I was a bit late (I left home at around 9.50 am for my 10 o'clock lesson), so I walked fast. Along one road, there was this one old guy who turned around and started talking to me in FINNISH!!! Talk about practising Finnish HA HA HA HA HA HA...I told him that I didn't understand him since I only spoke a little Finnish. He then asked where I came from and upon reaching the traffic lights, I hit the button and he said that we had to wait until it turned green. That much I understood. He kept on chattering merrily even though I couldn't understand all of what he was saying hi hi hi...I understood the part when he said that the day was cold and when he asked me if there was snow in Indonesia ha ha ha ha...Then gladly we parted ways and I said goodbye to him. It was nice, though, meeting someone that friendly. *grin*
Anyway, I reached my class 5 minutes before it started. It didn't start at precisely 10 am since they were waiting for all the students to come. Upon arriving, I noticed an Asian woman sitting already and she noticed me right away HA HA HA...There were 3 rows of tables and 4 chairs on each row and I sat at the back row. The Asian woman sat on the second row and she kept on turning around HA HA HA HA...
Then my Brit friend MC called me since she couldn't find the place. I knew the place already since Arttu took me there once. After all, it is on the same floor as where his office is. After I gave her proper direction, she found the place and she came into class not long afterward.
Then the introduction started. Our Russian teacher doesn't speak fluent English, but gladly she understands most of what we're saying in English and she has an online dictionary to help her translate the words into English HA HA HA HA HA...THANK GOD for technology, eh? There are 3 computers in the room, so it helps!!!
Before we started the introduction, we were given a folder along with the writing paper and the pencil, pen, and eraser. I also noticed a table filled with two hot thermoses and cups and buns. Turned out we had two coffee breaks and OF COURSE I took the bun since it looked SO delicious and it was really YUMMY HO HO HO HO...Free buns!!! YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! ;-D What can you say? I'm a foodie HA HA HA HA...
After that, we introduced ourselves to our teacher (after she introduced herself to us, of course). There's an older Swedish guy, a French guy, a Thai woman, a Russian woman, a French woman, me, a Turkish guy, my Brit friend MC and her husband. There's going to be another student coming later on, so there'll be 10 of us.
From what I gathered today, the Turkish guy, the French woman, and the Thai woman don't have much knowledge about the Finnish language. Even though my own Finnish is still limited, at least I have the basic grammar in my mind and some vocabulary. But those three people really suffered in the class, I think. I had time to speak to the French woman during one coffee break and she was totally confused. The Asian woman also expressed the same thing.
The teacher tried to translate her words into English or Russian, but still she started at a pretty fast pace. I'm SO THANKFUL that I had had time to learn some basic Finnish grammar and vocabulary before I started this course. Otherwise, I'd also have to either learn REALLY hard on my own or be as absorbent as a sponge (read: be a genius that absorbs everything very quickly). I understood at least half of what the teacher was saying in Finnish to us. But of course after her added explanation in English, it all became MUCH more clearer ha ha ha ha ha...
Today we've got some homework. We're asked to write down what we expect from the course: the lessons, grammar-wise, exercise-wise, and everything. GREAT idea!!! I have an idea already on what I expect, and it's going to be fun since the other students will also give her ideas, so it's going to be helpful. ;-D
I'm pretty optimistic about this course even though the teacher doesn't speak English fluently. After all, there's always a silver lining behind every cloud, right? HE HE HE HE HE HE HE...
After I got back home, I felt SO sleepy, yet I couldn't take a nap due to coffee. I only drank 3/4 of a CUP of coffee, can you believe it? Tsk tsk tsk...I think tomorrow I'm gonna look like Zombirella (a female zombie) HA HA HA HA HA HA...
Anyway, starting tomorrow we'll get a full-time course, so it's gonna start at 9 am until around 3.15 pm. I don't mind getting lots of homework later on, since I really want to make the best out of this course before our baby program starts. After all, without a kid to take care of, I can really focus on this course HE HE HE HE HE HE...
Okie dokie, that's all my report for today. Oh yeah...it was around -12.5'C in the morning when I went to the course, but it got up to -11'C when I got back home. It was a sunny cold day. VERY beautiful.
