Fear and isolation - we don't have to do this

The world in which we live in seems to have turned into some unrecognizable clump these days. The world politics in general (some kind of clash of civilizations as Huntington the scientist put it) aside, rising nationalistic tendencies are creeping me out big time. This is not a happy topic in general, but it needs to see the daylight for that very reason.
Growing up in Finland, an unspoken solidarity between "us Europeans", especially the northern countries, Germany and maybe the benelux sector on top of that, was somehow always there. At least luring in the background if not admitted. It was us against them, the others being from further away - in the sense of culture, religion or map.

I've now lived in Germany for a year, and a huge layer of the society today seems to think it's Germany against everyone. Germans in Germany, the ideal situation, everything else is unnatural. You can fool the pattern by speaking perfect German. Otherwise you are in a wrong place. It is not natural to move that far from where you were born. This is how I've seen it.
During the elections in a tram, a man giving out brochures said we are "ok people, just in a wrong country". A colleague a lot like me calls the officials speaking obviously foreign German, mentions her (freaking good) position in a pharmaceutical company and gets a reply of "OH you have a job? OH. Oh." And to me the nastiest of them all: someone vandalizes my letter box name tag. Twice. Obviously I have a foreign name. German flags in private balconies. Someone yells "hau ab" (=leave) when I'm on the phone speaking Finnish.
Then there was the Brexit. The same old unhappiness with the situation of refugees and economy, only this time chanalised more chaotically than "just" one right-wing party hybris in one round of elections. Some days after the vote a Finnish girl working as a bartender in Wales encounters a well-dressed sober young man questioning her right and abilities (foreigner and all) to pour pints in a british pub. All the leave voters are not racists, but everyone who is a racist, probably voted for leave. Probably also the person behind the idea to laminate signs encouraging certain EU originated immigrants to sod off, as the UK is leaving the EU.

It's not that the majority of one kingdom is racist, it's just the ones that are, now seem to think half the country agree with them.

Old idiots affected the lives of so many

In Finland they already started an initiative to organise our own referendum, "fixit". The dude who started it argued: "Look at the other areas outside EU, their citizens' life there seems to have worked out just fine." Well, only limited people assume that somebody's life merely takes place inside the country they were born in.

I am so far from understanding this logic of "us against everyone" and "stay put where you come from" that I don't know what to think. Normally I detest racism, now I just feel like this is another planet and I want to go back to how things once were, or at least seemed to be. I want to point out that there is no reason to isolate yourself from other nations, the people are often very much like we/you are. This is a realization you usually get if you've spent time abroad yourself. From a pedagocical standpoint I think someone should catch this ball. Nothing feeds the attitude of patriotic solitude more than unawareness. If you never left your home village, you might just end up laminating insults. We need more international work shop days in school, more comparative religion/international relations experts in work life, more exchange programs already at younger age and just more positivity and love.

Just look at this, and tell me you agree with me - borders between us are actually often just fake:

Kesä 2016, ota koppi

Täällä ollaan pitkän ja töissä hujahtaneen kevään jäljiltä täynnä energiaa ja valmiina uuteen eräily- ja retkeilysesonkiin. Viruspohjaiset sairastelut on vaivanneet aika paljon, ja pari viikonloppuretkeä on pitänyt siirtää tän takia. Nyt siis mennään täysillä aina kun päästään.
Ja mitäpä muuta, uusi kämppä on ollut alla huhtikuusta lähtien, ja kesä on ollut meneillään noin toukokuun alusta. Tuli leikattua hiukset, täytettyä vuosia, käytyä pääsiäisenä hiihtämässä Suomessa jäällä, ajeltua ympäri ämpäri osavaltion maaseutua, nukahdettua pari kertaa Germersheim-Heidelberg -junaan, ostettua uusi puhelin, käytettyä sitä pari viikkoa ennen kuin joku sen jo nyysi laukusta, nahisteltua nationalistin kanssa ja käytyä toteamassa, että valtavat amfiteatterit vuorien päällä oli normitouhua kolmannen valtakunnan aikana. Töissä kuviot on jo rutinoituneet, ja on ollut mahtavaa huomata, miten nopeasti siitä on tullut oma yhteisö ja oma paikka, jossa minua tyyppinä ja osaajana ihan aidosti arvostetaan.

Terassikausi aukesi joskus... Maaliskuun alussa taidettiin työkavereiden kanssa tämä happy hour testata

Nyt on pyörä! On tullut tehtyä muutama Neckar-jokivarsiretki tämän yksilön kanssa

Uusi kotitalo aseman vieressä. Ja taivas on ollut useammin kuin kerran tuon näköinen kotiin tullessa

Tarkoitus olisi kirjoittaa enemmän arjesta, kun sitä on jonkin verran muualla sosiaalisissa medioissa kysytty, eikä vain näistä jännistä reissuista, mutta kopioin nyt heti kärkeen kuitenkin kesäkuun ekan viikonlopun pikkukylän kahvilassa raapustetut reissumuistiinpanot Lontoon murteella.

Odenwald bushrallies etc.

So like Lazarus I have returned. I already wrote a rather long post, composing it together for weeks, but just as I was about to put it here I pretty much realised it was crap. Also, old information. I was feeling down for a while and wanted to whine about it back then, in April and March that is, but I now know how to handle my shit and decided to keep this place positive. Especially when there are so many nice things in life. There is so much more to explore in the southern Germany, and I am just about to get my schedules in order. The thing is, after my home office starts going smoothly, I will have many extra hours per day and week, more time to engage in sports and other things that make me happy. By the way, I moved in April, and I now have a studio apartment of 33 square meters just for myself. Occassionally I find myself missing the WG life, but then again it is ok to be able to leave a cup in the sink for a day without anyone pointing it out.
I am very lucky to have been granted holidays from work although this is only my sixth month at their service. My plans are to go to Finland twice, first briefly for some midsummer chilling in June and later for two weeks in August. I still have time to do camping trips with my greatest outdoor pronto Maki, and in fact, we are camping as we speak (or write. Or I write, and he is driving somewhere on his way back here).

Omelettes on their way...

I always loved German villages. If I want a vacation, I usually don't want some busy touristy place. Right now it is not even weekend yet, I sit in a cafe in Freudenberg, a small quiet village by Main, look outside and see its old town. Thats pretty much all I have seen today, apart from handful of people. You know that feeling, when you're definitely the only tourist anyone has seen in ages, taking pictures walking down the main street, and the few people you actually come across, look at you with a mixture of confusion and delight? If not, try it.

It started to rain a bit, and I decided to shelter it in a city museum. The entrance was shared with the Rathaus, city office, and as I got in I had already made two new friends, just random officials working there, who wanted to tell me all about the city, the house and the museum. One of them even wanted to give me his umbrella. The museum was pretty nice, in five floors, basically telling the story of one village.

Nature is just so important. I need to go and do some bush rallies regularly to compensate the daily commuting and time accounting that happens to be my life. The nature here is amazing. The camping place is located in the greenest possible spot, there is a small lake that is just as good as any Finnish lake, hills on both sides of the camping area and the weather has been great (not super sunny, but it doesnt have to be). And this is not the high season. The peace and beauty, that's what I'm paying for.

Can I drinkz dis

Yesterday we went for a hike in the Odenwald, a huge forest that begins from somewhere here and continues all the way to Heidelberg that is 150km away. The forest is super deep, and once you've entered, you forget very fast what it is like breathing city air. We found a stream running through the forest, made a short stop, cooled down, ate our lunch sandwhiches and then headed back. It's been really relaxing.
So, all the people in Finland, Canada and some here as well who have been asking, this is what has been up, I'm doing ok here and look forward to hearing from you too.