deeply.

”So if you want to meet your friends over a cup of coffee, you would actually say you're busy if you don't have time an not something like 'let's go when the weather gets cooler/warmer'?”

”Yea, busy/no time/other things to do… we say things as they are without going around and going through the trouble of saying it nicely if it's not a straight offece – then we might consider some other way of saying it.”

”That's really straight forward… Wow...”

Also this is interesting since she started to ask about my opinions in politics, government systems and all that… as a Finn I just went a long. I really don't have an one sided opinion in most of the things happening here and I would rather say that I lack understanding of many things and would rather stay out of it before making a statement… but I've noticed that might be also really Finnish feature. Sure it's also a personal characteristics that determine that, but I found it slightly uncomfortable to talk about that kind of HC-politics going on Australia. That brought me to a question ”what do we Finns talk about? How do we get to know each other and find the people with same spirited people?” Maybe that's one of the million wonders in the world. We can communicate strongly without saying a word. We need time to hang around the same people in the same place for months, even years before we dare to look up to them and say even hello. How much longer do we need to go to the where we can ask straight someones opinion about something?

”In Australia, you don't show that you have money even if you do. You don't talk about it and it's rude to ask about it… probably same in Finland. Here it seems crazy, they are just throwing it around here! Like they want everyone to see what they have… that's just pure vanity! Like all the girls looking like so made up and hair well comber – just start living for yourself for god's sake! And to me it seems like they're not a bit interested in news or what's happening around them, is that true?!?”

I don't know how much the Lady did enjoy her stay here since she started by saying how nice it was that I was able to speak English. She hadn't spoken to anyone in three weeks. I know how it is, you would love to just keep talking on what ever as long as your mouth dries out. Honestly, I don't know if the young ones are interested about news or do they even have time to be interested in news. I don't know is it's jus pure vanity to ”show off” by putting on make up to look like a baby doll like they do here. Not all of them, I see daily many faces without make up like in Finland too. I see students dressing up as carelessly in classes as we do in Finland – it is quite relaxed like that. You can put the comfortable clothes, sit the way that would make the physioteraphist go crazy. Nothing wrong with that exept increased back pains.

”But you're a student… are the Chinese really smarter than we're?” I would say no. They have better memory than we do and there's a higher competition that makes it a must for them to stand out, be perfect and outperform everyone else in the class. They have paren't who don't take them to any hobbies instead of studying until they go to university (if they are lucky to get in). It's not the question of whois smarter, it's the question of how hard and the way you study. Westerners really don't spend that much time in school, we do it on our own. Chinese university students have curriculum for five or six days a week, from 8am-12pm, 2pm-5pm and 7pm-10pm. On top of that they got homework and projects they have to do – smarter? Not that simple, it's matter of the types of questions and information required.