10 November 2016
Hi again! My life in Alicante is
beginning to “normalise”. Here’s a schedule of a typical day of mine:
1. Wake up and be excited about a
new day, although tired.
2. Go to work on a bus with 300
other trainees plus 200 tourists.
3. Try and work really
efficiently before the 2 h Spanish class (and fail because of so many people coming
and going and so many things happening all of the time. We are four trainees,
all girls, in the same office, so it can get quite hectic and noisy :D Now,
luckily I discovered a great playlist that I can listen to while working, so
I’m not distracted for everything happening around me.)
4. Make 1000.000.000 grammatical
mistakes at the Spanish classes but still enjoy it :D
5. Have lunch – Try and manage to
eat quickly and look at your watch after a time that felt like 15 minutes but
in reality was 1 hour because of so many interesting topics to discuss with the
other trainees. Luckily we have a 2,5 hour “siesta” in the middle of the day,
so we can take as long as we want for lunch, but of course the longer you take,
the longer you’ll have to work in the evening because our working time is 8
hours/day.
6. Work for a few more hours and
again realise, 2 hours went by in like 2 seconds.
7. Miss the bus and wait 20
minutes for the next one with 100 other trainees. It’s nice because I never
have to take the bus alone, there’s always someone to talk to.
8. Go to supermarket and buy a
huge bottle of water; sweat and wish you could drink tap water while carrying
the bottle home. Have dinner and talk to Niko on Skype.
9. Go to bed - too late - and
swear tomorrow you’ll go to bed earlier.
10. ..and repeat :D
The days seem to be really short
and every night I go to bed too late, but I really feel like I only got home
from work and already I should be in bed, it’s crazy. Also, I feel like it’s
weekend all of the time. I’ve figured this probably means that I like my job.
And indeed, I do like my job, I know it sounds really geeky but I am actually
excited to go to work. I’ve been excited about my work before, but never like
this, it’s great.
During weekends I usually go out
with other trainees. Fridays going out after work is already almost like a tradition
to us. And many stay out until 5 o’clock in the morning. Friday nights out with
the other trainees are always really nice. It’s a peculiar experience to be
surrounded with so many people that are roughly in the same “phase” of their
life, have the same profession and similar interests and are of so many
different nationalities.
Yet, I must say that we are all
so different. Still almost every day we encounter some arguments regarding
difference of opinion often having to do with cultural differences. Sometimes
for example, I’m in trouble for saying something really directly, which in
Finland would be regarded normal, but which people of other nationalities may
find offensive. Same goes for sarcastic humour, which clearly is much more
difficult with people not of your own nationality..
Besides my “Finnish” behaviour
every now and then, here I hear a lot that I’m not “typical Finnish”. I’m not
sure why that is, and by now I haven’t really figured out whether it is a
compliment or not :D
..if I’m not typical Finnish, I
can tell, I’m not typical Spanish either. I still attract quite a bit of
attention, I’ve noticed. I guess it’s my blonde hair and neon-white skin. And
especially when I’m running, people do not seem to be ashamed to simply stare at
me :D I guess even a Spanish-looking woman running around here is not a typical
sight. When I go running, I always see like 20 male but only 2 female joggers.
Anyway, yes, I’ve finally defeated the sore throat and could finally go
running! Now the weather is perfect for running because it is not so hot
anymore, around 15 degrees in the evenings.
I don’t mind people looking at me
strangely but what’s a bit sad is, because of not at all looking like a
Spanish, I am regarded a tourist. It’s a shame, because here it seems, the
locals aren’t too keen on tourists. And unfortunately, I must say, I often get
really bad service in like restaurants or shops because of being seen as a
tourist.
That’s all for now! I miss you
all, my friends in Finland, hope you’re doing fine!
With love,
Noora
