German railway workers were on strike, the French ones still are, and Finnish nurses and alcohol monopoly workers too.
While I agree with the right to strike, when it affects society in general or is pursued to maintain certain unfair privileges I am not so sure. I hope these are resolved soon.
Talent Suomi is the Finnish version of America's Got Talent, an American programme whose Flemish interpretation I had already seen in Belgium in the spring.
The interesting thing, which was highlighted in a TV news report I just saw, is that there is a lot of "people with foreign backgrounds" (ulkomaantaustaiset) as contestants in the show (and a couple of them are crowd favourites), bringing us to living rooms accross Finland when we are normally not so visible, and tend to have a not so great reputation. Any change for the better is welcome.
I suppose that it might be a natural development after Ourvision, which was not that mainstream.
You may have heard already that Finland is a country rather free of corruption in general. I have one anecdote that can support the view that it starts from society itself, and it all happened on Friday.
My wife dropped her mobile at the bus stop by mistake, and a person picked it up. The founder called me (being the last person she had called) and eventually he returned me the device. I actually tried to arrange the delivery by text message but the person never checked them, explaining that he wouldn't even open them as it was somebody else's mobile. I know for a fact that he never used it for anything else but calling me and and another person as I didn't answer his first call, and he would have been horrified if I had tried to offer him a reward for it.
I'm sure this wouldn't have happened in many places I know, and the fact that I know plenty of people who would have acted in the same way makes me feel more convinced to say that the fact there is little perceived corruption in this society because the people so demand.
When will we make other places change?
As you may have seen, the high latitude of the place where we live causes quite dramatic sunsets. Here is one of them.
One of the best things about Finland is sauna. The word itself, as many a Finn will point out, is the only one in their language that has been adopted internationally (beats "bastu" in my book). There is a certain etiquette to be followed while in sauna, and it is indeed an integral part of the culture, to the point where the most serious discussions and the closest relationships (no sean malpensados, canijos) will take place there.
The language also has certain words that have their origins in sauna. For example, löyly means steam, but the kind of steam that comes from throwing water at the sauna stove. Furthermore, in line with unfortunate recent events, verilöyly, composed of the words "sauna steam" and "blood", gives a very grisly picture to the listener and accordingly means massacre. Saunakalja is used for beer drunk in sauna and they even have a saying that "Jos ei sauna, viina ja terva auta, niin tauti on kuolemaksi", or "If sauna, alcohol and tar don't help, then the disease is deadly".
Now you know: in order to understand Finnish culture one has to experience and feel sauna.
You might have heard the news of the tragedy in Tuusula, where a high school student decided to copy Columbine, resulting in 8 dead (in English here and here, in Finnish here and in Spanish here).
Pekka-Eric Auvinen joins Petri Gerdt in the infamous list of Finnish teenagers who have caused these kind of mass killings. I'm still in shock.
The Mexican Embassy in Finland has published the following data of a bank account to which people living in Finland can donate funds earmarked for helping our brothers and sisters suffering the aftermath of the horrible floods in Tabasco.
Bank: Nordea
Account Holder: Embassy of Mexico
Name of account: Aid Tabasco/Ayuda Tabasco 2007
Account number: 182030-17582
I will publish the SWIFT & IBAN codes of the account as soon as I get them. Many thanks to the embassy personnel that set this up in coordination with Tlatelolco over the weekend (the funds will be sent directly to Mexico City.
Update: The Mexican Embassy in Belgium also has an account, and in that case they have the information needed for overseas deposits. All deposits to the accounts provided by Mexican embassies will be consolidated in Mexico, so it doesn't really matter where you donate, but that you do if so you wish. Your contribution is really appreciated.
Bank: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya BBVA
Account number: 642-0021207-62
Account name: AYUDA TABASCO 2007
Address: Franklin Roosevelt 94. 1050 Brussels.
Branch: Main branch, Brussels, Belgium.
IBAN: BE51 6420 0212 0762
BIC: BBVABEBB
One of the few things I really don't agree with regarding the way things work in Finland is the whole tax circus every year. Not only do I find it extremely sad that a whole country can be built at the same time on the principles of equality and jealousy of your neighbour, but I find it appalling that this information is public without my permission.
Furthermore, since this info is available in the net, it's an enormous security risk, it's a disaster waiting to happen.
How long before we see a Finn (or a Finnish resident) being held for ransom or worse on a trip abroad with his captors perfectly aware of his/her total ability to pay?
It is a breach of my privacy, my rights and it is reckless. When will they understand?
Every time I see a sunset like this, I remember the first time I saw this colour. It was on the flight that took me here seven years ago. I had seen before many colours in a sunset, including reds, yellows, oranges and once or twice even greenish hues, but never these tones of pink, which I had only encountered on photographs of the Martian landscape taken by the Viking probes in the seventies (which, of course, made me feel as if I had moved to Mars instead of Finland).
It brings so many memories…
As mentioned last year, the weather is really going crazy. Mexico City is having sub-zero temperatures in the morning with possibility of snow (it's actually colder there than in Helsinki in the morning, even though by noon the thermometer reaches 15°C).
Hope it gets better by Christmas when I'm there, but of course that's not probable.