Back to America: Everything Looks Different

We did it. We survived.

Nine hour flights with a one year old. Eight hours of jet lag. Two cities, two families, way too much luggage. Having a baby that’s just learning to explore in the dirtiest environments possible. Going to museums but mostly just seeing the baby play areas. 

It was a blast. I’m super glad we went. But two weeks later, and I think I finally might be recovered. Maybe.

People said it would be harder traveling east and BOY were they not underestimating.

The flight to the US was harder. It was a day flight, and with so many new people, Soren was in party mode. He stayed up for 7.5 hours straight, which is a new record for this little guy (and not in a good way). But he was so tired when we arrived that he slept most of that first night, which really helped.

The flight home was a night flight, and Soren dutifully slept for most of it. We were thrilled, and actually got to nap and catch some movies. But we had a full week of 3AM wake-ups with a baby that wanted to crawl and play. Aaron went back to work right away, so that was alllllll me. I think I survived that week on coffee alone.

Realizations from seeing America from an outside perspective:

- The Chicago airport is unbelievably dirty. Not in a grime way, but in a not maintained because the market is captive way. Things are so patchwork it feels like an underfunded middle school, complete with mysteriously stick surfaces.
- Public trash cans seemed huge and I couldn't figure out why, until I remembered that they basically don’t exist on Finnish streets. People just take their trash home with them, like responsible adults.
- Water fountains, aka bubblers, everywhere! I miss these so much in Europe. The right to free drinking water is such a wonderful concept. Hopefully they do exist somewhere in Europe, but I haven't seen any outside of airports.
- I know the international terminal of the Chicago airport is a bit of an extreme, but it was nice to see so many races and cultures again. Finland is not all white, but very white.

- American bathrooms are a less wonderful concept. Those clumsy stalls that are poorly maintained, have huge privacy gaps, and are designed more to survive abuse than to use. And it really seems weird that there is only one flush button now.

- I cannot describe how bizarre it is to go from overhearing one word in twenty to understanding every conversation happening around you. It was like someone turned up the volume on everyone else’s thoughts.
- American signage is terrible. In Finland, they can't possibly fit all the dominant languages on every sign, so there is a lot of effort put into standardized symbols. When possible, signs usually include Finnish, Swedish, English, and even Mandarin when possible (lots of tourists from Mandarin speaking areas).
Just look at these two below. In Finland, if you can't read the word, you can probably figure it out from the symbol. In Chicago, lets say you are learning English and you are scanning for the word "Exit." It's not there. Who uses "Way out?"



- When we moved here, I remember griping about a lot of things being too small. Brooms, microwaves, washing machines. We must have adapted, because the appliances in our rental seemed comically large. Look at this microwave! What are you cooking in there, a full sized turkey?

 - The grocery stores. I've always hated the full sized American grocery stores (I'm a Trader Joe's girl), but it seems even crazier now. The section of bread is the half the size of the entire Alepa across the street from me. And I can tell you after my experience with food allergies that every single one contains soybean oil.

- Speaking of groceries, what's up with the onions? Medium sized onion in the US and in Finland:

- Language adjustments were hard, and we don't even speak that much Finnish. It took me a long time to stop saying "Anteeksi" instead of excuse me, and "kiitos" instead of thank you. But it's taking a lot longer on the return trip to stop using English by default!

- Bagels. Oh how I've missed them. It didn't occur to me that I hadn't seen any until we stayed across the street from an Einsteins. And I know, those aren't "technically" good bagels. But they are so good when you haven't had one in a while! Soren loves all breads, so of course bagels are included.

- Driving around a stroller at all times has really heightened my awareness of handicapped accessibility. Finland is by no means perfect (so many shops downtown with stairs at the entrance!), but public transit is generally extremely accommodating. Look at this sign for the Chicago blue line below. See the little handicap signs at the end of the station names? Only 14 stops have elevators. The rest don't even have escalators, just stairs. Out in the suburbs, I previously would have told you that American ADA laws provided more accessibility. But that only seems true if you drive a car. I can't tell you how many sidewalks only had ramps on the parking side, as if someone on wheels couldn't possibly be a pedestrian.

Not my photo, but I was thrilled to see that Milwaukee's new tram is extremely accommodating, with well integrated ramps, almost zero gap between the platform and the floor, and lots of flexible space inside!


That's all for now, friends.
More next time on starting at Kalasatama Päiväkoti - Day Care!