Category Archives: in english
I’d like to see this approach in metro systems all around the world
May I have some culture with my commute, please.
Seen in a recent trip to London.
European Day of Languages
The funniest part of this event is that I probably understand more about Europe and Europeans than your average person hereabouts. After all, I’ve studied their languages and cultures for many years, and have lived here for a few.
There were two very interesting tidbits for me when they had this stand in Kamppi: I could read and understand more than 8 squares in this poster, which was surprising, and I was able to fill their test on European languages with full marks in under 2 minutes… and I’m not even European.
On the financial crisis
Mexican Culture Week in Helsinki
Finally the Mexican Embassy here truly put a programme together for Independence Day, and there was a whole week of activities last week related to Mexico and Mexican culture. They did have the traditional reception for the Mexican community here, but there was also a piano concert, exhibitions of folk dress and art, workshops on Mexican dance, architecture and the experience of Mexicans in Finland, and they even brought a famous Mexican chef here!
There was some interesting cultural exchanges during the period, as the video below of local student choir Ylioppilaslaulajat shows:
I even ended up singing at some point, LOL… 😉 Kudos to the Mexican Embassy, and I hope they organise these kind of events again.
The Post-American World
A very good book by Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek fame, brought home the point that the US, as important as it is in the world, cannot go it alone anymore.
This is an extremely important point to explain to the American public given the nearing elections and the vastly diverging approaches to this matter of both candidates. As reads in the article linked above, how can you take a unilateral course very major problem you face as a nation, from terrorism to nuclear proliferation to gas prices, requires joint action with others?
Russian ska in Helsinki: Leningrad
Ленинград (Leningrad) are a Russian ska band that I knew previously, and visited Helsinki a month ago. The gig was excellent, as you can see below, even if I didn’t understand a word.
Taquería in New York
Mexican immigration in the US is not limited anymore to the border states. More and more often, Mexicans are to be found in areas of the country they weren’t before. NY, which has had for long a Puerto Rican and Dominican Hispanic community, has received for the past 10 years or so an influx of people specifically from the state of Puebla in central Mexico. They are as inconspicuous in the city as any other immigrant community.
Some joke about Puebla York (instead of Nueva York, as it is called in Spanish). I was glad to have found a decent taquería in a recent business trip (as long as you’re willing to go for some pastor or lengua).
No “Chipotle Mexican Grill” for me.
See the world. Visit London
Of all the cities I’ve been, London still feels the most global in outlook of them all… as cheesy as this London tourism advert might be.
Finnish nature
One of the advantages of summer in Finland is that you can get in contact with nature. In a visit to the summer house we even found deer.