From Expat to a Patriot [by Laura]
I've come to realise that leaving your home country for an extended period of time makes a kind of a patriot out of the best of us. I was born in Finland some twenty-five years ago and have been out of the country only a little over three. It seems that the first stage of expatriating is denial; distancing yourself from your home country and having as little to do with it as possible and cringing with shame if someone recognises your nationality, especially if it's someone who shares it with you. There are only a few things you pack with you and have your friends send over at every opportunity... Salmiakki (or salted liquorice). Proper bread. Cracker-bread or crispbread. Coffee.
After a little while, you start paying a little closer attention to the little differences, and grudgingly admit that, actually, it is pretty stupid to have two separate taps for hot and cold water, or to have to pay your bills by mailing actual checks - something that's not even an acceptable method of payment in Finland anymore. Online banking is actually an excellent idea, or failing that, machines, which are similar to ATMs, but are meant for paying bills. Smart!
Some time after than, you start looking into the ancient history of Finland; the bits that weren't taught to you in school. The old Finland has faded away so much that these days, no one can tell what the Finnish word Suomi, for Finland, actually means. The modern history of Finland is uninteresting at best. Personally, I think the Finnish sense of nationality was stripped away in the last thousand years or so, when nothing interesting happened historically; the spit of land switched ownership between Sweden and Russia several times - something that simply doesn't give you a defined sense of nationality - and the only thing that makes you feel any kind of patriotism was the bit where Finland was called the 'bloody shield of Sweden', to be used in the war against the mighty Russia. Since the declaration of independence in 1917, Finland has remained carefully diplomatic towards any bigger and stronger countries - i.e. everyone else - and is quietly taking pride in that fact. But not too loudly, you understand.
The bits they don't teach in schools you learn from such suspicious authors as Robert Nelson, who wrote a book called 'Finnish Magic'. It's a great book for inflaming a sense of patriotic pride, but alas, it's also wildly inaccurate. It sticks to your mind, however. Finns have always been considered a little odd - quiet, short-worded, incredibly trusting, honest, drink-happy - so Nelson's claim that Finns were taken aboard Viking ships because they were believed to have magical powers; or that Finnish warriors were used as bodyguards as far as in the Byzantine empire... simply makes you feels as though there's something to being a Finn, after all. You realise that although a Christian country, Finns still remained pagan on the inside. All of this might be a load of pish-posh, but if it gives you a sense of pride on your roots - which by the way have never been really traced to their origins - then what's the harm?
The last stage of expatriating is when you become actively involved in the local Finnish society; you're on the mailing lists, attend the Finnish church at Christmas, Finnish bonfires at Midsummer and the Finnish First of May celebrations; go to the Finnish market, hang around with other Finns so you can speak the language and ditch the locals until your face turns blue. Personally, I haven't reached this stage yet, and by Ukko, I hope I never will.
Still; I don't want to move back to Finland, no matter how highly I may speak of it or how good a country it is for raising innocent, blue-eyed children. I know that after a few weeks, a month at best, I would remember the bad things: Finns are rude; they have a primitive alcohol culture; no manners of any description; no appreciation for other cultures; a highest suicide rate in the world and no wonder. No... I prefer to see the Finland as a nostalgic picture in my mind, portrayed like it is in the national hymn; a pure, blue and white country of untainted nature and a thousand bright blue lakes.
OK, I'm all finnished now.
After a little while, you start paying a little closer attention to the little differences, and grudgingly admit that, actually, it is pretty stupid to have two separate taps for hot and cold water, or to have to pay your bills by mailing actual checks - something that's not even an acceptable method of payment in Finland anymore. Online banking is actually an excellent idea, or failing that, machines, which are similar to ATMs, but are meant for paying bills. Smart!
Some time after than, you start looking into the ancient history of Finland; the bits that weren't taught to you in school. The old Finland has faded away so much that these days, no one can tell what the Finnish word Suomi, for Finland, actually means. The modern history of Finland is uninteresting at best. Personally, I think the Finnish sense of nationality was stripped away in the last thousand years or so, when nothing interesting happened historically; the spit of land switched ownership between Sweden and Russia several times - something that simply doesn't give you a defined sense of nationality - and the only thing that makes you feel any kind of patriotism was the bit where Finland was called the 'bloody shield of Sweden', to be used in the war against the mighty Russia. Since the declaration of independence in 1917, Finland has remained carefully diplomatic towards any bigger and stronger countries - i.e. everyone else - and is quietly taking pride in that fact. But not too loudly, you understand.
The bits they don't teach in schools you learn from such suspicious authors as Robert Nelson, who wrote a book called 'Finnish Magic'. It's a great book for inflaming a sense of patriotic pride, but alas, it's also wildly inaccurate. It sticks to your mind, however. Finns have always been considered a little odd - quiet, short-worded, incredibly trusting, honest, drink-happy - so Nelson's claim that Finns were taken aboard Viking ships because they were believed to have magical powers; or that Finnish warriors were used as bodyguards as far as in the Byzantine empire... simply makes you feels as though there's something to being a Finn, after all. You realise that although a Christian country, Finns still remained pagan on the inside. All of this might be a load of pish-posh, but if it gives you a sense of pride on your roots - which by the way have never been really traced to their origins - then what's the harm?
The last stage of expatriating is when you become actively involved in the local Finnish society; you're on the mailing lists, attend the Finnish church at Christmas, Finnish bonfires at Midsummer and the Finnish First of May celebrations; go to the Finnish market, hang around with other Finns so you can speak the language and ditch the locals until your face turns blue. Personally, I haven't reached this stage yet, and by Ukko, I hope I never will.
Still; I don't want to move back to Finland, no matter how highly I may speak of it or how good a country it is for raising innocent, blue-eyed children. I know that after a few weeks, a month at best, I would remember the bad things: Finns are rude; they have a primitive alcohol culture; no manners of any description; no appreciation for other cultures; a highest suicide rate in the world and no wonder. No... I prefer to see the Finland as a nostalgic picture in my mind, portrayed like it is in the national hymn; a pure, blue and white country of untainted nature and a thousand bright blue lakes.
OK, I'm all finnished now.
4 Comments:
There's another path available to expats, of course, which is to go native. I'm not sure I'm walking that path, but I'm closer to that than the one you describe. I eat mainly Korean food (though my occasional wanderings to other cuisines has become less occasional this year), and I still speak the language rather poorly, but I generally avoid the "foreigner" events and even get a little freaked out by the presence of more than a few foreigners in the same place at the same time. Hmmmm.
You're right, of course. I never considered going native in Denmark, though - I think it takes a country you actually like!
On the other hand, the "going native" or the blending in process started, for me, already on the first stage (denial) while in Scotland. I think I actually took the native-going as a given for any long-term residents, and I realise you're seeing a different trend among the foreigners in Korea.
That makes sense! The funny thing, I think, is that the difference comes with North Americanness. The way a lot of Americans (and contrary to popular belief, Canadians) are raised, they have no idea of a world outside their own countries. So when a lot of us NorAms go expat, it's a bit more of a shock. I find most Americans who go expat become less patriotic; most Canadians do, too... but the ones who become patriots among Canadians go very jingoistic, while Americans rarely seem to, at least here in Korea.
I was thinking it, but I didn't want to say it!
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