I am back. The birds are chirping outside my window, Sara Lidman has died some time ago, sweden is being drowned in rain, snow and ice in Germany. Ok, so others have a worse summer than we this year, but really, this much rain? Yeesh. And not even a proper net connection here on our little island. Yes, we have conducted our yearly migration to summer camp, where the sea is near, food is often grilled over open fire and we regrade to more primitive primates. Lovely. And the reading is good too. I have been laughing my head off reading Neal Stephenson, first off was Quicksilver, now Confusion is almost finished. Do yourself a favour, pick it up!
For years i felt like i belonged to some other place. I was born and grew up in Göteborg, on the west coast of Sweden. My father is Swedish, my mother is Finnish. I grew up with my mother, and i always identified with her Finnish roots. Every summer we went to Finland, i learned some (not much) Finnish, and felt like i belonged there.
Turning 20 i decided to move there. I went "home", or so i thought. I quickly discovered that they did not much care for me there. My family relations there were not especially happy to see me, nor did they keep much in touch. The swedish speaking minority was not very open, to put it mildly. I thought we would through a common language be able to communicate, but i soon found out that there was not much in common there.
In short, it would take years to adapt. Hence i have done exactly that, and found a place for me. Now having lived in Helsinki for close to 18 years i consider it "home". But as i walk these streets i realise i am no...
Comments