Most of my friends would like the snow to have melted already, but I don’t really mind snowfall now as long as it doesn’t continue in May. it also gives me more chance to continue practising cross-country skiing that little while longer here in southern Finland.
Category Archives: in english
Foreigner or local?
Every once in a while I meet someone new (who doesn’t?). As a foreigner in Finland that means first disbelief of why would anyone move to this country followed by either suspicion or only a request to know the whole set of decisions bringing you here, how do you like it here and how is your life here. As I’ve lived in the Helsinki area for most of my adult life, explaining why and how I came to this point has become a longer story than I might be comfortable sharing on a first meeting, so depending on the person the exchange might go something like this:
“Mut, mistä sä oot kotoisin? (But, where are you from?)”
“Täältä (Here).”
Problem solved 😉
Spotted in the wild
Twitter. Why????
Because microblogging is turning into a 6th sense of social awareness. And scores of people are joining every day.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt laughing about it every once in a while.
The Valio cows
One of those little details I really like are the Valio milk carton cows (pictured to the right). The drawings change by season so you would have cows picking mushrooms in spring, cows in the beach in summer, cows walking in the wind in the fall or cows skiing or skating in winter.
Cute, even if I don’t even buy their brand. And don’t get me started with the variety of milk products available hereabouts…
Grey day
I can guarantee you most people don’t move to Finland for the gorgeous weather. 😉
The new capitalism?
Found this very interesting document on the reasons of the economic downturn and the ways forward at Robert Peston’s blog at the Beeb.
I find especially interesting his thought that global markets need global rules.
Snow kangaroo at the Aussie Bar
🙂
Finnish tabloids
In Finland you will find two nationwide tabloids: Iltalehti & Ilta-Sanomat. The Ilta-rags share a similar tone with their Mexican and British cousins, focusing on the main page on issues that are really not that serious.
The main difference I find between the local versions and others is also their focus on, how can I say it, jealousy. Not only will there be endless features on the Tax circus every year around tax retrun time, but also continuing coverage of the financial dealings of “celebrities” and other individuals.
This envy-as-a-social-phenomenon is something I hadn’t given much thought to unil I read Juoksuhaudentie, a novel about the Finnish dream of having a house of your own. The chapters where we see what the neighbours think about the main characters are quite chillng, as not only they disapprove completely, but express it freely and want to make their lives more miserable.
This kind of attitude is something that I tried to get rid of, as in certain circles where I grew up it can be quite common. I know in the case of a novel it’s just fiction, but are people really like that? Maybe it’s just human nature…
Timezones, timezones
Even though I love my work, one of the things that makes it a little heavier is the need for interaction with different timezones. When I wake up I already have e-mails from Singapore (Finland +6 hours), around noon I’ll be chatting with colleagues from the UK, in the afternoon it’s the turn for the guys in New York and before going to sleep every once in a while I have to have a chat with my colleagues from the west coast of the United States (Finland -10 hours).
No wonder I sometimes feel I only stop working during weekends . At least the kind of workstyles and input are very diverse. 🙂