- I actually like black coffee.
- I also learned to love caipirinhas.
- I can be much more flexible than I ever thought.
- I survived eight-weeks of intense cohabiting and it wasn´t even difficult.
- I don´t like flying. Before I found it boring, but now I actually dislike it.
- I´m more Spanish than I thought and I know for sure that my home is in Spain.
- I´m still capable of learning a foreign language. And I can even do the nasal vowels!
- I like working with kids. Heck, I even like kids.
- It is very easy to turn a blind eye to the ills of society, but seeing them still affects you.
- The Brazilians are very hospitable and helpful. They may criticize their country, but they also understand that there´s no other place like Brazil.
- Going to a foreign country makes you see the differences with your own, but more importantly it shows how we all are very similar.
- Sometimes you have to take risks if you want to be happy.
What I´ve learned.. August 18, 2009
Did you speak Finnish?! July 25, 2009
A funny thing happened to me a few days ago in the guesthouse. I was talking to my grandma on the phone (our first real conversation in a month) and walking around with the phone. When I finish, this guy (a new guest) comes to me and asks me if I was talking Finnish on the phone. He apparently had been living in Sweden for some years and recognised the language. His own contributions were limited only to ´kippis´( cheers!), but I still was left a bit amazed, since I didn´t expect anyone to recognise my language.
I was also lucky enough to be able to speak in Spanish since I met this Brazilian guy who works with Spanish speaking people. It was really nice to be able to talk Spanish and I was really amused by his Spanish, since he knew the word ´hostia´and used it a couple of times 
. Speaking Spanish isn´t as problem-free that I thought since I´m starting to mix it up with Portuguese. I´m found myself trying to say things like ´estudei español tres años antes de mudarme´and ´falei con ella…´. I know it´s only temporary and that it´s completely normal, but I still feel quite stupid when I can remember the word in Portuguese, but not in Spanish.
I was also very happy to find out that we have new hispanic guests. It felt so good to talk Spanish, although, there is a slight chance that I come back home speaking with a Colombian accent. If that was to happen, you are not allowed to make fun of me.
De onde é vocé? July 5, 2009
This is gonna sound a bit stupid, but this is actually a real problem (by this you can guess that I haven´t had any real problems). What the heck am I supposed to say when I´m asked where I´m from?! The first ten times I gave the longer ´I´m from Finland, but I live in Spain. Have been living for five years´. That usually gets a really long response, so I started to cut the answer and just said ´I live in Spain´, but that led to some confusions and I got told how horrible the Spanish are, so I had to save myself and add that I´m originally from Finland. Which leads to the next problem. People here don´t exactly know where Finland is. I was thinking about carrying around a world map with me everytime I go out.
Volunteering June 25, 2009
I’ve noticed that some people have hard time with the concept of ’volunteering’. No, I don’t get paid, no, they don’t even pay my trips, instead I am paying for the accomondation. Crazy, I know! Why would someone consider working for free?! That’s why it’s called volunteer work.
