Love it or hate it?

Last week, I spotted a funny article my friend shared on Facebook. The article was about culture differences in Finland and Sweden, at least what comes to how people react during conversations. For Finns, a conversation of group of Swedish people might sound pretentiously excited and polite. Things are not "good", "great" or "ok" (with monotonic tone), but they are "marvelous!" and "splendid!" (or "spännande!" in Swedish). This is quite stereotypical impression about Americans too, often even right on spot.

After being here in Croatia for four months now, I simultaneously admire and to be honest, I am a bit scared of the Croatian honesty. Here things can be "awesome" or "super" but it can be also "I fucking hate it" or "this is shit". Between these too options I have started to think are we Finnish people a bit odorless and tasteless nation? We do have opinions, but we are usually don't express them too heavily. If we hate something, we usually soften the message a little bit for example saying "it's okay, but I usually prefer xx" and very rarely you can see Finnish colleague bursting out of excitement "oh that is so loooovely!".

Finnish people are often viewed as emotionless, like Kimi Räikkönen. Things are OK, but could be better. If someone is greeting us "Hi, how are you?" you might find yourself listening general feelings of life instead of quick "Oh amazing, how are you?". We have something to learn from Swedish people, because it does make you feel that someone is listening to you more carefully and that you are more respected when what you are telling, is received with a bit more excitement. I also appreciate the Croatian way, if you have an opinion, you should say it. Sometimes I just wish the truth to be a bit more sugarcoated.

Croatian honesty doesn't end on the reactions during conversations, but also applies to a topic. I have been told about difficulties getting pregnant while sitting at the hairdresser and I also know if someone is on her period at work. My food choices has been criticized (this has been mutual though and partially a joke) and I have probably heard more compliments in my life.I love the honesty and I am happy that some things aren't a taboo.

For Finnish people giving compliments and receiving them seems to be sometimes completely alien. Why it is so difficult to say that your friend or even a bit more distant colleague looks great? Nice comments are often hidden in a joke, like the person behind the comment is trying to save itself from possible shame. Only here I have understood that I actually have friends who have never really given compliments to me and it has been normal. I, of course, have friends who are complimenting and it has been completely natural, but I would say it is less common.

I do not need everyday praise, but it is well known how little nice words can save the day and make someone feel much better. And mutually, I have tried myself to pay more attention and give compliments to my friends (and M of course) as often as possible. Next level would be to be more comfortable when receiving positive comments and loose my Finnish "oh stop iiiiiit. It's just some old crap I am wearing" - attitude.

Pictures are slightly related, as I can assure you that Siro had an opinion about our curious neighbor cat. It wasn't love.

Moving abroad with cats

In 2008 I moved out of my parents' house first time and since I was a child I had told everyone I will get a cat. I had a little trauma asking for a kitten ever since I was a little girl, but never got one because my younger sister was allergic. Years later, it turned out that her allergy basically disappeared and when my brother turned 13, my parents decided to get him a cat for birthday present?! I remember how devastated I was even though, the kittens we took was obviously for the whole family. I guess at that moment my parents did quite stupid move, but then again I was still happiest ever because we got two kittens, who we named two musketeers Athos and Aramis. Later on we also got Porthos, who is still cheering up my parents after all the kids flew from the nest. With one annoying (and cute) Chihuahua, Rudolf.

Anyway, as soon as I moved out I started to look for a cat, more specifically Ragdoll since it has always been my favorite. Later on, I could have thought it through better, since amount of hair they lose daily is enormous. You have to decorate your home based on your cats and anything dark colored is a big nope, the same applies to fluffy carpets. Nevertheless, I would never give up on my cats and because of that they have been traveling with me was a chance to take them. After I got my first cat, Kiki, I of course had to look for a friend for her. Less than a year later, I had Siro (both ladies, as this might not be obvious for readers from outside of Finland :)).

I am lucky to have two little sisters and a little brother, because I have always had someone to take care of Siro and Kiki when traveling. Longest time one of my sisters took care of my furballs was a half a year and my cats had always "two homes". For me it was easy to leave them in a place I know they also considered a home and they were surrounded with familiar people. Even though my sister always kept complaining about amount of hair they leave, she still missed them every time I took them back.

When we decided to move abroad new problems emerged because we don't know how long we stay and where. It was then obvious that cats have to move with us. First, with me to Poland and later on they came with us to Croatia. Since we were moving within EU, it was quite easy. They only needed rabies vaccination, pet passport, and microchip. And reality is, that none of them were checked, not in airport nor on a border when crossing it by car. I was really nervous how the cats will take the trip but everything went better than expected. During car journey only problem was Siro’s ability to meow hours and our sanity when listening it. She has always been very verbal and new environment turns it to new levels.

What to take care of during long car journeys with cats? Longest one we have had, was 11 hours. We made sure there is enough space for them to use a toilet if they had to (unfortunately they did) and to offer water from time to time. Most of the time they really didn't give a crap about food or beverages, only thing they actually enjoyed was the possibility of free movement in a car. Then they were able to find the most comfortable spot. After first few hours both of them got used to the driving and went to sleep. Many of my friends asked if we gave some sedatives to the cats, but we didn't and it was not needed. Actually, vets do not recommend sedatives, especially for flying, because airplane temperature is lower and also with sedatives body temperature of animals decreases.

Challenges with grocery shopping when abroad

I am sure, many others can relate to this problem when abroad, unknown food products! The problem is the language and the fact that nothing seems familiar. Of course, you can find some familiar imported stuff, but they come with higher price tag so, investing in locally produced goods saves a lot of money. A lot of goods are produced by local companies and farms, so, choosing them is highly recommended because of, for example the freshness of fruits and vegetables. However, sometimes it's really hard to come up with the idea of "what should we eat today" and I might use large amount of time while looking for products I’m familiar with enough to try. I am also, for some reason, quite suspicious in what comes to meat here in Croatia.

We were actually very lucky with the location of our apartment. We live only two minutes away from the big grocery store called Super Konzum. I find the name of the store, Konzum, very funny but it provides us with a good range of food products and cosmetics, and it is cheaper than the other big brand, Spar. I love the vegetable and fruit department the most and it is not surprising it doesn’t cause us any problems to shop for those :D. This part looks quite similar regardless of the country you are visiting. Here, however, you can find really inexpensive fruits and vegetables, sold in Finland as imported items for salty prices. How would it sound to have a half kilo of peach and one kilo of cherry for one euro? Even though I've complained about the local price level, yes, there are a lot of cheap products here too.

Compared to Poland and, in particular, Warsaw, the assortment is quite narrow. In Warsaw you can find everything. It was delightful to find organic products in multiple alleys of the store, products suitable for vegan diet, and products suitable for different kinds of special diets. Unfortunately, here in Croatia, we mainly find just common products, and special diets have not been taken into consideration as well as in Warsaw. Even though I do not follow any particular diet, I would like to support organic production and reduce substantially the meat consumption. Here, we just find ourselves with "lack of culinary imagination" because of this issue. I believe, that with time and experimentation, the situation will of course change.

We also have a problem with having enough space in our current apartment because the kitchen is small and cramped. It’s quite uncomfortable to make any major gastronomic experiences and I, as a claustrophobic person, am trying to just create meals as fast and easy as possible. If it seems that we are staying here in Croatia for longer, it will be very necessary to look for a new apartment. I love cooking, but the current kitchen kills my passion. Although, our apartment is otherwise compact and pretty. On the other hand, it is a bit expensive for the general price level. Many of my colleagues have been shocked when I told them how much rent we pay for our place, considering how small it is. However, our apartment is so well located that it is a pity to change. M has a 10-minute walk to work, I reach work in 15 minutes by bus and the city center is 20 minutes away by tram. We could definitely find cheaper and bigger place, but we have to then of course abandon some of the good things we have now such as, utilities and the Internet included.