Faking It.

It's been over 2 years now that I've moved to Finland and up until recently - I was horrible at faking Finnish.  One thing I was seriously lacking was confidence...the ability to look like I totally knew what you were saying in Finnish and being able to give the appropriate shrugged shoulder, facial expression or the right tone of "Uh-huh".
(Please note: I am very good at faking understanding a conversation in English.  I do it quite often with my husband - once he gets going with political talk or philosophy.)

But!  I am getting much better at it...
About a month ago - I started taking Finnish lessons in my home with my friend, M, teaching me and my husband.  Tim has already taken Part 1 of basic Finnish through the University of Jyv�skyl�.  However, after our son was born, he found he didn't have enough time to go to Part 2.
So right now - all these Verb Types and basic words to get around and "survive" are just a nice refresher for him - and slightly confusing for me.

We have lessons twice a week and an hour long per session - as I have a short memory and attention span when it comes to languages and remembering grammar rules etc....so 2 hours a week plus my homework (which I actually got done today prior to my lesson) is just the right length for me.

I'm realizing that despite my short memory for proper endings for verb types - I'm able to recognize and pick out more in conversations I overhear on a regular basis.
Things like numbers and food-related words aren't as foreign or as confusing anymore!  Although, when spoken quickly - it still makes my head spin.

To prove my new-found confidence in "faking it"- I shall share a story.
Yesterday V�in� and I went downtown to Sokos to have lunch in their "S-Market" on the bottom floor.  (It's not actually called "S-Market" but because they accept the S Card - I call it such).
V�in� sat beside me and happily ate his lunch while I happily ate my salad and pop.  He decided to get up and stand in his chair - so I quickly put him into his stroller and he was satisfied snacking on a carrot muffin with me.
There was a lady watching us and was very hopeful to take over our table with her spouse - but once she saw me settle back down to eating my almost-finished salad - she decided to take the table ahead of us.
However, this lady was very un-impressed by the previous diners at that table - because not only did they leave their trays and dirty dishes (one was in a wheel chair and the other was her friend pushing her along - so I guess they felt they didn't want to or feel the need to put away their dirty dishes as a courtesy to others) - but they left behind quite a bit of food un-eaten on their plates.
Well!  This lady who took over their table was VERY disgusted by all of this and voiced her opinion to me about it...she was waiting for a response so I just frowned a little and with a firm-looking face said "Hmm joo."  (Hmm yes)
She nodded at my response and gave me a big smile.
BOO YA! I got a Finn's seal of approval.... I didn't need to elaborate anymore because that's what Finns do - they keep it super simple when it comes to responding to something.

So when it doubt - just say "Joo". (Sounds like Yo, as in yo-yo, but a longer "o" sound at the end).