I'm enjoying my only day off this week today. It's been a busy and exhausting week. I started practice on Monday at a geriatric ward at the hospital on the island. Having to learn a new working environment with people who speak a different language than either of my mothertongues has also been a lot to take in. The good news is that the job itself is pretty much the same as in any hospital. In other words, I'm basically here to learn a new language and to revise previously learned skills. My instructor at practice is also Finnish speaking so it helps a lot, even though we stick to Swedish since that's the language the patients use.
The thing that has really surprised me the most is the number of Swedish accents among the personel at the hospital. There's the Swedish Swedish (which is the hardest to understand), the Ålandish accent that is somewhere between Finnish Swedish and Swedish Swedish and lastly the Momin Swedish as the Finns call it. Momins are a Finnish cartoon figure and the TV version is narrated with Swedish that has a heavy Finnish accent. Thus 'Momin Swedish'. But then there are a couple nurses who have moved to the island from elsewhere. One is from Kenya and the other nurse is maybe from South America (just a guess). They obviously have their own way of pronouncing Swedish. It's interesting because the island is very conservative and it has a small population (~23 000 compared to the 123 000 in Turku). It makes communication multicultural and I don't feel so bad about having a broken Swedish. It's definitely a positive thing to see that this little island has also entered the global era on this planet.
Like I said, there hasn't been that many opportunities to enjoy freetime yet, but I've managed to acquire a library card and yesterday I had my first hike. I'm steering into next week's four days off, so hopefully I'll have more to say about the beauty of this place then.
Hello Manda. I am a Pastor from Mumbai, India. Your name sounds very Indian but the look is western. I am blessed and feel privileged to get connected with you as well as know you and about your placement in a Hospital which gives impression that you are a Registered Nurse. Since you are interesed in other cultures we would love to have you come to assist us in our project in reachout to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted in the slums of Mumbai. I love getting connected with the people of God aound the globe to be encoureged, strengthened and praying for one another. I have been inthe Pastoral ministry for last 37 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. we reachout to the poorest of poor with the l ove of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We would love to have you come with your friends to work with us during your vacation time. I am sure you will have a life changing experience as well as time to get acquented with different culturs in one city which is a cosmopolitican city. My email idis: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings om you, your family and friends and also wishing you a blessed ana Christ centered rest of the year 2017.
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