Minor Surgery

I have now had my biggest adventure in Finland to date, and it was an experience.  A good one.  I had surgery yesterday on my elbow.  I was skeptical of the term "surgery" when I was told by the surgeon to book a surgery appointment for a half hour, and that the procedure would take place in office.  Remember all the doors I talked about earlier?  Yes, behind one of those tiny room doors is a "surgery room".

Anyway, it had been a concern of mine when we were considering working/living overseas that I may require surgery or other significant medical attention.  As a good American I was of the mind that all things medical outside the US are inferior.  There, I've admitted it.  How wrong can one be?  Quite.  The medical field in Finland is nothing short of impressive.  I think the US could adopt a policy or two and be much further ahead.  That's my two cents.

Back to the surgery.  My good friend Lisa was nice enough to go with me since I didn't know what to expect.  I wasn't given any pre-surgery instructions (like don't eat/drink) and only knew that the procedure was to be an out-patient, in-office, half hour procedure that would cost x euros.  (the doctor gave me a number but I won't share that detail here).  So we had breakfast and went shopping and had lunch and went shopping and finally then to the doctor's office.  We had agood day.

The doctor came out of one door and called me into the room I was told to wait by.  In other words, he was seeing other patients prior to my operation and then walked in to the "operating room" with me.  There was a table and I was instructed to lay down on it.  I have been through a surgery or two (thirteen in all, but who's counting) so I knew to wear easy clothing to get on and off...I wore a tank top that left my arm fully exposed with a sweater over it.  I took off the sweater and started to remove my boots, but was told there was no need.  No change of clothing?  weird.  Anyway, the surgery commenced with a local anesthetic applied in the elbow and then the doctor did his thing and wah laaa, fifteen minutes or so later, I'm all stitched up and ready to go.  No fuss, no muss, and as far as I know the doctor went back to his office appointments.

Unbelievable.  In the States there would have been a huge production number associated with this procedure.  First of all the surgeon would have a specific day to do only surgery, then there would have been a pre-op visit the day before (or at least a phone call) to discuss the procedure and sign paperwork.  It would have been an out-patient deal, but there would have been a large room with several personnel involved (there was one nurse/tech here in Finland).  They would have had me change into a stupid looking gown and put in an IV and gone about the surgery from there;  there would have been a post op period and finally, tons of paperwork and probably tens of thousands of dollars charged.  Let's just say that the x amount of  euros I spent was less than one thousand to give you a comparrison. 

So there it is.  Minor surgery in Finland.  Logical, straight-forward and successful, without a bunch of unnecessary pomp and circumstance.  I think it was a beautiful thing and rather than spend hours in a post op, Lisa and I went to the champaign bar near-by and toasted the medical brilliance of the Finns.
How can you beat that?

poetic license update

Well, I had my next Finnish lesson and asked for the political name I was sure would illustrate my point about changing the spelling of proper names.  I am not sure if there is a logical explanation for this one as well, but here goes:

The king of Sweden is either Kaarle Kustaa XVI (in Finnish) or Carl Gustaf (in Sweden).  It seems to me that this is an arbitrary change, though I'm sure that someone somewhere sees a reason for it.  They sound similar, yes, but why the change?  I am used to a "c" changing to a "k" and such, but this change seems a bit excessive, and quite frankly a bit rude, given that it is a proper name.

Anyway, this is the example that I found.  I hope you enjoy.

a correction

In my last blog entry I used the example of Michael Jackson's name being changed to Jacksonin by the Finns when I saw it on tv.  As pointed out by one of my faithful followers, Zella, this is in fact a way of making his name possessive, not an arbitrary name change.  I want to take this moment to apologize to my tutor, who in fact did tell me the same thing when I asked, but (as usual) I forgot.

So it was a bad example of what I was trying to convey, but I am sure that I was told of other names that would support my rant.  I will ask about this when I see my tutor next, get those names from her, and report them to you in my blog as a follow-up. 

I also want to thank Zella for her comments;  I am learning a lot and enjoying her imput.  Thanks Zella.

Poetic License?

A little pet peeve: the changing of proper names by the Finnish.  I know, other countries probably do it too, but I'm in Finland, so for now they get the blunt of my rant.

It seems, for some unknown reason, that it is deemed necessary in the Finnish language to change the ending of many, many proper names.  I have seen Michael Jackson's name changed to Jacksonin for instance.  I can't think of any other specific examples (my brain is, after all, Teflon) but my tutor had to agree that names do have a way of being changed here.  She spouted off quite a few, like some political figures, and their names changed so much that they were hardly recognizable.

My tutor suggests that it may simply be that the change makes it easier to pronounce the name in Finnish.  Most Finnish first names seem to end in a vowel, for instance;  many English names do not.  Perhaps this is a plausible explanation, but I still take exception to the whole practice.  A name is a  name, after all.  It is a part of who we are, and one of the ways we differentiate ourselves from others.  It is a way that we identify ourselves, and a way that others identify us.  I just don't think it is right to go around changing other people's names without their knowlege or permission. 

If I ask you about (fill in the blank with a non-Finnishname spelled in Finnish) and you do not speak Finnish, how are you going to know who in the world I am talking about.  I'm just saying.  If the name has been changed drastically, how would you know?  Sure, names like Jacksonin can be guessed at, but I assure you, they do get worse.

Not the end of the world, certainly, but that is my two-cents worth on the subject;  take it for what it's worth.

My Brain is Teflon

So I have been taking Finnish lessons twice a week and I have a very good tutor.  She is patient, doesn't flinch as I butcher her native language, and has customized my lessons to fit my way of learning.  All that said, I still don't get it.  My brain is made of Teflon...nothing sticks to it.  Really, I'm quite convinced of it.  I can't seem to remember what I learn from one lesson to the next.  Forget that, I can't even remember it long enough to do my homework in-between lessons!

That's what has brought on this latest tirade, truth be told .  I'm sitting here trying to do my homework and I'll be darned if I can remember what order the words go in, or what the appropriate ending, or endings, are for the words.  Have I mentioned that words are very long here?  They are, and now I'm learning what can be added to the root word to make it a question and so on.  So basically what I am getting from this is that the Finns are efficient.  What we Americans say in four or five words, the Finns say in just one.  I haven't decided which way is better,  I know, my tutor says it isn't a matter of being better, it is a matter of simply being different.  She is right, of course, but I still can't help wondering.

So I will go back to my homework like a good little student, but I make no promises...I will still probably butcher the language!  My apologies to all good Finns everywhere.

Which is Softer?

Which is softer: a lamb or an elephant?  No, I haven't lost my mind, or my sense of touch either.  But this is the choice here in Finland when it comes to toilet paper.  You heard me right.  Toilet paper.  I was in the grocery today and noticed once again the pictures on the toilet paper packages.  OK, toilet paper is pretty hard to mistake, it is usually in more or less clear packaging and it isn't hard to understand what it is.  That being said, I can't read the writting on the package, and while I'm sure it touts the softness and strength qualities of the paper, I am left to use the pictures on the packages to decide which to choose.

Enter the lamb and the elephant.  Oh, yes, there is also a squirrel.  For those who have touched these three animals, the choice is easy.  Please, elephants are rough and scratchy, squirrels not too bad, but by far, the lamb is the softest.  If you wanted your toilet paper to feel like an animal, is an elephant really the first thing that comes to mind?  I love them, don't get me wrong, but what were the advertising people thinking?  OK, perhaps strength, but that's a little overkill, don't you think?  I suppose the squirrel wants to secret away the wonderful paper?  I just don't know.

Chalk it up to one more mystery for the non-Finnish-reading American.  Perhaps there is a story here I am just not getting, but it struck me funny and I thought I would share.