August 10, 2011
At camp Karkku, we have a scheduled program that involves lectures about Finnish grammar and language, lessons about Finnish culture, and outdoor activities.
I've learned a lot from camp Karkku, which has taught me how to communicate with others speaking Finnish. All the students at Karkku went on a sightseeing tour of Tampere, Finland's 3rd biggest city, and also had the opportunity to shop using the basic question "Mitä tämä maksaa?" or "how much is this" in english. Of course, every Finnish employee at the stores Stockmann and Sokos replied to me in English -.-which is not what I wanted to hear of course!
I went into Sokos, which is a department store that has pretty much anything you want (even a buffet upstairs!) to buy a hair straightener. Once I found them, I asked these two girls if they spoke english so I can ask for their help with choosing which straightener I should get. The two girls looked at each other, smiled, and walked away.... I told the Rotex (Finnish exchange students who just came back from a foreign country) and they said that they were just shy and embarrassed to make mistakes when speaking english.
I still don't believe them and now I have this idea that "shyness" is actually a word used to conceal how mean some young Finnish girls are!
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