Even before boarding the airplane from Frankfurt to Washington to take a trip back to Vermont for the holidays, I became nervous when I started to hear American English being spoken, which I am normally not accustomed to. At that point I finally accepted that I was returning to US soil and had to get used to the less positive aspects of American life.
One of the large benefits of being a foreigner living in Finland is that my poor Finnish skills allow me to be blissfully ignorant of the small talk coming from outside conversations. Gone are the obnoxious teenagers. Gone are the boastful talk about how crazy the last night's part was. My perception of what the average person talks about is skewed into convenient and bearable image. So most Finnish people sound very intelligent and have something real to talk about, or at least that is how I choose to hear it. Then hearing American English spoken where I can actually understand every word, quickly gives a more realistic picture of what crap comes out of the average person's mouth. Ah well. Back to reality.
One of the large benefits of being a foreigner living in Finland is that my poor Finnish skills allow me to be blissfully ignorant of the small talk coming from outside conversations. Gone are the obnoxious teenagers. Gone are the boastful talk about how crazy the last night's part was. My perception of what the average person talks about is skewed into convenient and bearable image. So most Finnish people sound very intelligent and have something real to talk about, or at least that is how I choose to hear it. Then hearing American English spoken where I can actually understand every word, quickly gives a more realistic picture of what crap comes out of the average person's mouth. Ah well. Back to reality.
