10 ceilidh rules [complete and uncensored] part 2

6. Don't wear a dress with a colour scheme that is in any way ambiguous (or do, because you'll become famous).

No, just joking. Here are the real ones.

6. Go easy on the booze.

Yes, alcohol consumption tends to be an important part of most people's ceilidh experience, especially at bigger annual-type ones. And I'm not gonna lie, being a bit tipsy can often be helpful, especially in situations such as #5 in my previous post. Just don't overdo it! That Strip the Willow is going to make your head spin anyway and you don't want to end up on the toilet floor. Just stick to the golden "every third drink a soft drink" rule. You'll need water as well as you'll be dehydrated! Not being completely wasted also often (but not always) prevents injuries.

7. If possible, limit the amount of valuables you bring with you.

The typical handbag-at-ceilidh experience is that you'll get asked to dance, throw your handbag somewhere without much thought and then spend the next hour in agony looking for it, only to finally find it buried under a mountain of jackets. So yeah, though you'll usually find your handbag, the experience will be less stressful if you leave like, credit cards and stuff at home. The guys are quite lucky to have their sporrans!

8. Don't arrive too late!

There are few things more gutting than spending too much time pre-drinking (which you shouldn't overdo anyway, see rule 6) or getting ready or whatever and arriving at around 10.52, in time for the raffle, realising that you've missed over half of the ceilidh. (Tomorrow's one goes on until 3 am though, so that shouldn't be an issue here!)

9. Strip the Willow

This dance probably deserves its own set of rules. I don't really know what to say, just keep your knees and ankles in mind since they're easily sprainable (needless to say, it was during a StW I sprained my knee a few a years ago, see previous post). Once at Sabhal Mor Ostaig I also got someone's elbow in my face and was pretty sure I'd broken my nose - I hadn't though, luckily. (Though, honestly, I think Strip the Willow at Sabhal Mor Ostaig deserves its own particular set of rules...)
So yeah, just be careful. The bruises are part of the game though!

I'm realising now that to those of you unfamiliar with the subject this must sound like a violent fight or something. Haha. It sort of is. But I promise you, it's fun too!

10. Be prepared to be sore the next couple of days.

Ceilidh is exercise! No gym classes or even half marathons have ever made me as sore as a proper ceilidh session! The soreness usually kicks in about two-three days after the big night and it's usually your calves, and funnily enough, abdominal muscles that will hurt the most.
But if that is the case don't despair, since you know you did it right! ;)



That's the end of my ceilidh rules. Hope you've enjoyed reading and if you're in or around Edinburgh, come to the Highland Annual tomorrow night!

10 ceilidh rules [complete and uncensored] part 1

Just to clarify before I get started: yes, I know that it is actually spelt cèilidh and yes, I know that cèilidh traditionally means a gathering where people play tunes, sing songs and tell stories. It is, however, the slightly out of the Gaelic context meaning that most people associate with the word (=dance) I am referring to here, so I thought that would allow me to leave the accent behind (it also takes longer to make and I have a feeling I might type the word a few times).

Oh, and for those of you who have no idea what I am on about, ceilidh is googleable!

This picture is indeed from google.

So yeah, as the Highland Annual or Dannsa Bliadhnail (Edinburgh's biggest ceilidh, organised by the university's very own Comann Ceilteach and which I, funnily enough given my love for such events, have never been to before) is drawing near, I thought I'd devote two blog posts to this phenomenon.

After almost six years of experience I would say I've become fairly confident about the whole ceilidh thing. I was going to say that I'm the best ceilidh dancer from Finland but that might be pushing it a little, so I'll stick to saying I'm the best ceilidh dancer from Jakobstad as I think that's 100% certain!

Through a lot of trial and error during these years, I have also realised that having the best time possible at a ceilidh really is a skill that takes some practise. That's why I've compiled ten rules that might be helpful for anyone who is going to the Highland Annual, or any other big ceilidh, in the future. The first few are mainly applicable to females.

[Warning: as the title says, no details are omitted here!]


1. Skip the heels

Really: high-heeled shoes are among the most unnecesarry things you could ever bring to a ceilidh. I know that some girls seem to master the skill of stripping the willow in heels, but I certainly don't and most of the time you'll end up taking them off at some point and dancing without shoes can actually be as dangerous as dancing in high heels - that's how I sprained my knee in 2011 and that knee still bothers me from time to time, so surely not recommended! An option if you definitely need to wear heels is to bring flats with you for the dancing but then you'll just end up changing shoes every 5 minutes and who wants to waste their time doing that at a ceilidh?! No, comfortable flats only is the best option!

2. Wear a skirt.

Or a dress. Ceilidh-ing in jeans will make you terribly sweaty/hot/boiling (your legs will basically feel like they're gasping for air) so dress/skirt is definitely a better option. I'm sure the guys prefer feeling the breeze as well, hehehehe (yup, that had to come in at some point...).

3. Wear a good bra!

Very important! Strapless bras have a tendency to end up somewhere around your waist, especially at the beginning of the night. It usually gets better after a while when you've started sweating a bit and things start to, ehm, cling a bit more but I'd avoid strapless stuff if possible!

4. Dance with a pro

If you don't know the dances, look out for that dashing young (or older!) man (or woman!) who seems like they've never done anything else in their life. The dances aren't hard at all and through dancing with someone who knows what they're doing you'll learn in no time. Because let's face it, ceilidhs are only properly fun when you know the dances. I went to a "postgraduate and mature students' ceilidh" during freshers' week in September where exactly no-one but me knew the dances and it was just chaotic (and for an impatient self-proclaimed ceilidh-expert like myself, in all honesty, a bit infuriating).

This is one of the pictures that came up when I googled "chaotic ceilidh", though I think it looks more quiet than chaotic..

5. Don't be afraid to ask strangers to dance

On a similar note, if none of your friends/the people you know are available and you really want to dance, just go and ask someone you don't know (because there's nothing worse than standing there watching the others skip about merrily when you don't want anything else than being on that floor yourself). They usually won't say no, unless they belong to that minority who "don't dance", but then you can ask yourself why they are at this event in the first place.


[End of part 1 - part 2 coming soon!]

Weekend

So far I've mainly done blog posts about particular subjects, so I'm gonna try to write about everyday things for a change as I thought people from home (or from here for that matter) might be interested in what my weekends look like. It feels a bit weird, but on the other hand I regularly post things about my everyday life on Facebook, so what is the difference really?

Anyway, last night I finished off an unusually productive week (I actually managed to finish an essay that isn't due until April!) at the gym. Though I've always been into fitness I've found weightlifting a bit daunting and didn't start doing it regularly until last autumn through a class at the university gym. And now I understand why it has become so popular among, like, everyone. It's not strenuous in the same way as running and you notice results so fast, both in terms of performance and looks! Haha. I think I am hooked. (I should probably insert a gym selfie here but I'll spare you that joy..) Then I spent the rest of the night watching the final episode of the Swedish game show På spåret and generally doing as little as possible.

I had set my alarm at 9.30 but woke up at around 8.30 this morning feeling completely invigorated - I've never really been one for sleeping in late, though I try! Then I spent the morning cleaning my room with this monstrous thing.

Seriously?? Britain is clearly about 50 years behind in the vacuum cleaner department as well.


Now I'm soon heading off to the train station to go to Glasgow where I'll catch up with friends, drink some wine and probably work on those dance moves! I really am quite excited and feel like I deserve it after this productive week. Oh, and in terms of nightlife, Glasgow is better than Edinburgh and everyone knows that. ;)

So yeah, that is what this weekend looks like for me. Hope you're all having a great one!

Om Jakobstad

Jag fick lite inspiration från söndagens blogginlägg där jag skrev om att växa upp och flytta bort, och tänkte att jag skulle skriva lite om mitt komplicerade förhållande till min hemstad.

Men när jag började fundera över det insåg jag att det förhållandet egentligen inte är så komplicerat - Jakobstad är stället där jag växte upp och trots att jag i många avseenden känner mig mera bekväm här i Skottland, är Jakobstad ändå den enda platsen som verkligen känns som hemma. Särskilt Gamla hamn, Hamnskogen och Skutnäs - de områdena ger mig alltid en stark "det är härifrån jag kommer" - känsla.

Och trots att jag kanske inte riktigt kvalificerar som en genomsnittlig Jeppisbo känner jag att det är en viktig del av min identitet. Om jag måste definiera mig själv i geografiska termer är det inte "finländare" som kommer först på listan (vilket nog till stor del har med språket att göra), utan främst identifierar jag mig som österbottning och Jakobstadsbo. Men det kan man ju inte direkt säga när folk här frågar varifrån man kommer, utan då är det förstås Finland som gäller (och det brukar inte ta länge innan det kommer en kommentar om det finska språket, varpå man får börja förklara vad finlandssvensk betyder, ett koncept som de allra flesta inte förstår... Ja ni vet. Men jag tror jag sparar det ämnet till ett annat blogginlägg!)

Jag tycker hursomhelst att Jakobstad är en bra stad att växa upp i. Nej, jag hade kanske inte den bästa tonårstiden där - men ärligt talat tror jag inte att det skulle ha varit annorlunda om jag bodde nån annanstans. Det är nog inte många som skulle säga att högstadietiden var den bästa i deras liv, oavsett var den tillbringades.

Och jag avskyr de där "Jakobstad är en jävla håla där inget händer" - tongångarna! Jag tycker det verkar som att mycket är på gång där. Ett rikt kulturliv med konserter och teaterföreställningar om vartannat, författarbesök, sportevenemang, mysiga caféer, nattliv för ungdomen, you name it. (Om ni vill se ett ställe där verkligen inget händer - prova Isle of Skye på vintern...). Centrum är tillräckligt stort för att få allt man behöver samtidigt som naturen är nära. Och den levande tvåspråkigheten är verkligen fantastisk! Jag är ju själv inte direkt del av den eftersom jag tyvärr inte kan mycket finska, men efter att ha läst en del sociolingvistik det här året inser jag att tvåspråkigheten i Österbotten är unik och borde fungera som modell för andra flerspråkiga länder.

 

 

 

Bibelbältet och inskränktheten som ibland ger nejden ett lite dåligt rykte i resten av landet är ju en mindre trevlig sak, men "var och en med sitt" - så länge ingen prackar sina åsikter på mig och säger hur jag ska leva ser jag inget problem med det. Den mycket lyckade Pridefestivalen i somras (som jag tyvärr inte kunde gå på) visar också att toleransen vinner, även i Jeppis!

Trots att en flytt tillbaka till Jakobstad inte känns aktuell just nu, är tanken på att nån gång flytta tillbaka dit inte helt främmande för mig. Som jag redan sagt, Jakobstad är en bra stad att bo i - det enda problemet för mig är att jag inte känner mycket folk där längre. Så gott som hela mitt sociala liv är numera i Skottland, och då jag kommer tillbaka till Jakobstad känns det dessutom som att jag till en viss del går tillbaka till den roll (som ganska blyg och försiktig) jag hade då jag bodde där (är det här något som andra också upplever då de åker "hemhem"?) Om jag bara kunde få in mitt "nya jag" (som ju inte är så nytt längre) i Jakobstad-sammanhanget skulle det inte alls kännas fel att bo där.  För som sagt, Jeppis is the shit!

You can move away from yourself

In 2009, just before I was going to move to Scotland and naturally was being very excited and happy about it, I remember my Dad saying something like "you can't move away from yourself".

But, dear father, I really think I have.

Or, maybe not moved away from myself, but definitely moved towards a new and much happier self. I know this sounds like a cliché, but when moving abroad I really felt like I got a chance to reinvent myself and start afresh.

And I think I succeeded. If the quiet and insecure schoolgirl I was at 15 saw myself now, nearly 10 years later, I don't think she would recognise much.

I guess, however, that this is a natural part of growing up and doesn't necessarily need to involve moving (far) away. Being in your (mid-)twenties simply is great - I love how your confidence increases for every year that passes (though I haven't reached the don't-give-a-damn-what-others-think stage that some middle-age people seem to be at quite yet...). In other words: screw that age-crisis that some people my age seem to have! I certainly don't miss being a teenager! Do you?

It also always makes me happy to see that other people who I remember as insecure at school seem to have thrived and found their ways in life.

I wish someone had told us about this while we were in school. That this isn't all there is to life, your school years aren't going to last forever and that there is a whole new and much better life just around the corner. Because at the time it really felt like it was lasting forever.

 

That cup of tea after a run...

...that I'm having right now, is the best! I mean, I always like a cup of tea (and my consumption levels are probably high above the recommendations), but there's something about that post-running cup that is just very special.

I think it might be a combination of still being a bit thirsty (despite having drunk a lot of water) and getting a bit cold after having been warm - you know, when you've stopped sweating and start, like, shivering a bit - that makes this cup so heavenly.

It's also one of my absolute favorite feelings - I rarely feel as much at ease with myself and my life as when I'm sitting here, winding down after having worked hard and sipping this glorious Tetley. I guess this is my form of meditation, or whatever people do to relax!

I wish I could prolong this moment and make it last for the rest of the day, but unfortunately there are other things I need to get on with. If life was just about exercising and drinking tea, it would indeed be very easy...

I said I wasn't going to post selfies, but no-makeup and sweaty ones are allowed.

 

Everything looks so much better in the sunshine

All I can say is: thank God (God used in a rhetorical sense here as I know there is no God) for this change in the weather!

It seems like the first rays of Spring sun have hit Edinburgh and Scotland and I don't think I've ever been happier about it. It is warmer everywhere (inside and outside) and everything undoubtedly looks so much better in the sunshine.

Even my own (otherwise quite dull) street!

I normally see myself as a winter person and usually think February is way too early for any sort of Spring sensations, but this year I can only say: bring it on! It's been cold, dark and miserable long enough now.

In addition, my second cold luckily disappeared very quickly, meaning I am feeling fine now and tonight "Bothan" (a monthly concert-like event featuring different Gaelic singers and musicians) is on, so I hope to get a chance to see some familiar faces, listen to some good music and speak some Gaelic. Feels like I haven't really "socialised" in a long time now (though it's really only been two weeks) so I'm actually raring to go!

Happy Friday everyone!

3 things with the English language that annoy/confuse me

Ok, I know there is a risk of sounding a bit too negative here. But I promise I am not. It's just that as my flat is still an igloo averaging about 12.6 degrees Celsius and I've got sick for the second time in a month (I suspect those two things might be connected), I am not in the best of moods and I thought it would be suitable to do a "things that annoy me" kinda list then. It’s not like you would want to do that when you’re all happy anyway. I promise I'll compile a "wonderful things that make this life a sweet adventure" - list some time in the future (when it's got a bit warmer).

So yeah, here goes, 3 things with the English language (though some of them have more to do with the English-speaking culture than the actual language) that annoy or confuse me:


1. "Would you mind if I.....?

Despite having an adequate knowledge of the English language, I still have to stop and think for a few seconds before answering a question phrased in this way.... What are you supposed to answer again?? Oh yes, you're supposed to say "no", as saying "yes" means you would mind, which means you don't want them to do whatever it is they're asking about (which you obviously can't say as you're supposed to be polite all the time).

But why make it so complicated? Why not just ask "can I open the window/do you want me to open the window" instead "would you mind if I opened the window”? That would be fool-proof for the non-natives!

This was my first result when googling "open window". No, it's not what it looks like where I am.

 

2.  “You guys”.

Ok, this is a special one. It doesn’t mean that I dislike everyone who says “you guys”. Since everyone, I mean exactly every single person, native speaker or not, who has any kind of knowledge of the English language says this regularly. And it is quite hard to explain why it annoys me so much. It might partly be that it implies that everyone addressed is male, but there’s also something else. It creates some sort of “hierarchy” between the person who says it and the people they’re addressing. Like “I am awesome whereas you are just the guys”.

Ok, maybe this only exists in my mind. I have a feeling that’s the case. Or does anyone in any way understand what I mean??

The frequency of this expression is probably to do with the fact that the English language lacks a separate second person plural pronoun. I wish there was one. They’re great, you know.

It's clearly guy number 3 from the left that's going "you guys" here.

 3.  People asking “how are you?” and then running away.

You know the feeling. You’re rushing through the street, see someone you vaguely know, they say “Hi, how are you”, and you’re like “Hi, I’m fine, how are…..” Ooops. They’re already out of sight. Don’t ask “how are you” if you don’t have time to stop and talk!!!

It’s a bit like way back in 2009 when I lived in halls and one of my flatmates always greated me with “alright?” Ehmmm, what are you supposed to answer to that?? “Yes, I’m alright… I guess” ? Too much to handle for someone coming straight out of the deep Finnish forests where you don’t talk like that. Or talk at all. Long live the neutral, straight-forward, Swedish “hej”! It can never go wrong.

But despite my inability to “talk British” (which I am sure has caused misunderstandings on more than one occasion) I have definitely been influenced by it. This was prevalent a couple of years ago when I was at a café in my hometown and said “can I have a cup of tea, please?” (in Swedish). The person behind the counter stared at me and looked like she didn’t understand what I meant! I had to observe the next customer to see what I did wrong. Oh, you’re just supposed to say “tea”.

Conclusion: it's a hard life being stuck between two cultures. You’re not behaving normally in any of them!