English isn’t Mikael Sormunen’s first language.
It’s not even his second, which is Swedish.
Along with German and Russian you could say it’s his third, fourth or perhaps fifth.
But that’s not uncommon for someone from Finland, which is where Mikael is from.
The 17-year-old, who is living in Westlock and is a Grade 12 student at R.F. Staples, is here for a year as part of a Rotary student exchange and handles the local version of English like he grew up speaking it.
He smiles as he gives his best central Albertan rhetorical ‘eh’, and talks about how he researched local customs before coming here.
“I knew that was a thing before I came here. When my first host family asked about it, I was like ‘that’s not a new thing for me’,” Mikael said.
Such diligence shouldn’t be surprising. Due to where he’s from, he has been exposed to one of the best education systems in the world.
Kids in Finland grow up speaking Finnish and Swedish and can seamlessly slip between the two.
Add to that the country’s location — in northern Europe, but not part of Scandinavia or a Baltic republic or even part of Russia.
Yet it’s not fair to Mikael to make out like he’s some kind of wunderkind. He’s not, and he’d be the first to admit it.
The humble teenager from the town of Akaa in southern central Finland is a down-to-earth guy who seems to take everything in his stride with an almost cheeky grin that screams ‘I’m having the time of my life!’
Akaa in many ways is a lot like Westlock, minus the farming. The population is comparable and they enjoy hunting, fishing and hockey.
It’s a good fit for Mikael, as he’s not suffered the culture shock you might expect could hit if you traveled half-way around the world and was dropped into a high school a full world away from where you came from.
“I’ve been enjoying it so much,” he said. “Even though we speak a different language it’s still pretty much the same.
“I have friends who are in the States as exchange students and they have had a huge culture shock because they (Americans) like to come closer and almost hug you when they first meet you and I haven’t found that here.
“The first day of school, I think they thought I was Canadian.”
But it’s not exactly the same. The Canadian sense of humor took him back a little.
Fins like sarcasm and heavy self-deprecation and Mikael’s use of it can that can often get lost on his peers who are used to the Canadian ‘tell it like it is’ sensibility.
A gentle ribbing from a Fin can seem quite confronting and perhaps even a little offensive if you don’t know that it’s coming from a place of good humor.
“Me and my friends use a lot of sarcasm. It’s like, we might say ‘it’s not good for you’ and it is actually good for you ... Canadians don’t use a lot of sarcasm, so I tried to stop using it.”
Every three months, he changes host families and gets to experience a different slice of Canadian life. So far he’s spent time with three different families.
“They have all been really good,” he said.
When he’s not in school and enjoying classes like gym, hockey is his priority.
The six-foot-plus defenceman who can play either side, but favours the right, has had a stand out season with the Warriors Midget 1 team.
In the 22 games he’s played he had racked up 14 points made up of eight assists and six goals.
While people might think international hockey means bigger rinks and more passing, that’s not how it’s been for Mikael.
“The rink where I’ve played for 10-years plus is the same size as the Spirit Centre,” he said.
Choosing his words carefully, he then goes on to explain some of the differences between hockey in Westlock and back home.
“I think the skill level is not the same here as it is in Sweden or Finland,” he said. “It’s more physical here, I would say.”
He then goes on to correct himself and that almost cheeky smile makes a reappearance.
“There is one other difference, they don’t speak Finnish here,” he said.
“If you start chirping at them in Finnish they …” Mikael doesn’t say anything more but shoots a look that he’s clearly seen many times on the ice, a mixture of confusion and bemusement that says ‘I’m not sure what you just said to me and I’m not sure how to take it.’
As the hockey season winds down, so does Mikael’s time here in Westlock and Canada.
He’s had the chance to see a bit of the country but you get the feeling his fleeting visits to places like Jasper, Yellowknife and New York have given him a desire to see more of the continent, but he’s not sure how much more he’ll get to see.
By July he’ll be home and while it’s clear he’ll miss Canada, there are things calling him back to Finland.
Without any hint of irony or sarcasm, he points out one of big differences between landlocked central Alberta and the maritime-centric Finland: “here, there’s a lot less fish.”
