“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 909 (Monday) – Finnish line

Today saw the start of a new adventures. Or more precisely, an enhancement to an ongoing adventure. After work, it was the first night of a ten-week, in-person, beginner level Finnish language class.  I packed a brand-new spiral bound notebook with a blue cover that is sort of like the blue in the Finnish flag and my favorite blue stick pen with blue ink.

I’ve known about the classes for several years, but the time was usually too early in the afternoon to work with work. This time, it lined up better with a start time after work. The hardest part might well be the hustle to get there in the midst of 5:00 traffic. 

Several of us have been learning with Duolingo, which is a good tool, but the self-study thing is kind of hard and lonely. The familiarity of Duolingo was helpful for making the sound of the language familiar, but an in-person teacher is significantly better for explaining the rules. Unlike the Duolingo lessons, we didn’t discuss cats who are Vikings, but we did learn a little about the KPT rule where there is no aspiration on those letters.

There are 13 of us in the class, and a nice mix of people with varying reasons to want to learn Finnish. A couple have Finnish spouses, most of us want to travel to Finland, and a couple have already been and want to return with knowledge of the language.

It's fun to have a thing to do that has a finish line of sorts (ha, ha) – better Finnish language skills and an endpoint at ten-weeks out. It’s fun to be doing it with a group of people who are pretty much at the same knowledge level. If it works out, there is another level to which to look forward. Jee!