Home sweet home. Hogar dulce hogar (one of the two Spanish proverbs I picked up during one year). Some interesting observations I made during my first week here were that 1) streets have streetsigns 2) the cars are all very new (I felt like taking a picture of a parking lot, I was so impressed) 3) we are all very white 4) many Finns are still racist 5) my associations to the word "international" have changed. My family tells me that I am more relaxed now than before. They are all expecting me to get one of my...nervous break downs any minute but I am surprisingly calm. The calm before the storm perhaps?

Last week I started to look into what I might be doing for the next year. I want to do some teaching studies and work in something related to teaching. I'd love to have a fulltime job cause I won't be studying fulltime and it'd mean a steady income. I'd also love to be able to both study and work here in Kirkkonummi since it'd make my life a million times easier - in other words I'd have less things to worry about. I started updating my CV today and bought a new card for my phone in order to be able to put a mobile phone numer on the application. Baby steps.

The most interesting thing I've taken part in here in Finland was unquestionably the wedding of my sister's American host sister. Let me explain: my sister was in the US the same year I was, and one of her host sisters came to Finland to study some years ago and fell in love with a Finnish guy. Last weekend they got married in Vammala in central Finland. The wedding was beautiful. Kate had invited friends form Spain, France, The Netherlands, and Russia so the atmosphere was international. Her family from the US was there of course.

Back in Finland. I came back a little more than a week ago. I gave myself the one week to recuperate but I don't think it's quite enough. I mean, jetlag is a good excuse to be tired the first couple of days and after that I guess I'll just have to keep repeating the magic word "culture chock" indefinitely.



Getting out of Venezuela was a lot harder than I thought - and the ones of you who know me well know that usually I prepare for the worst (like all true realists). You might remember that I had a visa extension pending and that I paid a guy almost 200 000 in order to get the extension in 15 days. So...exactly 15 days after leaving the papers in Onidex (4 days before my flight to FIN) Jose and I went to Onidex to ask for my passport. Surprise surprise, Mr. Pedro did not have it. He made a phonecall to somebody and told us to call him the next day around one (we got his cellphone number - two of them). On Saturday Onidex was naturally closed and Mr. Pedro was not answering the phone - any of them. On Monday Onidex was open as normal but Mr. Pedro wasn't working. And surprisingly the other guy working on visa matters was totoally incapable of telling me where my passport is situated, so we had to wait until the next day (one day before my flight) to enquire about the matter.



I was in class the next day when Jose drove to Onidex and sent me a message saying "they still don't have it". I don't know how I managed to stay calm and finish my class. Immediately when the class was over I dashed to the nearest centro de comunicaciones (where one can make chep phone calls) and called the Finnish embassy. I was told that they can not really do much - just call Onidex and pressure them to give me my passport back - but they told me to go back to Onidex and refuse to leave until I have my passport. I guess the lady at the embassy didn't know where Mcbo is situated, cause it would have been impossible for them to get me my passport from Caracas before the office closes. Nonetheless, we went back to Onidex and explained one more time that my flight is early the nest morning and that I really need my passport in order to travel. Mr. Pedro started to sweat and make phonecalls. Meanwhile I called the guy in Aiesec Caracas (Risho) who is normally responsible for all the visa stuff and asked if he could get my passport from Onidex in Caracas and bring it to the airport the next morning. He agreed to do it. I owe him BIGtime. So, Risho went to Onidex, picked up my passport, I screamed out JAAAAAAA in relief and headed for the next obstacle.



Maybe ca 10 days ago I had made a reservation for a flight from Mcbo to Ccs for Wednesday morning. I decided to call the airline to inform them that I would be traveling without my passport and ask again if I understood correctly that I can check in only 20 kg of luggage. Boy was I surprised when the person I spoke with told me that I have no recervation. And man did I panic when she said the flight was full and I'd have to take a later flight. I made a reservation to the later flight thinking it's better than nothing and started calling all other airlines to see it I could get an earlier flight with them. No such luck. At this point Jose decided that we should drive straight to the airport to pay for the ticket, before they sell it to someone else or do something else unexpected. At the airport I explained my situation again and they told me that if I'd come to the airport early I'd probably be able to take the early flight in case some passengers don't show up.



We went to the airport at 4 a clock the next mornging, there was space on the flight, I cried my eyes out and lost my ticket in one of the passport controls, found it again and made the flight. I Ccs I waited for Risho and tried desperately to finish the Venezuelan novel I've been reading for the last six months. I did not finish the novel but Risho did show up with my passport. Then I just had to check in (a process that took 2 hours of standing in line) and spend my last bolivares. I bought some chocolate. I wanted to buy rum (spelling?) but the guy in the shop told me I can't take liquids inside the plane. later my (disapointed) brother told me the guy was lying. Anyways, I made it to the plane to Paris and I made it to the plane from Paris to Helsinki and my family was at the airport waiting for me. We drove home to Kirkkonummi, ate some (Finnish) meatballs and strawberries and went for a long walk. It feels good to be back home.

I'm leaving in 9 days. I doubt I'll be able to squeeze in more than one entry a week, although maybe I should since I didn't write last week, so I hope I'll be able to write once more before I leave.

The new thing in town is the American cup, or the "Copa America". The USA just lost against Paraguay and yesterday I watched (in an international crowd: Nivy from Australia, Kathryn from the US and Rocio from Peru) Mexico vs Ecuador...or to be more honest Gabriel Marquez (spelling?, first name correct?) vs all the other players on the field. No one was nearly as good looking as him so it was a pretty boring game. No, seriously I do enjoy watching football/soccer and it's not just the guys I'm watching. So, the American cup involves all countries of the American continents (north, south and central). Even though I must admit that today I begun to wonder whether Canada is involved. All the games are played in Venezuela, so the stadium-cities have been cleaned up. Many streets have gotten a new coat of asphalt and all foodstands (all the "streetfood") have gotten their copa america sign. The mascot, "Guaky" is a kind of parrot (Guacamaya, in Spanish), which is dying out. So it is kind of nice. It's almost impossible to get tickets to the games, but some of my friends managed to see some of the games on close range. Some say that all the tickes have been sold to Chavistas because the government does not want to risk protests or the like at the stadium. So when Chavez got up at the opening game the crowd was cheering.

A propos Chavistas, there's been some discussion on the meaning of the word, that the people it refers to. Many Chavez supporters do not want to be called Chavistas. They say that the word is used to refer to uneducated masses, and obviously no one wants to be associated with ignorance. The paradox is that Chaves is a populist president and that especially the lower classes support him. I know several people who are leaving the country because they don't like Chavez' politics and they are all university graduates. Kind of interesting I think. I still try to keep out of politics cause there seems to be no objective source. I am still very much confused when it comes to discussing Venezuelan politics, I'm just writing about what I the people around me are talking about. Pretty ignorant.

My excuse for not writing last week is food poisoning. I'm not entirely sure what caused it, because I ate some pretty strange stuff that week, but the most likely things are the two hotdogs I had on Sunday evening. By the way, those were my first Venezuelan hotdogs. I thought that after a 11 month long training my stomache would finally be ready to deal with a classic (in a Venezuelan novel I've been reading, the main character eats hot dogs all the time) but no. As Nivy (the new Austrailan trainee) put it (as I was throwing up): "Elina, look with your hair color, you'll never be able to eat like a Venezuelan". I know she was trying to be supportive, but that was not exactly what I needed to hear at that particular moment. Obviously I'm never going to eat another hotdog as long as I live.

The foodpoisoning incident started on Tuesday. Jose took me to a hospital where they gave me an IV and made sure I stopped throwing up. I did not go to work the next day (a Venezuelan probably would have). On Thursday I felt a lot better and started eating three meals a day. On Friday was Kasia's farewellparty and even if I did not drink a drop (doctor's orders) I felt badly hangover the next day and did not go to work. This week I've been working normally, although I tried to cancel my morning class in Thursday, because of a bloody visa extension I've been trying to do since March.

So...the visa extension operation - or mission impossible as I like to call it - sarted the same week as my food poisoning. On Monday Jose and I went to Onidex (the visa place) and asked what I have to do in order to extend my visa, which expires in less than two weeks. The Onidex guy said I can extend it by one year, which costs 300 000, or not extend it at all (and work illegally the last three weeks). He also gave us a list of things I need in order to extend the visa: a paper saying that I am a student, a paper saying where I live, stamps worth 300 000 bolivares and...2 passport pictures. Bueno, the passport pictures I had since March, so that was no problem. Mayra at Ruge wrote me a piece of paper saying that I am doing an iternship at Ruge, which does not exactly mean that I am a student but kind of implies that. The problematic part was the piece of paper stating where I live. Without getting into too much detail I'll just say that it was a hassle and that the woman who was supposed to sign it refused cause she is crazy and doesn't like foreigners (this was what I was told). Well. On Thursday morning, the day my visa expired, Jose and I went to Onidex, presented the papers, stamps and pictures, and said that I'd like to extend my visa. Alright, said the Onidex guy (not the original but another), that'll take three months. WHAT!!!! Jose burst out in laughter. I was not very amused. Or...continued the guy, you can pay me 200 000 and I'll get it for you in 15 days. What choise did we have. I had to get back to work while Jose went to get money. My first experience with blatant corruption. I never want to experience that again.

I forgot to mention: maybe some of you have heard about the demonstrations going on here in Vzla. Well, Chavez decided to shut down an "opposition" TV station called RCTV and people are demonstrating cause they see the shutting down of RCTV as an act against the freedom of press. As far as I´ve understood, the shutting down of RCTV was not against the law, but still it is clear that the station was shut down only because it does not support Chavez so people are not too happy about that. There have been demonstrations in Caracas and Maracaibo. One evening our classes were canceled because of a demo. Mayra called from Ruge as Anna and I where walking out the door, saying that theer are no classes and that we have to stay indoors the rest of the evening cause it might be dangerous to go out. Nothing dramatic happened that evening and even though the students (the students seem to be the ones organizing all the demos) have continued demonstrating there has not been any more talk about the situation being dangerous.

Sorry for not writing last week. My cousin Anna is here so I´ve been kind of busy - which is a good thing. Today we went to the guajiro market (or one of them), the one where they sell crafts. Yesterday we went to the center and Lia Bermudez (art/cultural center) where there were two exibitions. Last week we went to Maczul, where here was another exibitions. One artsy thing per week might be enough. I´ve tried to do something with Anna every day and it´s so much easier to go places when I have someone to go with. Unfortunately Anna was sick last week for three days (I think it was the patacon we shared) so she couldn´t do anything. I think tomorrow we´ll go back to the Guajiro market to spend some more money and maybe on Saturday we´ll try to got to the gaita bars near my place in Santa Lucia.

On Monday and Tuesday we went to the cinema. on Monday we saw a movie called...The Next Victim (directly translated rom the Spanish title "la Proxima Victima). Bon Jovi is in it. The other film we saw was a French one called The Russian Puppets (directly tanslated from the Spanish "Las Muñecas Russas). It was great! If you saw "una casa de Locos" /L'auberge Espagnol and liked it you´ll like this one. It was kind of like a sequel to "Una Casa de Locos".

Anna brought me some Finnish newspapers and I´ve been reading through them. Finland looks strange. "Normal" people look like activists and the whole atmosphere is so very different from my surroundings here in Vzla. Anna told me that I´ll have a HUGE culture chock when I go back to Finland. One evening we went to a birthdayparty and everybody was dancing merengue and salsa and nobudy was drunk. Anna said that the men here are sooo different from Finnish men.

I have to be getting back to work. But what to write...Anna, my cousein is coming to Maracaibo tonight. I am looking forward to it and at the same time I am a bit nervous cause I´m afraid she is going to get bored. I mean,
I have to work, and obviously I can´t send her wandering off by herself - out of the question.

I think my cultural adaptation curve is pretty fucked up. At the end of your year abroad you are supposed to feel integrated and like "now my life is here" and "I don´t want to go back". But insead I feel that I am badly integrated and even though I know it will be hard as hell to leave this place (because of the people I´ve met) I don´t feel like I could stay here forever. As I think I´ve said a couple of times before.

I am just so tired of playing the part of a foreigner. People will never stop correcting my Spanish and again and again they start "here in Veenzuela" this and "here in Venzuela" that, as if it would be my first week in Venezuela. All the time I have to listen to comments about my whiteness and I still haven´t learned to move my ass properly. I think part of the problem is that I am happy when peple can understand me and I love dancing. But the people around me want me to speak "correctly" and to move my ass "correctly". Bloody hell, I´ve got less than two months here n Venezuela, let me just reax and enjoy, will you! - I feel like saying.

And I also feel like the pople don´t know me. Of course I can´t blame them, cause they only got to know me now. And naturally they make generalisations and assumptions. Some think I am an angel - what a joke - and others that I never wear make up, that I never get angry, never loose my temper etc. It´s like they don´t think I am human at all.

I think my problem is that I am just a little tired.