Sunday, July 18, 2010

imbalances of power

i was inspired to write, so i flipped through my journal for a subject and we'll start with this: at a party for the summer solstice in Estonia, i was helping to group branches together which are used in the sauna as a sort of beating device (it feels very good, i promise) and i had just met the people around me, which were a mix of estonians and russians. i dont really know why, but someone of those who knew english asked me if i knew anything about Belarus. with a guilty heart, i confessed that in fact, i knew nothing about Belarus. one of the women remarked, in russian, that everyone knows everything about the U.S. but U.S. people dont know anything about the rest of the world. i took her seriously, even though it was a joke, and i exclaimed "i know!" and then began to protest in a voice that was louder than necessary that yes, this was unfair and i know that the world is this way at the moment and its not fair that U.S. people dont know anything about the world which knows everything about them (which in fact, is not completely true on either side), but that i was trying, okay? and that how can i be expected to know everything about the entire world?

such were my protests. at the time, i did in fact feel exasperated that i should be expected to know everything about the entire world. but my entire purpose there was to be learning about that part of the world. and i felt it was unfair, because i have spent 4 or 5 years studying latin america really intensely, and i am very young, and if anything about Belarus was mentioned in high school, which i doubt it was, then i have forgotten it. the lady was joking, but as i often do, i took the joke seriously and i couldnt just laugh it off, probably because i havent yet reconciled my guilt for US foreign policy decisions that have nothing to do with me.
but even as i protested, i also began to question was i right to protest such a comment. maybe its unfair to expect me to know everything about the world, i didnt ask for that, but i also didnt ask for the US to be a superpower and so maybe i do in fact have a responbility to know a lot about the world, since the U.S. meddles in all the worlds affairs. and maybe if i had never gone to the middle of nowhere, estonia, i would never have found myself in such a situation, or have felt guilty about not knowing anything about Belarus, so maybe if im going to travel i should read a lot first. which normally i would be an advocate of doing that, except oddly enough i have to say that not reading before making this trip has made me much more open to hear what people have to say, and to learn about history through people's stories and perspective, rather than books, and the more people i talk to, the more diverse the perspectives become, and without reading beforehand, i have not as many prejudices towards how history happened and i can hear it from the people.

so i am a little conflicted. the U.S. is in every corner of the world, if not the government herself, then Coca cola, McDonalds, Southpark, Law and Order, Barbie, and ipods are sure to be in every city in the entire world, and anywhere that a television antenna reaches, they will be there too. i am bothered by this. very bothered. so maybe i can assuage my botheredness by learning about the entire world. i just dont know. some say the human brain has not evolved as fast as technology, our brain is not equipped to handle so much information at once, or such large social circles. i would like that believe that, as i feel the world is un-managable, although i do know people who know things about the entire world.

what a strange world. in school we learn about U.S. history, and in every other country, they also learn about U.S. history. i am bothered by this, but dont quite know how to solve it.
i remember that i asked an estonian if they had any special new year traditions for january first (although this is the West's new year). when he said no, not really, i joked, "you mean you dont drop a big diamond ball?" he gave me a puzzled look, and do you know, i was THRILLED to discover that i could actually share something that he doesnt know about the U.S.??!! U.S. media have so inundated the entire world that in estonia, i was beginning to feel it was impossible to even tell young people what the U.S. is like because they already know! and of course, this adds another layer, because the U.S. is so large, and the movies only portray a part, that is all stereotypes. but these aside, like i say, i was so excited that this young man had never heard of the ball dropping in Times Square and that we could have a real exchange (instead of the usual- me knowing nothing of estonia and him knowing everything about "America"). and of all things, this stupid tradition is the one i get to share? ("oh yes, its very popular, in fact people line up 24 hours in advance and bring bottles to pee in!")

i do admit that i like talking about the U.S. when people ask because one of my favorite things to do is dispel stereotypes. i met a young estonian man who could quote Southpark and who knew everything about our financial system from watching a lot of youtube (and tell me how many U.S. young people know that the dollar is not backed by gold?) BUT he had never actually met a real U.S. person. and i couldnt even talk pop culture with them. "leah, who is your favorite actor or actress?" "uuuhhhh..."

Latvians call people from the U.S. "ohmygods". i found this hilarious. and despite the fact that i did indeed find myself saying "oh my god" a lot in our conversations, a Latvian family told me later that i broke their stereotypes of "Americans", which i will admit, i am proud to admit. even though i am still not settled about if i have the responsibility or not to know everything about the world.
well this post easily turned into a long one. goodnight.

Monday, July 05, 2010

finland




i was in helsinki only three days, but there a few things i selected to comment on:

1. my host. i was couchsurfing for the first time and i had a great first experience. i think couchsurfing and other networks like it are wonderful ways to travel - i was greeted at the train station and taken to my host\s home and we made dinner together and i immediately felt at home. much better than being in an anonymous hostel. the wonderful thing is realizing not only cultural differences (learning that other ways are possible) but also similarities between people who live on opposite ends of the earth. one of my favorite comments from my host was: -I drink entirely too much coffee. And I have a bad habit of making coffee and then only drinking half the mug and then the sink is cluttered with half-filled coffee mugs-. i read somewhere that Finns drink the most coffee per capita than any other country. my host also told me stories about her family - her father was a communist but most of her family came over from estonia before the revolution. so she felt sad for her father, because he really believe that people should be equal but it failed in the Soviet Union, and she thinks it is idealistic but it doesnt work in practice (i will be writing on this from my estonia & latvia experiences). in finland education and health care is free for everyone. even college. i couldnt quite imagine this. free. for everyone. i mean, it is a possible thing, you know? there are only 5 million people in Finland. and i think about small versus large countries and i think national pride is more understandable in smaller countries because maybe (maybe) there is a little less diversity of lifestyles and opinions (but i'm beginning not to believe this either) but i also think that a lot can be done with education and health care when you don't spend more than 50 % of your budget on military expenditures. just saying.

2. speaking of military expenditures. i went to visit one of the most famous sightseeing spots for Helsinki - an island called Suomenlinna, which was a military fortress (see picture). i didnt take a tour or anything, so i just wandered around, and of course, happened upon a prison (see foto). the sign said you couldn't go in. i asked at the information desk and was given a very weird look but was told it was an operational prison and there were about 90 prisoners who did work around the island. as prisons go, this doesn't seem to bad - they can work and be outside and wander around the island. i found a couple things interesting - i wonder if anyone has written a book on islands and prisons. being on this little island, i thought of Alcatraz, and stories i have heard of the Galapagos Islands, which had both a US military base on it at one point (a terrible history of what they did to the island) and a prison. i'm sure someone has. islands seem to be used as military/naval advantage points, and they are also isolated, making it the perfect place for people society or governments don't want. i also find interesting that the island is a destination for prisoners and tourists. there are also some 850 residents. i asked one girl i met in helsinki about it and she didn't even know it was there. my host did, and told me some of the history.

3. finland's currency is the euro and estonia has crowns but both are in the EU. estonia is cheaper however, and about two hours away. so one thing my host told me is that estonians are upset because finns will ferry over from helsinki to tallinn, buy a lot of beer and go back. in fact, they don't even leave the dock. on weekends they will drink on the way there, buy a lot of beer, drink in the pubs right near the dock, and then stumble onto the boat drunk. my host called them ^drunken hobbits^. sure enough, on the boat to tallinn i noticed many people with little carts that they bring to stock up with beer, and a store of beer right at the dock.