Tag Archives: culture

in english

Challenging stereotypes and learning the local culture

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: given that the amount of foreigners in Finland is the lowest in western Europe, and that I have little if anything to do with the stereotype of immigrants here besides the fact that I’m a little bit darker than the average I continuously feel I’m some sort of pioneer on a mission to challenge those beliefs.

The latest episode was funnily enough with a teacher of Finnish as a foreign language.  When I explained I’m very interested in knowing what kind of Finnish literature are teenagers exposed to in high school, she was more than a little surprised (I’m not sure in a positive way) especially since I continued by saying that it is so that I understand Finnish cultural references better as I haven’t been exposed to them in my professional studies (“Oh, so you have a profession?”) even though I have taken the Yleiskielentutkinto, the official exam of Finnish proficency.

I wonder what kind of reaction would I get if I told her I’m thinking of starting Swedish lessons, which would be my 9th language…

in english

Adaptation / Integration / Assimilation

Lately I’ve been meditating quite a lot on why some of my friends have not been able to fit here in Finland and left, while I am still here, going on with my life and generally happy with it.  Since some of them actually had a Finnish (or half-Finnish background) but spend their formative years abroad, I think we can safely assume that in their cases it was not due to lack of exposure to the language and culture.

I’ve also been thinking about the immigration debate in Finland, and how the desired state of all commentators (and I’d assume more than a few immigrants) is that newcomers should successfully integrate to Finnish society.  However, the question then becomes  what does integration actually mean, and how is it achieved.  With that in mind, I started to go over my own process while living here, and I have sketched a model for it with 3 different (and grossly oversimplified) stages.

  • Adaptation: The process of making terms with your new surroundings, including first contact and ways of working with the location, language, culture…
  • Integration: Now this becomes more of a two-way street.  You acquire more traits of your host society, but at the same time are accepted as part of it as well.
  • Assimilation: When there is no important difference between yourself and the society you live in.  Probably you won’t achieve it, but your kids might.

Based purely on my own observations (and taking into consideration that I am no social scientist) I am starting to believe that the biggest challenge is making the leap between adaptation and integration.  Letting go of your expectations while at the same time holding a grip on your possibilities while understanding your environment better seems to be quite hard.  Coming to terms with a language that might be very different, and values and behaviours that might not always correspond to your own, and both learn from and accept such differences requires a certain strength and a support network that not all of us have.

This is of course not helped by the fact that the phenomenon is quite new for the host society as well, which is still coming to terms with it itself.

in english

The many faces of Mexico

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The many faces of Mexico

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

It’s funny how people always assume that Mexicans are all brown, without taking into consideration the history of the country. Before the Spanish arrival there were already different peoples in what is now the Mexico, and with the conquest also came people from Asia, Africa and the rest of Europe.

Unilke other parts of the world, we have mixed for hundreds of years, so there is not the same kind of racial relations as there is in the United States (in my humble opinion, Mexicans are more classist than racist).

It’s difficult to focus only on skin colour when even members of your own family can look completely different from you.

in english

Lucha Libre again!

Flash in flight!!!
We visited the Arena México again this time, and had a lot of fun.  One of the main attractions currently is a wrestler called Máximo, whose character acts as if he were very over-the-top gay, for example trying to kiss the other wrestlers instead of hitting them.  In such a homophobic and macho country as Mexico I would have assumed it to be polarising, but he seemed to be a favourite with the public.

It is not hard to see why as he was frankly hilarious.  You can judge yourself below:

in english

Drinking before travelling

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One hand, two beers

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

Don’t get me wrong, as any long-time reader of this blog knows, I like my beer. However, I find rather disgusting when people going on holiday start drinking on their departure airport before breakfast time.

I understand the need to unwind, but have you ever thought that If you need a beer or a glass of champagne before 7 a.m. in front of your kids you might have a problem?

in english

National values and adaptation of an immigrant in Europe

One of the topics I was discussing with friends is how while in the New World being American, Canadian or even Mexican is more than anything else an ideal that can be aspired to and achieved, being Finnish, German or Italian requires you to be born into it.

If this is true, then for the sake of argument we could assume that the current debate about the need for immigrants to adapt and blend into society (what I sometimes jokingly call soppauttaminen, a play on the Finnish words for soup and adapt) is asking for the impossible, simply because the only way for them to be regarded as to be fully part of society is to be born there, which at least their first generation cannot do.  Further down the road it might happen, but is not automatic.

One could argue that this is exactly what happened to Turks in Germany, where until the change of the citizenship laws this decade, the children and grandchildren of immigrants were not allowed to become citizens of the country where they were born.  It is documented that even today they live in very tightly knit communities with little contact with the outside world.

In France, on the other hand  you have the values of liberty, equality and fraternity that are cherished by all and ensure that everybody who adapts the French language and values will be deemed as French at least in theory, but in practice it might be a little bit more complicated, as the situation in the banlieues shows.

Trying to apply this to my experiences, I have been trying to understand if there is an idea of Finnishness that I can make my own, that would also be accepted by society and followed through. If the perunasuomalaiset and other Finnish politicians really want to take the situation of immigration head on, they should ask that question. A person who has no investment in and no part in society will not be interested in his development within it.

en español

Comercial en inglés, comercial en español

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Lo interesante de este comercial, estarán de acuerdo conmigo, es que en lugar de utilizar servicios de doblaje simplemente tomaron a la misma persona de su versión en inglés y lo pusieron a hablar español, con resultados aún más cómicos que el comercial original (abajo).  Además, estoy seguro que el mismo comercial en español no funcionaría fuera de Estados Unidos porque sonaría demasiado raro a todos aquellos que no están acostumbrados al acento de un angloparlante.  Creo que  es obvio que para los vendedores de este producto el mercado latino era lo suficientemente importante.

in english

Mother’s Day

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In Finland, mothers are celebrated on the second Sunday of May.  In Mexico, the date is fixed on May 10th.  Therefore, yesterday was the first in  long time when I could celebrate at the same time with my mom and my in-laws.

Other than that, traditions are relatively similar.  Family lunch and maybe some gifts or cards for the päivänsankari / homenajeada.