Being reintroduced to life as a North American had its pros and cons. Andrew and I have been Finlandized in a sense, and some of the things we experienced in the US reminded us of why we left in the first place. And of course it was fun to explore things that we have missed so much since living in Finland.
The grocery shopping was great! Although I felt like I had gut rot for four months, it was a nice break to experience the "easier" meals to make for dinner and the desserts! Oh the desserts! Surprisingly I only gained about 6 or 7 pounds being there, but it was totally worth it! Oh, so yummy.
The other shopping was cheap too. I ordered toys and books and clothes for the kids that were so much cheaper than in Finland. Boots and snowsuits and the such.
I think Tucker also enjoyed Boston, he was a local celebrity. We had complete strangers come up to us while we were out on the street with him and say "Oh, this must be Tucker! We heard a bassett hound moved into the neighbourhood". WHAT? Every time we went outside, we had so many people compliment us on how awesome our dog is. He was seriously a celebrity there!
Before the trip to Boston, I was really looking forward to being surrounded by the English language. However, that's not always a good thing. Riding on the subway or sharing an aisle at the grocery store, I constantly heard people chatting away on their cell phones in English. As I am used to Finland where people speak Finnish and I have just learned to tune everybody out, I found myself in Boston feeling very uncomfortable that I could hear their conversations. I felt that I was eavesdropping!!! It was surprisingly awkward for me. Ha ha. One of those funny things that you don't expect to experience, I guess.
Boston was also an eye opener to US life, as I found there was a massive amount of paranoia around safety and children. I would be walking down the street while Maddy was 20 meters ahead of me on her scooter, and people would be staring at her wondering where her parents are. Like seriously, I'm right behind her! She'd walk off the subway and people would be staring at this girl who was, in their eyes, "alone" because she didn't have her mother attached at her hip. I love the safety of Finland where children are taught independence and there isn't this massive paranoia around raising your children.
I also felt very uncomfortable during our road trip, particularly in Washington and NYC, where there were policemen EVERYWHERE! Like even in the mall food court, policemen were standing there staring at everybody. It made me feel like I was guilty of something and actually made me feel less safe. I could feel their stares on me.
Perhaps the hardest part about Boston was the hours that Andrew was working. The North American work expectations are so much higher than in Finland and it seems to me that they have their priorities totally messed up. It's not that Andrew was working so much more than everybody else, he said that all the "regular full time" people were working the same amount of hours as he was. That is no life to raise your children, when you leave before they wake up and come home after they are already in bed. Definitely eye opening.
Like I have said before, Boston had its pros and cons. The most important thing was that the four of us stuck together as a family.
Time for our next adventure! The Finnish summer...
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