It all started a couple of weeks ago, when we met with our Finnish moms to go to the symphony. When we first talked about going to the symphony, we were picturing spending a glamorous evening enjoying the sophisticated atmosphere of the event - we don't have many occasions to get dressed up. But our Finnish moms were so concerned about the 20 euro ticket cost, they wouldn't hear of us having to pay for it, so we attended the symphony's dress rehearsal at 10 AM. Don't get us wrong - the music was incredible - but it wasn't exactly what we had envisioned.
That afternoon, during lunch at the Viherlandia greenhouse, our Finnish moms presented us with a calendar on which we were to write any and all of our plans for the remainder of our time in Jyvaskyla. They had already marked several dates on which our presence was
We enjoyed the school musical, but, not having a friend or relative performing or having any idea what the lyrics meant made the hour-and-a-half experience a little bit tedious. However, we were thoroughly entertained by the spontaneous break-dance interlude put on a group of boys, one of whom almost catapulted himself into Elizabeth's lap. We also appreciate that our Finnish moms are so pleased to have us that they really want to introduce us to everybody, but each time we're introduced there ends up being a one-word English greeting followed by a 10-minute Finnish discussion. It's nice that they're interested in us, but instead of talking about us, we wish there was more talking to us.
The choral concert was incredible; we were really impressed by the group of Finnish students (about 30 girls and 1 guy) who put on a two-hour concert of Finnish, American, and South African songs. This was one of the dates that had been pre-arranged for us, because our Finnish moms had, unbeknownst to us, volunteered us to give a half-hour presentation on the States to the students and their parents. The reason lay in that the choir is travelling to San Francisco in the fall for a competition. We ended up having a few technical difficulties with the requested PowerPoint presentation, since the computer provided for us didn't, in fact, have PowerPoint.
Therein lies what really frustrates us: since we never are fully informed on what our adventures entail, we're never really able to prepare ourselves appropriately. Sometimes they pick us up and feed us, sometimes the meal is delayed for a few hours; sometimes our outings last two hours, sometimes they last seven. We think this is especially frustrating for us because we've been conditioned over the past few years of college to become such conscious planners, thinking about details, times, and activities, and travelling has only reinforced those habits.
Regardless, we realize that however psychologically distressing this is for us, it's totally worth the experiences... so on Friday, we'll be showing up to the designated place, at the designated time, ready for anything. And really hoping they feed us.
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