January 26. 2004 17:05

Back in Finland

What a great welcome home, I caught a stomach flu from my cousin's kids. I was in their company for only a few hours, but I guess my defences for the viruses in this side of the world have weakened. And I was up for 39 hours with only a few short naps, after all, so that must've affected my physique. (It could've also been food poisoning from the kebab I ate, but I'm reluctant to believe that... The place I ate at is one of the best places in Turku, it's not likely to have contaminated ingredients, and my stomach has never been too sensitive for changes in diet.) I hate stomach flus most of all diseases >_< You have to run to the toilet to empty your stomach even if there'd be nothing in there and you feel sick and weak all the time. Ugh. Thankfully the worst passed during the night, the next day I just had 39°C fever, which made me feel very cold and worn out. But fever is so much easier to deal with. I'm so glad I wasn't sick in Japan.

What's "funniest" about this is that my friends had arranged a surprise welcoming party for that night. What great timing! :( I was too sick to go anywhere for only that one night yesterday, and it had to be the same night. I'm so very disappointed, but what can you do, sickness doesn't ask when it can come.

So, anyway, it's Finland again. There's a lot of snow! ^_____^ They say it started snowing two days ago, so now the land is completely white. Just so that I could enjoy it when I got back ^_^ Finland looks, sounds and especially smells different from Japan, I noticed it right away when I got out of the plane. There was Finnish design around me. It was fun to notice that when I stepped into the terminal, I ran not into a Starbucks but into the good ol' Robert's Coffee ^____^ I could hear pieces of conversations around me and they were in Finnish and I could understand them all. It's so strange, and great, to be able to talk Finnish again. It's amazing to have all these synonyms to choose from! I can choose just the right words for what I want to say. My vocabulary is not limited anymore ^__^

It's strange how the smell of Finland really is so distinctively different from the smell of Japan. I can't tell what it exactly is, but it's very different. I could say that Finland smells like potato when Japan smells like seaweed, though they don't really smell like potato and seaweed ^_^ But the difference could be something like that, maybe.

Now that a couple of days have passed, I almost feel like I haven't been away at all. It's just strange to hear about all the things that have happened while I've been gone and to think they've spent 5 months without me here, I somehow don't feel like I've spent 5 months without everyone ^_^;

You remember how I said Japan feels like it's even safer than Finland? It's true, but... Somehow Finland feels more "safe and reliable". It must be because I know my country and my culture through and through. Finland doesn't feel that much more "home" than Japan, Japan felt very much like "home", but I guess it feels more natural. I don't have to be afraid that I won't understand what people are saying to me, or that I'd offend them by not understanding some custom. I walked from my school to the city centre and realized that I didn't give a second thought to it, it was completely natural. In Kyoto, even though I wasn't a bit afraid of being attacked or anything like that, I would've at least thought about the journey more.

Some things that are different in Finland: The toilet paper is so thick! Time and again, I'm amazed by it's thickness ^_^ The water from the tab is always a nice, warm temperature, not changing from cold to hot. (Though it feels like there's no water pressure in the shower, I got used to the high pressure in Japan.) I don't have to carry cash around, I can pay with a card when I shop. My Google is in Finnish again! There's twilight, twilight that lasts for hours. I don't have to carry my shampoo and everything to the shower and back again. I can walk around the house naked. (Or in my panties, that's the more usual case.) The whole house is all for me! (And for the other family, of course, but you know.) I'm surrounded by family, so I can feel completely natural ^_^ I also sang out loud for the longest time. There were always people around in Japan, people I didn't dare to sing around, so I only sang once in karaoke and once at home. (Dion was always singing when he listened to music in his room, I'm impressed that he could do that while I was there. I was too shy to join him, and I didn't recognize most of the songs he played, anyway.)

There are also a bunch of things I want to do again now that I'm back. Some of them are things that I couldn't do in Japan, but strangely, some of them are things that I could've done in Japan but just didn't. Like being online or watching anime. I could've done both in Japan, no prob, but somehow they weren't part of my life there. I didn't even want to hang online. But the moment I came back here, I started to grave for my desktop computer so I could plug her in and continue my nerd life again ^_^; Unfortunately Yuzuki, my desktop, is at Ravie's work and wouldn't even fit in my parent's study, so I'll have to wait until we get a new appartment before I set her up. In the meantime I'm using Miki, my laptop, for the net, but it doesn't feel the same ^_^

Other things that I want to do, things that I couldn't do in Japan, are playing games (board games or console games), going to the movies and eating candy. I guess those three are my main concerns ^_^ And I also want to have a party with my friends, party at someone's home and go to a bar, preferably at 2 different occasions. And I want to dance :D

Oh yeah! The results of my great diet. I finally got to a scale and was able to measure my weight. It showed only 2 or 3 kg less than when I left (except after the stomach flu, when it showed another 2 kg less...), but my friends are saying that it shows, that I have lost weight, so I guess it's worked. Success ^_^ Now I just have to keep to it and not get it all back... But if I'm going to start exercising again, like I plan to, it should be okay. Yay ^_^

Wai, the Orange Range song from the mobile phone commercial is on my CD! :D I love it! I'd tell the name, but I can't read the kanji ^_^;; (It's something-kokoro-something-somethingwithhumanandwords) It's the fourth track on the musiQ CD, anyway. I bought two albums by Orange Range just before I left, hoping they'd be as good as the two songs I had heard from them, but they were not... They're like rap ^_^;; I was very disappointed. Oh well. Oh, and the other song I love, Hana, is on this CD too, so I wouldn't have had to buy that single... But when I bought it, I didn't know if I would be able to find this album anymore.

By the way, it's funny to hear how different opinions the people here have of Dion :D My parents (who met him) thought he was a very polite and well brought up young man, my boyfriend is convinced that he's a dick because of what I've been saying in my diary, and Frigga, who only read the first and last entries here, was very confused because I first said he's obnoxious and then that I enjoyed being with him. None of them probably have the right image ^_^ I'd love to know how the people here have "lived" my exchange period through my diary. I wonder how badly I've been able to convey my feelings? Which parts have been misunderstood? Are there any parts they've understood instinctively? Frigga said, quite funnily but also quite truly, that it doesn't feel like it me that's been through all the things she's read here, it's the girl in the diary and she's not me ^_^ I know the feeling, but soon the girl in the diary and me will become one in their thoughts, I'm sure. ^_^

What, is this the last entry? Oh my goodness O_o It just occurred to me that this diary is now finished, too. How strange. I hadn't thought about that. I wasn't prepared for this to be the last entry when I started it, but now I realize that is actually is ^_^;;; I don't really want to part with this, it's been fun. I was actually thinking that I'd kinda like to keep writing a diary, start a livejournal or something like that. I think I will. Maybe not something I'll write every day to, but something I can use to organize my thoughts every now and then. Yeah, I could do that now, since I have nothing else to do anyway, being home alone treating my illness ^_^

Oh yeah, about remaining in contact with the people in Japan, I've started that, too. I wrote a note to Richo's photolog and sent Dion an ICQ message, and Hyu-na from my class in Japan sent me an e-mail. Though the problem with that is that my comp doesn't show the characters right ^_^;; I'll have to see if I can change some setting to get some sense into it... But it's very nice to get e-mail from someone there ^_^ I hope I won't lose touch! (Oh yeah, in fact, I could send Wuon-Gean an e-mail now.)