If you don’t know how May Day is celebrated in Finland and why it’s important, this old Helsingin Sanomat article will give you the lowdown.  This year it was a little bit chilly but not unseasonably cold.  I noticed there was less people wearing high school graduation caps and more “carnival” style headwear.  I guess some sort of ethnographic inventory is in order, as still people don’t know what my cap is all about.

Havis Amanda after being crowned

Havis Amanda Panorama on May Day Eve (Vappuaatto)

Kaivopuisto full of revelers on May Day (Vappu)

Chances are if you were born after1980 like countless others (including yours truly) you are marveled, intrigued and annoyed by the way older people see you, your habits and your value systems.  You understand (but don’t always sympathize with) the way your elders understand technology and the web… or don’t. You are used to have the TV on at the same time as your music player while you read a book, browse the web and have friends coming over.  For you video games are as much a social experience as a way to relax and pass away time, and there is no way you would look at them as “The Big Satan”.  If you’re already working, you might have a hard time adjusting to hierarchies, but are a diligent team worker and require honesty from the company that employs you.

If you want to get a broader perspective of why these characteristics set you apart from your elder peers, or if on the other hand you are looking inside these brats’ fenced garden see how it all came to this   this is the book you want to read.

Finally had a chance to start watching Battlestar Galactica after having only seen the miniseries and I have to say it is some of the best TV and Sci-fi I have ever seen.  The character depth, the plot and the number and seriousness of the issues tackled are simply astounding, and production is also very glossy and visually appealing.

Without spoiling much of the plot, one of the many themes tackled throughout the series is the desire of artificial constructs to become human (and acting “more Catholic than the Pope” in the process) so they can assimilate into human communities.  There’s a link to the relationship between immigrants and their host societies there somewhere…

2000 km southeast and 30°C warmer than the previous location: Main square of Mérida, Yucatán.

Sunset over the pool in Celestún, Yucatán.

The only not so nice detail was when on meeting some people I hadn’t seen in a long time I realised that the crab mentality seems to be alive and well in certain sectors of society. Shame, but hey, what can you do. Overall it was great and I cannot wait to be back again, if only for holidays.

As my previous post detailed, I spent a great holiday in Mexico, catching up with friends and especially family.  We spent a week in Mexico City, then 6 days in the Copper Canyon trail and a few days in Mérida and the natural reserve of Celestún before having to return to the winter wonderland.  I was struck by the enormous variety of landscapes and peoples living in the country where I was born, even if I knew it in theory.  As usual, pictures say it better (if you want to see more than these, they’re all here).

The winter sky sometimes seems to take a life of its own.

Copper Canyon: Barranca de Urique from Cerro del Gallego in Chihuahua state. The largest of 32 federal entities in Mexico, Chihuahua is bigger than many European countries, e.g. the United Kingdom.

Deep view of Copper Canyon in Divisadero

Copper Canyon panorama from Divisadero

Copper Canyon detail

Copper Canyon: Piedra Volada or why would anyone get so close to a loose rock?

The rarámuri (tarahumara) peoples live in the area, and many sell their handcrafts to the tourists. I earned some brownie points by thanking them in their own language ("Chirigüeraba").

It also snows in parts of Mexico, you know? Creel, Chihuahua

This is not a Finnish lake, but Lago Arareco in Chihuahua state.

Cusarare waterfall, Chihuahua.

Continues in Part 2

I have been thinking lately about the Darwin Awards, which you might know are all about:

Honoring those who improve the species… by
accidentally removing themselves from it!

Given the general conditions of life here in the far north, there are a few ways in which you could very easily make yourself due to receive such an “honour”.  Some of my favourites below:

• Riding a bike dressed in black in November-January.  Invisibility might be a good thing for ninjas, but you want to be as visible as possible so that you don’t get run over by a car.
• Not enough clothing in winter, especially if alcohol is involved. Obvious really.
• Not taking care of the sauna stove while drinking. How many times have we seen houses burn down, with people inside?
• In summer, going fishing with a couple of beers on.  A few deaths every year involve people who drown in lakes with their zippers down.

Any sure ways of winning the Darwin Awards that are common hereabouts you might want to add, that don’t include alcohol?

I don’t know about you, but that’s probably the one award I could live my life without.

Es interesante ver que algunas de las semillas de la presente situación en México fueron plantadas durante el llamado “milagro mexicano” de 1940-1971.  Clientelismo, monopolios y falta de valor agregado en las actividades económicas  son vicios que se hicieron fuertes durante esa época.  Algunos otros se fortalecieron más tarde, especialmente el narcotráfico, el descuido del sistema educativo y el enfoque exclusivo en Estados Unidos.

En las últimas semanas han llamado mi atención una serie de artículos en los que se manifiesta la preocupación de algunos sectores dada la situación actual de México, especialmente en comparación con nuestros vecinos latinoamericanos.  La diferencia nace, a mi parecer, de la decidia de la clase política y de la falta de una cultura democrática en la sociedad que complemente nuestro sistema político.  Somos buenísimos para quejarnos y para asistir a manifestaciones, pero díganme quién le ha llamado a su diputado o senador para pedirle que rinda cuentas.

Viendo desde fuera el número de oportunidades perdidas en los últimos 10 años por el exceso de politiqueros y la falta de verdaderos estadistas, y el estado de nuestra inversión en el desarrollo de recursos humanos a través de la educación, por desgracia no me sorprende el estado del país.

Por desgracia, como es más fácil armar mitotes que ponerse a trabajar, no soy tan optimista como quisiera. Espero estar equivocado.

By now everybody and their mother have heard about the “balloon boy hoax“: a kid was feared to have flown away on a balloon kept in his family’s back yard who garnered huge media and law-enforcement attention until it was found that first he was not there in the balloon and then that it had all been staged.

More than anything, I think it is a commentary on the length to which some will go in order to attain “fame”, even at the cost of everybody else.  They got their 15 minutes, but could end up with a 2 million USD fine and 6 years in jail.

When I was growing up and my parents’ friends would come over to our place, there would usually be dinner and/or coffee and they would just keep on doing the “adults’ conversation”.

Now that I’m an adult and some of my friends already have kids of their own, when we meet we sometimes have dinner and/or coffee, but there’s almost always a playing session on the Wii going on, while we take turns to take care of and play with the kids. Videogames (of a certain kind) have become part of the social experience.

I’m not sure I can picture my mom shredding to Guitar Hero: Metallica while I was growing up.  Makes me wonder what kind of things will our children take up to show their rebellious spirit when the time comes if they are so inclined.

Yo ya había visto esta reflexión en un e-mail, pero ahora me encontré con el video.  Como un mexicano radicado en el extranjero, orgulloso de mis orígenes pero que también ha aprendido de la cultura del lugar donde se encuentra, me da pena.  Y rabia.

Via Vivir México.