Monthly Archives: March 2008

in english

Does Mexico have the wrong export strategy?

Ever since reading The World is Flat and checking out books on the creative economy, I've been wondering if Mexico is competing in the wrong niche.  Since before the start of NAFTA in the 90's, the country has focused on the maquiladora sector, basically using the wage differential between Mexico and the United States for its gain.

Since 2000, however, we found out that China, even being so far away, has basically strong competitive advantages to beat Mexico at that game, regardless of the location of both countries.  They can produce faster, cheaper and with less of a fuzz.  Mexican industries, however, have specialised in sectors that require just-in-time delivery or very specialised knowledge, leaving them vulnerable to the oscillation of supply and demand in those areas.

The Tec de Monterrey, one of Mexico's leading universities, has been trying to foster the creation of a knowledge economy, but I think that is not the right focus.  A knowledge economy presupposes the dependence on knowledge created elswhere, with the relevant fees for patents and such, whereas we should be focusing on going further than that.  This, however, needs more initiative than we seem to have…

in english

Kudos to the Espoo Police

If you are a regular reader of this blog (or an immigrant yourself), you know immigration procedures are not easy.  Therefore, I would like to give a big thanks to the Espoo Police.

I went to renew my residence permit last week, which is a process that nominally takes three months.  We arrived at their office at 8 a.m., and since all my papers were in order and they had me in the system, they did all the process on the spot and one hour later I left with a new permit for another couple of years.  I found excellent, courteous service and as you can see a very fast turnaround.

It seems the authorities do want my taxes after all ;-).

in english, suomeksi

“Being born in Finland is like winning the lottery”

"On lottovoitto syntyä Suomeen" is a phrase you hear often enough in Finland, referring to their perceived fortune at their high standard of living.  Whereas I agree that it is indeed a nice place, I believe the statement is flawed for the most important thing is not where are you born, but what you do with your life. 

I've seen plenty of people of advantaged backgrounds but self-destructive attitudes.  Yes, a good starting point is nice to have, but shouldn't allow you to get overconfident or, shall I say, cocky.

in english

Learning Finnish swearwords

Surgeon general warning: if you get easily offended please skip this post. Move along.

I guess it is true that one of the first things people want to learn when starting a new language is the profanity… which in my case caused a couple of hilarious situations, as I came to Finland being able to utter only "kiitos" (thanks) and "perkele" (a general swearword of very strong intensity).

One of my first encounters with other vocabulary was in the public transport.  I used to live in a rather bad area (for the standards here) of east Helsinki and for a long time I would hear teenagers finishing their sentences with something that sounded like "tu".  Something like "Yadda yadda yadda tu, yadda tu. Tu, tu, tu".  Further down the line I understood that they meant "vittu" (cunt, but used as the local alternative to fuck).

Then came the summer, and a game called mölkky.  The problem was that I had some difficulty with Finnish frontal vowels (ä, ö, y), which led to me referring to it as mulkku (prick).  Hilarity ensued.

in english

The kind of foreigners I know in Finland

1 Comment

Well, I'm still not very happy about the police doing spot checks on people who look or sound foreign, since it assumes that we are all in some way or other breaking the law just because we don't look like the mainstream and happen to live here.  Of course, the most ironic thing of it all is that this activity is financed with my taxes.

Since in the news you only hear about those foreigners who are breaking the law, I wanted to show plenty of examples of those of us who aren't and are not exactly of Caucasian origin.

  • A, Turkish, male, works as a consultant, has two masters degrees.  Is married to a Finn.
  • B, Mexican, female, works as a designer, also has a masters degree.
  • C, Indian, male, works as a computer engineer.  Married to an Indian.
  • D, Malay, female, works in marketing.
  • E, Thai, female, is an IT specialist.
  • F, Venezuelan, male, is finishing his studies doing his thesis in an IT company.  Is married to a Finn.
  • G, Mexican, female, works in finance.  Is married to a Spaniard.
  • H, Japanese, female, works in finance.
  • I, Pakistani, male, also an IT specialist.  Is married to a Pakistani.
  • J, Turkish, male, owns and runs his barbershop.  Married to a Finn.  Has Finnish citizenship.
  • K, Nigerian, male, is an IT specialist.
  • L, Chinese, female, works as a strategist.
  • M, British of South Asian origin, male, works in business development.
  • N, American of Central American origin, male, works as a consultant.
  • O, German with African roots, male, works in a media-facing role.

I have plenty more, but I guess you get my drift.

I feel like I should be wearing a T-shirt reading "Olen ulkomaalainen.  Mitä sitten?" (I'm a foreigner.  So what?).  Who's with me?

in english

WTF?!?!

Finnish police is now spot-checking foreigners to find those without residence permit (myös suomeksi). Is racial profiling making its way here?  This, and the fact that I have to renew my residence permit again (after 7 years altogether living in Finland) and have to tell the authorities how I met my wife for the third or fourth time shows how welcome foreigners are over here, even when we contribute to society and pay our taxes just like everybody else.

I'm sorry if I sound rude, but I find this just insane.