Some things transcend language...

I've had my fair share of language gaffs since I arrived here. At a conference workshop, I tried to help out by bringing over some extra chairs for a discussion, and I brought over a chair that said RIKKI. Lets just say that I discovered the hard way that rikki means broken. I've gone in doors that said OUT and out of doors that said IN and I've tried to open doors to buildings that are closed. It can be a little bit like experiencing the world as an illiterate!

I had another bad library experience -I stood at the circulation desk trying to comprehend why my holds went to a different branch (after all, I used the English version of the catalogue!) The circulation staff talked amongst themselves, gesturing towards me as the line grew, avoiding eye contact, and generally looking quite irritated. I wish I could speak the language, I am trying, and I don't want to seem like an arrogant North American. I don't expect people to speak English at all, but I find that most people do, and get accustomed to that. I begin to hope that one person on staff at any given institution will comprehend me to some degree. I kept apologizing and shrugging, we don't have a car and I can't imagine trekking to somewhere else to get a book from a library, I asked if I could cancel it. Looks of irritation soon appeared and I was asked to move away from the desk. I was pointed towards a reference desk, where I met a librarian that did not speak English and found myself standing there bewildered as Mika tried to explain. The situation seems hopeless and I've given up on reading Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach until I get home. I know I will now be eternally sympathetic to foreigners and new Canadians when I'm back home working on reference some day. I think I have always been courteous, but now I see how a smile can go such a long way when someone is bewildered. Kindness transcends language.

Another thing that transcends language is drunkenness! I had the wonderful opportunity to join the staff on the Mobile Library Bus this week. The bus driver, did not speak a word of English. By pointing to book titles, gesturing, and writing numbers down, and by showing me his wallet, he managed to convey that he had two children and that his son, only fifteen years old is 185 cm tall and plays basketball. His daughter is 25 and has a 2 year old child. Pretty good eh?

At the last stop of the night, we were a bit weary (I have no excuse because I was simply observing - all reference and circulation transactions were in Finnish) when a woman got onto the bus wearing the unmistakable odor of liquor. I guess that's the problem with pulling a library bus up in front of someones house on a summer evening. She tied her dog up outside and it was carrying on barking relentlessly in piercing tones. Every now and then she shouted out the door at it. After she left, the librarian and bus driver burst into laughter, waving their arms and saying "Pheewwww!" and the bus driver mimicked glugging out of a bottle. Yup!

Anyways, it was lovely to see how the book bus works. Kids with bike helmets in hand were the number one customer. It was great to see how the bus can serve children in their own neighbourhood as they showed up at the right time, waiting to return books and pick up their holds. One girl picked up a slew of Manga while we held on to a pile of James Bond novels for a boy. The librarian knew many of her regulars and walked the length of the bus helping patrons find books. She had a keen sense of what people needed, and took time to refresh the fiction that was available while we were stopped. The shelves are very tightly packed, both to make the most materials available and to reduce flying objects while driving! They keep a tight collection of fiction, non-fiction (from sushi to gardening) and children's materials (including kids DVD's but not adults). The materials are quite fresh and new and are housed separately from the regular collection in the basement of the library.

I wish we had a mobile library bus at home. Sigh. On the road...